Wesley on the Law

In commenting on Acts 13:26, John Wesley said, “The very first sermon of St Paul’s which is recorded concludes with these words: ‘By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the Prophets; Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: For I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.’ Now it is manifest, all this is preaching the Law, in the sense wherein you understand the term. Even although great part of it, if not all, his hearers were either Jews or religious proselytes, and therefore probably many of them, in some degree at least, convicted of sin already. He first reminds them that they could not be justified by the Law of Moses, but only by faith in Christ; and then severely threatens them with the judgments of God, which is in the strongest sense, preaching the Law.”