Thursday, March 17, 2011

Martin Luther on "Easy-Believism"

“They think one should not frighten or trouble the people, but rather always preach comfortingly about grace and forgiveness of sins in Christ and under no circumstances use these or similar words.

‘Listen! You want to be a Christian and at the same time remain an adulterer, a whoremonger, a drunken swine, arrogant, covetous, envious, vindictive, malicious, etc!’ Instead they say, ‘Listen! Though you are an adulterer, a whoremonger, a miser, or other kind of sinner, if you but believe, you are saved, and you need not fear the law. Christ has fulfilled it all!’…And it is saying yes and no to the same thing. For there is no Christ that died for sinners who do not, after forgiveness of sins, desist from sins and lead a new life…Now he who does not abstain from sin, but persists in his evil life, must have a different Christ, that of the Antinomians: the real Christ is not there, even if all the angels would cry ‘Christ! Christ!’

He must be damned with this, his new Christ…But our Antinomians fail to see that they are preaching Christ without and against the Holy Spirit because they propose to let the people continue in their old ways and still pronounce them saved. And yet logic, too, implies that a Christian should either have the Holy Spirit and lead a new life, or know that he has no Christ.” 1 (Note Luther’s expression “antinomians” here refers to church leaders who use the wonderful teaching of being justified and redeemed by grace through faith as an excuse for them and others to ignore or underemphasise the Biblical teachings on obeying God and living a holy life daily). Luther’s comments above are highly relevant to today.

SOURCE: http://internetbiblecollege.net/Lessons/Historical%20roots%20of%20easy%20believism.pdf

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