The spirit of the age in which we live can be summed up in one word – LAWLESS. Post-modern (in other words “post-Christian”) Christians differ from the larger society only by degree in this attitude. In fact, I’m becoming convinced that the larger society may be more righteous than today’s Christians. Why? Because at least the lost world does not parade their lawlessness under the banner of God’s grace.
“Antinomianism” is the theological term used to describe this sinful attitude. It is a word that simply means “against law”. Most of today’s christians claim to have a freedom from God’s law that the Bible simply does not grant them. They seem to think that The Spirit of God gives us freedom from the law, but just the opposite is true. The freedom that the Spirit imparts to us is freedom to serve God because we no longer hate His law. Through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, we now love His law. The Christian life is a life of discipline and obedience, not licentious freedom.
But “Emergent” christians will not accept correction. The minute anyone tries to protest against their portrayal of Christ as a lawless hippy, they are castigated as a judgmental Pharisee. Most of the emerging hippy-type pastors are so self-centered they can hardly make a post on their blog without mentioning how much people “dig” their “threads” or the latest tattoo or exceptionally radical spiked hairdo.
Some of them use the most vulgar language imaginable and actually try to justify it by saying that the Bible has cuss words in it. They will tell you that the original Greek language of the New Testament was the common language, as opposed to the classic Greek of the aristocracy. What these shallow thinkers fail to see with their profane minds is that “common” language does not mean “gutter” language.
Some of these filthy thinkers believe that being “relevant” requires that they obsess over sex. I am no prude, and I know that the Bible is very direct and raw on sexual issues. But the Church never was silent on sexual behavior, much the chagrin of the unregenerate public. It is indicative of the amazing arrogance of the postmoderns that believe that nobody knew anything about sex until it was discovered by Masters and Johnson in the 1960’s. Now, these postmodern pastors are encouraging their people to do such things as “have sex every day for 30 days.” (for married couples). http://www.leadingsmart.com/leadingsmart/2008/02/30-day-sex-chal.html
Nothing could be more damaging to the marriage relationship than to reduce it to such a mechanical prescription. Marital love IS NOT THE SAME as casual sex. One is holy; the other is animal. Sexual pleasure is only one – and I mean ONLY ONE – of the ingredients that make up a successful relationship between man and wife. In fact, it is not even an ESSENTIAL ingredient for some couples. The purpose of marriage is not to grant legal permission to pursue bodily pleasures, but it is to create the greatest social institution known to mankind in general – that is, THE FAMILY. Outside of the Church, the family is the most important divinely-established institute in the world.
“Oh, but they say some good things!” Yes, but deception is never an outright lie. It is always mixed with truth. And it is up to the elders of the Church, who have had their “senses exercised to discerned good and evil (Hebrews 5:14), to give correction to the disciples – to scrub out the errors and give glory to the truth. The typical emergent pastor is puffed up and satisfied in his popularity. He will not receive correction. He is lawless.
Tags: antinomianism, Bible, Christianity, immergent, post modern, religion
Sovereign God Ministries 
April 9, 2008 at 2:55 am |
Very nice, really profound words for our post-modern chuch (so-called) and society!
April 9, 2008 at 2:55 am |
that was church
April 9, 2008 at 8:56 am |
The Bible says that we are free from the law of sin and death. I think that perhaps you may have misunderstood some people who have said that they are free from the law. According to Romans 8, we are free from “the law”.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
The Spirit frees us from the guilt and condemnation of the law. The law no longer condemns us as it did in the past. Before we are saved, we are condemned by the law, but after we are free from the law. Now does this mean that we should sin that grace may abound? Of course not! Anyone who excuses sinning with saying that we are free from the law is clearly opposed to scripture. However I must say, that I do not know many pastors, Emergent or otherwise who use that verse to excuse sin.
Now I don’t know what licentious means, but I can tell you that the Christian life is not one of discipline on our part. We have no ability to do good. Only Christ can do good through us. So yes, we are free. We are free because we don’t have to do anything to be saved or to keep from sinning. It is all in the work of Christ.
I would also say that you should be careful with the word “most”. I may consider myself to be Emergent in some ways, but I do not do what you described. I also don’t see mentioning a tattoo or hairdo as somehow being self-centered. I have also never seen anyone do that before, but maybe I haven’t been around on the internet long enough.
