# How To Avoid Antinomianism



## DyeLi (May 12, 2012)

I am troubled severely about moralistic preaching ever since I really come to have a better idea of justification of faith alone. Either going to church or participate in fellowship, I always heard people interpreted the scripture as a book of rules for us to follow, and nowhere of God's grace in Christ is shown except encountering obvious verses like John 3:16. I also get a lot of methods on reading the bible, do devotionals, pray and etc,. But hardly I get from these people a really good preaching/sharing, which should be the deserved result of so faithfully reading bible, doing devotionals and praying. I feel they are so concerned with the appearance but ignores the very important thing of Christianity, which is also displayed in their ignorance of how Jesus fulfilled the laws first for us. "Christless Christianity" is the very feeling I had after most of these services. 

However, I feel unworthy to criticize them for the reason I am very lazy in terms of these responsibilities. I listen to many sermons and Christian podcasts everyday but I often avoid reading the bible itself and praying to God. I claim the gospel is above all things, but clearly I don't grasp it deeply. In fact I am the one who need these methods and morals to discipline myself, but for some reason I find it really hard to embrace their methods because I think it's just like the pharisees. I really need your help for me to balance faith in the completeness of the gospel and glorifying God in practice.


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## Contra_Mundum (May 12, 2012)

How do you get to know someone, and by getting to know him, really love him?

You have to spend time with him. You have to listen to him. You can talk to God by prayer, and prayer is good for you. But God communicates intelligibly to you by his Word, the Holy Scriptures, read and preached. By listening to him and getting to know him, he will tell you about himself and what he loves. And as your superior, he will tell you what he expects from one who professes an interest in being near him in a worthy or worthwhile manner.

To know biblical doctrine is to know the heart and mind of God. The beauty of the Reformed doctrine of salvation (including election, justification, etc.) is really in what it tells us about the God who designed it. The doctrine of salvation is simply the "face" of the doctrine of God that shines upon us. All theology, in some sense, is the doctrine of God (actually, I think that's why its called _theology_).

The Bible isn't first of all a book of rules, but the book of God's self-disclosure. Do you love God? Really? How can you love someone (especially one whom you haven't seen) when you don't spare any time to get to know him? If all a person's interest in theology reduces to is the beauty of the "right" Confession, this is no more worthy than admiring nature for its own sake, or architecture. Shouldn't the handiwork excite admiration for the Maker?

We speak of the 3-fold use of the law. All of these uses are valid and important to Christians. But it is the "3rd use" that is the Christian's great interest. Our big problem as fallen human beings is that we don't know intuitively what "love to God" looks like, or works out to be. We cannot judge our own works without some external standard. The commandments of God teach us _*what love for God looks like*_. Paul summarizes the law in one word, "love." Jesus used two "love-commands" to summarize the (moral) law.

So, it ends up that the whole Bible is important to us, whether the issues addressed are commandment or promise directed to us for our engagement; and as it directly reveals aspects of God's being and character. If the story in the Bible was about "man," it would be a sad, tragic tale of failure. Because the men (and women) of the Bible are weak, ineffectual sinners, and they are the ones with whom we must identify--if we would be saved. Thankfully, the story of the Bible is about God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The story of the Bible is about God, especially revealed to us in the Person of the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We don't all have the privilege of living in 1st century Judea and Galilee. So, the Person of Jesus is mediated to us through the Apostles' records. The Word is conjoined to the words about him, which is conjoined to the rest of Scripture. Until we have a wonderfully full description of Who God is, and how he is FOR US who look to him in faith. We rejoice in the Mediator, the Prophet-Priest-King of his people, by whom they know God and are renewed to fellowship with him.

The Sanhedrin could tell that certain men had been with Jesus. These apostles had been brought by degrees from seeing Jesus as a mere man, to seeing him as a good man, then as a truly exceptional teacher, then as a prophet, then as Christ; ultimately to seeing him in his resurrection as Emmanuel and divine (but without ever quitting monothesim). The questions for us today are: will we follow the track of the earliest disciples in order to KNOW THE LORD, and will there be others around us who can tell Who we follow, Who we know? They will know we are Christians by our love, Jn.17:23,26. What does love look like? Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of God, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Cor.3:18).


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## NB3K (May 12, 2012)

DyeLi said:


> How To Avoid Antinomianism



Believe the Gospel. We live by faith. We are sanctified by faith, and we perservere by faith alone.



> Rom 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages
> Rom 16:26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith--
> Rom 16:27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.



The more you understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ the more you will be conformed to his image.


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## DyeLi (May 13, 2012)

Dear Rev. Buchanan, 

I appreciate deeply your response. It is my own idolatry on figuring out the doctrines about God to lord it over others that blind my eyes to see that they really point to God's holy character. By learning these doctrines we didn't just become intellectually superior, and we shouldn't, but after seeing God's holiness we draw near to Him, desire Him more and want to show our affections in act by doing the law ourselves. Affection for God given by God to us is the drive for us to read the bible at all, but we need to constantly fight against our flesh to let this affection grow by reading the bible diligently. It's about our responsibility to show and grow our affections to the precious savior we claimed in our mouth that we should do the laws, not because we need that to be saved.

These are my personal observations to your elegantly written article. Do correct me if I get anything wrong.

P.S Could anyone teach me how to find a post useful?


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## rbcbob (May 14, 2012)

P.S Could anyone teach me how to find a post useful?[/QUOTE]

I believe that after you have met a minimum number of posts you will find such options available.


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## J. Dean (May 14, 2012)

A preacher once wryly said that Antinomianism is not the result of a wrong view of law, but of a wrong view of the gospel.


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