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operate. And in the construction of this doctrine, too, we should be guided by Scripture. Dr.
Bavinck calls attention to a difficulty that arises here, since the Bible seems to teach on the one
hand that the whole work of redemption is finished in Christ, so that nothing remains for man
to do; and on the other hand, that the really decisive thing must still be accomplished in and
through man. Its teaching respecting the way of redemption seems to be both autosoteric and
heterosoteric. Therefore it is necessary to guard against all one-sidedness, and to avoid both
the Scylla of Nomism, as it appears in Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism, and
Neonomism, and the Charybdis of Antinomianism, as it reared its head, sometimes as a specific
doctrine and sometimes as a mere doctrinal tendency, in some of the sects, such as the
Nicolaitans, the Alexandrian Gnostics, the Brethren of the Free Spirit, the Anabaptists of the
more fanatic type, the followers of Agricola, the Moravians, and some of the Plymouth
brethren. Nomism denies the sovereign election of God by which He has infallibly determined,
not on the basis of the foreseen attitude or works of men, but according to His good pleasure,
who would and would not be saved; rejects the idea that Christ by His atoning death, not only
made salvation possible, but actually secured it for all those for whom He laid down His life, so
that eternal life is in the most absolute sense of the word a free gift of God, and in its bestowal
human merits are not taken into consideration; and maintains, either that man can save himself
without the aid of renewing grace (Pelagianism), or can accomplish this with the assistance of
divine grace (Semi-Pelagianism and Arminianism). On the other hand Antinomianism, which is
sometimes said to be favored by hyper-Calvinism, holds that the imputation of our sins to Christ
made Him personally a sinner, and that the application of His righteousness to us makes us
personally righteous, so that God sees no sin in us any more; that the union of believers with
Christ is a “union of identity” and makes them in all respects one with Him; that the work of the
Holy Spirit is quite superfluous, since the sinner’s redemption was completed on the cross, or —
even more extreme — that the work of Christ was also unnecessary, since the whole matter
was settled in the eternal decree of God; that the sinner is justified in the resurrection of Christ
or even in the counsel of redemption, and therefore does not need justification by faith or
receives in this merely a declaration of a previously accomplished justification; and that
believers are free from the law, not only as a condition of the covenant of works, but also as a
rule of life. It virtually denies the personality and work of the Holy Spirit, and in some cases
even the objective atonement through Christ. Both atonement and justification are from
eternity. The penitent sinner wrongly proceeds on the assumption that God is angry with him
and merely needs information on that point. Moreover, he should realize that whatever sins he
may commit cannot affect his standing with God.
Scripture teaches us to recognize a certain economy in the work of creation and redemption
and warrants our speaking of the Father and our creation, of the Son and our redemption, and
of the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. The Holy Spirit has not only a personality of His own,