“As We Be Slanderously Reported”

Romans 3:8

I could produce stacks of letters I have received over the years, either warning me or accusing me, asserting that the doctrine I preach will cause people to live carelessly in disobedience, practicing every imaginable evil. Along with every other man who proclaims the Gospel of God’s free grace in Christ, beginning with our Lord Himself and His Apostles, I am constantly accused of being an antinomian, one who is opposed to the law of God, a promoter of licentiousness.

In itself, the accusation is insignificant. I am not much disturbed by what men say about Don Fortner. But the charge is not made against me personally. It is made against the Gospel we preach. Therefore, I cannot be silent.

The charge of antinomianism is leveled against us because we constantly preach the Gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in Christ, declaring that sinners are redeemed, justified, sanctified and kept freely by the grace of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, without works.

Without apology, we constantly affirm that every believer is entirely free from the law of God and that God will never charge His people with sin, because He has found complete satisfaction for our sins in the blood atonement of His dear Son.

We place no form of legal bondage upon the children of God. We do not threaten God’s elect with punishment or entice them with promise of rewards in order to get them to do what they ought to do. God’s saints are not mercenary servants. They are all volunteers. We preach absolute grace, perfect substitution and immutable mercy, assuring those who believe that God will never cease to be gracious to them.

This is the armor in which I have done battle for forty-three years; and I do not intend to lay it aside until my warfare is over. Let men reproach me as they may. I am willing to have my name and reputation scandalized. If need be, I am prepared to lose friends and family and face bitter, implacable enemies. I am perfectly willing and content to be scorned throughout the world as a vile antinomian. I am accustomed to such things.

But I am determined, by the grace of God, not to drop or conceal one iota of Gospel truth, particularly as it relates to Christ’s glorious, effectual redemption and God’s irresistible, efficacious grace. I am always happy to stand in the company of others. But I am willing to stand alone. In either case, God helping me, I will not alter, or even slightly modify my message!

Don Fortner

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