Many times we think that the gospel is an intermediate point between two opposite poles: legalism and antinomianism.
These two words are extremely important, and worth going over.
- The legalism It is the thought and attitude of the heart that we can earn God’s favor and salvation by our obedience.
- The antinomianism (which comes from the Greek and means “against the law”) is the attitude and teaching that we can relate to God and live fully without obeying his Word.
Looking at the two definitions, do you see how easy it is to think that they are two completely opposite attitudes? And it would also be easy to think that living according to the gospel consists of being balanced between the two points. For example, it is not uncommon to see churches or believers who, fighting legalism, end up being antinomian when they just wanted to be balanced and gospel-centered.
But what if we learn that the Legalist and the Antinomian have more in common with each other than between a genuine Christian and a Legalist, or a Christian and an Antinomian?
The truth is that legalism and antinomianism are not opposite poles on a spectrum, but rather two heads on the same monster. And the gospel is not somewhere between the two evils. The gospel is actually something else entirely, and the implications of this are immense for the Christian life.
See how legalism and antinomianism are actually essentially the same evil.
They have the same goal.
Contrary to what may appear at first glance, both the legalist and the one who claims to live openly without obeying God are ultimately moved by the same motivations and passions in their hearts.
Timothy Keller has explained this excellently in his book: prodigal godwhen talking about the famous parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15.
In that story, the youngest son, who in the context of the parable represents the notable sinners of society, asks his father to give him his inheritance in advance. This son, Keller explains, wants his father’s things, but he doesn’t want his father or his authority in life. He acts like your typical Antinomian.
The story goes on. The youngest son repents after living in disorder and returns home. His father shows him grace, throws a party for him, and orders a fattened calf to be slaughtered to celebrate his son’s return.
Here comes the twist in the story: the father’s grace toward his younger son brings out the motives of the older son’s heart (doesn’t that happen to many of us when we believe that God blesses others more than us? ).
The gospel fixes our vision of God: we know that God is just and totally holy, and at the same time he loves us.
The eldest son, who in the context of the parable represents the Pharisees and legalists, gets angry with the father and does not want to enter the party. But the father loves him, he goes out looking for him, and begs him to come in so that he can enjoy himself too.
This older son is upset about how the father manages his things, spending on a banquet for his younger son. The eldest son feels that, having always been obedient, he does have a right to his father’s possessions. That is why it is unfair to him that his younger sister can receive the father’s gifts.
In other words, the older son, like the younger brother before, also seeks to control the things of the father and overcome his authority. This is revealing. Keller explains:
“The hearts of the two brothers were the same. Both sons resented their father’s authority and sought a way to get rid of it. They both wanted to reach a position where they could tell the father what he had to do. That is to say, each one rebelled, but one did it by being very bad and the other by being too good. Both were far from their father, both were lost sons.
There you have a reason why legalism is as terrible as antinomianism. The Antinomian (younger brother) and the Legalist (older brother) are moved by the same motives and have the same objective: they want to have the things of the Father and live without his authority. That is the essence of sin.
But there is more. Not only do they have the same goal, but they are also immersed in the same delusion about the character of God.
They believe the same lies.
The legalist and the antinomian affirm in the depths of their minds the same diabolical lies.
Lie #1: God is not so holy.
If the legalist understood that God indeed is holy, he would see that he is a sinner who cannot perfectly obey him or earn his blessing. It would be easier to walk across Latin America barefoot on broken glass than to save ourselves or contribute to our salvation. And since no one can obey perfectly, our actions do not determine the goodness that God pours out on us.
The legalist, then, lowers the holiness of God by lowering the standards of the commandments so that he thinks he can keep them and be right with God (cf. Mt. 23:16-23). But if the legalist understood the holiness of God, he would say: “Actually I have never really obeyed God; I have never adored him with all my heart. Have mercy on me, Lord!”
And if the Antinomian understood the holiness of God, he would know that not taking God’s commandments seriously is foolish and suicidal. He would tremble before the holy and sovereign Lord.
Lie #2: God is not so kind.
