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This week we continue to look at errors that rob the gospel of its transforming power. We've noted one already, the error that pushes us toward either passivity or activism. In this study we want to look at the gospel distortion that shows itself either in legalism (or moralism) or antinomianism (anti-law, or licentiousness).
This error has to do with how we relate to God's law or God's commandments. The gospel teaches that we are made right with God entirely on the basis of what Christ has done for us. How, then, does this affect the way we are to live?
Once again, our adversary Satan uses the tactic of trying to push us toward extremes. On the one hand, he pushes us in the direction of relying on our own obedience to please God and keep in his favor. He would have us say, "God forgives me through Christ, but still requires that I obey him if I am to be really loved and accepted by him." Very subtly, he transfers our reliance from the perfect obedience of Christ to our own works. And when that happens, we have slipped into a form of legalism. We begin to think that our salvation does depend in at least some measure on what we do. But, as Harry Reeder says so well, "The truth is that we don't work for our salvation; we work for our Savior who has done the full work for our complete salvation" (p. 67).
Legalism, then, is one extreme Satan pushes us towards. The other is in the opposite direction - to so celebrating the finished work of Christ that we feel ourselves free from having to worry about obedience. That's the extreme of antinomianism or licentiousness. When we fall into this error we can develop a loose and carefree attitude to God's commandments in which, as Harry Reeder puts it, "our careless thoughts, words and deeds presumably prove how dependent we are upon God's grace" (p. 67). But this also is a grave mistake.
The gospel holds two important truths together - the fact that God accepts us entirely on the grounds of what Christ has done, and at the same time, that he calls us to walk carefully and closely with him according to his commandments. The critical thing we need to remember is that our living for God does not in any way make him love us more than he already does in Christ. Harry Reeder writes, "Our growth in grace does not make God love us more. Instead, knowing God's love makes us grow more. God loves us in Christ - not because of who we are or what we do, but because of who Christ is and what he has done. And since God will never stop loving Christ, he will never stop loving us! Nor will he ever love us more or less than he does right now - in Christ" (p. 68).
We must get the balance right at this point. Emphasizing obedience at the expense of grace (legalism), or grace at the expense of obedience (antinomianism), are twin plagues that have troubled the church throughout its history. We must see that the good news of grace and the call to repentance and obedience are not contradictory. Again, Harry Reeder puts it well when he says, "We should tell people that God loves them enough to forgive them right now, no matter how bad they may be. But we should also tell them that he loves them enough not to leave them the way they are. We must make it clear that the root of all good works is faith in Christ, but we must also insist that the root will always produce fruit" (p. 70).
The gospel is the power of God to salvation (Romans 1:16). It lies at the foundation of the church's life and health. Satan knows that, and because he does, he does everything in his power to pervert it. That's why we must understand his wiles and do our utmost through Christ to oppose them.