Apostasy

Apostasy- BT

Introduction
    The category ‘apostasy’ functions in theologiccal discourse for the open and final repudiation of one’s allegiance to God in Christ. Consideration of the theme is warranted by the language and logic of the biblical writers and also by church life and pastoral concern.
    John Owen, writing from the atemporal perspective of Puritan thought, defines the essence of apostasy as ‘a total renunciation of all the constituent principles and doctrines of Christianity’. This entails a ‘voluntary, resolved relinquishment of … the gospel, the faith, rule and obedience thereof’. A distinction is generally drawn between apostasy and backsliding, a less radical decay of one’s Christian integrity, for the latter does not involve ‘resolved relinquishment’. This distinction is useful in some contexts, but the Bible does not always separate the two neatly. For example, the same Hebrew noun (m§s¥u®b≈a®) in Jeremiah 2:19; 5:6 and 14:7 is translated ‘backsliding[s]’ in the NIV and ‘apostasies’ in the NRSV. At what point in real life does backsliding degenerate into apostasy? Biblical theology may not offer an easy answer, but it can provide a framework of conceptual and historical models to which one can look for analogies to one’s own historical situation.
    The biblical language evoked by the category ‘apostasy’ is various and suggestive. The verbs ‘forsake’ (Deut. 31:16, NRSV), ‘turn aside [from following God]’ (1 Kgs. 9:6), ‘wander’ (Jer. 14:10), ‘rebel [against God]’ (Ezek. 2:3), ‘cast [God behind one’s back]’ (Ezek. 23:35), ‘commit treachery’ (Dan. 9:7), ‘commit whoredom’ (Hos. 1:2), ‘fall away’ (Matt. 24:10), ‘neglect’ (Heb. 2:3), ‘turn away’ (Heb. 3:12), ‘shrink back’ (Heb. 10:39) and ‘go out’ (1 John 2:19) occur in contexts concerned with spiritual decline so egregious as to merit consideration as apostasy.
    Biblical imagery adds to this richness of expression. Jerusalem’s silver becomes dross and her wine is mixed with water (Is. 1:22). Israel degenerates from a choice vine to a wild vine (Jer. 2:21). She is an unfaithful wife to her husband Yahweh (Hos. 1–3). The nation is like a defective bow that can no longer shoot straight (Hos. 7:16). Apostates in the Christian church are like well-watered ground that produces not a good crop but thorns and thistles, the end of which is to be burned (Heb. 6:7–8).

