Antinomianism ( [] 'against' and [] 'law') is a term used to describe any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (), or is at least considered to do so. The term has both religious and secular meanings.
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In some Christian belief systems, an antinomian is one who takes the principle of salvation by faith and divine grace, to the point of asserting that the saved are not bound to follow the moral law contained in the Old Covenant laws.
The distinction between antinomian and other Christian takes on moral law is that antinomians believe that obedience to the law is motivated by an internal principle flowing from belief rather than from any external compulsion, devotion, or need. Antinomianism has been considered to teach that believers have a "license to sin" and that future sins do not require repentance. Johannes Agricola, to whom antinomianism was first attributed, stated that while non-Christians were still held to the Mosaic law, Christians were entirely free from it, being under the gospel alone.
Examples of antinomians being confronted by the religious establishment include Martin Luther's critique of antinomianism, the Ranters of the English Civil War, and the Antinomian Controversy of the seventeenth-century Massachusetts Bay Colony. The charge of antinomianism has been levelled at Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists and some Evangelical churches.
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By extension, the word "antinomian" is also used to describe views in religions other than Christianity:
- the 10th century Sufi mystic al-Hallaj was accused of antinomianism.
- the 17th century pseudo-kabbalistic rabbis Sabbatai Zevi and Nathan Benjamin Ashkenazi of Gaza were accused of antinomianism.
- the term is also used to describe certain practices or traditions in Frankism.
- aspects of Vajrayana and Tantra that include sexual rituals are sometimes described as "antinomian" in Buddhism and Hinduism.
Christian views on antinomianism
Antinomianism has been a point of doctrinal contention in the history of Christianity. At its root is an argument between salvation through faith alone and on the basis of good works or works of mercy.
The term antinomianism was coined by Martin Luther during the Reformation to criticize extreme interpretations of the new Lutheran soteriology. In the 18th century, John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist tradition, severely attacked antinomianism.
According to some Christian denominations, moral laws (as opposed to civil or ceremonial laws) are derivative of what St. Paul indirectly refers to as natural law (Rm 2.14–15). According to this point of view, the Mosaic law has authority only insofar as it reflects the commands of Christ and the natural law. Christian sects and theologians who believe that they are less constrained by laws than critics consider customary are often called "antinomian" by those critics. Thus, classic Methodist commentator Adam Clarke held, "The Gospel proclaims liberty from the ceremonial law, but binds you still faster under the moral law. To be freed from the ceremonial law is the Gospel liberty; to pretend freedom from the moral law is Antinomianism."
Antinomianism in Gnosticism
The term antinomian came into use in the sixteenth century; however, the doctrine itself can be traced in the teaching of earlier beliefs.
Marcion of Sinope was the founder of Marcionism which rejected the Hebrew Bible in its entirety. Marcion considered the God portrayed in the Bible to be a lesser deity, a demiurge, and he claimed that the law of Moses was contrived.