GRACE ABOUNDING OR SIN ABOUNDING?
GRACE ABOUNDING OR SIN ABOUNDING?
Known as the "mad monk," Grigori Rasputin was an outlandish figure in the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. A wandering peasant and self-styled holy man, Rasputin became a favorite of Nicholas and the Empress Alexandra in 1905 after he laid hands on their son Alexis, apparently healing the boy of hemophilia. Rasputin was soon a fixture in the royal household and a particular confidante to Alexandra. Wild-eyed and unkempt, Rasputin was strangely charismatic and his personal magnetism was legendary; at the same time his bouts of drinking, womanizing, and wild behavior created a scandal in Russian society. He was finally killed in 1916 by a cabal of aristocrats who feared Rasputin's influence had grown too great. Rasputin's death became the stuff of legend: assassins fed him poisoned cakes and wine, and when the poison failed to kill Rasputin they shot him and beat him. Still Rasputin didn't die, until finally the men bound him and tossed him into the Neva River, where he drowned (www.answers.com). Seventies pop group Boney M summed up Rasputin's exploits very nicely: “Most people looked at him with terror and with fear / But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear.”
The theology of Rasputin centered around a virulent form of antinomianism: one must become very familiar with sin, so that God’s grace can be demonstrated to its fullest extent. As far as we know Rasputin took full advantage of some of his theology, with plenty of evidence for the first portion (familiarity with sin) but no evidence for the second portion (familiarity with God’s grace). The “mad monk” was not the first man in history to misunderstand the graciousness of God or to ignore the teachings of Paul in Romans 5-7; he is just better known than the Gnostics, the Manicheans, those involved in Marcionism, Johannes Agricola, or Anne Hutchinson.
Most of us today don’t recognize any of these names or even the word “antinomianism” (anti-against; nomos-law), but that does not mean it is not present in our society and even within the church today. I believe this crazy view of God’s grace is manifest in two particular ways today: universalism and ego-centrism.
The universal aspect of this is seen in a reduction of the value of any obedience or desire to become more Christ-like (contrary to an extraordinary number of passages in Scripture and the majority of the book of James). The one who professes faith in Christ but does not care how he lives is surprisingly similar to the Universalist who thinks, “We are all going to heaven anyway so in the end if I cheat my brother, what does it matter?”
The ego-centric aspect of today’s antinomianism is seen in the rejection of God and any moral law as the natural result of man becoming obsessed with self. If I am the center of my own world, then I have that great ability and even omniscience to justify my own behavior. Why should I voluntarily limit or submit myself to any rule of God if I truly believe that I have been forgiven and God’s grace is sufficient to cover any sin? If it covered my past sins, and God is aware that I will continue to sin and has made His grace to cover those as well, then why hold back my own desires, especially if there is grace waiting to cover my sinful actions! If there is unlimited grace why should I ever care about obeying any moral law?
If you are so full of self and believe that because of grace no moral law has any bearing or hold upon you, then you have not been taught the truth, are so young in your knowledge of Christ and the things of faith as to be still sipping on “milk” (or not consuming the Word at all), or you are simply not a believer. Paul’s great frustration in his personal life was that he could not get away from sin and did not always do those things he knew he should do. God’s grace frees us from the master we had – sin. God’s grace gives us a new Master – Christ. Everyone will serve their master; either you will be a servant of sin or of righteousness. Christ did not die so that we could be even further enslaved to sin. He gave His life to free us from those chains so we could have life more abundantly. We strive to live in obedience to God’s Word because of God’s grace.
If you don’t want to live like Christ, perhaps it’s because you don’t know Christ?