Socinian
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socinian
an adherent of a 16th and 17th century
theological movement professing belief in God and adherence to the
Christian Scriptures but denying the divinity of Christ and
consequently denying the Trinity
Well, there's a lot more to it than
that, as if that weren't bad enough already...
I finally found the answer to what I
see happening, and why many in the church are falling away. The
“seeds” for heresy have been developing for centuries, just as
the Apostle John said:
Little
children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist
shall come,
even
now are
there
many antichrists;
whereby
we know
that
it is the last time.
They
went out from us,
but
they were not of us;
for
if they had been of us,
they
would no
doubt
have continued with us:
but
they
went out,
that
they might
be
made manifest
that
they
were
not
all
of
us.
But
ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.
I
have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because
ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Who
is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is
antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever
denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but)
he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Let
that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.
If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you,
ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
And
this is the promise that he hath promised us, even
eternal life.
These
things
have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
1
John 2:18-26
In this audio series, Pastor Phil
Johnson reveals the spirit of antichrist as it develops from the
time of Christ and how and where it appears today. It is like a monster with many
heads, and these heads can change in appearance to subtly appear to
be orthodox or not depending on who it is seducing, and to deflect
criticism away from itself. Pastor Johnson follows these heresies in chronological
order beginning with the Judaizers and ending with what he calls
Socinianism, because it's main points of belief stem from Lelio and
Fausto Sozzini, an uncle and nephew who formulated their belief system
during the Reformation period in Europe. Their beliefs were very contrary to
everything that was considered orthodox.This belief system developed into the denomination that is called Unitarian although calling it a denomination is not giving this heretical system of thought the proper distinction that it should have, because the classification of denomination seems to still put it within the realm of orthodoxy which it definitely is not.
Pastor Johnson points out that at the
time of John Calvin people were much more Biblically literate than we
find today, therefore not many were fooled nor persuaded by this heresy. Today his “doctrines” are still alive and well, and the
spiritual climate that this heresy finds itself in is one that easily conforms itself to all forms of heterodoxy as well as the outright
unorthodox and heretical because many do not know their Bibles which
for the most part collect dust on their bookshelves, or they just
don't care and don't want to divide over matters of doctrine, no
matter how heretical.
One method that Socianism employs in it's deadly message which Pastor Johnson points out is that it never (or rarely) outright reveals that it disagrees with orthodox Christianity. Instead it causes it's adherents to ask questions in such a way that attack Christianity at it's foundation. That is the main reason that I believe it is a very malignant spirit that has these unfortunate followers in it's clutches, and I see it for the monster that it really is. It is an "angel of light" (seeming so agreeable and nice and wanting for everyone to get along and blend in their various ideologies into one happy family of all inclusive heresy), when in actuality it is THE spirit of the darkest darkness. It flies in the face of the truth of God's word and calls Him a liar.
From
“GotAnswers.org:
Question: "What is
Socinianism?"
Answer: Socinianism
is an unorthodox form of non-trinitarianism that was developed around
the same time as the Protestant Reformation (1517-1648) by Italian
humanist Lelio Sozzini and later promulgated by his cousin, Fausto
Sozzini. In modern times Socinianism has been referred to as
psilanthropism, the view that Jesus was merely human (from the Greek
psilo meaning “merely/only” and anthropos meaning “man/human
being”), a view rejected by the First Council of Nicaea.
The
Socinians held to a rationalistic approach to Scripture and to faith.
This philosophical approach, especially in regard to biblical
doctrine, declares that all religious matters must be fully
reconcilable with human reason, and that theological matters
pertaining to the nature of God cannot be beyond the finite
understanding of the human mind. This idea clearly contradicts the
Bible, which affirms the supernatural essence of God and the
impossibility of the finite mind fully comprehending the infinite
(
Job 9:10;
Isaiah
55:8-11;
Romans
11:33).
The Socinians rejected the historic, orthodox
beliefs concerning the nature of God, especially His omniscience.
They rejected the doctrine of the Trinity in favor of
Unitarianism,
a belief system they promoted in their “Catechism of Unitarians”
(1574). They also rejected the orthodox belief of the divinity of
Jesus Christ, as summarized in the Racovian Catechism of 1605, and
held to the view that the Son of God did not exist until He was born
a man. The Bible, however, makes it clear that Jesus is the
pre-existing second Person of the Trinity (
John
1:1,
17:5;
Hebrews
1:8-12).
The Socinians also developed one of the earliest
forms of the heterodox belief known today as
open
theism as they believed God only knew necessary truths (what will
come to pass) but not contingent truths (what might possibly come to
pass) in order to explain how man could retain his free will in light
of God being all-knowing. Again, this is contrary to scriptural
passages such as
Psalm
33:11,
Isaiah
14:24, and
Isaiah
46:10, which affirm God’s sovereignty over all events from
before time began.
Lastly, the Socinians rejected the
propitiatory
view of the atonement , the orthodox biblical doctrine stating
that the sacrifice of Christ fully satisfied God’s wrath towards
His people (
Isaiah
53:10-11). Socinians favor what is called the “example theory”
of the atonement, the theory that Christ bore the sins of His people
on the cross only in the sense that His sacrifice served to incite us
to abandon our sins. The Racovian Catechism, under the heading of
“Refutation of the Vulgar Doctrine about the Satisfaction of Christ
for Our Sins,” states, “And I affirm that he did not make
satisfaction for our sins to the divine justice . . . nor was there
any need that he should make satisfaction” (De Servatore, ch. 1).
In this unscriptural view, Christ only became sin (
2
Corinthians 5:21) and a curse (
Galatians
3:13) for His people in the sense that He sacrificed Himself
merely to motivate people to repent and believe. The Scriptures teach
that Christ’s sacrifice was a perfect guilt offering (
Isaiah
53:10) for the sins of His people through which God justified the
ungodly (
Romans
3:26) and guaranteed the justification of the many who would
believe (
Isaiah
53:11;
Romans
3:30). In other words, Socinians believe Christ came not to save
His people from their sins, but to make them savable, and the rest is
up to them. This is nothing more than another works-based salvation
theory.
Socinianism, as well as all heterodox Unitarian
theological beliefs, is irreconcilable with what God has personally
revealed to us in His Word. Socinianism rejects the clear, revealed
teaching of the triune nature (
Matthew
28:19 John 1:1,
14:26) of the
one, true God (
Deuteronomy
6:4;
Isaiah
43:10,
44:6).
It rejects the clear, revealed teaching that the Son of God has
existed since the foundation of the world (
John
17:4;
Hebrews
1:8-12;
Revelation
13:8). It rejects the clear, revealed teaching that God is truly
omniscient (all-knowing), that He is an omnipresent being that knows
every event that will ever occur (
Job
37:16;
Psalm
33:11,
147:5;
Isaiah 14:24,
46:10;
Acts
15:18). Most erroneously, it rejects the clear, revealed teaching
that the sacrifice of Christ fully satisfied the wrath of God and
that Christ drank every last bit from the cup of God’s wrath
against the sins of His people (
Isaiah
53;
Matthew
1:21). As such, the teachings of Socinianism should be rejected,
and those who hold to this theological viewpoint should be prayed for
in the hope that God, if He is willing, will open their hearts and
minds to understand the truth He has revealed to us in His Word and
through the Holy Spirit.
