Sin causes us to jump from one extreme to the other while missing the “marrow” of truth. This is classic for Legalism and Antinomianism. It is often a ping pong match between these two that misses the gospel altogether. When someone reacts to Antinomianism, they often are tempted to respond with Legalism.

Introduction

Antinomianism (anti- = “not/no/against,” -nomian = law; Lit. “antinomianism” is “no-law-ism”) is not the storm looming on the horizon; it is here. And it has been here for a long time. While it has been here ever since The Fall (Gen. 3), it has different seasons of strength and destruction. While we are not in an utterly unique age, the major problem today is that Antinomians appear to be the new Pharisees (i.e. legalism, works-righteousness). Popularly, legalism is out in today’s society. It is not merely authoritarianism that is rejected, but all authority and law is rejected. The law of our society is “Don’t tell me what to do. I am a law unto myself.”

While broader culture is driven by lawlessness, the Church often echoes this same voice. There appears to be a type of “religious Libertarianism” where I can live the Christian life how I want and I won’t encroach upon the choices of others. Because I am a Christian and saved by grace alone, no one can enforce God’s Law upon me to tell me how to live. When we doubt the authority of God’s Law, we are unsure whether we may tell others what they should believe and how they should live. ⁽¹⁾

We witnessed this Antinomianism with the recent Side-B/Revoice discussions. But that particular issue is only symptomatic of the larger problem. Antinomianism appears to be more dominant than formal Legalism today. To be sure, they are both present and in large swaths among professing Christians today. But Antinomianism, following the broader American culture of anti-authority and anti-law, appears to be rearing its deadly head above legalism.

Characteristics of Antinomianism

What characteristics appear with Antinomianism?

When people are ready to cancel preaching, worship services, prayer meetings, Bible studies, evangelism, discipleship, and private worship. But it will never sacrifice fellowship. Antinomianism does not like the effort put into attending church, private means of grace, searching one’s own heart, discipling others, and sitting under biblical preaching. To be very sure, various circumstances compel us to cancel at times. Not every cancellation needs to have the response of, “Antinomian!” But the readiness to cancel the ministry of the Word & prayer (whether private or public) indicates that antinomianism is present.

There is virtue signaling about religious duties, but not serious about personal holiness. People will call those who speak about seriousness in holiness as “Pharisaical” and “Legalistic”. It’s far easier to place blame on others rather than search our own hearts, confess our sins, and repent by God’s grace.

People are more ready to compare themselves to other lazy Christians to justify their deeds, but anyone who appears more dedicated is treated as “TR” or a “Legalistic Pharisee”. Eminent examples of men and women in previous eras are treated as “extreme” or “hyper”. We can treat them as if they were probably insecure about their standing with God and thought that further religious duties were needed to secure their salvation. It is much more comfortable to look at other lazy professing Christians and conclude that we are doing “just fine”.

They love to make cultural commentary and tell others what’s wrong and what to do, but is not intentional with personal repentance. Similar to above, this one is more so pointing to the social commentary that is rampant today. We are seeing many who are armchair cultural critics, but are slow to self-examine and positively seek ways in their personal life where they can promote righteousness. Like legalism, this characteristic loves the idea of appearing pious rather than pursuing true piety.

They love the feeling of forgiveness more than the Forgiver of sins. Like the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, we plead with God for forgiveness of our sins, but it does not change our hearts to forgive others. We desire the “Get Out Of Jail Free Card” more than the desire to devoted to the One who forgives us. This often means that we think the Christian life is going well as long as we don’t feel guilty.

When people blame sin on personality and upbringing more than indwelling sin. It is true that we are not only sinners, but also sufferers. We must always keep this in mind when caring for people. There are many influences in our lives, but a sinful response to being sinned against never excuses our sin. My sin is not merely an Enneagram personality number. My sin is sin.

When we are willing to only receive the preaching and teaching that makes one not feel guilty. You can see the evidence of antinomianism when people are more concerned about not feeling guilty than they are to confess their sins to God, believe in Christ’s atoning blood, and strive to repent by His grace (1 John 1:8-10). The spirit of antinomianism is seen when people only want to hear that they’re doing fine and that there is no sin to worry about. They will react against being told that they are sinners who need to repent.⁽²⁾

They are legalistic toward legalists. Antinomians seem immovable to forgive legalists. They only want to tell them that they’re wrong rather than lead them in the paths of the gospel. They just want legalists to “stop it”. They don’t want to be part of a church with legalists, which results in either trying to get them out of their church or antinomians will denounce that entire church and go elsewhere. Ironically, these are all characteristics of a legalist as well.

When someone’s only response to justification is by putting little effort in holiness. “I’m justified by faith alone. I can’t obey the Law to be saved. So why worry about it? Any worry about obedience is legalism and is of the devil.” Effort is equated to the attempt to earn salvation. Justification is isolated from Christ Himself, which also minimizes the need for growing in good works.

They equate “slavish fear” with any form of obligation in the Christian life. Similar to above, the response to someone preaching Scriptural imperatives is the labeled as scaring people into holiness. To tell Christians that they are obligated to obey the Law is merely slavish fear that lingers within as part of our indwelling sin.

When we function as if there is only the first use of the Law. The first use of the Law is to show us our sins and lead us to Christ to rest solely upon Him. This is vital for believers, but it is not the only use of the Law. Antinomianism only or far-and-away mainly wants to view the Law in this way. Any imperative in Scripture is there to tell us that we can’t obey to earn salvation. Only Christ can. This is true! But a crucial piece missing is the same grace with forgives is the same grace which grows obedience to God’s Law.

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