Three Damning Heresies 2 Peter 2:1
There are three forms of heresy to
which men and women are naturally attracted, which appeal to our flesh, and are
damning to the souls of all who embrace them. These three damning heresies have
been around since the days of Cain, who embraced them all. They may appear to
contradict one another; but frequently a person who embraces one will embrace
the others as well. These three damning heresies need to be clearly identified
and carefully avoided. They are Freewillism, Legalism, and Antinomianism.
Freewillism
is that doctrine that says, “God loves you; Christ died for you; and the
Holy Spirit is calling you; but all will be vain unless you choose to be saved.
The decision is yours. It’s up to you.” Freewillism
makes the determining factor in salvation to be the will of man, rather than
the will of God. It makes the work and grace of the triune God to be
impotent without the consent of man’s imaginary omnipotent free will. Freewill religion is in direct opposition to
the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ. The Word of God tells us plainly that salvation is not accomplished,
determined by, or in any way dependent upon the will of man (John 1:11-13;
Rom. 9:16).Salvation comes not by the will of man, but by the will of God. The
words “free will,” when used in connection with man and salvation, are an
obscenity, a blasphemous obscenity!
Legalism
is the teaching that men and women are saved, at least in part, upon the basis
of their own works. Some legalists assert that justification is dependent upon
the works of men. Others, who vehemently deny justification by works, declare
that we are sanctified by our works. It is sheer legalism either way! To make
our acceptance with God, at any point or to any degree, dependent upon our
works is the legalism of Cain in the beginning of time and the Judaizers of
Paul’s day. And this is the wine of Babylon’s fornications by which the vast
majority of religionists in our day are intoxicated. Legalism is as damning to
the souls of men as Freewillism, Hinduism, Mormonism, and Atheism! This is not
a gray, fuzzy area, but a matter of such plain revelation and vital importance
that dogmatism here is demanded. Anything less than dogmatism here is treason
to our God and to the souls of men. We are not justified by our obedience to
the law (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5-6). We are not
sanctified by our obedience to the law (Gal. 3:1-3; Heb. 10:10, 14). And our
inheritance with Christ in heaven is not, to any degree, won or earned by our
personal obedience to the law of God (Rev. 7:9-10, 13-14).
The simple fact, plainly stated in
Holy Scripture is this: Believers are
not, in any sense or to any degree whatsoever, under the yoke of the Mosaic
law. Christ fulfilled the law for us. By his obedience and death he brought
in everlasting, perfect righteousness for all his people. Christ alone is our
righteousness. And being made righteous in him, we are dead to and freed from
the law. Read the Word of God for yourself, and you will see that those who
would bring you again under the yoke of legal bondage for any reason, to any
degree do so in obvious contradiction to Holy Scripture (Rom. 6:14-17; 7:4;
8:1-4; 10:4; Gal. 5:1-4, 18; 1 Tim. 1:9-10). Freewilism is a damning heresy.
Legalism is a damning heresy. And antinomianism is a damning heresy.
Antinomianism
is that doctrine that says, “Since we are saved by grace, it does not
matter how we live. We have no law by which to regulate and govern our lives.
Character and conduct are of no importance to a believer.” Antinomianism means
“lawlessness” or “against law.” This is not a mere theological issue that has
no bearing upon our lives. It is a real problem in our day. I have personally
known preachers who threw caution to the wind, who totally disregarded the
teaching of Scripture regarding godliness, even teaching that a person has no
responsibility for moral righteousness, godliness, or his personal character
and conduct, as long as he trusts the Lord and believes the right doctrine. I
know people who claim to be believers who have no interest in the worship of
God, the church of God, or the glory of God. They say, “I believe in salvation
by grace. My works do not matter.” I have known some over the years who have
gone so far as to excuse or at least be indifferent to drunkenness,
fornication, and adultery, saying, “Salvation is by grace. We cannot judge
those things.” What absurd nonsense!
That is not the language and
teaching of the New Testament. When the gospel of God’s free grace in Christ
went into the pagan, amoral Gentile world, (A world in which drunkenness,
homosexuality, adultery, and fornication were just as rampant as they are
today!), it changed men’s lives and taught them to honor God in their personal
habits of life as well as in their doctrine (Rom. 6:12-18; Eph. 5:17-24).
I realize that it is not possible
for a man to preach salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ
alone, without being denounced as a vile antinomian. The Pharisees accused our Lord
of being an antinomian, a wine-bibber, the friend of publicans and sinners. The
Judaizers accused Paul of being an antinomian, a promoter of licentiousness.
And I have had the ugly, slanderous charge thrown at me by those who despise
the message of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ for twenty-nine years.
I am not crying about that. I count it an honor for Arminians and legalists to
hurl their venom at me. I do not mind being accused of antinomianism; but I do
not want to be one. The fact is, anyone
who really is an antinomian, anyone who has no regard for the law of God and
the honor of his name, anyone who seeks to use the grace of God as an excuse or
covering for sin is as lost and ignorant of God as the freewiller and the
legalist. "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate" (Tit. 1:16). The grace of God that
brings salvation teaches all who are saved to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Tit.
2:12).