I am afraid of becoming AntinomianMike

You mentioned the word "antinomian". It is a very common disclaimer made by believers who are having their eyes opened to the ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED life of Christ within them. There is a simple reason for this. I have come to see that it is just another bogus fear we hold on to. There is only one place where antinomianism exists: UNDER THE LAW. But we are NOT under the law, but under grace.

Follow me here. Who is against the law (the meaning of anti-nomian)? Not the believer, since in our inner man (ie. who we really are) we...

AGREE with the law that it is good Romans 7:16

Not only this, but do you remember how Paul concluded his Romans 7 discussion:

So, then, on the one hand I myself with my mind ("inner man", "the one who wishes to do good", the one who "joyfully concurs with the law of God") AM SERVING THE LAW OF GOD Romans 7:25

The trying to do so is where the flesh serves the law of sin ... and it serves nothing else. Paul learned to make a distinction -- not for the purpose of getting around anything -- but because it is the truth of what has happened to us. We are not who we appear to be ... we are more substantial than that.

To be antinomian is to be, by nature, AGAINST THE LAW. It is what Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees as they came accusing his followers of "transgressing the tradition of the elders" (the washing of hands ritual in Matt 15). What their religious mindset had taught them was how to get around God's laws while making them look righteous in the process. This has nothing to do with a true desire to do right, but only to APPEAR right. Those born of God find themselves in a very strange predicament: within us we DESIRE the rightness of God, and yet mostly APPEAR wrong in what we do. Just look at the life of Jesus. Those who appeared spiritual concluded that Jesus was NOT of God. Can you guess which mindset seeks to convince you that YOU are not of God? Those who are NOT of God are only concerned with how they appear to others, and will hold each other (including you) to their systems and their interpretations of what good and righteous and spiritual looks like in the real world. We actually begin to believe that they may be right. After all, they claim to use the inspired Word of God ... in its original language, in the original manuscripts, rightly divided by one who has been specially gifted by God and officially ordained as such, etc, etc ... Well, guess who stood right in front of Jesus claiming the same thing? Jesus said things to them like,

You are mistaken, not understanding the Scriptures, or the power of God. Matthew 22:29

"For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. John 5:46

The ones that Jesus said that He didn't know were those who were making the CLAIMS of righteousness:

Many will SAY to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS' Matthew 7:22-23

... in other words, against the law.

Mike, I hear your words and I don't hear any CLAIMS of righteousness. Interesting, don't you think? You did not TRY to convey a humble attitude toward me, but in effect, by telling me of your fallacies and weaknesses, you really told me of THE ONE who is your righteousness. This is true humility! You do not have to convince ME that you are not antinomian, because I know that you CANNOT be against the law. It is IN you to desire God. The world (the church) wants you to question that desire in the same way the Pharisees questioned that of Jesus.

Fear and guilt is of the enemy ... believers have no business using those manipulations to bring about spirituality. Believers who do it to each other only do so because they themselves have fallen into the same fear and guilt.

Jim :)