# Federal Vision Rules - All read please



## C. Matthew McMahon (Apr 20, 2006)

Some on the Puritanboard, for whatever reason, are having a hard time with one of the Puritnbaord *rules*. The Registration page, in bold print, makes an admonition in this way:

_"œWe also will not allow anyone "pro-Federal Vision" on the board. The Federal Vision is a heretical group propagating the academic deviancy of the New Perspectives on Paul in a pastoral setting. Those adhering to the FV will not be allowed on the board, and those pro-FV found after registering will be banned. The RPCGA has deemed FV as antithetical to the Gospel, and the Westminster Confession."_

If anyone has a problem with this, then you should _not_ have registered. 

Let me clarify (VERY briefly) that this is not witch hunt, or anything even remotely set to this. The Kingship of Christ is at stake, and the Gospel must be protected. The false theology of the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) has given birth to its brain child "“ the Federal Vision (see Matthew 23:15). If one wants to understand the NPP, they simply need to read the proponents (Wright, Dunn, Stendahl, Sanders, Shepherd, and RÃ¤isÃ¤nen). It can be academic, but it is important. If one selectively reads only one of the proponents, they will not have a good picture overall. You need not to simply read Wright, but the others that contributed to his thought as well to understand him. 

After this, one can see the NPP quickly enter into the church through the Federal Vision (FV) sect. The Federal Vision is comprised of those such as Steve Wilkins, John Baruch, Rich Lusk, Mark Horne, James Jordan, Tom Trowborst, Peter Leithart, Steve Schlissel and Doug Wilson. You can read their work, "œThe Federal Vision" and see their position clearly, or listen to them from the Auburn Avenue 2002 Pastor´s Conference. They have also contributed their views of the FV in the Knox Seminary Colloquium, which continues to propagate their views. If you have not read them all, then _you have no right to say you know what FV teaches_. Reading one author of the bunch will not get you there. _They all applaud one another_. They must be read together. _None of them need to be defended._ They can defend themselves. They have. Their writings are in print.

Lest it be said that Admins on the Puritanboard are "œwitch hunters" or, as some have said, "œheresy hunters," (for the sake of it), here are some people who have written against the FV and NPP, deeming it antithetical to the Gospel:

The RPCGA, (men like Dr. Don Kistler (of Soli Deo Gloria books) Dr. Kenneth Talbot (President of Whitefield Theological Seminary) and Dr. Gary Crampton (an Edwardsian scholar)
The book: _The Auburn Avenue Theology, Pros and Cons: Debating the Federal Vision_ (ed. by E. Calvin Beisner for Knox Seminary). Written by men like Dr. Calvin Beisner, Dr. Fowler White, Christopher A. Hutchinson, George W. Knight III, Richard D. Phillips, 
Joseph A. Pipa, Jr., Carl D. Robbins, Morton H. Smith.
Rev. John Otis (RPCUS) has written a book _"œHeresy in the Camp"_ which is an extensive critique of the FV.
There are various critiques written by the PCA, OPC and other denominations that are very unfavorable to the FV. 
John Robbins has had many contributors to writings against the FV for the Trinity Foundation (O. Palmer Robertson _"œThe Current Justification Controversy"_; Dr. David Engelsma of the PRC who reviewed the "œFederal Vision"; Dr. Robert Reymond "“ who has written about Justification; Paul Elliot who has written on Neo-Liberalism)
Pastors have written voluminously against the FV movement from various denominations "“ Rick Phillips, Carl Robbins, Lig Duncan, Guy Waters (who wrote for P&R the book _Justification and the New Perspectives on Paul: A Review and Response_), and many others.

The FV proponents continually say that their views are "œso pervasively marked by mischaracterization, poor argumentation, non sequiturs, and questionable connections that one is frankly at a loss." In other words, everyone mentioned above, and the extensive debate that has gone on for years, and the study that has been put into writing many books on this subject against them, are ALL misunderstood and wrong.  

The Puritanboard follows these critiques, and the standard set by the RPCGA stating that the FV is unbecoming the Gospel. If anyone has a question on this on the board, email one of the Admins.

Those who are pro-FV or NPP ("for" Wright, Dunn, Stendahl, Sanders, Shepherd, RÃ¤isÃ¤nen, Wilkins, Baruch, Lusk, Horne, Jordan, Trowborst, Leithart, Schlissel and Wilson) will be banned.


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