In Galatians 2:16 the Apostle is clearly teaching that salvation is not by works, but by faith alone in The Lord Jesus Christ. However we know that this teaching got Paul in trouble the religious people of his day. In Romans 3:8 the scripture says: And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil that god may come? And Romans 6:1 the Apostle is forced to ask the question: Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Paul was accused of being an antinomian and I believe anyone who is preaching the true gospel should be at some point accused of the same. However on the other side of the spectrum when we teach that salvation must be accompanied by obedience (James2:17-20) in sanctification or the professed believer should have no assurance of salvation we are accused of being legalistic. It is interesting because those who antinomian will consistently accuse others of being legalistic and visa versa. When I say legalistic in this context I am speaking of those who add works to faith for justification and when I say antinomian in this context I am referring to those who say "It doesn't matter how you live, as long as you "accepted Jesus" you will be alright. If we understand the root of both of theses damning errors we can more effectively deal with them and the roots are the same. Antinomianism and Legalism both stem from a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of God and a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of Man. They both error in the sense that they both lower the bar for salvation which shows a misunderstanding of God. God doesn't lower the bar, the bar is perfection and anyone who is not perfect will not enter in and our perfection is in Christ. And they both error in understanding man's condition, what we need is regeneration or the new birth and really both antinomians and legalists are both adding works just one more than the other. Man is dead and is in need of a miracle to be brought back to life and that is Paul's answer to both sides of the error in Gal.2:20
Older
Top
