THE ROYAL LAW OF LIBERTY (A Review)

Darwin Chandler of Sierra Vista, AZ has recently published The Royal Law of Liberty. It is subtitled "Living in Freedom Under Christ's Law of Love." The author was previously associated with churches of Christ and preached among us for several years. He has now abandoned his former faith. He says, "We were born into a denomination whose emphasis in all spiritual matters was firmly set in works-righteousness" (p. 1). The "denomination" of which he writes is the church of Christ. "Ultimately a break had to be made with the church of our birth" (p. ii). His present estimate of churches of Christ and his former brethren is one of scornful pity, condescension and hostility. We include his book in our reviews because he voices the same general message as the large family of change agents at work among us. His abandonment of New Testament Christianity and his departure from our fellowship is prophetic of what we can expect from hundreds of other disaffected champions of change.

Bro. C. declares that "2,000 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, His disciples still know little or nothing about the freedom for which Christ set us free" (Forward). But he is certain he does know about this freedom; only one of millions able to discover this truth. He surely does not underestimate his own wisdom!

The central thesis of his book is that God has but one law for His people; that we love our neighbor as ourselves. But then he remembers that there is at least one other law, that we must love God! Everything else he writes derives from this belief. He then concludes that there are no other commands, ordinances of statutes for Christians to be concerned with. Note the following: "We must forget about serving God via obedience to commands and concentrate on loving Him and other people" (p. vi). "Thus one may make a list of every individual law contained in the Bible, then strike through all of them and write over them, ‘Love others as you love yourself'" (p. 4). We wonder why then did God go to the trouble of writing all those commands? He writes, "Thus under the Royal Law of Liberty we do not memorize rules, we just live by love" (p. 36). "If we love man and God we do not need to memorize codes of behavior that prevent us from harming people or dishonoring God" (p. 36). Just where has he learned this?

Bro. Chandler's system is not new, it is the ancient error of "antinomianism." Antinomianism is defined as, "an opposition to law, specifically, a rejection of the idea that the Christian's life need be governed by laws or rules" (Concise Dictionary of Theology). "The spiritualization of the law into the one precept of love to God, taught and exemplified by Jesus, encouraged some over- enthusiastic devotees to believe they had been exalted to such a height of spirituality and overmastering love to God that they needed to have no regard to moral precepts or to outward conduct..." (Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. 1, p. 196). John Wesley rightly described antinomianism as "the doctrine which makes void the law through faith" (M'Clintock Strong Cyclopedia, Vol. 1, p. 264).

From Bro. C's book we can see how his doctrine plays out in the life of people:

1. In the Realm of Salvation: He argues that man is saved by grace alone. "It becomes obvious that salvation from inception to completion must be by pure grace else no one can be saved..." (p. 41). "Nothing human enters into this spiritual birth; it is all God's doing" (p. 42-43). What then of faith, repentance and baptism? His teaching is pure Calvinism. He then says, "We are saved, sanctified, justified , adopted, etc. If we believe, not if we obey" (p. 43). But he just said it was wholly of grace, nothing human enters into our salvation. Which assertion is correct?

2. In Daily Discipleship: He says, "Personal holiness will not be measured by how well we avoid sinful practices. Christ's likeness in us will not be recognized by specific behaviors, but by Christ's love in our life. What determines whether we are ‘faithful Christians' will not be external things like church attendance, tithing, praying, worshiping, fasting, et..." (p. 16). "If we live under this new standard of love, we do not need a list of ‘rights and wrongs' because the Divine impulse of love reliably leads us to do what is right" (p. 38). We must ask, if God has eliminated all lists of right and wrong, why did he give us passages such as Gal. 5:19-20? He believes, "Those who are filled with God's love just naturally do the things God's law requires, even if they know nothing specific about the law" (p. 44). Thus a person in Africa who has never seen the Bible, heard or read a Christian message, will naturally keep God's law if he loves God! Believe it who will! But then Bro. C. teaches that God has no law for us today. How can this be?

