Dispensational Antinomianism

I remember being taught a gospel presentation through a small group model years ago. Our life was represented by a circle and inside that circle was a chair, which represented the throne of our heart. In the first drawing, which represented the natural unregenerate man or woman, there was a letter “S”, which symbolized “self”, on the seat of the chair and a letter “C”, which signified “Christ”, on the outside of the circle, meaning that we were on the throne of our life and Christ was outside of our life.

Dispensationalism is a belief that that God has related to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants in a series of “dispensations," (dispensings or distributions) or periods in history. What God required in the past is not what He requires today. Antinomianism comes from the Greek meaning lawless. In Christian theology it is a negative term for the teaching that Christians are under no obligation to obey God’s Law, the laws of ethics or morality. I heard that in dispensationalism, that same circle that represented our life, still has the chair which denotes the throne of our heart with the same letter “S” corresponding of “self” on the chair, but the letter “C” that stands for Christ moves inside the circle, meaning that we can have the indwelling Holy Spirit and be saved from our sin without any change in our life. That we receive God’s grace, are justified by Christ and are given a regenerated spirit, but have absolutely no godly fruit because nothing has changed. This is “Easy Believism”. It isn’t that they don’t have a profession of faith; they have no faith.

What is so serious about “Dispensational Antinomianism” is that it invites a false sense of security for people believing that they are saving, when they are not. They may have raised a hand at an “Alter Call”, walked the church aisle when called to come forward, said a prayer or signed a card, but have no evidence of the Holy Spirit fruit of salvation in their lives. Believing that the Old Testament Law doesn’t have any bearing on their life, that the moral law of God set forth through the entire Bible is no longer binding at all and has no relevance whatsoever on their Christian life comes with an Eschatology (the theology concerning death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul), where the kingdom of God, in no sense, is realized. There is no response to Christ or the Cross, so the gospel is lost. Christianity is not a “get out of jail free” card, which allows you to do whatever you want, whenever you want. “Self” is still on the throne of their heart, saying: “Not Thy will, but my will be done.

Matthew 13:3-9 Then he (Jesus) told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

True regeneration involves a foundational change in the disposition of the human heart because the “fallen” person, prior to being reborn of the Spirit, has no inclination to the things of God and no love for Jesus. And once that heart has been transformed through the immediate transcendence of God and the Holy Spirit in regeneration, now that person has Christ in their life and Christ on the throne of their heart as Lord of their life. They are not perfected or fully sanctified, but the process of sanctification has begun. Jesus is on the throne of their heart as Lord.

In Christ, Brian