An-ti-no-mi-an Defined:
One who holds that under the gospel dispensation the moral law is of no use or under no obligation to obey moral law because faith alone is necessary for salvation. This definition is according to Websters Dictionary. This definition is not supported by the bible.
This doctrine of antinomianism was guarded against by the apostles of the Lord and by the Lord Jesus himself who warned against it in the book of Revelation. There are many places of worship that teach that the gospel is an annulment of the moral law. They use Romans 6:14 to support their claims where the Apostle Paul says; "we are not under law but under grace". This does not mean that we are under no obligations to the moral law. What it does mean is that we are not under a system of trying to earn our salvation and become righteous enough to get to heaven by our own merits. The Apostle says in Romans 3:31 "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law". Some erroneously say that it's no big thing if a Christian sins because he is under grace and is free from any penalty of the law. They even go as far to say that if we have to repent under grace then you are performing works which grace came to do away with. When a person truly repents he or she is coming back from disobedience and sin to obedience to the moral law that they will keep because of a changed heart and life. Some also maintain that they can't help but to sin because of their human nature and use the excuse that unless God grants them repentance, they really can't quit disobeying the moral law. When they say this, they are accusing God of their sinning because God didn’t grant them repentance. They then make it God's fault that they continue in sin and make God responsible for their sin. Then there are those who say that unless the Holy Spirit convicts them or gives them some kind of feeling, so they would give up a certain sin or habit even though they know what they do is wrong, that they will go on and continue in their practice of it. Another excuse for sinning "under Grace" is, "I'm only human and God knows that I am weak, He understands, He knows my heart." We cannot blame our humanness and excuse ourselves of our sin because then we blame God for making us human. It wasn't our humanity that made us sin, it was our free will and voluntary actions, being controlled by our own desires and lusts that is carried out by our will. The excuses go clear back to the Garden of Eden when Adam blamed God for the woman He gave him.
Gen 3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
What caused Adam and Eve to sin? It wasn’t their human nature or depravity because they were perfect in every way they had not known sin. Well in truth it was the choice they made. They chose to satisfy their desires in an unlawful way that God forbid. Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
Several things took place in the gratification of their desires. 1 She saw the tree was good to satisfy hunger, a perfectly good desire. Hunger is not a voluntary action of the mind but involuntary so it is not governed by the law of God, God gave Hungary to us to sustain our bodies. 2 It was pleasant to look at and desirable. 3 It was also desirable to the mind as well as to the appetites because it was thought to make one wise.
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