ANTINOMIANISM TRUE AND FALSE
By
D. M. PANTON, M. A.
Antinomianism
- a term invented by Martin Luther - means ‘against
law,’ that is , an antagonism to all law for
the child of God. In its extreme form it is a revolt against all law for
the saved soul so drastic as to receive the challenge of Paul: - "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?"
(Rom. 6: 1). If the grace of the
Gospel covers a [regenerate] believer’s present [wilful] sin, sin
known and continued, then the more sin, the more covering grace; to
continue in sin, therefore, is to multiply grace. Here it is in its full
nakedness. Put thus tersely and tensely, the whole
[ETERNAL] SALVATION
First
of all, it is vital that we carefully discriminate Antinomianism true and
false; for there is a true Antinomianism, or right abolition of the Law for the
child of God. Paul has put it with absolute finality: - "Christ is THE END OF THE LAW to every one that
believeth" (Rom. 10: 4).
That is, ‘the law’ is always the Law of
Moses. The Law of Moses said: - "Statutes
and judgments, which if a man do, he shall live by
them" (Lev. 18: 5) - live for
ever, have eternal life: Christ, in my
place, and acting for me, did it; and therefore all I must do, for the
eternal life the Law names, is to be, and to remain [by
faith], in Christ, having thus for ever
finished with the Law. Throughout His
life Jesus perfectly obeyed the Law, and on the Cross He suffered the final
fate of all broken law: so, in Him, I have utterly satisfied the Law, and am
therefore done with it, as a ground of [eternal] salvation, for ever. "If ye receive circumcision" - the stamp of the
Law, without which it could not be observed - "Christ
will profit you nothing" (Gal.
5: 2). "Wherefore, my
brethren, ye also were made dead to the law" (Rom. 7: 4).
GRACE
But
there is a further abrogation of the Law of Moses which is essential to the
Gospel. The whole manner of life commanded by the Law, God Himself has
now abrogated for the new People of God. "The law
was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ"
(John 1: 17). On certain points our
Lord expressed it as sharply as it could be put. To take but one typical
example: - "Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth! - a summary of all law: "but I
say unto you, Resist not him that is evil" (Matt. 5: 38) - a complete reversal of righteous
law. So Paul sums it up: - "Now we have been
discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were holden" (Rom. 7: 6).
Grace, mercy, love are to control the Christian, until our Lord’s return
brings in a completely new dispensation, with a radical change of conduct.
ANTINOMIANISM
Now
the false Antinomianism can be simply stated. All a [regenerate] believer’s
sins, past present and future, are so ‘judged’ on the Cross, and
so wiped out by the Atonement, that they can never be brought up for judgment,
and are already totally forgiven. We find it astoundingly stated by an
Anglican divine of the seventeenth century, Tobias Crisp, D.D.
Dr. Crisp says (1600-1642): - "Though a
believer does sin, yet he is not to be reckoned as a sinner; his sins are
reckoned to be taken away from him. God reckons not sin to be his.
Every elect vessel, from the first instant of his being, is as pure in the eyes
of God from the charge of sin as he shall be in the glory. Though such
persons do act rebellion, yet the loathsomeness and hatefulness of this
rebellion is laid on the back of Christ; and God can dwell with such persons
that act the thing, because all the filthiness of it is translated from
them upon the back of Christ. There is as much ground to be confident of
the pardon of sin to a believer, as soon as he has committed it, as to believe
it after he has performed all the humiliation in the world. God does
no longer stand displeased, though a believer do sin
often. There is no sin that even believers commit that can possibly
do them any hurt."* Here is an Antinomianism unutterably shocking: that
a Christian man can so write is a startling revelation of the perils of the
[* Antinomianism Revived, p. 138; by Daniel Steel, D.D.]
THE TRUTH
Instinctively
we feel and see the gulf between the true Antinomianism and the false.
The false is embodied in Indian paganism. The missionary, William
Taylor, tells of a Fakir who in his presence, while professing spotless
holiness, was rebuked by the crowd as a liar, a cheat, and an adulterer.
Admitting the truth of these charges, the Fakir triumphantly replied: -
"I am vile in myself, but perfectly holy in
Vishnu." The Scriptural child of God, on the contrary, says
with G. H. Pember:-
"The believer may feel assured that he has
eternal life, and yet tremble at the thought of what the holy
judging light of the judgment may reveal. The easy-going
confidence with which some believers seem to be able to speak of judgment is
not the spirit of Scripture; for every believer who is keenly conscious of
the faults and failures of his own Christian life cannot but view the coming
judgment seat of Christ with deep concern." So
far from putting our present un-abandoned sins on the back of Christ, the
degree of our holiness is measured by our shock at sin, our sensitiveness to
our own guilt. Luther’s cry is ours: - "I am more afraid of my own heart than of the Pope and all
his Cardinals. I have within me the great Pope-self."
UNDER LAW
One
phrase of Paul, delivering us from becoming outlaws, defines just how and in
what we believers are not antagonistic to law, but actually under
it. We are, he says, "not without law
to God, BUT UNDER LAW TO CHRIST"
(1 Cor. 9: 21).
This expression can have but one meaning. Christ is not only our Saviour,
but our Lawgiver; and all His commands are as binding on us, as the laws
of a country are binding on its citizens. "One is your
teacher" (Matt. 23: 8), Jesus
Himself says; and so His parting command enforces all His
utterances on all believers. "Go ye and make disciples of all the nations, teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you; and lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the age" (Matt. 28: 19). That is, the whole Church
is under the whole law of Christ for the whole dispensation. "God manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3: 16), "in
him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily"
(Col. 2: 9): - manifestly it is impossible
to yield anything but absolute and total obedience.