Apostasy in the OT
    Beginning with the fall of Adam in Genesis 3, the apostate impulse in the human heart becomes the salient feature of the race. But apostasy finds its most pungent expression among the covenant people, by reason of the covenant itself, especially when apostates reach a sort of ‘critical mass’ in the corporate soul of the community so that the whole nation departs from its allegiance to God. This ominous development among the chosen nation is apostasy in the fullest sense. After a long-standing pattern of spiritual defection was established in the course of Israel’s history, the nation was eventually abandoned to itself and allowed to be swallowed up in foreign exile.
    Early indications of Israel’s intractable apostasy include their worship of the golden calf (Exod. 32), their yoking themselves to the Baal of Peor (Num. 25) and the period of the judges (cf. Judg. 2:11–19). That these events were not isolated anomalies but true indications of the nation’s apostate soul is implied by Psalm 106. The poet reviews Israel’s record of resistance to God and identifies it as national uncleanness and prostitution (v. 39), which so angers God that ‘he gave them into the hand of the nations’ (v. 41).
    During the period of the monarchy, apostasy in Israel developed with ultimately devastating effect. It was manifested in flirtation with the fertility religion of the Baals, and entanglement in political alliances with foreign powers. By the first Israel rejected the loving provision of God; by the second they rejected his protective security. The prophet Hosea, addressing the northern kingdom in its latter decades, exposes the moral offensiveness of both in the language of spiritual harlotry. He unveils a shocking vision of Yahweh as a husband rejected by his adulterous wife (Hos. 1–3, et passim). Jeremiah, addressing the southern kingdom, laments that nation’s lust for idols and alliances (Jer. 2), borrowing from Hosea’s marital imagery. In 3:6–12 Jeremiah boldly identifies Israel as Apostasy incarnate (m§s¥u®b≈a® yiseéraΩ}el) and Judah, the even more guilty offender, as Treachery (bogeda® y§h¥da®). Ezekiel 16 embellishes the prophetic vision still further. The nation was like a pitiful, abandoned infant girl, rescued by Yahweh and raised up to be an exquisite young woman, favoured by him with rich privilege and, indeed, married to her kind benefactor. But she used his gifts to finance liaisons with other lovers. In Ezekiel 23 the prophet re-tells the stories of both northern and southern kingdoms in terms of two sisters who corrupted themselves from their youth, but with the greater guilt falling upon Judah.
    Interestingly, the prophetic language for apostasy suggests that it is, as it were, the photographic negative of repentance. For example, in Jeremiah 3:12 the prophet calls apostate (m§s¥u®b≈a®) Israel to return (s¥u®b≈a®). In 3:14 and 22 he calls the apostates (s¥o®b≈aœbˆîm) to return (s¥u®b≈u®). In 8:5 the prophet agonizes over why the people apostatize (s¥o®b≈§b≈a®) with perpetual apostasy (m§s¥b≈a®), refusing to return (laœs¥u®b≈). Both repentance and apostasy are acts of turning (s¥u®b≈), but one is turning towards God and the other is turning away from him. Apostasy is a kind of perverse anti-conversion.
    With some conspicuous exceptions, the overall history of the OT people of God is one of their refusing the grace of God and turning away from him. This can be seen in passages like Ezekiel 20:1–39, Nehemiah 9:6–37 and Daniel 9:4–19, which review Israel’s history with a sweep of the prophetic eye and discover there a damning pattern of defection which must be regarded as apostasy. But remarkably, condemnation is not the end for the apostate people of God. Yahweh may ‘divorce’ his adulterous wife (Hos. 1:9; 2:2), but he will win her heart again (Hos. 2:14–15). He will betroth her to himself again in re-created moral virginity (Hos. 2:19–20). He will heal Israel’s apostasy and love them without any precondition (Jer. 3:22; Hos. 14:4). God shuts them up to disobedience, that he might show them mercy, and the nation’s mouth be stopped (Ezek. 16:59–63; cf. Rom. 11:1–32).

