For this 4th Sunday after Pentecost (6/24/07), the three assigned readings are Isaiah 65:1-9 (Seed our of Jacob); Galatians 3:23-4:7 (Kept under Law) and Luke 8:26-39 (Unclean spirit). Chosen to preach about is Galatians 3:25 which reveals that “after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.”

What makes this text so confusing is that the “schoolmaster” ir nothing other than the Law of God! Is it therefore correct to read this passage as saying that once you are a believer in Jesus Christ, the law is no longer important? So many appear to assume that is what Reformation theology teaches because Lutheranism insists that no work that you do here on earth makes a difference as to whether you go to heaven or hell.

Verse 23 states that “before faith came, we were kept under the law.” Does that give the impression that once faith has come, we are no longer needing to obey the law? No indeed. For you see, what Paul is talking about is the difference in Christianity that can never be found in any other religion in the world. For every other religion sees the law in much the same way that God uses the law in the temporal realm. You don’t want to get a speeding ticket? Then, simply, obey the law. You don’t want to go to hell. Then simply obey God’s law!

The problem lies in the revelation that the way God makes use of the Law in the temporal realm (government) is different than how He makes use of the Law in the spiritual realm (Church). In the temporal realm what you do makes a difference in whether you get a good grade, another promotion, and nice house. However, in the spiritual realm, nothing of what you do helps you to get to heaven.

Using an analogy, a 5-year old boy needs the discipline of the law from his father until he gets to an age where he so loves his parents so that he will obey without being under orders. Similarly, until a person comes to faith in Jesus Christ, he must be kept in bounds by the threats or rewards of the Law. However, once trust in Jesus Christ is established, then he is no longer under the Law but under grace.

One might put it this way. Christians are the only ones who are free to obey the Law. Everyone else has to! Therefore, while it is true that Christians no longer NEED to obey the Law in order to get to heaven; what believer does not take delight in the Law or God in grateful response to all which the holy Trinity has done for me?

While religions the world over teach the necessity to climb up the rungs of the ladder by works to heaven, in reality such teaching results in people really climbing down to hell! Only the Christian faith reveals that the ladder is there but is not used by us. It is used by Christ Himself in climbing down to earth (conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary)for the purpose of finding you the lost, picking you up on His shoulders and carrying you up the ladder to heaven.

Truly, we are no longer under the Law in the sense of needing the Law to get right with God. We are right with God because of the cross of Jesus Christ substantiated by His resurrection from the dead. While the world struggles mightily with the Law to get justified by works, believers in Christ have been justified by grace through faith without any merit or worthiness in us. It is truly a gift from God.