Comparison Of The Legalist And Sinclair Ferguson

In Luke 15:11-32 there is a story about two sons. These two brothers are very different from each other. The younger brother got up and left their father’s house, not obeying the father, while the other stayed behind and followed their father’s orders. When the younger son returned, he was greeted with open arms by his father and welcomed with love. When the older had heard of this he confronted the father and asked why the younger had been rewarded when he had not followed all the rules and left the family, saying that he should not be rewarded due to it. The picture of these two sons and the differences before and after can be compared to that of a legalist and an antinomian, but only one in the story comes to the truth. The legalist and

A controversy that explored the relationship between the law and the gospel. Within this essay, there will be an exploration of both the legalists and antinomians’ relationship with the law and will conclude with the similarities between the two. Each of these sons from the parable showed different characteristics from each point of view and it is important to investigate their wrongdoings. Legalism takes form in the parable of the prodigal son as the older brother. Ferguson defines legalism as, “the smuggling of the law into the gospel.” This means that they place an overemphasis on the law within the gospel story. This causes a distortion of the law in practices today of Christian life. They believe that they can be saved by the works of the law, and that their standing in salvation can be dramatically affected by not following it perfectly. The root of this belief comes from a distortion of God as the giver of the law. They see God as a lawgiver, a police officer who will sound the sirens when someone does something wrong, instead of the loving and merciful God that he

He thought he could receive the love of his father simply because he had obeyed him, but that is not the answer. The younger brother changed, but in the beginning, he was something different but very much the same. The younger brother in the parable of the prodigal son before he returns can be called an antinomian. He expects the love of his father all the way through, without obeying him. It is only when he realizes his shortcomings that he is changed. According to Ferguson, his definition of antinomianism is, “the abolishing of the law due to the gospel.” This alone holds a lot of problems. Antinomianism means “against the law,” anti means against, and nomos means law. Although it can seem that antinomianism is hard to spot, it is very present in a lot of modern churches. It is not just a modern problem, though. This belief system within the Christian churches started in the Lutheran times, it has been present for ages and still present in churches that seem to focus on the grace of God, ignore the law, and shove it away in a closet. Their belief is that the law has been replaced with love, but this is not how it works. Love is the law, the summarizing characteristics of