I do not agree with using cuss words, only because of what it may mean to some people. I know many wonderful Christian brothers in India who routinely use the S word, P word, and A word and I do not believe that they are sinning for it, because in their culture those words do not have the same shade of meaning as in our culture. I also don’t think that anyone in America is sinning if they use those words, as long as the heart behind it is not to offend someone else. This is an interesting case where culture determines whether or not something is wrong or right. I believe that there are many sub-cultures in America where some words(certainly not all) would be OK.
I think that the “Emergent” group has good people and bad people, just like every other group in Christianity. So far, I do not see any of the things you mentioned as inherently sinful. I would like to see some scripture verses that talk about these things specifically.
April 9, 2008 at 5:38 pm |
mookda…Before you launch into this, next time I would at least check my dictionary for “licentious” – Morally unrestrained, esp. in sexual activity; lascivious; libertine. I would agree that as Scripture says: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3: 6) But even some so-called pagans, seek to have some discipline and restraint. And St. Paul does speak about going to war with the flesh…1 Cor. 9: 26-27. Here it is the New Man or nature seeking to diminish or refrain the old. The old will never die of course (Rom. 7:24-25), until death or resurrection. But as we see in Romans 8, he must recede at least (Rom. 8, we are not in our sins, but “sin” is still in us) Also see…1 Cor. 9: 20-21 as “under the law to Christ”.
Just seeking to be helpful!
April 10, 2008 at 2:46 am |
Thanks for the thoughtful comments irishanglican and moodka. I don’t have time to react right now but I will get back around to it.
April 14, 2008 at 11:15 pm |
When you use the word, “Lawless,” what law are you speaking of?
A. The law that the Messiah kept (The Law given to Moses by the Creator)
B. The law that the Rabbis made up (i.e., the “Oral Law” – the Talmud, Mishna, Kabbalah, etc.)
C. The law of Christianity (i.e., Sunday worship, Christmas, Easter, etc.)
D. Civil & Criminal law
April 15, 2008 at 1:57 am |
I will let our brother Joel speak for himself, when he can. He wrote this fine article! But, I think from the Greek it might mean both “anomos” = lawless, contempt of law. And perhaps “anomia” lawlessness. This aspect of law would be moral and civil. And there is “atesmos” (Gk.) = breaking through all restraints of ordinances or institutes, divine or human, to gratify one’s lusts. Here only in 2 Pet. 2: 7; 3:17.
April 15, 2008 at 2:26 am |
“Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4 NASB Updated Ed)
Sadly, in appearance and form..many Christians and Christian groups seem to enjoy the even practice of sin! (On certain things and issues) I know I am gonna get hammered for this statement, but there it is! I think this is Joel’s point to Antinomianism.
April 15, 2008 at 2:42 am |
John, pick one, it doesn’t matter. Antinomians are likely to hide behind their notion of “liberty” at the mention of any of the laws you listed.
Christians are free from the ceremonial law of the Old Covenant because those laws were shadows of Christ. And it’s not that Christians are “free” to disobey the ceremonial law – it’s that the Christian in fact does obey the ceremonial law vicariously through Christ’s obedience to it.
But God’s moral law may not be ignored nor disobeyed by anyone, whether Jew, Gentile, or the Church of God. This is so plain in scripture that I see no need to provide proof texts. But I will mention some.
The antinomian’s great flagship of “liberty” is found in Galatians 5:1:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
But the antinomian glosses over what Paul’s warning concerning this “liberty” when he says in verses 13 and 14 of the same chapter:
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Notice the words “the law is fulfilled”. This clearly shows that Christians are not “free” from the law in the libertine sense.
Also, Paul is showing the Galatians their freedom from ceremonial law (specifically, circumcision) and not from moral law. He says in chapter 2:
17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Did you see that? Christ is NOT the minister of sin. Chew on that for a while.
And just how would someone be found a sinner? By the law – yes, THAT law, the Law of Moses, as Paul states in Romans 7:
Romans 7:7 (KJV) What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
The moral law of God has never been abolished and it never will be. The Spirit of God does not free us to disobey it, but frees us to obey it.
