"As we be
slanderously reported"
Romans 3:8
I could produce a stack
of letters which 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 and every imagineable evil. Along with other men who proclaim
the gospel of God's free grace, beginning with our Lord himself and the apostle
Paul, 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 doctrine
that I preach. Therefore, I cannot be silent.
The charge of antinomianism
is levelled against me because I constantly preach the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace in Christ, declaring that sinners are justified freely by the
grace of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, without works. Without
apology, I 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. I
place no form of legal bondage upon the children of God. I do not threaten
God's elect with punishment or entice them with promise of reward in order to
get them to do what they ought to do. I 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 twenty 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 accustom 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, I will not alter, or even slightly
modify my message!
Don Fortner