3. In Moral Conduct: "Nothing is immoral unless it harms other people or dishonors God" (p. 38). "We learn from this that the fundamental right-ness or wrong-ness of any action is determined not by whether the Bible contains a specific law, but by the effect of that action on other people. If our actions do not harm others, or disrespect their person or property, then those actions are within the realm of personal choice (p. 149). Then what of pornography, or lust, or hatred that is not acted upon? He says, "All sex acts are inherently ‘clean'... are inherently ‘lawful'... are ‘good'..." (p. 449). What of homosexual acts? Incest? Bestiality? He is intoxicated with his imagined wisdom.

4. In Worship: He takes strong exception to our conviction that, "we must have Bible authority for everything we do in faith and practice" (p. 24) and repudiates it. He believes "The Scripture simply does not teach that we must have ‘Scriptural authority' for everything we do" (p. 24). "People can worship and serve God in as great variety as true love can motivate. It is literally true that there is no limit to the ways one may offer loving worship to God. He will accept every expression of love including those that other humans judge ridiculous" (p. 31). Would he include blessing of pets, interpretive dancing, magic performances, weight lifters for Christ, acid rock and other sordid things some misguided souls dare to offer to God in the name of Christianity? "He who offers instrumental music as a love offering to God, pleases God and worships him so much more effectively than one whose whole motivation is trying to find a law to obey...' (p. 28). He offers no Scripture to substantiate these claims. He states, "The mass of evidence" "allows women ...to minister and be leaders in Christ's church" (p. 447). With the wave of his hand he dismisses I Cor. 14:34 and I Tim. 2:12. He pits OT verses and others unrelated to preaching to cancel the message of those two clearly stated prohibitions.

5. In the Way We Read, Understand and Respect the Bible: "His (Christ's) law is not...the same in any sense, as living under rules, commandments and ordinances" (p. 41). "And we know that whatever is the purpose of Christ's law, it is not meant for salvation." "One cannot be saved by obeying Christ's law any more than one can be saved by obeying Moses' law" (p. 41-42). But Paul says that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death" (Rom. 8:1-2) He tells us, "God never intended that these laws be understood as being inherently valuable" (p. 23). "God is not pleased with the efforts of those who attempt to formulate church operations on the basis of ‘the authority of Scripture'" (p. 36). Just how does he know this? What verse does he cite to prove it? He says, "We no longer need to carry the law-book (i.e. the Bible jhw), consulting it for every possible human situation requiring a moral decision. If people have God's love in their hearts...they will be able to know what is right and will be motivated to do it" (p. 44). He writes, "But unless the Holy Spirit is released to apply the word and bring it to life within our heart, that ministry (preaching the word, jhw) is worse than useless, it is deadly" (p. 143). That the word of God is dead and lifeless until the Holy Spirit enlightens the hearer is pure Calvinism. It also contradicts Paul declaration that it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (I Cor. 1:21).

6. His Attitude Toward God and his Son and their Sacred Will for Mankind: "Jesus Christ abolished the entire structure of law/commandment/ordinance" (p. 145). What then of Jesus' teaching that only those who obey the Father will be saved (Matt. 7:21)? What of His command to teach disciples to obey all thing he commanded (Matt. 28:20)? He says, "The church is oblivious to the fact that we are no longer judged by God's law" (p. 154). Is he oblivious to John 12:48 where Jesus said, "The words I have spoken will judge you in the last day?" Or what of Rev. 20:11-12? He says, "He (Paul) straightforwardly taught that man can no longer serve God on the basis of obeying law–all law, any law, even God's law" (p. 157). Such reckless boldness! He reasons, "Sin in ‘transgression of law' so if there is no law there cannot be sin." "Since the only ‘ law' of King Jesus is the Law of Love, the only sin we can commit now is a violation of love" (p. 438). Of Jesus he says, "What distinguished Jesus above the crowd was not that He kept every jot and tittle of God's law perfectly. It was that He loved God with all His heart...what made Jesus ‘holy' was not the perfection of his obedience but the depth of his love" (p. 6). This borders on blasphemy. See Heb. 5:8-9! He tells us, "Jesus never once advised ‘holy' people to ‘withdraw fellowship from those who were ‘unholy' or ‘unscriptural'" (p. 19). Has he not read Matt. 18:15-18, or II Thess. 3:6?

