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) Rev. Matt Richard writes that antinomianism "is essentially the notion of personal autonomy where individuals believe that they have the absolute right to pursue whatever makes themselves happy, regardless of what anyone else says or commands." '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. . .
|
Would you prayerfully consider blessing Exposing the ELCA as you have been blessed?
Give online: |
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. . .
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. . .
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.). . .
“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. . .
No More Sin? Some Reflections on Seminary Education
. . .If such seriousness is not applied to the faculties of Lutheran seminaries, then the end result will be what we now see: institutions where the teachers do not personally hold the public confession of the church they purport to serve, thus forming leaders who fail to understand it fully or proclaim in accordance with it. With that failure comes an attendant doctrinal drift and lapse of evangelical fervor among the believers, which in turn leads congregations into lapses of faith. “I really don’t think that there is such a thing as ‘sin’”—it could be the title of many sermons I have heard. Those sermons come from somewhere, and it’s not just the mind of the preacher, but all the minds that have helped to form it. . .
"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" - posted on Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, Columbus OH