Romans 8:4 (KJV) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The Christian is not free to disobey God’s Law, nor is the Chritian free to disobey the civil laws of his country (unless they compel him to disobey God’s law), nor is the Christian free to offend his brother for whom Christ died.
But, hay, according to some people, my adherence to the NEW TESTAMENT makes me a Pharisee. Go figure.
April 15, 2008 at 3:19 am |
Moodka, thank for your comments and for your effort to understand the Christian way. Irishanglican made some good comments and I would like to add a few myself.
First, language matters. Paul made a point of it twice (let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth; let no filthy communication proceed out of your mouth).
Second, the Christian ethic is a transcendant ethic. It “rises above”. It does not dress down to the lowest common denominator. “for your conversation (life style) is in heaven”.
Lastly, I must insist that the Christian life is indeed a life of discipline. “Disciple” is the word, I believe. Make no mistake about it – the good works – unto which we were created and which God ordained that we should walk in (Ephesian 2:10) – they are done by believers on earth, not Christ in heaven. But we do not account our good works as deserving of reward because they are “wrought in God”, that is, the Holy Spirit empowers us and leads us into those good works. Without His indwelling presence, we would do no good works. Therefore, even though we do good works, God gets the glory for them.
It is a fitting example of the pervasiveness of antinomianism, that you would say that you have to “do nothing to keep from sinning”. Now, I don’t think you really meant to say it that way, but you did say it. And more than likely, you said it because you heard someone else say it.
Brother, we have to pray for God’s deliverance every day from the sinful nature within us. Your statement represents a complete misunderstanding of the Christian life, the doctrine of sanctification, and the doctrine of the perseverence of the saints.
The fact that God will surely deliver His elect from the power of sin does not negate the necessity of the means of constant repentance and prayer in the life of the believer to bring about the promised deliverance. I pray that you understand that and that you do not have a casual attitude toward sin and toward your service to God.
April 15, 2008 at 4:15 am |
Thanks for the help irishanglican, unbeknownst to me your posts were awaiting moderation while I was posting my reply. Also, I see you visited Vickie’s blog at http://www.theoreo.wordpress.com which I was just visiting myself. I noticed that you were amil and changed to dispy. My journey was opposite – dispy to amil. How about that! But that’s a topic for another day. God bless you sir.
April 15, 2008 at 3:27 pm |
Thank you Joel, for your kind words, ministry and brotherhood. Indeed Vicki is a sweet woman and solid Christian.
Yes my personal journey continues, I have many friends who are covenant theologically. In fact most. I still know and value the position really. (Though I fear some brethren, have become just too enamored with a “protestant scholasticism”, I know I did for too long.) My theological education was under that in the main. I did get to sit under some good men, and some big names. I was born near Dublin and rasied in Ireland, but my education is English. So I am really Anglo-Irish now. Be that as it may. With God we are beggers all! Some of my colleagues and associates (past & present) think my change is due to my upbringing near ‘the brethren’. I’m not sure, but my great-gram was a bit of a fireball herself…godly Christian woman and remained with the so-called Kelly Brethren (thus me middle name lol). But, I don’t think so, I cannot probe myself psychologically. I am certainly very critical of the pop dispensational culture – as I call it. I am eclectic somewhat, and perhaps eccentric? My form of dispensationalism would be more towards Bullinger. Of course I cannot follow him everywhere, nor would I want to. But his dispensational thinking, overall, seems more consistent to me. Like him I would see that both in the Gospels, and even in Acts (till Acts 28: 24-28) the message of the Kingdom is still toward Israel. (Acts 1:6) Israel (under the Law) – ended with the rejection by Israel of the grace of God at the end of Acts. And the Church of God (the Secret Dispensation of Grace) – gradual transition from Law to Grace during the Acts period, culminating in the rejection of Israel as I said in Acts 28: 24-28. I know you would reject all this, but it is my biblical and theological conviction right now (maybe 20 years now?) But like you, the moral Law is still and always under force! I know there has been much heat among Christian Brethren (and often rightly so sometimes) over all of this. I know I do not agree with many Scofield and PB ideas on dispensationalism! Well, just to touch a few lines my brother. Again, thanks for your good word, and kindness. And please feel free to speak your mind on any biblical issue. I think you are the kind of man of God that does! And that is good! Let us just remember we are Brethren by God’s elect grace – I know you will really. I sense your gifts and ability. Very keen my brother!
