ELCA Exposed News on Gospel Reductionism and Antinomianism

"What is 'gospel-reductionism?'   Basically it’s the tendency to reduce the Bible to the gospel.  Gospel reductionism tends to allow the Bible authority only in matters which are explicitly part of the gospel or may be developed from the gospel.  Exponents of gospel reductionism believe that considerable freedom should be allowed within the church in matters which are not an explicit part of the gospel.  In this way, the rest of the Bible is relativised; it does not have the same authority.  Instead of the gospel and scripture, the tendency is for only the gospel to become the standard (the norm) of Christian teaching." (see here)

Antinomianism is defined as "(t)he doctrine or belief that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil, or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace."  (read here)
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'All you need is love'—Does Antinomian Controversy ride again?

. . .the real tragedy of antinomianism is that the gospel is ultimately lost. Without a profound sense for “sin, death and the power of the devil”, from what does Christ save us? It is little wonder, therefore, that Luther’s reaction to antinomianism, with its rejection of the law, was sharp and unyielding. The gospel, in Luther’s eyes, was in danger. “If we cast the Law aside,” Luther said, “we shall not long retain Christ.”. . .What kind of unity is there when there is no clear consensus (due to modern interpretive methods) as to who Jesus actually is and what He saves us from? And, how can there be unity without common conviction. . .

Antinomianism and Legalism vs. the Gospel: Is it Legalistic and Ungraceful for Saint Paul’s to Leave the ELCA? By Shawn Smith

. . .So rather than being antinomian, Christianity upholds the law to its fullest extent and in doing so forces us to look outside ourselves for deliverance/salvation (Zahl 35). On the other hand, Christianity that deserves to be called antinomian is that which lessens the severity of or does away with the law. . .

The 800 Pound Gorilla in the Room - by Charles Bissett

. . .How did we get to the point where we find ourselves caught within a raging debate going on in the greater Church?
It is because a major denomination, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), has elected to embrace a modernistic metaphorical belief system called antinomianism undergirded by an Emergent Church panentheismi belief system. . .

ELCA Lutherans Who Are Not Antinomian Are Either Leaving the ELCA or Looking for Ways to Cover Their Embarrassment

. . . Luther’s first big battle within the evangelical party was over antinomianism. He dealt with it decisively when it broke out and when it reemerged in the early 1530’s. . .

Law and Gospel: A Problem with Bound Conscience - Rev. Lauren Lay

. . .The "bound conscience" concept is a rejection of the law and gospel hermeneutical principle in at least two critical ways. First, its appeal is based in the taming of the word of God to gospel alone, removing the power of the law to judge. Since the law is silenced ongoing sin or sins no longer have the power to threaten one's existence before God or in relationships with others. This is gospel reductionism. . .

The End of the Line for the “Journey Together Faithfully.” - By Eric Jonas Swensson

"...when we come up against laws that call our behavior into question we usually attempt by one means or another to erase, discredit, or change the laws. We become antinomians. If we don't like the law we seek to remove or abolish it by exegetical circumlocution, appeals to progress, to genetics, to the authority of ecclesiastical-task force pronouncements, or perhaps just to the assurance that 'things have changed." (Forde, "Law and Sexual Behavior," 7.). . .

ELCA’s Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson: A false teacher

. . .Bishop Hanson gives evidence of his Law-Gospel reductionism. Lutheranism, for Him, does not find the proper distinction of Law and Gospel to be the interpretive key of Scripture, but the Gospel only. But Jesus Christ is the God of the Gospel and the God of the Law. In short, Hanson’s Gospel not only fulfills and supplants the Law, it destroys it. . .

“Pursuing freedom from Scripture's clear teachings, by arguing for their ambiguity, results only in tyranny” – Part One

. . .This decay lead the ELCA officially into the antinomianism it now revels in, having, at its Church Wide Assembly in 2009, officially placed “sin into the ‘not-sin’ category, by majority vote,”. . .

When the Third Use of the Law pre-dominates...

. . .The ELCA is antinomian to the core as indicated by the fact that a church-wide assembly put a sin into the “not-sin” category, by majority vote, and say it is God-pleasing, going against the clear Word of Scripture. So, the result is: there is little, if no, theological (2nd) use of the Law in pulpits and classrooms and you nailed that. . .
"Some Lutherans are so afraid of legalism that they have thrown the baby out with the bath water. The root of the problem is confusion about the relation between law and gospel. Lutherans have said that we are justified by faith alone, apart from the works of the law. Fine! Does that mean that the works of the law are bad and that the only good works are those motivated by the gospel? That has led to antinomianism in Lutheranism. Luther was the first to blow the whistle on antinomianism. Antinomianism means that the law is silenced with regard to ordering the Christian life. . . Legalism is not much of a problem in the ELCA today; antinomianism is." - Carl E. Braaten
"Much of the ELCA drift over the past decades can be explained by Gospel reductionism which essentially reduces the Bible to the Gospel. It grants Biblical authority only as related to the Gospel thereby allowing considerable freedom in matters which are not explicit to the Gospel. This makes the non-Gospel parts of the Bible relative, not having the same authority as the Gospel portion of the Bible" - See here