Apostasy in the NT
    Although the Christian church is receiving the promised outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:14–21) and has inherited better arrangements for its life and worship than Israel enjoyed (Heb., passim), apostasy is very much within the scope of NT concern. Indeed, Jesus predicted that the present, age-long delay before the end would be characterized by tribulation, such that many will ‘fall away’ (Matt. 24:10; cf. D. A. Carson, ‘Matthew’, in EBC, pp. 495, 498–499). The disciples themselves confirmed Jesus’ prophetic word when they deserted him in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:56), although they were later restored. Within this historical framework of tribulation, which increases the temptation to fall away, the danger of apostasy remains until the end. (See Eschatology.)
    Any consideration of apostasy in NT teaching must begin with the conviction that Jesus Christ occupies the ultimate position in the redemptive purposes of God (Heb. 1:1–4). As the consummation of OT revelation, Jesus is the final and greatest God-revealer. With all lines of redemptive history converging on him, calculated repudiation of the all-sufficiency of Jesus must be regarded with the utmost seriousness.
    The letter to the Hebrews solemnly insists upon the irreversibility of apostasy after exposure to the power of the Christian gospel (Heb. 6:4–6; cf. 12:16–17). Wilful persistence in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, such that one shrinks back from fixing one’s faith upon the Son of God, exposes one to ‘a fury of fire’ (Heb. 10:26–31). A perfect faith is not required. The people of God are ‘ignorant and wayward’ (Heb. 5:2). But Jesus is able to help his people when they are tested (Heb. 2:18). He can sympathize with their weakness, having been tested himself, and is therefore approachable (Heb. 4:15–16). To refuse his resources of mercy and grace in time of need could lead to an apostate condition, in which one holds the Son of God up to contempt (Heb. 6:6) – hardly consistent with ‘things that belong to salvation’ (Heb. 6:9). Such a view may not preclude a church’s or denomination’s recovery, but it offers no encouragement for individuals who apostatize. The author’s position may be summed up, according to Paul Ellingworth, as follows: ‘Nowhere does the writer of Hebrews leave his readers any room for the hope that, if they abandon faith in Christ, they may find, so to speak, a fallback position in their former (in particular, Jewish) beliefs and practices. Christ has made the old covenant old (8:13), so that there is now nowhere else to go. To abandon Christ, or to accord him anything but the highest place in the universe, is not to adopt an alternative religious option, but simply “to fall away from the living God” (3:12).’ (‘Hebrews and the anticipation of completion’, Themelios 14, 1988, p. 10.)
    The apostle Paul is amazed to see the Galatians ‘deserting’ the one who called them in the grace of Christ for another gospel (Gal. 1:6), and he condemns anyone who ‘perverts’ the true gospel (1:7–9). He also warns against hypocritical teachers who advocate asceticism (1 Tim. 4:1–5), glorifying physical deprivation and denying the goodness of God. The apostle anticipates a time when church people will have ‘itching ears’ and so will turn away from the truth to myths (2 Tim. 4:3–4). He cautions the Ephesian elders against ‘savage wolves’ and those who will distort the truth to mislead the church (Acts 20:29–30; cf. 2 Pet. 2:1–2; Jude 3–4). These passages accurately illustrate the troubling spiritual atmosphere in which believers must demonstrate the genuineness of their faith and avoid apostasy.
    Personal illustrations of apostasy may include Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:22), Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:19–20) and Demas (2 Tim. 4:10). The immoral man in 1 Corinthians 5:1–5 is not an apostate; his continuing identification with the church is aggravating the scandal.
    Paul’s prophecy of ‘the lawless one’ (2 Thess. 2:1–12) who will draw the world away into rebellion against God may not describe apostasy in the strict sense. This agent of evil intrudes himself into the temple of God (2:4), but the interpretation of this ‘temple’ is an arguable point. He holds sway over ‘all who have not believed the truth’ (2:12), as distinct from the church (2:13–17).

Apostasy and Perseverance
    Jesus insisted that some who experience real spiritual power and name him ‘Lord’ will be rejected as ‘evil-doers’ (Matt. 7:21–23; cf. Heb. 6:4–6). He discerned in some an unconvincing faith (John 2:23–25). He posited various responses to the gospel, some of which are initially promising but prove hollow in the end (Luke 8:11–15). It is the believer’s perseverance to the end that validates a claim to Christian faith and authenticates spiritual experience (Col. 1:21–23; Heb. 3:14; 6:11–12; 2 John 9). The apostle John accounts for those who walk away from their former identification with Christ in this way: ‘They went out from us, but they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us’ (1 John 2:19).
    Larger theological systems, Calvinist or Arminian, may unintentionally blunt the edge of the biblical witness either by diminishing one’s sense of the need to persevere or by subverting one’s confidence in God’s commitment to and provision for the struggling saint.
    Scripture affirms both God’s active work in his people and their own responsibility to pursue salvation (Phil. 2:12–13). Ultimately, the believer lays hold of God himself as ‘him who is able to keep you from falling’ (Jude 24). But the hypocrisy of apostates is eventually exposed, however impressive their profession of faith may be for a time.
    See also: ADULTERY; FAITH.

Bibliography
    D. A. Carson, ‘Reflections on Christian assurance’, WTJ 54, 1992, pp. 31–46; J. M. Gundry Volf, Paul and Perseverance: Staying in and Falling Away (Tübingen, 1990); I. H. Marshall, Kept by the Power of God: A Study of Perseverance and Falling Away (Minneapolis and Carlisle, 1975, 1995); idem, ‘The problem of apostasy in New Testament theology’, in Jesus the Saviour: Studies in New Testament Theology (London, 1990); R. C. Ortlund, Jr., Whoredom: God’s Unfaithful Wife in Biblical Theology (Leicester and Grand Rapids, 1996); R. Wakely, in NIDOTTE 2, pp. 1121–1123; J. Owen, The Nature and Causes of Apostasy from the Gospel, in The Works of John Owen, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, repr. 1979).
R. C. ORTLUND, JR.

