Antinomianism

Jude 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:6  He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
Websters 1828: ANTINO’MIAN, noun One of a sect who maintain, that, under the gospel dispensation, the law is of no use or obligation; or who hold doctrines which supersede the necessity of good works and a virtuous life. This sect originated with John Agricola about the year 1538.
The word Antinomian is not found in the Bible but the characteristic is often described in the New Testament.
The Bible describes these people as ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and as the servants of sin and corruption. Antinomians by their lifestyle deny the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today there are many people who claim to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour but they will not have Him reign over them.
They want to go to Heaven but they do not want to “walk, even as He walked”.
They have turned Gods grace into lasciviousness. { “unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence” }
We are told in the New Testament that we are to walk as Christ walked. Did Jesus Christ keep Gods moral law?
If He did, so should we.

The antinomian mindset has been with us from the beginning.
According to the writers of the New Testament it was found in the earliest churches.
It is a leaven that must be continually be contended against.
A root that must be repeatedly dug up.

C.H. Spurgeon  concerning this error:

“You {Antinomians} have no evidence of genuine piety, you are not holy men and women, you can live in sin, you can walk as sinners walk, you have the image of the devil upon you, and yet you call yourselves the children of God. One of the first evidences that anyone is a child of God is that he hates sin with a perfect hatred, and seeks to live a holy, Christlike life.” – CHS

“In my first pastorate, I had often to battle with Antinomians,—that is, people who held that, because they believed themselves to be elect, they might live as they liked.”

“From my very soul, I detest everything that in the least savors of the Antinomianism which leads people to prate about being secure in Christ while they are living in sin. We cannot be saved by or for our good works, neither can we be saved without good works. Christ never will save any of His people in their sins; He saves His people from their sins. If a man is not desiring to live a holy life in the sight of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit, he is still ” in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”

“The saved man is not a perfect man; but his heart’s desire is to become perfect, he is always panting after perfection, and the day will come when he will be perfected, after the image of his once crucified and now glorified Saviour, in knowledge and true holiness.”

“There is Antinomian liberty — God deliver us from that! A man saith, “I am not under the law of God, therefore I will live as I like.” A most blessed truth followed by a most atrocious inference. The Christian is not under the law, but under grace — that is a very precious fact: it is much better to serve God because we love him, than because we are afraid of his wrath. To be under the law is to give God the service of a slave who fears the lash; but to be under grace is to serve God out of pure love to him. Oh to be a child, and to give the obedience of a child, and not the homage of a serf! But the Antinomian saith, “I am not under the law, therefore will I live and fulfil my own lust and pleasures.” Paul says of those who argue thus, their damnation is just. We have had the pain of knowing some who have said, “I am God’s elect; Christ shed his blood for me; I shall never perish ;” and then they have gone to the ale-house, they have sung the drunkard’s tong, and have even used the drunkard’s oath. What is this, dear friends, but a strong delusion to believe a lie?”
{Antinomians} “profess that his love to them gives them a liberty to rebel against his will, God deliver you from any such freedom as this ; be not legalists, but love the law of God, and in it make your delight. Abhor all idea of being saved by good works, but oh! be as full of good works as if you were to be saved by them. Walk in holiness as if your own walking would make you enter into heaven, and then rest on Christ, knowing that nothing of your own can ever open the gate of the Celestial City. Eschew and abhor anything like Antinomianism.”

“Brethren, it is a precious doctrine that the saints are safe, but it is a damnable inference from it, that therefore they may live as they list. It is a glorious truth that God will keep his people, but it is an abominable falsehood that sin will do them no harm. Remember that God gives us liberty, not licence, and while he gives us protection he will not allow us presumption.”

 

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