You know you’re a legalist if you place more focus on externals than internals, if you give specific applications (personal standards) the weight of biblical principles, if you’re judgmental of and view yourself as more spiritual than those who have different convictions than you, if you substitute rules or standards for Christian maturity (having rules tell you what to do rather than making spiritually mature-based decisions), if you make rules to be the third person of the Trinity rather than the Holy Spirit (aka, you believe in works sanctification), or if your believe God’s favor on your and your spirituality is based on your performance rather than grace.
You know you’re an antinomianist if you claim victory over death and hell but don’t care at all about victory over sin, if you redefine “Christian liberty” to mean you can live whatever way you want, if to you sin only means something that God forgives, if you have life by the Spirit yet you do not live in the Spirit, if you desire saving grace apart from sanctifying grace, if you prefer easy believism over repentant faith and living with Christ as your Lord, or if you make the Gospel a portioned influence in your life rather than the description of your life.
You know you’re a hypocrite if you judge others harshly but never inspect your own life, if you don’t practice what you preach, if you don’t preach what you practice, or if you have high external standards but low internal ones.
You know you’re an unglorified saint if you struggle with these.
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* Originally posted on former blog, I’m Calling Us Out.
This is a paper I wrote my Junior year, spring semester of 2011, at Maranatha Baptist Bible College for a class entitled “Fundamentalism.” This is a narrowly focused biography of one of my heroes, J. Gresham Machen, specifically on how his actions made him a leader in the separatist movements during his day.
Josh Wilson presents some great truths regarding present suffering, trials, and pain that believers may and will experience. Much of what his song, “Before the Morning,” says comes from the truths of Romans 8.
The Bible explicitly speaks about predestination, and therefore, the doctrine is undeniable. However, many disagree on how to interpret its meaning. One view in particular believes that God predestines to salvation all He foreknows will believe on Him. This view is commonly called conditional election because it states God chooses (elects) individuals to be saved based upon (conditioned upon) their foreknown future belief. It makes election conditional on man’s will in essence. The main text used to support this view is Romans 8:29.
When you first read the words, “Love is not selfish” you may have immediately thought of 1 Corinthians 13, frequently called “the love chapter.” However, these words actually never appear there. Yet, I still believe this statement is very true. Even from Paul’s words one can see this principle: “Love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant” (v.4) and “It does not insist on its own way” (v.5). Let us take a brief look at what I believe is a vital characteristic of true love.
Kirk E. Miller 