I myself, well I am sort of committed to my Greek NT. Whatever time I have left here…I hope I can do some justice to this effort? But I must be careful, as Sir Edwyn Hoskyns said: “Can we rescue a word, and discover a universe? Can we study a language, and awake to the Truth? Can we bury ourselves in a lexicon, and arise in the presence of God?” I know you get the picture. And God bless you my fellow shepherd! Robert
April 15, 2008 at 11:37 pm |
Hello Robert, I’ve read some Bullinger stuff but my dispensational training was in the Schofield model. I eventually changed to Covenant and amil due due to my disatisfaction with the idea of two peoples of God and my attraction to the teaching of fulfillment in Covenant Theology.
I don’t know what you mean by “protestant scholasticism” – is that like academic intellectualism?
Surely, “pop” dispensationalism and “headline prophecy” has dimmed the light on an otherwise respectable theology. Did you see my post “A Dispensationalist Goes Over The Edge?
I appreciate your attitude and I wish you well in your Greek NT studies.
April 16, 2008 at 3:44 am |
Hi Joel, Yes there are major differences in my dispensational schema (somewhat like Bullinger) to that of Schofield. Though of course there are real affinities also, i.e. The divide between the Church and Israel. This will always be the main point of difference with covenant theology. But they are many points of agreement also. We should seek those too! One thing that you and I would agree on…the Post-Modern world is kicking our can in the Church world today! Far too many Christians have forgotten the meaning of 1 John 2: 15-17! Shame on them!
Indeed, a so-called “protestant scholasticism” is just that, an academic intellectualism! Look at the overt mental blogs that abound! So much of it is just full of theological pride! Having been caught by it in the past myself, I am very leary now! God keep me low and seeking only Him! This is a constant prayer really.
Can I see your post on “A Dispensationalist Goes Over The Edge?” I am a real critic of my own system, we must be. To remain thoughtful and ready I believe.
Thanks again for your help and concern. I also appreciate your common sense and desire to stand upon the Word of God, come what may!
Yours,
April 16, 2008 at 4:38 am |
Joel,
Actually I meant exactly what I said. If we think that we there is anything we can DO to keep from sinning then we are mistaken. If we pray in hopes of keeping from sinning, then we are still trying to accomplish the task by something we can do. It’s all about surrender. Surrender means that you recognize that you are sinful and can do nothing apart from Christ.
Surrender itself is often a discipline however. Here I can partly agree. Surrender to God is one of the hardest things we can possibly do. Surrender means doing absolutely nothing to try to feel a certain feeling or stop from sinning. If someone is truly doing absolutely nothing but laying it at the feet of Jesus, I believe that that person will not sin. Doing nothing means that one must be indifferent to what he feels and what happens. It means that you give it to Jesus, and He is the One taking care of it, not you.
But here’s the catch; in order to do this, one must not worry about whether or not he will sin, because he is trusting God to take care of it. One must be indifferent. Too many Christians try to do something to keep from sinning. They are still depending on themselves.
If you want to get the full version of what I’m talking about, read “The Life that Wins” by Watchman Nee. I had already discovered these truths before I read his book, but he explains it far better then I.
April 16, 2008 at 4:42 am |
In order to be led by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must surrender to Him and realize that we can do nothing to help ourselves. If we realize that we can do nothing, then we won’t do anything.
April 17, 2008 at 12:50 am |
Mookda, I pray that the Lord will bless you. I just hope you understand that sancitification is an active process that requires your conscious participation. Time would fail me to list the scripture proofs of this. There simply is nothing passive about sanctification. The only thing mystical about it is how God providencially works all things to our good and His glory. “Surrender” is not a Bible concept, but “repentance” is. Think about the difference. The former is passive, the other is active. That’s all – just think and pray about it.
April 17, 2008 at 2:38 am |
Indeed, there is a certain Quietism that is not biblical, it minimizes both human activity and resposibility. We can see this often in some popular Christian writers, past and present.
And yes, biblical sanctification demands that old word: discipleship! We must go to ‘battle stations’ with ourselves, and even the very fallen world we live in! (See, 2 Cor. 10: 3,4,5) And yes also, this is an active mental battle! (Ps. 119: 9 / Rom. 12:1-2)
Daily active action (Eph, 4: 21 thru 5:18) is a good read for the Christian here. The Word of God does matter!
