by Samuel Rutherford
in ePub, .mobi & .pdf formats
In A Modest Survey of the Secrets of Antinomianism, Samuel Rutherford—Scottish pastor, theologian, and Westminster Assembly divine—offers a bold, thorough, and pastorally rich rebuttal to one of the most spiritually dangerous errors of his day: Antinomianism. Originally written as Part II of his larger polemic A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist, this standalone volume captures the most practical and theological heart of Rutherford’s case, making it especially compelling and accessible for today’s readers.
Antinomianism—literally "against the law"—claimed that believers, having been justified by grace through faith, are no longer under obligation to obey God’s moral law. For Antinomians, calls to repentance, fear of sin, mourning for transgressions, or pursuit of holiness smacked of legalism or a return to bondage. Rutherford exposes this for what it is: not a defense of grace, but a perversion of it. With pastoral clarity and theological depth, he insists that Christ frees us from the law as a covenant of works—not as a rule of life. For Rutherford, the gospel is no enemy of the law; rather, it empowers true obedience born from faith and love. His oft-repeated conviction is this: “The law is not the cause of life, but the path of the living.”
What makes this work especially powerful is Rutherford’s dual posture of theological rigor and spiritual concern. He writes not to score points in a controversy but to protect Christ’s flock from delusion and despair. He warns that a faith without obedience is no true faith at all, and that a gospel stripped of repentance and holiness becomes license, not liberty.
Through over 90 chapters, Rutherford systematically addresses a host of Antinomian errors—both doctrinal and practical. He refutes their denial of the moral law’s authority, their false views of justification and sanctification, their confusion over the difference between the covenants, their misreading of gospel freedom, and their dismissal of repentance, ordinances, and assurance grounded in obedience. He draws careful distinctions between law and gospel, but also shows their beautiful harmony in the life of the believer. With pastoral warmth, he urges readers to embrace both justification by faith alone and the sanctifying work of the Spirit in accordance with God’s law.
For today’s reader, this volume offers both a theological compass and a spiritual tonic. In an age often prone to grace without discipleship, assurance without repentance, and spiritual talk without moral weight, Rutherford’s voice rings with refreshing clarity: Christ saves us to make us holy. Grace leads us to walk in the commandments of God—not to despise them.
This edition, abridged and modernized, retains Rutherford’s structure and argument while making his 17th-century prose more accessible to contemporary readers. Whether read devotionally, studied theologically, or used in pastoral counseling, it offers rich insight into a gospel that is both free and transforming.
About the Author
Samuel Rutherford (c. 1600–1661) was a Scottish minister, theologian, and Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews. A leading voice in the Westminster Assembly, he was deeply committed to the doctrines of grace, the kingship of Christ over His Church, and the beauty of a life conformed to Scripture. His pastoral letters and theological writings—especially Lex, Rex and The Trial and Triumph of Faith—remain treasured resources for Christian devotion and ecclesiastical theology. In A Modest Survey, Rutherford speaks with the same prophetic boldness and Christ-centered tenderness that have made his works beloved by generations.
-----
Table of Contents
Introduction
A Brotherly and Free Epistle
Chapter I: Antinomians Unjustly Accuse Us
Chapter II: Antinomians Are Pelagians
Chapter III: We Reject Moral Preparations Before Conversion, Unlike Pelagians, Papists, and Arminians
Chapter IV: On Whether the Desire for Grace Is Grace
Chapter V: How We Are Freed from the Law—and How We Are Not
Chapter VI: How the Command of the Law Obligates Us
Chapter VII: How the Law and the Gospel Require the Same Obedience
Chapter VIII: On the Promises of the Law and the True Differences Between the Two Covenants
Chapter IX: On the Threatenings of the Law and the Gospel
Chapter X: On Gospel Fear
Chapter XI: Law-Fear and Gospel-Faith Are Consistent
Chapter XII: Antinomians Deny Actual Pardon of Sins to the Jews
Chapter XIII: On the Minority (Nonage) of the Jews—What It Was
Chapter XIV: Antinomians Say the Old Man Is Under the Law, the New Man Is Above All Law
Chapter XV: Antinomians Claim the Justified Only Sin Before Men, Not Before God or in Conscience
Chapter XVI: Antinomians Mistake Justification as the Eradication of Sin
Chapter XVII: Christ Was Not Formally a Sinner, Contrary to Antinomian Claims
Chapter XVIII: Justification Occurs Only Through Faith—Not Before We Believe
Chapter XIX: God's Love of Good Will and Good Pleasure—a Valid Distinction
Chapter XX: Justification Brings a Real Change in Our State
Chapter XXI: We Do Not Mix Works with Grace in Justification
Chapter XXII: Antinomians Deny the Presence of Sin in the Justified
Chapter XXIII: Antinomians Claim That to Faith There Is No Sin
Chapter XXIV: Faith's Reign Is Not Absolute, as Antinomians Claim
Chapter XXV: Refuting the Antinomian Claim That God Sees No Sin in the Justified
