Ten Quotes from Antinomianism

"The writings of the divines [Westminster], as well as other Reformed theologians in Britain and on the Continent, reveal that antinomianism was not simply a rejection of the moral law, but a wholesale departure from Reformed orthodoxy on several points of doctrine."

The following quote is from Martin Luther about the antinomian preachers of his day. "Fine Easter preachers, but disgraceful Pentecost preachers, for they taught only redemption through Christ and not sanctification through the Holy Spirit."

"In contemporary Reformed circles, simply acknowledging and even affirming the 'indicative-imperative' model will not suffice for guarding against legalism and antinomianism."

"The antinomians essentially 'confound' justification and sanctification and insist that true sanctification is nothing but believing the gospel more and more."

"Perhaps the defining issue between the orthodox and the antinomians was not whether the moral law plays a role in justification coram Deo, but whether the moral law has any positive role in the salvation of believers."

"Law keeping for the antinomians has a horizontal focus, and not also a vertical focus in terms of our duty towards God."

"Not only can man not escape the obligation to keep God's law, but man's decision to keep God's law because it is God's law is a sign of grace, not a sign of being unconverted or having a legalistic spirit, as the antinomians argued."

"While the errors of perfectionism have been and always will be a threat to the true Christian religion, the opposite error of practical antinomianism, whereby preachers fail to exhort their people to obey God with a pure heart, is equally pernicious because such a view undermines the grace of God in saving sinners from the power of sin."

A quote from John Davenant that Mark Jones uses with approval, "Good works are necessary for salvation of the justified by a necessity of order, not of causality; or more plainly, as the way appointed to eternal life, not as the meritorious cause of eternal life."

"In short, good works are not only the believer's way of giving thanks to God, but also his duty on the way to salvation."