Antinomianism and you

[HTacianas]

Antinomianism is a later term meaning "against the law". It doesn't mean some act that violates the law, but describes the idea that the entirety of the old testament law is abolished. Hence an individual who is against the law. If the law is abolished there is no sin, so a person can behave themself any way they want to and still be justified.

Is there anyone here who holds to that belief or do you know anyone who does?

 

[mark kennedy]

I've heard about this a lot but I have never really known anyone who actually believes it. The gospel fulfills the Law, it doesn't abolish that and anyone who doubts that should try reading the Sermon on the Mount. The problem has never been the Law, the problem has always been the fact that the righteous requirements of the Law are impossible apart from the grace of God in Christ. As Paul says,

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21)
​

The Law still tells us the righteousness of God, it just cannot provide it. I think we should cherish the Mosaic Law, just not be so foolish as to believe that we can keep it apart from the grace of God in Christ.

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[Tree of Life]

Antinomianism is not likely an error that we would knowingly embrace. Like hidden sin, antinomianism is a sin of thought that needs to be identified and exposed in us before we are able to cast it off.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Antinomianism is a later term meaning "against the law". It doesn't mean some act that violates the law, but describes the idea that the entirety of the old testament law is abolished. Hence an individual who is against the law. If the law is abolished there is no sin, so a person can behave themself any way they want to and still be justified.

Is there anyone here who holds to that belief or do you know anyone who does?

I don't know of anyone who holds that belief around here. I don't because I believe that the Law is good and holy, because God designed it. But the Law was not enough to save people, not because it is faulty, but because of the sinfulness of people. So Jesus and kept the Law. Not for us, but for Himself, so that when He died and because our substitute for sin, He was the perfect Law-keeper. Then Jesus died as us, taking the punishment for our breaking of the Law upon Himself. This means that every who receives Christ become as Him in the sight of God.

This means that we cannot just go on and continue to live a life of sin and expect to be automatically forgiven. If we are to be as Jesus in God's sight, then we are to do all we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit in is, to follow after holiness and righteousness so that we become Christ-like in our conduct and behaviour.

 

[anna ~ grace]

It always kind of amazes me, in a good way, how close Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians often really are on salvation. The terminology is definitely different, and we're not all, exactly, talking about the same things, and on some things we disagree. But the overlap is still neat.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Antinomianism is a later term meaning "against the law". It doesn't mean some act that violates the law, but describes the idea that the entirety of the old testament law is abolished. Hence an individual who is against the law. If the law is abolished there is no sin, so a person can behave themself any way they want to and still be justified.

Is there anyone here who holds to that belief or do you know anyone who does?

Like others here, I'm not aware of anyone who really does hold this view, at least not in full. This issue is funny for me, because over a decade ago, I used to apply the term to myself ... until I did some studying and came to realize I was misusing the term. Lol!

 

[HTacianas]

Like others here, I'm not aware of anyone who really does hold this view, at least in full. This issue is funny for me, because over a decade ago, I used to apply the term to myself ... until I did some studying and came to realize I was misusing the term. Lol!

We had a full blown antinomian on here a few weeks ago. He asked me what commandments I thought were still in effect. I haven't seen him lately.

Years ago in a similar forum I was told by a guy that I was "going to hell" for even attempting to keep any of the commandments. His idea was that if you keep any of the commandments you were relying entirely on yourself which meant you had no faith in Christ. Supposedly he attended some independent bible church and that's what they were teaching. So yes, there are those out there who hold to that belief.

 

[Tree of Life]

Years ago in a similar forum I was told by a guy that I was "going to hell" for even attempting to keep any of the commandments. His idea was that if you keep any of the commandments you were relying entirely on yourself which meant you had no faith in Christ. Supposedly he attended some independent bible church and that's what they were teaching. So yes, there are those out there who hold to that belief.

Wouldn't this imply a commandment? "Ye shall not attempt to keep any commandments."

 

[2PhiloVoid]

We had a full blown antinomian on here a few weeks ago. He asked me what commandments I thought were still in effect. I haven't seen him lately.

Years ago in a similar forum I was told by a guy that I was "going to hell" for even attempting to keep any of the commandments. His idea was that if you keep any of the commandments you were relying entirely on yourself which meant you had no faith in Christ. Supposedly he attended some independent bible church and that's what they were teaching. So yes, there are those out there who hold to that belief.

Oh, I know that some do, but I'm surprised by the fact that the guy who told you this belonged to an independent bible church. Do you know if this was the same kind of church as is headed now by someone like John F. MacArthur?

