Antinomianism & Martin Luther

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Anti = against. Nom = law. Why would anyone be against God’s law?  

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Mike Abendroth, and we are recording again down in the bunker in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
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That would be great. I mainly interact with people on Twitter, and that's usually in the evening.
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One of the things that I posted the other day on Twitter was something by Martin Luther, and I just gave a link.
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You know what? I think I actually gave it on Facebook as well, and it was Luther on antinomianism, antinomianism, and this would be
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Oh, no, it would be Martin Luther, the man that God used for the
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Reformation, and so Luther wrote on antinomianism. If you see something that has the word gnome in it, especially in theological context, gnome is namas, from namas, where we get the word law, so if you see nom in there, you think about law, and so there are words like neonomianism, new law.
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There is gnomism. There is antinomism, and so if you've got anti at the front, the prefix, and then law, forget what the end is, but it's just against the law, so there are people running around in the orbit of, the outskirts of the orbit of evangelicalism, and they don't really like God's law very much, and they are people that would say,
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Jesus paid for all my sins, therefore, including past, present, future sins, therefore my law keeping isn't really that big of a deal.
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They would deny what we call the third use of the law, and we've talked about this many times on No Compromise Radio.
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You have different uses of the law, and of course, the law can be used as a mirror, what we would call the first use of the law, and that means that it shows you your sin, and therefore your need of a savior.
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There's a second use of the law with the civil ramifications, and then there's the third use of the law, and this is the use of the law in your holy living, sanctification.
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It directs you, it norms your life, it regulates your life, and with the first use of the law showing you your sin, here's
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God's law reflecting his holy nature and character, and then you say, well, you know what, I see this law from the hand of the judge, and I'm undone,
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I need a savior. The third use of the law is a little bit different, and it basically says, you know what, while the law is the same and the lawgiver is the same, the relationship that I have to the lawgiver is different, and instead of being a judge, he is my father, that's my relationship to him.
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While he's a judge to other people, because of the work of Jesus Christ, he is my father, and therefore you, if you're a child and you have a real father, you don't do what he says to get in to his good graces, to stay into his good graces, to get into the family, to stay into the family, but because you are in the family, you therefore obey.
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So the third use of the law, this direction that it has for us, is important for holy living, and it tells us what to do.
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Maybe one of the ways you could think about it is one of the commandments, the Ten Commandments is thou shalt not commit adultery, and the first use of the law, when you look at a woman with lust in your heart, or a man for that matter, if you're a lady, you realize, okay, you know what,
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I've actually sinned, and maybe there's other sexual sin up to and including adultery, and that shows that you're a lawbreaker, and if you've broken one law, you're guilty of breaking all the law,
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James chapter 2 verse 10. The third use of the law, though, since you have a different relationship to the lawgiver, no longer judge, because Jesus paid for all those sins of that commandment that's broken, now you have a different relationship to the lawgiver, but still, adultery's not good.
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Sexual immorality is improper. Sexual sin needs to be repented of, and it doesn't change your status before God, because you are justified,
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Christ's perfect life and law -keeping, including never breaking that commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery, is credited to your account, and God sees you in Christ, and he sees you in the righteous robes of Christ, obedience, as Christ has merited righteousness through his law -keeping.
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Yet it is still important for you, then, to not commit adultery, not to look at a woman with lust, not to look at a man with lust, not to think impure thoughts sexually.
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All those thoughts sexually should be for your spouse. Antinomianism would be something that would go like this.
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I have been, as a Christian, all my sexual sins have been paid for, Jesus has paid for them all, and I have
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Christ's act of obedience, his law -keeping in that area of sexual purity, and then his payment for my sins, for all my sexual deviancy and sexual perversion and sexual sin, and therefore that cannot be altered, there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, therefore
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I don't need the third use of the law to norm my life, to direct my life.
