Lawless Christianity Part VII: Conclusion
This is part 7 of 7. If you haven't read the previous parts, please do so before continuing, thank you! If you would like to contact the author you can email here: justin.hornbaker@gmail.com.
Conclusion
In antinomian circles it’s clearly stated that they believe the only real and prominent issue is a legalistic tendency within the universal Christian Church. The solution becomes leaning to the opposite error of antinomian teaching so as to stay as far away from legalism as possible. But as we have seen antinomianism is legalistic in itself, it’s self-contradictory and it distorts God’s Word, therefore it fails as a solution. But not only that, we should question the very presupposition of antinomian teachers, which is, that the prominent issue is a tendency to have too many people wearing themselves out following God’s law to be right with Him. Is that a problem? I’m sure it is for some, no doubt! But is that a prominent issue within the universal Christian church throughout the world? Pastor Jerry Wragg weighs in on this:
“From nearly two and a half decades of shepherding souls, I’m convinced that the more common problem in the church is not hoards of people burned out on the treadmill of self-atonement and divine merit. False religions are full of those, the exhausted and energetic. The greater problem in evangelicalism, as I see it, is countless sheep weighed down with the cares of everyday life whose faith is weak, who can’t seem to entrust themselves to the promises of God in the stuff of Christianity 101. Pragmatism has left God’s people with shallow sermons, untrustworthy leaders, theological confusion, and culture-immersed evangelism paradigms. Battling sin is hard enough when the sheep are well nourished and cared for. It’s absolutely devastating when they’re left with no biblical weapons against temptation, nor the discernment to clearly see the cause of their spiritual exhaustion.” - Jerry Wragg, The New Antinomianism
I’ve spent the last year taking much time to research these things, and an important point I hope Church teachers take away from this article is that students of the scriptures like me in your church will either be your greatest ally, if you’re preaching sound truth, or your worst enemy, if you’re preaching heresy! This is because many of us are careful to be like the Bereans (Acts 17:11) searching the scriptures to see if what you say is true. Not only that, but we want to be prepared (1 Peter 3:15) and know that when we make our plea to others to be reconciled to Christ (2 Cor. 5:20) and they respond positively, we are not lulling them under another deception of the enemy by letting them believe in a different Jesus and a different Gospel (2 Cor. 11:4,14). We want the truth to be triumphant, which Jesus’ entire purpose during his ministry on earth was dedicated to (John 18:37), so that our labor in the gospel will not be in vain (1 Thess. 3:5).
I hope that this slow but real growth of sound apologetic thinking today encourages a purge of false teaching so that errors like antinomianism will not live long under the roof of the local Church. Please pray that those who are teaching these heresies will come to realize their error and turn back to sound teaching. Without public confessions of sin and falsehood brought into the light there cannot be a true turning away from theological error. We as Christians are called to bring everything into the light (2 Tim. 1:10, Eph. 5:11) and confess our sins one another (James 5:16), so let's start living the way Jesus prescribed and stop distorting the truth to accommodate our lifestyles.
I'd like to end with the words of John MacArthur, following with some scripture:
“These unprincipled men, these lawless men, these men who live apart from and without God’s law…listen, any time you hang around or listen to lawless false teachers who distort the Scripture, you run the risk of being led astray. You can’t sit in a church where somebody is twisting and distorting the Scripture without running the risk of being led astray…Only truth sanctifies. Only truth brings righteousness.” (From Living in Anticipation of Christ’s Return Part 2, a teaching on 2 Peter 3:14-18)
“He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.”Proverbs 28:9
“The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalms 19:7-11
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who 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." Titus 2:11-14
Sources (many labled within the articles):
- Martin Luther, Don’t Tell Me That, book with excerpts from Martin Luther’s Antinomian Theses, translated and adapted by Paul Strawn
- Mark Jones, Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest
- The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters, By Sinclair B. Ferguson, Foreword by Timothy J. Keller
- The New Antinomianism By Jerry Wragg (Audio only, Email for transcript)
(Part 7 of 7)
Originally titled "Antinomianism: A Self-Refuting Heresy."
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