Suffering and Glory

Luke 24:26 (Show me Luke 24)
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

Romans 8:18 (Show me Romans 8)

Future Glory
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Ephesians 3:13 (Show me Ephesians 3)
So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

2 Thessalonians 1:9 (Show me 2 Thessalonians 1)
They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from[1] the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
[1]Or destruction that comes from

Hebrews 2:9 (Show me Hebrews 2)
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Hebrews 2:10 (Show me Hebrews 2)
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

1 Peter 4:13 (Show me 1 Peter 4)
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

1 Peter 5:1 (Show me 1 Peter 5)

Shepherd the Flock of God
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed:

1 Peter 5:10 (Show me 1 Peter 5)
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Overcome in 1 John

1 John 2:14 (Show me 1 John 2)
I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1 John 4:4 (Show me 1 John 4)
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 5:4 (Show me 1 John 5)
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

1 John 5:5 (Show me 1 John 5)
Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

-to conquer
-to carry off the victory, come off victorious
-of Christ, victorious over all His foes
-of Christians, that hold fast their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions
when one is arraigned or goes to law, to win the case, maintain one's cause

Tax collectors

*From Kenneth E. Bailey's The Cross & the Prodigal

During the time of Jesus, tax collectors were naturally seen as “sinners.”
When any ethnic community is forcibly incorporated into someone else’s
empire, tax correctors are inevitable despised intensely. But the Roman Empire
presented a special problem. It collected taxes through “tax farmers.”
An individual would buy from the rulers the right to collect taxes in a certain
area. That person was then able for the most part to set his own rates and
exact whatever he could. He was bound by contract to deliver a certain sum
to the authorities. The rest was his. These “tax farmers” were often Gentiles.
In Palestine local people were then hired to do the actual collecting of the
money.3 Obviously, with unscrupulous men involved, there was a great deal
of graft.

The practice still persists at one point in modern Egyptian village life
where a local citizen contracts from the government the right to tax the use
of the village riverbank crossing on the Nile. He then hires men to collect a
premium from every person who crosses the river. The going rate is whatever
the traffic will bear. Graft and favoritism become the rule when
unscrupulous men seize control of the village crossing point. The last years
of the Turkish Empire saw the same ancient system at work, and once again
widespread abuse was common.

Furthermore, Palestine in the first century was occupied by imperialists.
It is difficult for anyone who has never lived in an occupied country to fully
appreciate the hatred generated toward the “collaborator.” (Modern African
and Asian nationalisms give us many parallels.) In modern Arab politics the
bitterest of all insults is “agent of the imperialists.”

When a colony approaches the ignition point of revolt, it hates any “collaborator”
with ferocious intensely. Suddenly the collaborators’ compromises
with national honor become unendurable. In Jesus’ day nationalistic
forces in Judea and Galilee were gathering strength. The smoldering of revolt
would burst into flame within a few years. Any cooperation with Rome
and its tax collectors was surely looked on as a betrayal of race and religion.
In the Gospels the title of tax collector is usually linked with sinners or with
adulterers and quite naturally with Gentiles.4 The most common identification
is with sinners. In the mouth of a Pharisee sinners meant the “unclean,” the
“breakers of the Law” and those of low moral character generally. In short,
anyone they condemned. Luke uses sinner thirteen times and generally
means by it people of low moral character. Here he is quoting the Pharisees,
and thus the added flavor of “traitor” and “unclean” are probably intended.

3John R. Donahue, “Tax Collector,” Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New
York: Doubleday, 1992), 6:337-38.

Enûma Eliš

The Enûma Eliš is the Babylonian or Mesopotamian creation epic. It was first discovered by modern scholars (in fragmentary form) in the ruined library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh (Mosul, Iraq), recovered by Henry Layard in 1849.

The Enuma Elish has about a thousand lines and is recorded in Akkadian on seven clay tablets, each holding between 115 and 170 lines of text. The majority of Tablet V has never been recovered, but aside from this lacuna the text is almost complete. A duplicate copy of Tablet V has been found in Sultantepe, ancient Harran.

This epic is one of the most important sources for understanding the Babylonian worldview, centered on the supremacy of Marduk and the existence of mankind for the service of the gods. Its primary original purpose, however, is not an exposition of theology or theogony, but the elevation of Marduk, the chief god of Babylon, above other Mesopotamian gods.

