What is "neonomianism"

Neonomianism \Ne`o*no"mi*an*ism\, n. The doctrines or belief of the neonomians.

Neonomianism in Christian theology is the doctrine that the Gospel is a new law, the requirements of which humanity fulfills by faith and repentance, most often associated with the theology of Richard Baxter (1615–1691).

Richard Baxter defended this view when he wrote,

William Styles defined neonomianism as a doctrine associated with the theologian Daniel Williams, "which held that God has receded from the demands of the Moral Law, and given up its original obligations—and that the Gospel is a New Law, but of milder requirements, in which Faith, Repentance, and sincere though imperfect Obedience, are substituted in the room of the perfect and perpetual Obedience required by the original Law." (William Styles, A Manual of Faith and Practice)

Isaac Chauncy (1632–1712) was one of the leading opponents of neonomianism. He set forth his arguments against Williams in his book Neonomianism Unmask'd.