The Antinomian Argument and Its Appeal

The antinomian position that FC SD VI refutes was not an argument for moral license. It was an argument for Christian freedom, and it had a genuine theological basis. The antinomians argued that since believers have been freed by the Son of God and are temples of the Holy Spirit, they will do God's will freely of themselves, just as the sun, without any external compulsion, completes its ordinary course. The image is appealing precisely because it is partly true. In the saints and elect the Holy Spirit does work spontaneously and willingly; there is a form of obedience that flows from the renewed will without any compulsory drive from the law.
The antinomian argument is that Spirit-filled believers will do God's will spontaneously, like the sun completing its course, and therefore do not need the law's direction. FC SD VI says this is right about what perfect renewal would look like but wrong about whether renewal in this life is complete. How does assuming that spiritual maturity means moving beyond needing the law's guidance actually produce either spiritual pride in those who think they have arrived or despair in those who cannot sustain the solar image?
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The Intractable Ass: The Old Adam Remains

The reason FC SD VI insists on the Third Use is its honest assessment of the regenerate believer's actual condition. Renewal and regeneration in this life are not complete. While the inner man delights in God's will, the old Adam clings to believers still in their nature and all its internal and external powers. The result is that believers are locked in a continuous conflict in which the flesh lusts against the spirit, and they constantly do what they do not want to do. Paul's account in Romans 7 is not the pre-conversion condition the antinomians assumed; it is the honest description of what every regenerate believer experiences in the flesh.
FC SD VI describes the old Adam as an intractable ass that must be coerced by the law's instruction and by the club of punishments and troubles. Psalm 119 acknowledges stumbling and wandering throughout its 176 verses while maintaining the love of God's law. How does the frankness of this image help a congregation member who experiences repeated failure in the same areas of sin to understand what is happening theologically, and what does FC SD VI require the pastor to say to that person rather than simply urging greater effort?
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In the Law, Not Under It

FC SD VI's most precise formulation is the distinction between being under the law and being in the law. A person who obeys from constraint, fear of punishment, or desire for reward is under the law; the works are forced, the spirit is coerced, and the result is hypocrisy. The Confession calls this the obedience of saints after the order of Cain. But when a believer, liberated by the Spirit of Christ, obeys the immutable will of God spontaneously from a free and cheerful spirit, that obedience is not the work of the law but the fruit of the Spirit.
FC SD VI says the regenerate believer is never without the law, yet does nothing from the law's constraint, living in the law rather than under it. Psalm 119's great peace and Joshua 1's day-and-night meditation are both descriptions of being in the law. How does a congregation learn the difference between using God's law as a beloved guide whose requirements the Spirit enables and using it as a performance standard that must be met to secure standing with God?