The two extremes I am referring to are libertinism or antinomianism and legalism. It is vital to know these distortions of the Christian walk and learn to distinguish them so that one can walk faithfully and obediently with Christ. The only antidote known is a thorough knowledge of the Bible and to know Christ--Christianity is not a list of dos and don'ts but a living fellowship with the Lord. Christianity is not a code but a relationship with Christ.
You have to decide whether you are the kind of person who needs no law because you are regenerated and obey the new nature, or know no law because of your carnality and obey your old nature. Martin Luther (and I believe Dietrich Bonhoeffer reiterated) pointed out that there are no disobedient Christians--for this is a contradiction: "Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes." They go hand in hand and the only test of faith is obedience. A Christian can be guilty of carnality, but there is not a sub-class of carnal Christian.
Antinomianism was refuted by Martin Luther in Against the Antinomians in 1539. It refers to a distaste for the law or literally "anti-lawism." You might say that it designates a believer who feels he has a license to sin or for disobedience since he cannot lose his salvation and is secure in Christ. I must stress that the Bible never gives one the right to do what is wrong or sanctions sin or doing what is right in according to your opinions, or your own thing. We have many believers today who make up their own rules as they go along and do their own thing like the Hebrews did in Judges 21:25 when each man did what was right in his own mind or made up his own rules as he went along: whatever seems or feels right.
Romans 6:1 (ESV) is the rebuttal to antinomianism saying that we should not go on sinning at all after salvation ("... Are we to continue in sin, that grace may abound?"). This would be taking advantage of God's grace and nullifying it and going back to the old life before salvation. The philosophy of antinomianism is "Freed from the law, O blessed condition; now I can sin all I want, and still have remission." It is a frantic search for freedom to run amuck. Rather, heed Paul's testimony: "I do not frustrate [take advantage] of the grace of God" (Gal. 2:21)!
There is a place for the law in our life and the whole of Scripture is law and grace and one must rightly divide it and know how to apply it. In short, we never have a right to do what is wrong, and if it was morally wrong then it is still morally wrong because God's standards of morality haven't changed. The law is meant to show us our sin and not a means of salvation; it is the mirror that shows us our unrighteousness. The Phillips translation says of Romans 3:20: "Indeed it is the straightedge of the law that shows us are crooked we really are." It is a guide to the principles of morality and nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament (except keeping the Sabbath). Note that the Law doesn't save us, it measures us!
Legalism is the error of many churches that try too hard to be spiritual or "holier than thou" (cf. Is. 65:5) than their counterparts in other churches. Believes like to commend themselves and compare themselves to others (2 Cor. 10:12). They seem to think they have a corner on the market of spirituality and this is one measure of it. Legalism is counter to grace and salvation by grace because one is essentially trying to earn salvation and get to heaven by good works. But in effect they are "going beyond that which is written" (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6). If the Bible doesn't forbid something nor imply it by the application it is not a sin, though some things may be sin to some and not to others, due to knowledge and enlightenment. "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" (James 4:17, ESV, emphasis mine).
By way of example, the Pharisees were legalists because they adhered simply to the letter of the law and not the Spirit. Legalistic churches bind people where they should be free and exercise tyranny over the congregants. They also stress minor issues and ignore major ones or major on the minors. For example, they condemn smoking, drinking, gambling, card-playing, dancing, movie-going and even TV (watching the hemlines, hairlines, and ticket lines!), while they forget about their lack of witness and lukewarm worship. Weightier matters of the Law (mercy, faithfulness, and justice) ought to be addressed first and things the Bible explicitly does condemn. We have no right to micromanage our brother's lives and tell them what is right and wrong--that is the job description of the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion, you may say the Mormons are good people because they refrain from coffee, of all things, and are reasonably moral people, but Christ didn't die just to make bad people good, but dead people alive; however, we are not lawless, but live to a higher law: The law of love.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Antinomianism was refuted by Martin Luther in Against the Antinomians in 1539. It refers to a distaste for the law or literally "anti-lawism." You might say that it designates a believer who feels he has a license to sin or for disobedience since he cannot lose his salvation and is secure in Christ. I must stress that the Bible never gives one the right to do what is wrong or sanctions sin or doing what is right in according to your opinions, or your own thing. We have many believers today who make up their own rules as they go along and do their own thing like the Hebrews did in Judges 21:25 when each man did what was right in his own mind or made up his own rules as he went along: whatever seems or feels right.
Romans 6:1 (ESV) is the rebuttal to antinomianism saying that we should not go on sinning at all after salvation ("... Are we to continue in sin, that grace may abound?"). This would be taking advantage of God's grace and nullifying it and going back to the old life before salvation. The philosophy of antinomianism is "Freed from the law, O blessed condition; now I can sin all I want, and still have remission." It is a frantic search for freedom to run amuck. Rather, heed Paul's testimony: "I do not frustrate [take advantage] of the grace of God" (Gal. 2:21)!
There is a place for the law in our life and the whole of Scripture is law and grace and one must rightly divide it and know how to apply it. In short, we never have a right to do what is wrong, and if it was morally wrong then it is still morally wrong because God's standards of morality haven't changed. The law is meant to show us our sin and not a means of salvation; it is the mirror that shows us our unrighteousness. The Phillips translation says of Romans 3:20: "Indeed it is the straightedge of the law that shows us are crooked we really are." It is a guide to the principles of morality and nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament (except keeping the Sabbath). Note that the Law doesn't save us, it measures us!
Legalism is the error of many churches that try too hard to be spiritual or "holier than thou" (cf. Is. 65:5) than their counterparts in other churches. Believes like to commend themselves and compare themselves to others (2 Cor. 10:12). They seem to think they have a corner on the market of spirituality and this is one measure of it. Legalism is counter to grace and salvation by grace because one is essentially trying to earn salvation and get to heaven by good works. But in effect they are "going beyond that which is written" (cf. 1 Cor. 4:6). If the Bible doesn't forbid something nor imply it by the application it is not a sin, though some things may be sin to some and not to others, due to knowledge and enlightenment. "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin" (James 4:17, ESV, emphasis mine).
By way of example, the Pharisees were legalists because they adhered simply to the letter of the law and not the Spirit. Legalistic churches bind people where they should be free and exercise tyranny over the congregants. They also stress minor issues and ignore major ones or major on the minors. For example, they condemn smoking, drinking, gambling, card-playing, dancing, movie-going and even TV (watching the hemlines, hairlines, and ticket lines!), while they forget about their lack of witness and lukewarm worship. Weightier matters of the Law (mercy, faithfulness, and justice) ought to be addressed first and things the Bible explicitly does condemn. We have no right to micromanage our brother's lives and tell them what is right and wrong--that is the job description of the Holy Spirit.
In conclusion, you may say the Mormons are good people because they refrain from coffee, of all things, and are reasonably moral people, but Christ didn't die just to make bad people good, but dead people alive; however, we are not lawless, but live to a higher law: The law of love.
Soli Deo Gloria!
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