The Enûma Elish has existed in various versions and copies from Babylonia as well as from Assyria. The version from Ashurbanipal's library dates to the 7th century BC. The story itself probably dates to the 18th century BC on account of the fact that this is the time when the god Marduk seemed to have a prominent status. Some scholars date it later (14th to 12th centuries BC.)

Inclusio

I learn about Inclusio over the weekend... here is an example of a letter with inclusio.

1 Pet. 5:13 She who is at Babylon, who is . . . chosen almost certainly refers to the church in Rome, not a literal woman (cf. “elect lady,” 2 John 1, 13). Although the Babylon of the OT was in ruins, the reference resonates with the OT, where “Babylon” represents a center of earthly power opposed to God (cf. Isaiah 13–14; Jeremiah 50–51; see also Revelation 17–18), and in Peter's day that city would be Rome. The language of “Babylon” and “chosen” forms an inclusio (a literary envelope) with the first verse of the book: the OT background to “Babylon” reminds believers that though they are exiles, they are “elect exiles” (1 Pet. 1:1) who will receive the promised inheritanc

of Psalms...
(v) ‘Inclusio.’ This refers to a word or phrase that occurs both at the beginning and the end of a unity of prose or poetry (e.g. ‘Praise the LORD, O my soul’, Ps. 103:1, 22). Inclusio holds a passage together and indicates to listeners the end of a section. The meaning of the repeated phrase is often enriched by what comes inbetween (e.g. Ps. 8).

of Prophecy...
The three main sections of Amos are marked out by what is known as ‘inclusio’, which means that each begins and ends on the same note: the roaring lion (1:2; 3:8), the surrounding foe (3:9-11; 6:14) and (by contrast) the judgment that will not happen (7:1-6) and the hope that will (9:11-15). Each section has a symmetrical pattern: the first (1:2-3:8) takes the form ABBA; the second (3:9-6:14) the form ABCCBA and the third (7:1-9:15) the form ABCDCBA.

Massah

Massah . According to Dt. 6:16 and 9:22, a place in the wilderness where Israel put God to the test: Massah (from nissa®, ‘to test’) means ‘testing’. In Ex. 17:7 the name is coupled with Meribah (= ‘quarrel, complaint’, from rˆîb≈ = ‘strive, complain’) in a story from the older Pentateuchal sources which shows the Israelites protesting because of lack of water at *Rephidim, close to Mt Horeb (v. 6). The two names again appear together in Ps. 95:8, a warning to later generations which could refer to this episode.
The name Meribah also occurs (without Massah) in conjunction with *Kadesh, both in a boundary-list (Ezk. 47:19) and as the location of a similar episode (mainly drawn from P), which results in both Moses and Aaron being denied the privilege of entering the promised land (Nu. 20:1–13 [cf. v. 24]; 27:14; Dt. 32:51; Ps. 106:32).
Both narratives are aetiological, i.e. imply that the names were given as a result of these events of the Mosaic period. But because of the legal connotations of the verb rˆîb≈ it has often been suggested that Meribah was first of all a place where legal disputes were settled (cf. En-mishpat, ‘well of judgment’, another name for Kadesh [Gn. 14:7]). This can only be a hypothesis, but there are other reasons for wondering whether the straightforward explanation of the names is historically correct.
The attempt has frequently been made to separate out a Massah-story and a Meribah-story in Ex. 17:1–7, but, although there is a little unexpected repetition (vv. 2–3), it is not sufficient to justify analysis into two separate stories, deriving from different sources. The same must be said for Nu. 20:1–13. What is more likely is that, in both cases, there has been some amplification of the original account by a later author. In Ex. 17:1–7 this amplification may be responsible for the introduction of the allusion to Meribah (and perhaps Massah also) in vv. 2 and 7.
Dt. 33:8 and Ps. 81:7, where these names also occur, can scarcely refer to the same episodes, since here there is no hint of criticism and it is God, not the people of Israel, who is doing the ‘testing’. The theme of God testing Israel is one that is encountered several times in Exodus (15:25; 16:4; 20:20). It seems likely that other events, perhaps mentioned elsewhere in the Bible (Ex. 32?), perhaps not, were at one time connected with these places. To date, no fully satisfactory correlation of [739] the various passages has been made, and it may be that the literary and historical problems are insoluble. For some ingenious, if speculative, suggestions see H. Seebass, Mose und Aaron, 1962, pp. 61ff.