7. His Attitude Toward His Brethren in Christ: "Those who judge by standards other than love– and that includes virtually all church leaders, theologians, community leaders..." (p. 37). Note how Bro. C. judges Christian leaders who make judgments based on God's Word, yet he judges brethren who are critical of false teachers such as himself. He writes, "We have been taught for generations that Christ gave us a law that replaces the law of Moses. Christ's law, we are told is the same kind of law as Old Testament law..." (p. 39). No knowledgeable brother in the church says this...it is the fabrication of a fevered mind. He asserts, "... the church does not know the meaning of ‘grace' After 2000 years, the church does not understand the meaning of the ‘vicarious atonement' of Christ" (p. 154). Of all the millions who have professed Christ, does he alone know these things? He continues, "...God abrogated law as a means for being righteous...Sadly the church still has not received this truth after 2,000 years (p. 140). Evidently he only recently discovered this truth. Others have known and preached it over the ages. He says, "Attacking legalism is necessary for all those who truly desire to honor God's law and Him alone..." (But he includes every one who seeks to comply with Christ's revealed will as a legalist, thus his hand is raised against all but himself and his few sympathizers)! (p. 158). "We have referenced extreme human suffering caused by the church's error on such issues as race and slavery, witchcraft, salvation by grace, the Crusades, and so forth" (p. 447). Note how, typical of liberals, he blames the church (principally churches of Christ) for every sin and evil that has every transpired. Churches of Christ had no part in burning witches or the Crusades. While many Christians failed to do their duty regarding slavery and racism, others bravely met the challenge and did the right thing. Does he think he would have behaved in a superior manner had he lived in the turbulent era from 1800 to 1865? Has he a perfect record in dealing with other racial groups?
   
   Fundamental Errors of Bro. Chandler's Book:

• He fails to understand that while salvation is a free gift of God's grace God has made reception of it conditional on obedience (Heb. 5:8-9)

• He fails to distinguish between the Law of Moses which has indeed been abrogated (Rom. 7:4), and the law of Christ to which Christians are now amenable (John 12:48; Rom. 8:1-2).

• He fails to understand that the two great commands to love God and our neighbor (Matt. 22:37-39), are illustrative of all other laws, the foundation upon which they rest. They are not the only laws.

• Blinded by his antinomianism, he denigrates and dismisses the commandments of Christ and embraces the Situation Ethics of Harvey Cox of days past.

• Because of his faulty understanding of Christ's gospel he mistakenly embraces the errors of Calvinism; namely salvation by grace alone, enabling grace and divine enlightenment by the Holy Spirit.

• Because he holds a faulty understanding of legalism, he wrongly concludes that anyone who loves, honors and obeys the Will of God is a legalist. If that were so Jesus would be a legalist (Heb. 5:8-9).

• Like religious liberals of the 19th and early 20th centuries he holds a romantic and utopian view of humanity's ability to live by love without law. Their dream collapsed in the face of two World Wars and the horrors of Communism. His theory cannot survive the realities of human life and conduct.

• He mistakenly thinks he has found something new and different, when it is but ancient heresy that has deceived men in generations past.

Conclusion: Although we find the teaching and conclusions of Darwin Chandler faulty and thus reject them, we commend him for leaving the church he no longer believes in or loves. In this he is more noble than other agents of change who like him no longer love the church of Christ yet they lurk among us trying to seduce and destroy the faith of others.