The Letters of the Law
Part One
Part One
“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Romans 10:2-4 (ESV)
I have stumbled over a new word in my life and I have no idea how to use it as a normal everyday word. It doesn’t even look like a normal everyday word either. The word is Antinomianism. This is a term that was coined by Martin Luther and according to Wikipedia; this word is defined as “holding that under the gospel dispensation of grace, the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation.” Now keep in mind that when Luther realized the truth of justification by faith alone, he became a Christian and then a major reformation in Christendom came from it. That in its self is pretty radical but as for my newly learned word, antinomianism, well let’s just say it too can go extreme.
The apostle Paul spent a lot of time dealing with people who had the notion that obedience to a code of religious law earned salvation and it has led to a hard saying. That saying is found in Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Now this isn’t the only place in Paul’s work that he deals with the letters of the law but this would be considered one of his hard sayings concerning it. And the arguments for and against the truth of justification by faith alone had begun before Paul even got off any given boat in any given port. Paul took on the challenge by answering the questions concerning the relationship between the Law of the Father and Faith in the Son. And he had to do this in a pagan world that was being told they had to be a Hebrew first and a Christian after. Can you hear the opening bell?
Well before the ring announcer gets going let me come right out and say that antinomianism was and still is considered some sort of heresy. The extreme swing of its pendulum is that we don’t have to obey the Ten Commandments nor do we need them as a moral compass for our everyday living. Luther himself was accused of rejecting the Old Testament moral law because he spoke out against the ceremonial law of the Church. In “An Introduction to St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans” Luther boldly states, “Faith cannot help doing good works constantly. It doesn’t stop to ask if good works ought to be done, but before anyone asks, it already has done them and continues to do them without ceasing. Anyone who does not do good works in this manner is an unbeliever…Thus, it is just as impossible to separate faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire!”
Now there is a positive swing that also needs to be mentioned and that is antinomianism doesn’t always imply a total disregard for codified moral codes but rather the emphasis on the inner working of the Holy Spirit as our moral compass. But to slice this to the bone it is not justification by faith and does not have right legal standing before the Almighty. The Bible is quite clear that justification is a legal declaration by God. He is the only one that can declare or be declared righteous. So to really dig into this we need to understand the term “law” that is used in Romans 10:4.
So tomorrow I would like to get into that term know as the “The Law”. And as for my newly found term, “antinomianism” I found it in this book titled, “Hard Sayings of Paul” and it was written by Manfred Brach. It’s another one of those books that a Pastor gives you to read (and basing this Freedom Fighter in) because he knows there is something in there that you oughta know. I will tell you the one thing I do know and it is this…that I have no intention of becoming an “Antinomianist.” Not only is it a really hard word to pronounce but I have had the darndest time trying to use it in a sentence without spell check putting that red squiggly line under it. I guess it even defies the commandments of spelling…I wonder if that it is something we oughta know? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and a regular Freedom Fighter contributor
Compass Pointers: The value of persistent prayer is not that he will hear us, but that we will finally hear him. William McGill
Anchored to the Rock: The church upon its knees would bring heaven upon the earth. E. M. Bounds
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