# 10 He's freed
from any obligation to obey God's moral law because of God's saving grace. (1
Cor. 6:9-11; Rom. 6:1-2) This is the heresy of antinomianism.
# 9 He can begin
by the Spirit and be perfected by the flesh. (1 Cor. 3:1-3; 15:33,34 ; Gal.
3:1-5 ) This is the false, notion that "being a Christian" is
mutually exclusive from "living the Christian life," or perfection of
the saints is separate from participation in the life of the Spirit. Paul's use
of the term ‘carnal’ is wrongly viewed
as an alternative Christian lifestyle , not as biting irony to shock the
Corinthians to reality (Gordon D . Fee, The
First Epistle to the Corinthians; 123-124).
# 8 His position
in Christ excludes "called to live a holy life" and "created in Christ
Jesus for good works." (2 Tim. 1:8-9; Eph. 2:8-10; 1 John 3:24) The
assumption is that one can claim certain aspects of the believer's position -
especially those related to the believer's security— and not claim other aspects
equally.
#7 The statement:
"Anyone born of God does not continue to sin", does not apply. (1
John 3:9; 5:18; 2 Cor. 5:17 ) This is the false notion that one can remain
immature or a "carnal Christian" perpetually. However, God not only
saves his children from past sins (forgiveness) but he saves them from a
lifestyle of habitual sin (holiness). A lifestyle of sin and insensitivity to
the Spirit only proves one unregenerate, distinguished from a true brother who
commits a sin.
# 6 Fruit-bearing
is optional. (Mark 4:20 ; John 15:1-6 ) This is the misconception that a person
can be vitally connected to Jesus by faith and not bear fruit in character or
ministry.
# 5 He can save his old life and find new life in Christ; (Matt 16:24-25; Gal. 5:16-26) This is the false idea that a person can live two lives at once—the old life according to the flesh (unregenerate ) and the new life according to the Spirit (regenerate). Although a Christian is "simul iustus et peccator" meaning “simultaneously just and sinner,” the Christ-follower is called to "sin less" while never becoming "sinless" on this side of heaven.
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# 4 Living by the
Spirit is a nice alternative. (Rom. 8:9-17) This is the notion that life in the
Spirit is a lifestyle of some Christians, not the lifestyle of all Christians.
# 3 Eternal security
is mutually exclusive from following Jesus or living by faith. (John 10:27-28;
Rom. 11:22; Col. 1:21-23; Heb. 6:9-12; 1 Pet. 1:5) This view advocates that
preservation of the saints is wholly separate from perseverance of the saints,
in other words, God keep s his children safe (saved ) apart from enabling them
to persevere in faith by the Spirit.
# 2 He can never
be rejected by God as spurious. (Deut. 17:2-7; Matt. 18:15-20 ; 2 Cor.
12:20-13:5 ; Heb. 10:26-31 ) This is the false assumption that all who make a
profession of faith have taken hold of eternal life. Not all individuals who
are described corporately as "brothers" are genuine believers. The
danger and warning is that "carnal Christians" may not be Christians
at all (Bill Bright, The Holy Spirit,
226). They possess a false assurance— the seed of the great apostasy.
# 1 God is on a
celestial vacation and unavailable to discipline those whom he loves. (1 Cor. 1
1:30-32; 2 Cor. 7:8-12; Heb. 12:5-10) This is the notion that God is able and
obligated to save those who believe in him but not able and obligated to
discipline them so that they might share in his holiness.
In True Christianity, Johann Arndt says:
"In
a word, he who does not live here in time with Christ will not live with him
there in eternity. Christ will not live
in that person there, in whom he has not lived here. … Note with whom you have
most conformed and unified your life here, with Christ or with the Devil. With whomever you have done so you will
remain united after death in eternity.”
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