Grace Family Baptist

Antinomians teach implicitly or explicitly that the moral law of God is no longer obligatory for the believer. They believe that the gospel essentially abolishes and replaces God’s law. Historically, antinomianism has had various inflections. Sometimes it taught that the inward promptings of the Holy Spirit replace God’s law, such that the believer’s personal feelings were often identified with the voice of God. Other versions insisted that the believer is only bound to obey a law of love, but there is no law to show him what love looks like, which means that his own intuitions become the standard of love for him. In still other versions, antinomianism taught that only New Testament commands apply to the believer, instead of the whole moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments and expounded throughout the Bible. It is important to understand that not all who taught antinomian forms of theology were consistently antinomian in their practice. But antinomian theologies often led to antinomian practices in the end. The following problems are noteworthy in antinomian theology as it tended to appear within the Reformed tradition. First, antinomians emphasize the grace of the gospel of Christ far above the law of God. Antinomians believe that they have truly come to understand grace. They may speak of God’s law in their teaching, but it will always be in a subordinate place, only mentioned rather than thoroughly taught and pressed. They so emphasize the gospel and grace that they make it seem as though God’s grace does away with the need to exert any diligent effort (2 Peter 1:5–7) and striving (Heb. 12:14) to obey God’s law. This emphasis leads believers to conclude that God’s law does not require their full and actual obedience. Christians under antinomian teaching will start to think that grace means that God tolerates their sins, He is unconcerned about them, and they are free to coast or to relax and do nothing but rest in the indicatives of the gospel. Notice the similarities here between antinomianism and the relaxed law of legalism. Both legalism and antinomianism relax God’s law, but the true grace of God never relaxes or minimizes God’s law (Matt. 5:19; Jude 4). Second, antinomians say it is wrong to obey God just because He commands obedience. They react strongly against the idea of obeying God’s law as law. But Psalm 119:4 says, “You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.” Antinomians undermine the moral obligation and authority of the law either by insisting that it has no commanding force or by saying that believers are only required to obey when their hearts are so captivated by the gospel of grace that they are freely and inwardly compelled to obey. The problem with this is that God’s law does not teach any such thing (Matt. 5:17– 19). It does not say, “You only have to obey when you are ready.” It always says, “You must obey, and you must obey right now, perfectly, completely, from the heart, and for all the right reasons.” Third, antinomians collapse justification into sanctification. While legalists teach that we must be sanctified to be justified, antinomians teach that we are only sanctified by our justification. Practically, justification by faith alone becomes the whole of salvation for antinomians. For antinomians, salvation means that God treats us as righteous, and that is all. Sanctification is of far lesser importance to antinomians or is only attained by focusing exclusively on justification without the commanding authority of the law and without any personal effort to put to death the deeds of the body and put on holy obedience to God’s law. Antinomians often teach that sanctification is nothing other than leaning further into your justification or resting even more in Christ’s righteousness. The problem with this kind of thinking is that justification and sanctification are inseparable blessings of union with Christ in the covenant of grace, both of which are promised aspects of salvation (Rom. 6:7, 11). Fourth, antinomians are allergic to the idea that God rewards obedience. Antinomians think that to obey God for reward is wrong and that any obedience should be motivated exclusively by the historic work of Christ on the cross, not by future rewards promised by God. While it is true that believers can never earn rewards from God, and it is true that all believers share in the same infinite heavenly reward because of Christ’s perfect accomplishment on the cross, Scripture also teaches that God rewards the faithfulness of believers as grace upon grace. Hebrews 11:6 says God rewards believers: “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” In John 14:21, Jesus says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (emphasis added). In Colossians 3:23–24, Paul says, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (emphasis added). And 1 Timothy 4:8 says, “For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.” Fifth, antinomians resist the idea of divine discipline for sin. They do not think of suffering in this life as God’s gracious training or discipline intended to refine and transform His beloved people. Instead, they tend to view suffering as part of the natural effects of the curse in general and something to be endured while longing for heaven, but they resist the idea that suffering is personally directed to believers to increase their holiness. Scripture teaches, however, that God afflicts believers, even through the sins of others, to train and discipline them and to make them more like Christ, more conformed to His law (Heb. 12:5–11; Prov. 3:11–12). James 1:2–3 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Many antinomians also resist the Bible’s teaching about church discipline (Matt. 18:15–20; 1 Cor. 5:9–13), believing that the church should not judge anyone for their sins. But Jesus says in John 7:24, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” And 1 Corinthians 5:12 clearly says, “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” Sixth, antinomians minimize Christ. This is their most egregious transgression. While claiming to exalt Christ and to love His grace and His salvation, they actually minimize Christ in two respects. First, they minimize the person of Christ. Jesus Christ is true God and true man, united in one person. Christ obeyed the law of God according to His human nature, not only as our substitute but also as an example of obedience to the law. As 1 Peter 2:21 says, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Second, antinomians minimize the work of Christ. Christ not only died to purchase our justification, but He also died to purchase our sanctification, which includes obedience to the law by the power of the Spirit at work within us. Titus 2:14 says that Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Thus, by denying that Christ was an example for us to follow, antinomians minimize the person of Christ. They also minimize the work of Christ, which not only purchased our justification but also purchased the work of the Spirit for our sanctification.