Thanks Joel!
April 17, 2008 at 4:39 am |
Yes Joel, and yet, “I HAVE BEEN crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
The crucifixion of the old man is passive, and yet we also see that it happens daily. Our crucifixion has already happened, but we must now acknowledge it and live in it daily. I believe that it is possible for the Christian to do everything with a completely selfless motive and be completely given to Christ. I would say that most Christians do not believe it is possible for us never to sin again, but the Bible tells us that it is.
So it has been; but we must acknowledge what has already happened and live the life we now live in the flesh with faith in God that He can give us victory over sin.
We are certainly responsible, but we are not active in our salvation. How can we be if we have been crucified? Salvation is the continual abandonment of our will to God. Our will cannot give us a correct heart motive. We can choose to do certain “good” actions, but they are all filthy rags if our heart is not doing them completely and totally selflessly. I do not believe that the latter can be attained outside of surrendering our will to God. I have tried before, and I have found it impossible to will myself to be selfless. How can the self attempt to be selfless? God is the only one who can accomplish this for us.
I believe that God disciplines us as sons in order to bring our will into submission to His. Jesus said that He did not do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him. How could Jesus really be completely outside of His own will? You see it does not say that His will was in agreement with the Father’s(at Gethsemane He asked for the cup to be passed from Him) but His will was not His own. Jesus gave up(surrendered) His own will to the Father and let the Father direct Him. We are disciples disciplined by God in order to become more perfectly surrendered to Him. Repentance is a step toward that surrendered will. We must realize that we have sinned and that we cannot accomplish it on our own before we will give our will to God.
April 17, 2008 at 9:32 pm |
Mookda, it is very good that you are thinking hard on such profound, things, etc. Sense you started this dialog with Joel, I want him to lead the way here. And in my opinion, Joel has been right on the money! In providence you could not find a better pastor-teacher to speak and dialog with! Here that Proverb 27: 17 comes to mind: “Iron sharpeneth iron; So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”
God bless!
April 25, 2008 at 3:17 am |
Moodka – yes, we are passive in our salvation in regards to works of righteousness but we are active in sanctification.
As for sinless perfection, I wish could get there myself. But even when I do good things, evil is present with me. There are two natures in me – God’s, and mine. My human nature was not annihilated when I got saved, and I expect the struggle between the two natures to continue until I die. This is what Romans chapter 7 actually tells us.
Most people I know that believe in sinless perfection have a low view of sin. They think they don’t sin because they justify bad thoughts. They’ll say, “as long as I don’t act on those thoughts, it’s not sin”. Others have said, “as long as I don’t think about bad things very long, it’s not sin”. It’s a failure to recognize the all-encompassing nature of sin in the human mind, heart, and body. The idea of sinless perfection or total sanctification results in a sort of self-delusion and can have disastrous consequences. It actually results in a form of antinomianism or lawlessness, which is the original topic of this post. I pray that you will not go that way.
April 25, 2008 at 4:48 pm |
Col. 3:5 comes to mind here: “Put to death therefore, your members upon earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil-desire and covetousness or greed (which is idolatry).” (Lit. trans.)
This sounds very strange at first, after being told repeatdly that we “died with Christ”. It sounds practical also. But for a thing to be practical, it must be practicable. It must be something which we are able to do. The word “mortify” or “put to death” is nekroo (Gk.), to make dead,; hence to treat as having become dead. The two other Scripture uses: Rom. 4: 19 and Heb. 11: 12…”as good as dead”. And from the two passages is is used of one who is actually alive, but, “as good as dead”, i.e. impotent as to producing life, and as to all practical purposes. And moreover, the word is used in Col. 3: 5, not of the old nature itself, but of its “members” (as of Abraham’s and Sarah’s members) and the exhortation is consequent on the doctrine in the preceding verses.
It begins with “therefore”, and the argument is: Seeing that you died with Christ, occupy yourselves with heavenly things and not earthly things, set your mind on Christ (above) and the blessed fact that you are “complete in Him”, and when He appears in glory you also shall be manifested in glory. Be not weak in faith: consider not your members which are upon the earth, but reckon them as good as dead.
