The following was written by RE Bob Mattes, a member of the Ad Interim Study Committee on Federal Vision that presented its report at the 35th General Assembly of PCA. In his article he addresses what seems to be continual misperceptions about the work and makeup of the committee. The article was originally posted at [...]
Archive for “Federal vision”
Clearing up disinformation about the PCA’s 35th General Assembly Federal Vision Study Report
Monday, May 7, 2012PCA’s Missouri Presbytery declares Federal Visionist Jeffrey Meyers “not guilty” on five charges
Sunday, April 15, 2012On April 14, Missouri Presbytery (MOP) declared Federal Visionist Jeffrey Meyers not guilty on five charges. The verdict came after the whole presbytery heard the trial conducted on April 13–14 by prosecutors TE Tim Herrera and TE Jay Bennett on behalf of MOP (per BCO 31-2). The charges with the verdict are as follows: That [...]
Testimony Against Recent Errors
Saturday, November 5, 2011If you have never read the faculty of Mid-America Reformed Seminary’s Doctrinal Testimony Against Recent Errors, you should. It was written to help clear up the confusion in the Reformed Churches caused by the teachings of Norman Shepherd and the Federal Vision. Andrew Compton at The Reformed Reader highlighted a couple points from the Testimony, [...]
Rome’s View of Covenant Benefits
Thursday, October 13, 2011There have always been those in the Roman Church who believe in unconditional election. However, they deny justification by faith alone. Further, they also believe that the reprobates participate in some sense in salvation. That sense is well explained by the great Huguenot theologian Jean Claude (read my overview of his life here), in his [...]
Many Thanks to Pacific Northwest Presbytery (Updated)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011Update: you can now download the trial document as Kindle or Ebook here. (HT: Bring the Books). Pacific Northwest Presbytery has just published the documents form the Peter Leithart trial. Thanks to PNW for being willing to make these documents public so that the broader church can refelct on these important issues. You can find [...]
PCA’s Pacific Northwest Presbytery finds TE Peter Leithart not guilty of Federal Vision charges
Friday, October 7, 2011So reports The Aquila Report. Lane Keister has also released his testimony here.
Accuracy Before Charity
Tuesday, October 4, 2011Let’s say that you are reading Aristotle. You read something that seems to conflict with something you read earlier. What should you conclude? Should you conclude that Aristotle is contradicting himself? Should you assume that Aristotle has changed? No. Here’s what you do. You try to find a way to reconcile what seems to be [...]
Are the Saving Benefits in the Westminster Standards Eternal by Definition?
Monday, October 3, 2011If you have read my previous post on the Federal Vision’s view of visible church benefits, then it should be easy to understand what Peter Leithart is saying here: The Standards use terms like justification, sanctification, union to Christ, and adoption in a stipulated way; according to the standards, these blessings, by definition, belong only [...]
Does Peter Leithart Affirm the Bi-Covenantal Structure of the Standards?
Sunday, October 2, 2011The first declaration of the General Assembly in regard to Federal Vision was this: The view that rejects the bi-covenantal structure of Scripture as represented in the Westminster Standards (i.e., views which do not merely take issue with the terminology, but the essence of the first/second covenant framework) is contrary to those Standards. Here is [...]
Understanding the Federal Vision’s View of Visible Church Benefits and Apostasy
Thursday, September 29, 2011Many people understand the Federal Visionists to be saying that the non-elect in the visible church get the exact same benefits as the elect do but then lose them. However, the Federal Visionists would not put it this way. In their understanding, they do not affirm this. They believe there are benefits that are given [...]
Sean Lucas Clarifies the Status of the General Assembly’s Federal Vision Report
Wednesday, September 28, 2011I thought that TE Sean Lucas stated very clearly (on Green Baggins) what the status of the General Assembly’s Federal Vision Report is in PCA Courts: Actually, the body of the FV/NPP report was “commended” for study and the nine declarations were “recommended.” When the 2007 GA adopted the committee’s recommendations, they approved commending the [...]
Does Federal Vision Deny the Bi-Covenantal Structure of the Westminster Standards?
Thursday, September 1, 2011Our General Assembly’s Federal Vision Report said, “Yes!” James Jordan apparently agrees: A final error, which has plagued some Calvinistic theology for generations, is to think that there were two covenants: a covenant of works and a covenant of grace. It is the phrase “covenant of works” that is the problem. Theologians vary in how [...]
Peter Leithart’s Federal Vision Views
Tuesday, May 24, 2011Peter Leithart is going to be tried by PNW Presbytery to determine whether his doctrinal views are out of accord with the Standards. You and I already know that he is, whatever PNW may decide. You can read a timeline of the events that led to the trial here. I have documented this in three [...]
Anti-Federal Vision booklet translated into Korean
Wednesday, May 4, 2011Wes Bredenhof is publishing a series of articles in The Outlook explaining the errors of the Federal Vision as well as demonstrating the difference between the Federal Visionists and the Canadian Reformed theologians. Junho Hwang has translated this work into Korean, and it is available here. I have read Wes’ booklet, and I can recommend [...]
A Federal Visionist Perspective on Bin Laden’s Death
Monday, May 2, 2011I may not agree much with the Federal Visionist Patriarch James B. Jordan, but you never have any doubt where he stands. He is PCA TE Jeffrey Meyers’ mentor, believes the PCA is “Antichrist,” believes the SJC is a “Star Judicial Chamber,” and has been deemed by Missouri Presbytery as no cause for “deep concern.” [...]
Apples and Oranges: Missouri Presbytery and the General Assembly Reports on Federal Vision
Wednesday, April 27, 2011While reading the most recent exoneration of TE Meyers, I noticed references to Missouri Presbytery’s 2006 report (2006 MOP report) on Federal Vision. This paragraph in particular made me want to go back and look at the General Assembly report on Federal Vision (2007 GA report) and compare it to the 2006 MOP report: In other [...]
2007 Report on Federal Vision, New Perspective and Auburn Avenue Theology
Thursday, April 21, 2011While reading the most recent MOP report, I thought it would be good to go back and re-read the 2007 report on Federal Vision. Here are some quotes that I found pertinent to the Meyers discussion: We further recognize that there are a variety of viewpoints among FV teachers and writers. For example, some hold [...]
Analyzing MOP’s Meyers Exoneration Report
Wednesday, April 20, 2011IMHO, the following is a good example of the right tone for analysis of the Missouri Presbytery exoneration of Meyers. It sticks to the issues and carefully analyzes what was written: A committee of the Missouri Presbytery of the PCA attempted to exonerate Jeff Meyers of the charges of, in essence, being a Federal Visionist. [...]
MO Presbytery denies complaint against exoneration of TE Jeffrey Meyers
Tuesday, April 19, 2011“ . . . no one school of interpretation on these disputed issues should be adopted as the only orthodox position to the exclusion of the others.” (Report of the Complaint Review Committee, 62) On January 8, 2011, Missouri Presbytery (MP) completed a Book of Church Order (BCO) 31-2 investigation of Federal Visionist TE Jeffrey [...]
Reply to the Joint FV Profession, Part 5 — The Denial of the Visible/Invisible Church Distinction
Tuesday, April 19, 2011The Joint FV Profession (JFVP), written by Doug Wilson and signed by PCA Pastors Jeff Meyers and Peter Leithart, denies the classic Protestant distinction of the church into visible and invisible. The JFVP on the Church Of course, they claim to hold to this distinction, but they deny it by putting a different content into [...]