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I'm not really for the law, I'm against the law, functionally, antinomianism. This is what
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Luther wrote about this. He says, my friends, the antinomians preach exceedingly well, and I cannot but believe that they do so with great earnestness, concerning the mercy of Christ, forgiveness of sin, and other contents of the article of redemption.
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What Luther is saying, he's saying, I really appreciate so much how they preach, and they are great preachers, and they do so with earnestness, and with verve, and with vigor, and they love to talk about the mercy of Christ, and the forgiveness of sins, and everything about redemption, and how we were slaves to sin, and we're purchased out of the slave market of sin now, and we're slaves of Christ Jesus, and slaves of righteousness,
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Romans 6. I really love that, that they are such good preachers when it comes to that.
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And by the way, there's nothing wrong with earnest, excellent preaching, and exceedingly well preaching when it comes to Christ's mercy, forgiveness of sins, and redemption.
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We all ought to be loving that kind of preaching, and if we're preachers, we ought to preach with earnestness, exceedingly well, those doctrines.
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Then Luther says this, and by the way, you can access this article, Luther on Antinomianism, at monergism .com.
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Luther says, but they flee from this inference as from the devil, that they must tell people about the third article of sanctification, that is, the new life in Christ.
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What Luther is talking about there is, when we are justified and declared righteous, which is the same thing, right?
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Declared not guilty, declared righteous, based on the life of Christ, justification, just as if I've never sinned, just as if I perfectly obeyed the law, perfectly and forever.
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Now what happens is we realize that sanctification, while different from justification, it is inseparable, and that is to say, when
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God justifies someone, he sanctifies them, and that sanctified life doesn't begin five years after justification or 20 years after justification.
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That sanctified life doesn't start immediately and then stop. It doesn't start immediately and then kick in and out as time goes on.
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It doesn't wait until glorification. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus. You are regenerated.
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And of course, now we're beginning to talk about other doctrines. And Luther said, you know what? If you're a Christian, you have a new life.
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And of course, if that new life is there, you're going to have a motivation and a power to be able to obey
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Luther. For they hold that we must not terrify people and make them sorrowful, but must always preach to them the comfort of grace in Christ and the forgiveness of sins.
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They tell us to avoid, for God's sakes, such statements as these. And then he gives the statement, and it's in quotation.
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Listen, you want to be a Christian while you are an adulterer, a fornicator, a swill belly, full of pride, avarice, that's greed, usurous practices, that's high interest rates, envy, revenge, malice, et cetera, and mean to continue in these sins?
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On the contrary, they tell us that this is the proper way to speak. Listen, you are an adulterer, fornicator, miser, or addicted to some other sin.
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Now, if you will only believe, you are saved and need not dread the law, for Christ has fulfilled the law.
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So that's all in parentheses. Tell me, Luther says, pray thee. Does not this amount to conceding the premise and denying the conclusion?
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Verily, it amounts to this, that Christ is taken away and made worthless in the same breath with which he is most highly extolled.
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It means to say yes and no in the same matter. For a
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Christ who died for sinners, who after receiving forgiveness, will not quit their sin, nor lead a new life, is worthless and does not exist.
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So let me put my own Abendroth comments here. Justification, you're declared righteous based on the work of another, declared not guilty based on the work of another, that is
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Jesus Christ, God -man, truly God, truly man, raised from the dead. Law -keeping
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Jesus, paying for our law -breaking. Jesus is the reason why
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God can be the just and justifier of us. He justifies ungodly people,
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God does. And then what happens is, then there is a sanctification that begins.
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If you go back to the Reformers, they would talk about a double benefit of Jesus, a duplex gratia.
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I think it was Calvin who first used those words. And that is, Jesus is giving us a double benefit.
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The first benefit is pardon, that is justification. The second benefit is power.
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He's given us the power by the indwelling Holy Spirit to say yes to righteousness and no to sin, that is to live a holy life.
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When you are saved, there's lots of aspects to that salvation, and we might be talking about initial salvation, justification.