If the legalist realized that God’s goodness is inexhaustible, he would know that even if he obeyed a great deal, it does not ultimately determine his salvation or God’s blessing upon him. His legalism, as such, would end. In other words, if we truly know that God loves us and receives us by grace, then we know that whatever He commands us to do will not make us any more saved or loved.
If God loves us and receives us by grace, then everything He commands us to do is good and desirable.
On the other hand, if the Antinomian really realized that God’s goodness is inexhaustible, he would understand that God’s commandments are good for us. If God loves us and receives us by grace, then everything He commands us to do is good and desirable.
In short, both the legalist and the antinomian divorce God’s commandments from God’s gracious character. As Sinclair Ferguson has said, “legalism and antinomianism are, in fact, non-identical twins arising from the same womb.”
But glory to God that the gospel changes everything! That is what our last point is about.
They require the same antidote.
Timothy Keller rightly adds: “Both legalism and antinomianism require in principle the same treatment: a new vision of the beauty of God himself and of His glorious, free and invaluable grace. Both legalism and antinomianism are cured by the gospel alone” (emphasis added).
And why is the gospel the precise antidote? Because the gospel fixes our vision of God. We know him as a just and totally holy God, who at the same time loves us. It is the best news in the universe, and it is also the best proof that the lies of legalism and antinomianism are evil and absurd.
Understanding that we are extremely sinful and that God is completely holy, and that for this reason Christ had to die for us to save us, leads us to really understand the holiness of God. At the same time, it shows us the love of God. In fact, Jesus did not come into the world so that the Father would love us, but because he already loved us (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:18).
We must and need to always speak of the grace of God and his commandments without disconnecting them from the cross of Christ.
And this is what happens when we embrace the message of the cross: we are grateful before God, and that moves us to love and obey him. This is how the apostle John explains it: “We love, because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). And that love for God is expressed in obedience, as Jesus affirmed: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn 14:15).
Therefore, seeing Christ on the cross extinguishes legalism and antinomianism like an entire ocean would extinguish the flame of a tiny homemade candle. The gospel changes our motivations and thoughts so that our hearts revolve in an orbit where God is the center that moves our lives.
Conclusion: Treasure the gospel!
As I have said, the implications of this for the Christian life are immense. Personally, I’m just scratching the surface of them. But if we see something immediately, it is that we must and need to always speak of God’s grace and his commandments without disconnecting them from the cross of Christ; without disconnecting them from the Person and work of Jesus. He is the ultimate revelation of God’s character. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made known” (Jn. 1:18; cf. 14:9, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3).
We need to see that if we fall into the trap of disconnecting both God’s grace and commandments from the gospel, no matter how much we mention words like “grace,” “obedience,” or even “God,” we won’t attack legalism and antinomianism. at the root, and we will not enjoy the Christian life in the light of the Lord’s holy love. As Charles Spurgeon said: “Christless sermons make hell rejoice.”
The centrality in the gospel is essential for our joy and to live glorifying God from the depths of our hearts. Only the costly grace of the gospel truly defeats legalism and antinomianism. If these two evils are a single two-headed monster, then the gospel is the sword that destroys it to free us from the slavery that comes from having a wrong view of God.
Therefore, stop viewing these evils as polar opposites. If you’ve made that mistake, like I have in the past, don’t keep the sword of the gospel in the basement of your thoughts. Have her at the center of your life.
1. Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God (Scaffold, 2015), loc. 322-325.
2. This is one of the theses of the theologian Sinclair Ferguson in his book The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, and Gospel Assurance—Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters (Crossways, 2016).
3. Ferguson, p. 84.
4. Timothy Keller, Preaching: Sharing Faith in Times of Skepticism (B&H, 2017), p. 48-49.
5. I am aware that this way of speaking about God’s love and his holiness may suggest to some that God’s love and his holiness are polar opposites within the character of God that complement each other, which would be an unfortunate irony in this article. . Nothing is further from the truth! I agree with David F. Wells in his book God in the Whirlwind (Scaffolding, 2016), that God “the holiness of God and his love are, always and everywhere, inseparable, because they equally belong to the same character absolutely perfect and glorious” (loc. 1715).
6.Charles Spurgeon, .
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