Christ The King Free Lutheran

Sermon for Trinity 6. The Scripture readings are Exodus 20:1-17; Romans 6:1-11; and Matthew 5:17-26.It is easy to think that legalism and antinomianism are opposite errors because legalism leads to a strict keeping of the Law and antinomianism leads to ignoring or belittling the Law. But these two errors are not opposites. The two share the same basic problem. Both legalism and antinomianism lower the standard of God’s Law.Legalism lowers the standard by saying that the Law is doable, followable, attainable, and achievable. Antinomianism lowers the standard by saying that the Law doesn’t matter, that the Law doesn’t actually demand what it demands. And, again, we fall into both of these errors. Sometimes, it is in our attitude to the whole Law. Or, we might fall into legalism when it comes to certain Commandments and into antinomianism when it comes to other commandments.Dear saints, when it comes to the Law, God doesn’t ever lower the standard. God doesn’t smile and wink at antinomians. God’s grace and mercy