Christians are always at risk of going to the opposite extremes of Legalism or Antinomianism (Aunty-Gnomey-Anne…ism). Legalists focus on Jesus-as-Lord: we should live the way God would want us to, so the Legalists among us insist on following every letter of the biblical Law…the way they understand it, of course. “BE GONE, PHARISEES!” we hiss at the legalists!
Antinomians (anti-Law) focus on the Jesus-as-Savior side of it all… Jesus saves us so hard it don’t matter what we do, dawg! You got that ticket to heaven because you said the prayer of salvation, got baptized, believe Jesus is real, whatever. I recently interviewed a nearby mega-church on their new membership practices. When I asked them how they plugged new members into ministry, they literally said to me, “We’re just concerned about getting them saved (baptized), we don’t really care what they do after that.” I had to excuse myself from that conversation quickly.
The early Methodists defined antinomians in 1744 as those who “make void the law through faith” (Rom 3:31), meaning 1) Jesus fulfilled the moral law of the bible, therefore 2) “Christians are not obliged to observe it,” 3) Jesus set us free from having to obey the biblical law, 4) it’s bondage (not freedom) to do something because God commands it, therefore 5) believers are not obliged to do good works (commanded by God), also 6) Preachers should not tell people to do good works because it’s offensive to unbelievers and unnecessary to tell believers. You got all that? No? Let me put it into a gourmet cupcake for you…
The typical response to legalism today is to say, “Well God meant that for those people then, but that’s not my context today, bro. And besides, Jesus sets us free, he forgives us no matter what we do…so it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission, amiright?!” It’s a common defense for people who don’t really study the bible but use the argument that the Old Testament doesn’t allow people to eat shrimp, and I eat shrimp, therefore the sexual ethics of the Old Testament don’t matter. At its most devious, it is a common way for us to deliberately sin and console ourselves by saying that God will forgive us no matter what.
The Wesleyan response to Antinomianism is Christian Perfection, or Entire Sanctification. I know, it sounds like the swing back to legalism, but it really and most simply means this: Christ says, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). Wesley understood this to mean perfect love for God, and perfect love for neighbor. The response is not blind adherence to Law, but rather, daily formation of heart and life to love as Christ loves. We know what love is because God first loved us (1 Jn 4:19). Christ’s fulfillment of the law does not make it null and void (Matt 5:17-20), but instead transforms it and reveals to us that sacrificial and selfless love are at its very heart and soul. Holiness is viewing all of the Law of Scripture through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and welcoming the Holy Spirit to transform you by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:1-2).
To the Antinomians, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Matt 7:21-27). In the United Methodist Prayer of Confession before Holy Communion, we pray, “free us for joyful obedience” because we believe that true freedom and happiness are discovered as our attitudes and actions become more and more like the selfless and merciful Christ (Phil 2:5). The Wesleyan movement has always sought to provide a balance between the beautiful grasp that free grace has on us with the partnership of holiness that God invites everyone into.