Chapter XXVI: Confession Is Required of Believers
Chapter XXVII: The Law Must Still Be Preached to Believers
Chapter XXVIII: Strict and Precise Walking: A Necessary and Commanded Gospel Duty
Chapter XXIX God Is Truly Angry with the Sins of the Elect and Believers
Chapter XXX: The Justified Are Accountable to God for Sin
Chapter XXXI God Punishes Sin in Believers
Chapter XXXII: Believers Are to Mourn for Sin
Chapter XXXIII Antinomians Deny the Need for Believers to Confess or Sense Sin
Chapter XXXIV Antinomians Claim We May Believe Without Humiliation or Repentance
Chapter XXXV True Spiritual Poverty and How Antinomians Misunderstand It
Chapter XXXVI Repentance Misunderstood by Antinomians
Chapter XXXVII How Good Works Are Necessary
Chapter XXXVIII The Gospel Is Conditional
Chapter XXXIX: On Mortification
Chapter XL: Antinomians Teach That Believers and Their Works Are Completely Perfect
Chapter XLI: Antinomians Claim We Are Already as Saved as the Glorified in Heaven
Chapter XLII: Our Blessedness Is Found in Sanctification as Well as Justification
Chapter XLIII: Antinomians Undermine Sanctification
Chapter XLIV: Antinomians Claim All Doubting Is Inconsistent with Faith
Chapter XLV: Antinomians, Not Protestants, Are the True Merit-Mongers
Chapter XLVI: That There Is Inherent Grace in the Saints, Beyond God's Favor Toward Them
Chapter XLVII: That We Are Not Mere Passive Instruments in the Spirit's Work of Sanctification
Chapter XLVIII: Antinomians Claim That Believers Cannot Sin Against God—Only Against Men
Chapter: XLIX: Antinomians Deny Obligation to Gospel Commands and Exhortations, Teaching that Only Faith Is Commanded
Chapter L: How We Are Freed from the Law in Sanctification as in Justification
Chapter LI: Antinomians Ignorant of the Jewish Law-Service and of Gospel Obedience
Chapter LII: We Are Not Freed from Outward Ordinances, Nor Is It Legalism to Submit to Them, Contrary to Antinomian Claims
Chapter LIII: The Necessity of Ordinances and Written, Preached Scripture—Even for the Most Mature Believer
Chapter LIV: What Peace We May Derive from Gracious Performances
Chapter LV: How Far Inherent Qualifications and Gracious Actions Can Prove We Are in a State of Grace
Chapter LVI How Duties and Delight in Them Do Not Take Us Off from Christ
Chapter. LVII: Of the Liberty Which Christ Has Purchased for Us by His Death
Chapter LVIII: Antinomians teach that believers must not walk in their conversation as in the sight of God, but must live by faith with God
Chapter LIX. Justification as a Single Act, Yet Sins are Daily Forgiven
Chapter LX: On Whether Sins Are Forgiven Before They Are Committed, and the Antinomian Error
Chapter: LXI: How Faith Justifies, and the Antinomian Error Exposed
Chapter: LXII: The Antinomians' Method of a Sinner's Coming to Christ, Refuted
Chapter: LXIII. We need the Law's direction—Law and Spirit are not contrary but work together.
Chapter: LXIV: Antinomian Distinctions Between Law and Gospel Refuted
Chapter: LXV The Gospel: A Rare Covenant of Grace
Chapter LXVI: Antinomian Errors Regarding the Covenant of Grace
Chapter LXVII: On Legal and Evangelical Conversion
Chapter LXVIII: How the Spirit Works Freely—Misunderstood by Antinomians
Chapter LXIX The Lifeless and Counterfeit Faith of the Antinomians
Chapter LXX: Faith Not the Only Work of the Gospel, as Antinomians Claim
Chapter LXXI: The Justified Do Not Obey God by Necessity of Nature, as Antinomians Claim
Chapter LXXII: Glorifying God Through Sanctification Is Essential
Chapter LXXIII: Sanctification, as well as Justification, Makes a Saint
Chapter LXXIV: The Harmony Between Old Libertines, Familists, and Antinomians
Chapter LXXV: Libertines, Familists, and Antinomians Free the Believer from All Law and Accountability for Sin
Chapter LXXVI: How Libertines and Antinomians Undermine Scripture and Exalt the Spirit Above All
Chapter: LXXVII. Antinomians and Libertines: Corrupt Opinions about God and the Origin of Sin
Chapter LXXVIII: Libertines and Antinomians Eliminate Remorse for Sin
Chapter LXXIX: Libertines and Antinomians Compare Believers with Christ Incarnate
Chapter LXXX: Libertines and Antinomians Teach That Following Inner Sense Is the Only Rule of Life
Chapter LXXXI: Some Antinomians Say That Even Irish Papists Should Have Liberty of Conscience to Practice Their Religion
Chapter LXXXII: Libertines and Antinomians Doubt the Resurrection and the Life to Come
Chapter LXXXIII: Familists, Libertines, and Anabaptists Anticipate Antinomians in Denying All External Worship and Obedience
Chapter LXXXIV: Dell and Saltmarsh reject outward reformation, ordinances, and Scripture, aligning with Familists by appealing solely to an inward spirit.
Chapter LXXXV: Libertines and Antinomians Draw Near One Another in Making God the Author of Sin
Chapter LXXXVI: Libertines and Antinomians Argue We Should Do Nothing, Since God Does Everything
Chapter LXXXVII: Antinomians Accuse Us of Reducing the Spirit's Work to Moral Philosophy
Chapter LXXXVIII: That We Are Both Righteous in God's Sight, and Yet Sinners in Ourselves: A Refutation of Antinomian Error
Chapter LXXXIX: Antinomians Are Ignorant of True Faith, Believing Their Sins Are No Sins at All
Chapter XC: Antinomians Remove the Obligation of Obedience from Both the Converted and Unconverted
Chapter XCI: How, and for Whom, Christ Intercedes in Heaven
Chapter XCII: Antinomians Promote Assurance but Deny Dependent Faith
Chapter XCIII: Antinomians Deny the Law as an Instrument of Sanctification