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We could talk about final salvation, glorification. Or we might be talking about what you typically hear in evangelicalism called progressive sanctification, where people, in response to the spirit of God's work, live a holy life.
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So the double benefit, the duplex gratia, is for pardon, justification, and power, sanctification.
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And what Luther is after is if somebody says, you can have justification and not sanctification, then this is not true.
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This is conceding the premise and denying the conclusion. Here's Jesus, he's a savior, but you still live in all the sins and you don't quit your sins, there's no new life.
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And so that's worthless. There is a faith that doesn't save, right? There's James 2, John chapter 2.
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Jesus didn't commit himself to people because he knew what was in their heart. Lots of people that wanted Jesus for the bread man, literally, but they didn't want him for anything else.
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And so his disciples followed him, John 6, 66, I believe, no more.
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Jesus is the one that we look to for the double benefit, justification and sanctification.
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Therefore, if you say, you know what, I'll take him for fire insurance, I'll take him for justification, but I don't want to take him for anything else.
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Well, then you ought not to tell yourself you're a Christian. He, Luther, and of course the
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Bible, is not saying that you live a perfect life of holiness, some Keswick type of perfectionism,
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John Wesley perfectionism. He's not saying that. He's not saying there won't be ups and downs.
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He's not saying that great men of God and women of God hardly sin.
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Obviously, David, if my recollection is right, he,
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David, writes some Psalms and then sleeps with Bathsheba. There are great sins, right?
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We realize that. But what he's saying is if there's no new life, if there's no sanctification by the
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Holy Spirit, if there's no holy living, if there's no change, if there's no desire, and even that desire could be, well, you know what,
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I'm quicker now to ask forgiveness when I do sin. Luther says this is worthless faith and it doesn't exist.
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If you're going to deny the third use of the law, you're an antinomian. Luther, according to the logic of Nestorius and Eudekes, these people in masterful fashion, see, they do it so well, preach a
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Christ who is and is not the Redeemer. So people like this, they preach
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Christ who is a Redeemer, not a Redeemer. What do they mean by that? He redeems from sins positionally, but he doesn't redeem sins practically.
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Justification, yes. Sanctification, no. They are excellent preachers of the
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Easter truth, but miserable preachers of the truth of Pentecost. Isn't that interesting?
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So when it comes to resurrection, they believe it, his death for sinners.
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The resurrection of Jesus, literally. But when it comes to Pentecost and the empowering
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Holy Spirit for many things, including holy living, they don't talk about that.
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So therefore they are miserable preachers when it comes to the truth of Pentecost.
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Luther, for there is nothing in their preaching concerning sanctification of the Holy Ghost and about being quickened into a new life.
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There we have it. Now lots of times we think of the word sanctification and it starts and ends with what we do and our responsibility and our power in and of ourselves to live a sanctified life.
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That's what we typically talk about. Luther doesn't fall into that trap though. He talks about concerning sanctification and then what does he say?
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Of the Holy Ghost and about being quickened into a new life. Luther's stress there for pardon and power is on the person and work of God, the
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Holy Spirit indwelling us, causing us to live a holy life.
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And it is not, we don't have a responsibility or anything like that.
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He sanctifies, the Holy Spirit does, and we respond with good works. That's certainly true. Luther, they preach only about the redemption of Christ.
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It is proper to extol Christ in our preaching. But Christ is the Christ and has acquired redemption from sin and death for this very purpose that the
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Holy Spirit should change our old Adam into a new man that we are to be dead under sin and live under righteousness as Paul teaches,
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Romans 6 -2 and following. And that we are to begin this change and increase in new life here and consummate it hereafter.
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Therefore, what Luther is saying here, he is saying if people only talk about redemption, which is good to talk about redemption, but if it's only redemption of sin positionally and not the
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Romans 6 sanctification aspect, then that would be wrong. Final paragraph, then a few things that I'd like to say.
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By the way, this is Martin Luther concerning councils and churches. St. Louis edition, it looks like,
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Roman numeral 16, I think page 2 ,241 and following.
