Second Sunday after Pentecost Galatians 3:23-39

Preaching commentary

The Law

The ambiguous place of the law in Christian thought can be seen historically in battles between antinomians and legalists, each side finding New Testament support, and the present text would seem to provide ammunition to the antinomian (literally means "no law", aka do whatever you want) side, or at least to those who would desire a sharp wedge between law and Gospel (although even Luther in his commentary on this passage described the law as a “good schoolmaster,” who was “only too anxious to drive us to Christ”).

The law in Galatians 3 assumes an intermediary position between God’s promise and the fulfillment of that promise in Christ. It also takes something of a middle…