Subject: what is antinomianism ? |
Bible Note: Hi, fmp... You wrote, "Defination: derogatory term" (sic) Antinomianism, legalism, and neonomianism are technical terms given rise in church history as these issues have been wrestled with since the earliest days of the church. Our Lord Himself answers charges of antinomianism in a number of places in the Gospels. The Apostles also address it as it manifests itself in various ways in the primitive church. Later it is extensively deliberated by the early church fathers, and by divines and scholars on up through the Reformation, and even in our day. Rarely do the proponents of a view adopt the term. I have heard few people call themselves antinomianists and fewer still who, on the other hand, will call themselves legalists. Nevertheless, such things are taught or practiced. If not, they ideas wouldn't have been discussed. As one of my pastors used to say, every road has two ditches -- one on the left and the other on the right. In our care to avoid one, we may forget the other. We respect people, not ideas. To properly label the ditches does not criticize peopple or demonstrate a lack of respect for people. Labels -- an invention of God, by the way -- are invaluable to communication. In Him, Doc |