Since we’re saved by grace alone, does the law of God have a place in the life of a Christian? This perennial question is essential to answer if we are to be faithful followers of Christ. In this series, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson expands on his book and illustrates the biblical relationship between God’s grace and our work. Dr. Ferguson makes it clear that the solution to both legalism and lawlessness is the same — a right understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
24min
Controversy erupted in eighteenth-century Scotland over the Auchterarder Creed and a work titled The Marrow of Modern Divinity. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson recounts the history of this debate and its relevance for the Christian life.
24min
The Marrow Controversy raised fundamental questions about the gospel, how it is to be presented, and what exactly it is. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson clarifies the relationship between the doctrine of election and the free offer of the gospel.
24min
There is nothing that can qualify someone to come to faith in Jesus Christ, a truth that is vital to grasp if one is to understand the Marrow Controversy. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson highlights the distortions that rejecting this truth creates, including doubt concerning God’s love for us.
24min
Legalism is a problem as old as the garden of Eden. Even when God had only given one prohibition, it was being added to. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson defines legalism and the underlying dangers that accompany a failure to see how God’s law is intimately connected to God’s character.
24min
To be sure, repentance is necessary for salvation, but to make it a condition for faith in Christ is a distortion of the gospel. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson bridges a great divide in the Marrow Controversy: the relationship between repentance and faith.
24min
Legalism, in order to be cured, must be diagnosed, and it cannot be diagnosed if we do not know its symptoms. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson identifies the various symptoms of legalism using three well-known parables of Jesus.
24min
The legalist and the antinomian are one and the same, in that they both operate out of a deeply ingrained misreading of God’s law and character. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson looks at the different faces of antinomianism and their distinctive features.
24min
The assertion that all antinomians are fundamentally legalists may raise a certain level of suspicion, being that they appear to be so different. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson reinforces this claim by examining the causes of antinomianism.
24min
The only cure for antinomianism is the gospel—nothing short of Jesus Christ. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson explains our relationship to the law and discusses the gospel cure for antinomianism, which is found only in Christ and by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
24min
Along with the free offer of the gospel, legalism, and antinomianism, assurance was the fourth issue that fueled the Marrow Controversy. In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson explains how assurance relates to the other concepts and how the church throughout the centuries has understood assurance of salvation.
24min
A question dear to every Christian’s heart is this: How do we grow in assurance? In this lesson, Dr. Ferguson examines how our understanding of justification and the Christian life leads to this question’s answer and thus prompts growth.
24min
The quest for assurance isn’t free of difficulties, so we need to be made aware of the obstacles along the way. In this lecture, Dr. Ferguson helps us anticipate the common snares that trip us up when we take our eyes off of Jesus Christ.
This series is provided courtesy of Ligonier Ministries.
A study guide is available.
