What is Antonmianism? | askTheocast.com

The Meaning of Antinomianism and Why the Label Is Often Misused

So, one of the things here at Theocast that we are often accused of is being antinomians. And that's a difficult word and it's something that honestly just gets kind of thrown to and about within greater reform circles.

A lot of times when it's not necessary or even true. To be a true antinomian really means that as you think about God's moral law, you see that it has no role within the life of a Christian. That just because Jesus died for you and forgave your sin and you believe in him, you can go on living in what is known as licentiousness or believing that God's moral standards have no weight or bearing on your life.

The Third Use of the Law and the Guiding Way of the Believing Life

And so here at Theocast, you can reference back on one of Justin's videos where he talks about the three uses of the law. And specifically the third use of the law, where we understand God's moral law, what we see, that we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, that we love our neighbors as ourself.

We see that as kind of the guiding way of the believing life. And so here's where we want to be clear. At Theocast, we are not against God's law in that sense. It's not like we look at God's moral law and we say, oh no, just because Jesus died for us and we believe in him, we have grace and we can rest and we don't have to uphold any of God's righteous standards.

On the contrary, we understand that the law is useful when it's used rightfully in that the law reveals to us our sin. It shows us the areas that we don't love God with everything that we are. It shows us the areas where we don't love our neighbor as ourself.

Christ, Freedom from Condemnation, and a Posture of Gratitude

And so it pushes us to Christ. But we also understand that in Christ, there is no condemnation for us, that we have been declared free from the condemnation of the law, that we have been declared free from sin and guilt and death.

And now in our lives, we live in a posture of gratitude in that we live in such a way that we seek to live within God's righteous demands and decrees. However, we don't confuse these categories. So we don't look at God's law and say, this is a way in which I live it and therefore I achieve God's acceptance and merit and favor.

Rather, we live what we always like to say, status forward. That God in the gospel, through Jesus Christ, through his meritorious works on our behalf, has declared us free and forgiven and righteous and justified.

And therefore, in light of that, we are able, we now can, out of a spirit of gratitude and a posture of gratitude, we can love God in a sense of freedom. We can love our neighbors in a sense of freedom.

Why True Antinomianism Rejects God's Moral Law

So antinomians, on the other hand, would say that God's moral law has no place in the life of a believer. That instead, it's just grace, grace, grace, and we can go on living however we want. And so to be a true antinomian is actually a pretty rare thing.

And so we want to be careful when we use that word. We just don't want to lob it at people. We just don't want to say that this person's an antinomian. A lot of times our Lutheran brothers and sisters can be given that unfair title.

Why Theocast Rejects the Antinomian Label

And so we want to be really slow to use that word. And so again, to summarize, are we at theocast antinomians? Well, we would say absolutely not, that we understand the third use of the law. We understand that there is standards of living that God has called us to, but we also understand that those standards of living cannot ever save us, that that is always grounded in the person and work of Christ on our behalf.

But rather now, in a sense of freedom and in a sense of forgiveness, we live status forward, that as we move about in this life, God's law guides how we live. So we hope that you found this helpful. You can look at other questions that we're seeking to answer.

I invite you to check out theocast .org for more resources. Thanks for tuning in.