It is because of the fact that we have died with Christ, and hence, have put off the old man, and have put on the new, that we are therefore on that account to “reckon” the “members” of our body “as good as dead”, and consider them as being impotent, and unable to produce any “living”, or “good works”.
All so-called “good” works done by the old nature are “dead works”. They are done by our members which are, in God’s estimation, “as good as dead”. Only those are “good works” which God Himself “prepared for us to walk in” (Eph. 2: 10), and which are done in the spiritual strength of the new nature.
St. Paul runs this great truth through Galatians Corinthians, Romans…and especially Ephesians and Colossians.
April 25, 2008 at 5:43 pm |
Irishanglican, That was a wonderful exegesis of scripture, and I can see how my hasty comment “active in sanctification” could be misconstrued to mean “do good works in our own power”. Thank you.
April 25, 2008 at 5:47 pm |
Sometimes after we have looked hard at the original, a bit of a paraphrase is helpful: ” So treat as dead your physical nature, as far as immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed are concerned; for it is really idolatry.” (Col. 3:5)
These are hard words, but most necessary to place really both our physical-psychological self. “As good as dead” before both God and ourselves! As Paul says, “reckon/count” it so!
April 25, 2008 at 6:00 pm |
No Joel, I was not reacting to your comment, I knew what you were saying. This area of Scripture…our so-called biblical anthropology, is very profound. Following Augustine, I see the will-intellect-emotions together. Yes they co-mingle, but will is first. But, without a proper biblical anthropology, we are never gonna get it right! Indeed, our sanctification is very active…in the new nature! Thanks for “your” good words!
April 27, 2008 at 6:17 am |
I believe it is possible after salvation to live a life without sin, but I also believe that very few of us attain it. I also believe that those who do attain it do not realize that they have. They still see themselves as nothing apart from Christ. Salvation is more then fire insurance. To be saved from your sins means both in this life and in the next. We are no longer slaves to sin.
I do not believe that I have reached this point in my salvation. No, not nearly. I am on a journey there though, and I must believe that it is possible through Christ. All things are possible through Christ who strengthens us. It is possible to so completely annhialate the self so that sin is a very rare occurence. It is possible to be grounded so firmly on the Rock of our Salvation that we cannot be shaken by anything.
The active sanctification is the journey to that point, which does ultimately lead us to death. But I believe that it is possible to be like Christ on earth before death. Indeed, that is what we have been called to. I think that we often expect far too little of ourselves. We need to set our standard at Christ, which means perfect selflessness in all that we do; but more then that, we need to believe that it is possible to reach that standard through Christ. How will we every reach it if we do not believe it is possible? Anything that Christ did, we also can do, because it is Him who lives in us.
April 28, 2008 at 4:29 am |
Jesus did not have Adam’s nature within Him. We do, and we will continue to do so until we depart this world. We can never measure up to God’s standard of righteousness until we no longer have Adam in us. And I don’t find this knowledge hindering my pursuit of holiness. The Holy Spirit keeps me progressing in that pursuit, though I fail miserably.
April 28, 2008 at 6:31 pm |
mookda. I can really appreciate what your desire is as Christian. But perhaps this is a good place to return to Joel’s post. And part of that was the problem of antinomianism, and the idea that the Christian does not need even the moral law of God, etc. If we measure ourselves by the Mosaic law, we will of course fall short every time. But the moral law of God, seen throughout the whole of Scripture, still demands our best mind and moral effort. But the moral law of God still shows me also, in my opinion, that in myself at least, I cannot fully obey. But with the moral law of God now, I have In Christ, the active righteousness of God. So even when I feel I fail, or when I know I have, I know In Christ I stand righteousness! And all other so-called righteousness is really the fiction, or fictional. The point is that we simply have no other real access or standing before God, save in the full righteousness and robe and royalty of Christ! (Perhaps a good read of Hebrews would be helpful?)
April 29, 2008 at 12:43 am |
That was or should be “I stand righteous” (but my righteousness is always Christ!)
April 29, 2008 at 3:53 am |
My point was to the active obedience of Christ!
April 30, 2008 at 9:12 pm |
By the way, for me the active obedience of Christ is also applied in sanctification. But only in the new nature here. Only In Christ and His obedient life thru grace, can I obey the moral law of God.