 

[Jonaitis]

Is there anyone here who holds to that belief or do you know anyone who does?

Hyper-grace folks...I've actually met some of these guys before.

 

[Jonaitis]

It always kind of amazes me, in a good way, how close Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians often really are on salvation. The terminology is definitely different, and we're not all, exactly, talking about the same things, and on some things we disagree. But the overlap is still neat.

Gracia, like how?

 

[anna ~ grace]

Gracia, like how?

Well, most of us talk about a need to grow in holiness, grace fueling our works in Christ, and describe either salvation or sanctification as an upward climb. Pretty similar. Not neccesarily identical, but in many ways, close.

 

[Saint Steven]

The gospel fulfills the Law, it doesn't abolish that and anyone who doubts that should try reading the Sermon on the Mount.

What do you mean by "The gospel fulfills the Law"?
The Sermon on the Mount says "the Law or the Prophets".
How do you abolish a Prophet?
Have you ever seen Jesus' post-resurrection explanation of Matt.5:17 ?

Luke 24:44
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

 

[Saint Steven]

Antinomianism is not likely an error that we would knowingly embrace. Like hidden sin, antinomianism is a sin of thought that needs to be identified and exposed in us before we are able to cast it off.

Are you claiming that we are under the law?

Galatians 3:23-25
Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

 

[Saint Steven]

I don't know of anyone who holds that belief around here. I don't because I believe that the Law is good and holy, because God designed it. But the Law was not enough to save people, not because it is faulty, but because of the sinfulness of people. So Jesus and kept the Law. Not for us, but for Himself, so that when He died and because our substitute for sin, He was the perfect Law-keeper. Then Jesus died as us, taking the punishment for our breaking of the Law upon Himself. This means that every who receives Christ become as Him in the sight of God.

This means that we cannot just go on and continue to live a life of sin and expect to be automatically forgiven. If we are to be as Jesus in God's sight, then we are to do all we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit in is, to follow after holiness and righteousness so that we become Christ-like in our conduct and behaviour.

I think Jesus was challenging the law and setting it aside. Even the arrival of John the Baptist drew a line in the sand. (so to speak) For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. - Matthew 11:13

What sort of example was he setting for law-keeping when this was the perception?

John 9:16
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

John 5:18
For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

 

[Saint Steven]

We had a full blown antinomian on here a few weeks ago. He asked me what commandments I thought were still in effect. I haven't seen him lately.

Years ago in a similar forum I was told by a guy that I was "going to hell" for even attempting to keep any of the commandments. His idea was that if you keep any of the commandments you were relying entirely on yourself which meant you had no faith in Christ. Supposedly he attended some independent bible church and that's what they were teaching. So yes, there are those out there who hold to that belief.

What do you make of this?

Galatians 5:4
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

 

[HTacianas]

What do you make of this?

Galatians 5:4
You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

That is Paul explaining to the Galatians that all those requirements of ritual purity of the Jewish law no longer applied and that they could not be justified by returning to them. Keeping a kosher diet, abstaining from handling certain animals, standing in the open after experiencing a nocturnal emission, and certainly offering animal sacrifices were not parts of the doctrine of grace. Paul spoke more directly to the Colossians when they made the same mistake:

Col 2:20 - Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—

Col 2:21 - “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

Our "ritual purity" is provided through faith "and not the works of the law". That's the reason Christianity has never required those things.

 

[Saint Steven]

That is Paul explaining to the Galatians that all those requirements of ritual purity of the Jewish law no longer applied and that they could not be justified by returning to them. Keeping a kosher diet, abstaining from handling certain animals, standing in the open after experiencing a nocturnal emission, and certainly offering animal sacrifices were not parts of the doctrine of grace. Paul spoke more directly to the Colossians when they made the same mistake:

Col 2:20 - Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—

Col 2:21 - “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,”

Our "ritual purity" is provided through faith "and not the works of the law". That's the reason Christianity has never required those things.

Explain why that view does not make you antinomian. Thanks.

 

[HTacianas]

Explain why that view does not make you antinomian. Thanks.

Because I do not advocate violating the moral law. All those things we are to abstain from: Murder, theft, fraud, idolatry, etc.

 

[Saint Steven]

Because I do not advocate violating the moral law. All those things we are to abstain from: Murder, theft, fraud, idolatry, etc.

Are you referring to the Ten Commandments, or something else?
(fraud is outside the TCs)