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Luther, for Christ has gained for us not only grace, but also the gift.
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So the gratiam and the donam. So he's given us grace and the gift of the
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Holy Spirit. So grace is the application of Christ's life and death.
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And then the gift is the indwelling Holy Ghost, so that we obtain, Luther said, from him, not only forgiveness of sin, but also ceasing from sin.
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And he doesn't mean perfectionism there at all. Anyone, therefore, who does not cease from his sin, this is the language of present tense,
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I'm sure, just like 1 John 1 -5, but continues in his former evil way, must have obtained a different Christ from, where do they get this different Christ, from the antinomians.
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That's where they get it. The genuine Christ is not with them. Even if they cry with the voice of all angels,
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Christ, Christ, they, here's how Luther ends it, they will have to go to perdition with their new
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Christ, end quote. Martin Luther on antinomianism from concerning councils and churches.
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Now, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say, well, Abendroth, you like to talk about neonomianism a lot more than antinomianism.
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That's true, although the show, I'm talking about antinomianism, am
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I not? But the reason why I tend to talk about neonomianism more often is because I think my background and a lot of the circles
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I run in, if the people there in those circles are not careful, and if I'm not careful, we tend to have more of a neonomian approach, and that is we say, well, you have to surrender to Jesus.
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This is your response to his work. You have to submit. You have to deny.
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You have to sacrifice. You have to count the costs. We have certain things that we say that are really extra laws, laws of sanctification that are jammed into the justification category.
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They are antecedent to saving faith, and therefore, I get after people because there's nothing antecedent to saving faith because I believe in the doctrine of sola fide, faith alone, not faith in submission, not faith in surrender, not faith in desire, not faith in treasuring, but it's faith slash trusting, and therefore, that's the error that I see in evangelicalism these days.
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Of course, I see the other error of antinomianism, right? Easy beliefism, but also there's a hard believism that's out there that I've been seeing, and therefore,
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I regularly show people this is the error of neonomianism. One of the other reasons why
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I talk about neonomianism more than antinomianism is because I think neonomianism is a worse sin than antinomianism, even though they're both sinful, but it's worse neonomianism because it's in the category of salvation, not sanctification.
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If you're going to make an error, don't make any error, but if you have to pick one or the other, I'd rather have it as a sanctification error, not a justification error.
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And then lastly, as I'm looking over there at the 23 volumes that I have of John Owen, Owen, volume 5, he is attacking
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Richard Baxter, who was adding laws to justification, and so he,
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Owen, regularly talked about the errors of neonomianism.
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And since I'm reading eight pages of John Owen a day to keep the Richard Baxter's away, that's regularly in my mind.
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I'm sure in the other writings of John Owen, right now, I'm reading volume, I think it's 10, is it 10?
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Maybe volume 9 on sermons, some of his sermons. I finished,
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I think, volumes 1, 5, 6, 10, maybe.
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And so I'm on the next volume and it's on sermons, and so I'm sure there'll be things there about, you know, a faith that doesn't save, right?
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A faith that denies, a faith that says, forget the duplex gratia, forget the gratiam and the donam, that is the grace and the gift.
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So today we're talking on No Compromise Radio about Martin Luther and antinomianism, denying the third use of the law when it comes to Christians needing to and having the ability to live a holy life because of the power of the
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Holy Spirit and because of the benefits of Christ Jesus. We want to be excellent preachers of forgiveness of sins, of Christ, of redemption, and his transforming power, do we not?
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That's absolutely true here on No Compromise Radio. That's what I desire to do. The emphasis,
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I think, because of category, of justification is more important, of who
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I read, John Owen especially attacking Baxter, and my background, wanting to jam in submission and sanctification categories into justification.
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That's why I talk about the errors of neonomism more than I do of antinomianism. But both are certainly errors, and the solution to both is not to go overboard but continue to preach the gospel.
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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Ebendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.
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