Rephidim

Rephidim . The last stopping-place of the Israelites on the Exodus from Egypt, before they reached Mt Sinai (Ex. 17:1; 19:2; Nu. 33:14–15). Here the Israelites under Joshua fought against Amalek, and the successful outcome of the battle depended on Moses’ holding up his hands, which he did with the support of Aaron and Hur (Ex. 17:8–16). After the battle, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, persuaded Moses to give up judging the people entirely by himself, and to appoint deputies for this purpose (Ex. 18). The site of Rephidim is uncertain, the usual suggestion being the Wadi Refayid in SW Sinai.

Transcendent Vs Immanent

transcendent |tranˈsendənt|
adjective
beyond or above the range of normal or merely physical human experience : the search for a transcendent level of knowledge.
• surpassing the ordinary; exceptional : the conductor was described as a “transcendent genius.”
• (of God) existing apart from and not subject to the limitations of the material universe. Often contrasted with immanent .

immanent |ˈimənənt|
adjective
existing or operating within; inherent : the protection of liberties is immanent in constitutional arrangements.
• (of God) permanently pervading and sustaining the universe. Often contrasted with transcendent .

Other 'A's

atonement, atonement theories. Atonement refers to God’s act of dealing with the primary human problem, sin. Both OT and NT affirm that sin has broken the relationship between God and humankind. According to Christian theology, God accomplished the way of restoration through Christ’s death. Although Scripture does not clearly spell out how this atonement takes place, some of the atonement theories include: (1) moral influence—Christ’s death acts as a positive example of love in action; (2) ransom (Christus victor)—Christ is the ransom that buys back sinners from Satan or gains the victory over evil; (3) satisfaction—Christ’s death appeased the honor due God that has been robbed by human sin; and (4) penal substitution—Christ stood in the legal place of sinners, bearing the just punishment due us because we transgress God’s laws.

attribute, attributes of God. In general, an attribute is a characteristic or quality used to describe an object or person. When speaking of the attributes of God, theologians note those characteristics or qualities that are essential to our understanding of God as God relates to us as created beings. The attributes that classical Christian theology sets forth include holiness, eternality, [Theological Terms, p. 18] omniscience (all knowing), omnipotence (all powerful), omnipresence (present to all) and goodness. Some theologians would argue that love is an attribute of God, while others suggest that love is more closely related to God’s essential being.

Augsburg Confession. Formulated in 1530, the Augsburg Confession summarizes the faith claims of Lutherans regarding Christ and his word. The Confession was written by Philipp Melanchthon, a devoted follower of Martin Luther. The Augsburg Confession has twenty-eight articles on topics such as God, humanity, sin, salvation, the church and the end of the ages.

Augustine, Augustinianism (354–430). One of the greatest theologians in the history of the church, Augustine was influential in the development of the Western church’s understanding of the doctrines of the Trinity, sin, predestination and the church. Augustine is known for his integration of the thought categories of Platonic philosophy with theology. Augustinianism as a system of thought essentially starts with the complete sinfulness of humankind (depravity), which leaves humans unable to respond in faith toward God. In keeping with this, Augustinianism asserts that God predestines those who are enabled to repent and believe.

antinomianism.

antinomianism. An ethical system that denies the binding nature of any supposedly absolute or external laws on individual behavior. Some antinomianists argue that Christians need not preach or practice the laws of the OT because Christ’s merits have freed Christians from the law. Others, like the early Gnostics, teach that spiritual perfection comes about through the attainment of a special knowledge rather than by obedience to law. Generally, Christian theology has rejected antinomianism on the basis that although Christians are not saved through keeping the law, we still have a responsibility to live uprightly, that is, in obedience to God’s law of love in service to one another (Gal 5:13–14) as we walk by the Spirit (Gal 5:16) who continually works to transform us into the image of Christ the Creator (Col 3:1, 7–10)