Have you ever wished you could have a do-over? Have you ever looked back on a situation in which you know that you really botched the job and you just wish you could have another crack at it? That is the way I often feel when I reflect back on some of my less-than-fruitful efforts at evangelism when I was in college. Back then, I was (to say the least) a little wet behind the ears in terms of my theological convictions. I had a basic understanding of Christ’s substitutionary atonement but little appreciation for how His lordship should inform evangelistic appeals. Anyone watching my approach to evangelism would have been well within his rights to label me an antinomian. Unfortunately, I simply did not know any better. So when I had the opportunity to share the gospel with my frat brother Mark, I really botched it.
I was a Christian, and Mark knew it. Mark was not a Christian, and he knew that as well. Nevertheless, Mark had a kind of respect for me and my faith, and was often curiously probing about spiritual things. I thought he was ripe for the picking. I can remember the night that I had my opportunity to share the gospel with him and to tell him that he needed to believe the gospel and trust Christ for forgiveness and eternal life. Mark responded to my appeals with apparent ambivalence. But after a bit of conversation, it became clear that he was not interested in trusting Christ. When I asked him why, he simply responded that he did not want to make that kind of commitment of his life to Christ. He was very happy with his life, and he did not want to muck it up with a new obligation to follow Jesus.
Now I was curious. Here was a guy who had no intellectual objections to the facts of the gospel — Jesus’ vicarious death and resurrection. He just did not want to give his life to Christ. How could this be? I did not want his lack of enthusiasm about following Christ to keep him out of heaven, so I counseled him as any unwitting antinomian would. In so many words I told him, “Don’t worry about following Christ as Lord. Just repeat this sinner’s prayer after me, and you can be saved. Perhaps sometime later, God can help you to see Jesus as your Lord.” Mark did not budge. My counsel did not ring true to him, as he sensed that there had to be more to being a Christian than what I was selling. He was right. Read more
Antinomianism (a term coined by Martin Luther, from the Greek ἀντί, "against" + νόμος, "law" + -ism; compare antinomy) is defined as holding that, under the gospel dispensation of grace, moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation. Although the concept is related to the foundational Protestant belief of Sola Fide where justification is through faith alone in Christ, it is taken to an extreme in antinomianism. It is seen by some as the opposite of the notion that obedience to a code of religious law earns salvation: legalism or works righteousness.
While there is wide agreement within Christianity that "antinomianism" is heresy, what constitutes antinomianism is often in disagreement. The term "antinomian" emerged soon after the Protestant Reformation (c.1517) and has historically been used mainly as a pejorative against Christian thinkers or sects who carried their belief in justification by faith further than was customary. For example, Martin Luther preached justification by faith alone but was also an outspoken critic of antinomianism, perhaps most notably in his Against the Antinomians (1539).
While the charge of antinomianism can and often does apply to those who reject the keeping of any codified moral laws, antinomian theology does not necessarily imply the embrace of ethical permissiveness; rather it usually implies emphasis on the inner working of the Holy Spirit as the primary source of ethical guidance.
Although the term originated in early controversies of Protestant doctrine in the 16th century, it has its roots in debates over the Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline Epistles and the issue of Paul of Tarsus and Judaism in the 1st century, and it can be extended to any religious group believing they are not bound to obey the laws of their own religious tradition. However few groups or sects, outside of Christian anarchism or Jewish anarchism, explicitly call themselves "antinomian". Source: Wikipedia
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