Only when the true marks of grace are discerned can we be certain of our salvation and attain the joy and felicity that God has for believers.

The Reformed soteriological system exists on the backdrop of the original relationship of God with man in creation. In this system, man was created righteous and in fellowship with God. In order to continue in life, gain eternal life, and be justified, he had to obey God perfectly. In addition, God chose to establish a covenant with Adam such that he would act in this way for himself and all his posterity.

The outcome of this original covenant was that man sinned against God and broke the covenant. He was condemned and with him the whole human race. Thus, all humanity is born in a state of sin and condemnation.

God, however, was pleased to make another covenant, the covenant of grace, wherein he would offer life and forgiveness freely on the basis of the obedience of a Mediator, the Son of God, who would assume a human nature and obey and suffer in the place of God’s elect. In addition, this covenant established in the Mediator would not only offer life but guarantee it for all whom the Son represented in that covenant, the elect.

Men and women would be saved when the Holy Spirit actually brought to them the preaching of the good news about the Savior, Jesus Christ, offering Him freely to sinners on the condition of faith and repentance. When that Gospel is preached to the elect, the Holy Spirit, in His own time, renews their hearts and minds so that they are willing to turn from their sin unto Christ for salvation and receive Him by faith. When this occurs, the elect receive a free justification and adoption.

Then, they are sanctified, that is, made more and more able to die to sin and live unto righteousness. When this happens, they are not only united to Christ but also to His people. All who repent and believe the Gospel are part of the Church and will be forever. The Holy Spirit ensures that all those who have repented and believed and been justified will persevere in that faith, repentance, and justification and thereby attain eternal glory or glorification.

All those who are regenerate are part of the church and will be forever, but it is the Lord’s will that those who come to Christ for salvation should be gathered together under pastors and teachers for their mutual edification, encouragement, and instruction in the visible church. They are publicly welcomed into this community by receiving an outward seal and confirmation of God’s grace, baptism. God also includes the children of those who profess to repent and believe and promises that He also will work grace in their children in general.

The Reformed also recognize that this outward state can be imitated by those who appear to be sheep and believers but are not. They may also participate in the signs and even appear to themselves and others to participate in this salvation. However, in reality, they remain under condemnation and sin. They are never justified, forgiven of their sins, sanctified, or adopted. They remain children of the devil and sons of perdition. Even some of the elect may imitate the external state for a while before they are actually regenerated and justified.

Thus, there is the necessity of self-examination. Mere participation in the outward rites or some similarities to true believers cannot assure us that we have ever experienced the grace of God. Only when the true marks of grace are discerned can we be certain of our salvation and attain the joy and felicity that God has for believers.

The Federal Vision System

The Federal Visionists believe that God created Adam righteous and in a relationship (covenant) with God. Adam was righteous and justified by God by a living and obedient faith alone. God offered to man justification and eternal life and man would receive these gifts by the righteousness of obedient faith alone.

Man did not trust in God and thus did not obey. As a result, he fell out of covenant with God and lost his justification and right to eternal life. This affected all of Adam’s posterity so that they are all born in guilt and sin.

God sent His Son into the world to deal with the problem of the guilt of sin and the corruption of sin. By His death, Jesus pays for the guilt of sin and the Holy Spirit deals with the corruption of sin.

This forgiveness and new life is given in baptism. Baptism is the transition from death to life. The result is that all who are baptized experience at least some form of union with Christ, new life, adoption, and forgiveness.

For the eternally elect, baptism imparts an eternal forgiveness of sins, union with Christ, new life, and cleansing from sin. For the baptized reprobate, baptism imparts a temporary and lesser version of these benefits. Baptism does this by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The difference between the two is that some persevere in faith and repentance and others do not. Some continue in an obedient faith, living up to the grace shown them and thus are eternally justified. Others have only a temporary faith and thus lose the benefits obtained by baptism when they apostatize.

No one can tell the difference between these two benefits until someone actually falls away, since their chief difference is duration. Thus, there is no need for the baptized to examine themselves as to whether or not they actually possess those benefits. The question is only whether or not they will continue in them.

Moreover, no one can know whether or not they are eternally elect until they get to heaven, since there is nothing in them by which they can distinguish themselves from the temporally elect.

Discovering the Ways in Which the Difference between These Two Systems is Obscured

The Federal Visionists will appropriate Confessional language that has been used to distinguish the Reformed system from other systems and use that language in a way consonant with their own system. However, it is often unclear that they are using these words in a different sense. The result is generally confusion and conflict.