JUDGMENT
A
consequence follows of the uttermost gravity. Paul states it :- "We must" - it is inevitable because
we are under law - "all" - even Paul
himself - "be made manifest" - 'appear in our true light' (Alford) - "before the judgment seat of Christ" - a throne radically
different from the Mercy Seat before which we stand now - "that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he hath done" - that is, an exact quid
pro quo - "whether it be good or bad"
(2 Cor. 5: 10).
It is to be a complete judgment of our discipleship. In the words
of Dr. Pusey:-
"Judgment which did not take account of
everything would be a partial, unjudging judgment: in
man’s sight imperfect; in God, an impossible contradiction."
So also in the words of Lange:- "Every action of God’s children, during their bodily life,
must there be judged according to the law of strict righteousness, and each
believer must be rewarded according to his good or evil conduct.
The necessity of this judgment on the part of God is the only way to secure
such a righteous retribution as would be honourable to God, is to have such a
revelation of the hearts and conduct of us all." It is
precisely lawlessness which will bring back law.
PUNISHMENT
So there is no escape from the grave consequences of this
truth. It is for not seeing it that so
many Evangelicals, who are unconsciously antinomian, deny, or at least evade,
those Scriptures which foretell exceedingly grave, though temporary,
punishments for [regenerate] believers. Bishop Wordsworth states the truth thus:- "That which shall then be
received will be either a reward or punishment; a reward for the good, a
punishment for the evil, done in the body: and that which shall receive the
reward, and be liable to the punishment, is not only the soul, but the body."
No one states the truth more drastically than our Lord
Himself, the Judge. In His forecast of the
Judgment Seat to the Seven Churches, Jesus says to the Laodicean
Angel:- "I know thy
works: because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I
will spew thee out of my mouth" (Rev. 3: 16). The unbeliever is never
lukewarm, but cold as a corpse: this is a child of God. The
Judge Himself says what will happen. "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so
doing. But that servant which knew his lord’s will, and made not ready nor
did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes*; but he that knew not, and did things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes" (Luke
12: 47) - that is, exact judgment (not mercy) will be executed on
each discipleship. The Epistle to the Hebrews
(10: 26) sums it up: "If we" - the Apostle includes
himself - "sin wilfully after that
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth NO MORE
SACRIFICE FOR SINS, BUT A CERTAIN FEARFUL EXPECTATION OF JUDGMENT."
The Lamb returns a Lion (Rev. 5: 5).
[* Such find their lot "with
the unfaithful" (Luke 12: 46, R.V.);
not (as in the Authorized Version) "with
the unbelievers": for as there are "good and faithful servants"
(Matt. 25: 21),
so there are servants evil and unfaithful; or, in our Lord’s phrase,
"wicked and slothful servants" (Matt. 25: 26).]
SELF-JUDGMENT
So,
finally, the solution of the problem is given us in golden words. "If we judged ourselves, WE SHOULD NOT BE
JUDGED *- but
when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned
with the world" (1 Cor.
11: 31). We can now control our own future at the Judgment Seat
of God. In the very beautiful words of Lange: - "A Christian judges himself alone, and trusts none less than
himself; and he who does not daily stand in judgment upon himself, cannot
stand well in a state of grace: but the more severe a man is upon himself,
the more sparing is God toward him." To this end, let us
open our eyes to all Scripture ,¹ evading and avoiding none -
only the single eye (our Lord says) is flood-lit: let us grip all: let us live
all. Then will be fulfilled the judgment Word:- "HE WILL SET HIM OVER ALL THAT HE HATH" (Luke 12: 44).
[* That is, judged adversely, chastened; for even the holiest
are judged, for approval: in proportion and if we chastise ourselves, we shall
not be judged adversely. This passage
has especially in view chastisement in this life. "Many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep"
(ver. 30).]
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1. NOTES
In
one of G. H. Lang’s letters we read: "What
but carelessness of soul can possibly be the effect of such a statement as the
said professional man made with emphasis: ‘No matter how you live as a Christian, you are certain to be part of the bride of Christ and to
reign with him’? or of
a similar mischievous assertion I heard in 1935 from one who has taught these
views for sixty years, ‘Every believer will be
raised when Christ comes, no matter how worldly you may be’? Many
teachers of the general views would shrink from putting the matter so baldly,
but it is what they mean, it is inherent in their doctrine.”
"What the Church of God now needs imperatively is men able to
show fearlessly what the Word of God teaches as to the future
that will guide life through difficulties and dangers, perplexities and
perils; also how to gain strength to be faithful and holy, and what will be the
heavenly recompense; and able to show also what will be the sorrowful
penalties the Christian must face if unfaithful to Christ and the word of His
patience. But this demands close scrutiny of the Word of truth free
from the bias and fetters of preconceived schemes of interpretation.
It calls for zeal and courage, and the making known of the results demands
liberty of utterance, if saints are to profit by it ... The maintaining of popular prophetic orthodoxy may prove the
death of spirituality."
Dr.
A. T. Pierson has been recorded to have said: "We
have a saying, ‘Great is the truth, and will
prevail.’ That is never so in this age. Truth is always with the
minority; and so convinced am I of this that if I find myself agreeing with the
majority on any matter, I make haste and get over to the other side, for I know
I am wrong."
What
good is a D.D., an M.A., or any other worldly qualification, if one lacks
courage to teach the whole truth? If there is no evidence or
desire to disclose responsibility truths to the people of God, what consequences
must surely follow at the judgment-seat before the righteous Judge? "Here, moreover, IT IS REQUIRED IN STEWARDS,
THAT A MAN BE FOUND FAITHFUL" (1 Cor. 4: 2). R.V.
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