This does not mean that we should suspect everyone of holding Federal Vision views who uses traditional language. Instead, when we hear things that sound like an affirmation of the Federal Vision system, we should not exonerate someone simply because they make use of the language that has traditionally been used to describe the Reformed system. Allow me to give a few examples.

1. An “effectual call” is not wrought in all the baptized. The Reformed mean by a statement like this that not everyone who is baptized gets forgiveness of their sins and new life. Thus, the reprobate doesn’t get even a temporary salvation. The Federal Visionists use “effectual” in the sense of permanent. Thus, not everyone gets permanently saved by baptism.

2. The reprobate gets no saving benefits. The Reformed mean that the reprobate does not get justification, new life, adoption, and union with Christ. The Federal Visionists use saving in the sense of eternal life. Thus, the FVist means that the reprobate does not get any benefits that last forever.

3. The rite of baptism does nothing. The Reformed take this as an affirmation that no one ever gets saved by their baptism. The FVist mean simply that the water doesn’t have the power to effect a temporary or eternal salvation by itself without the work of the Spirit in the water.

4. We affirm justification by faith alone. The Reformed think that this means that new obedience is excluded from our justification. The FVist can say faith alone because they include obedience in faith. Thus, they mean justified by faith and obedience alone.

5. We affirm the bi-covenantal structure of the Standards. This seems to affirm the law/Gospel antithesis. However, all that they mean is that there is a difference between the pre- and post-fall situation and covenant. The important question of the actual difference is not addressed.

6. We affirm the visible/invisible church distinction. The Reformed mean by this that only true believers are truly part of the church, the bride of Christ, and the body of Christ and thus possess the benefits of acceptance with God, new life, and adoption. The Federal Visionists mean simply that there are those in the invisible church who will not be part of the church forever. The invisible church is the eschatological church.

The Sad Result

There are many people within the PCA who hold to this different system of doctrine. They know how to use the above words to avert suspicion. However, sometimes someone will hear them speaking and recognize that what they are saying is not in accord with the Reformed system of doctrine and is a different system of doctrine. The result will be that the FVist will deny that he is heterodox. Because of the bad connotation that the label Federal Vision now has, he will generally deny that label.

The general ethos of the PCA is that we do not press people very hard, especially ordained ministers. When a Federal Visionist is initially called out, he will respond with indignation. Then, he will affirm his orthodoxy by saying that he affirms that no saving benefits go to the reprobate, that he affirms the bi-covenantal structure of the standards, and that he affirms the visible/invisible church distinction. Oh yes, and they will also affirm the General Assembly’s nine declarations on the Federal Vision, as Steve Wilkins did. The result is that many in the presbytery are very relieved and quickly move to exonerate them.

However, some within the Presbytery are still concerned. Many of them are not sure why. Some feel the need to press further but are rebuked as being Pharisees and witch hunters.

The result will be that eventually those who continue to press these matters (in whatever forum they may do so) will be disciplined as compromising the peace and purity of the church. The more power the Federal Visionists have, the more they will do this.

This is exactly what Machen talked about in Christianity & Liberalism (emphasis added):

“By withdrawing from the confessional churches – those churches that are founded upon a creed derived from Scripture – the liberal preacher would indeed sacrifice the opportunity, almost within his grasp, of so obtaining control of those confessional churches as to change their fundamental character.

“The sacrifice of that opportunity would mean that the hope of turning the resources of the evangelical churches into the propagation of liberalism would be gone.

“The present time is not for ease or pleasure, but for earnest and prayerful work. A terrible crisis unquestionably has arisen in the Church. In the ministry of evangelical churches are to be found hosts of those who reject the gospel of Christ. By the equivocal use of traditional phrases, by the representation of differences of opinion as though they were only differences about the interpretation of the Bible, entrance into the Church was secured for those who are hostile to the very foundations of the faith!”

Sadly, I think that this is what is happening in our Reformed Churches. There are those who hold this system of doctrine. There are those who are willing to defend it. There are those who hold to it inconsistently. There are those who teach that the differences are unimportant. The longer that this goes on, the harder it will be to deal with it. The more likely it will be that it will be so accepted that those who oppose it will actually be disciplined for opposing the Federal Vision system of doctrine.

Wes White is a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He is currently serving as the Pastor of New Covenant Spearfish Presbyterian Church, Spearfish, South Dakota. This article originally appeared on his web site Johannes Weslianus and is used with permission.

[Editor’s note: Pastor White’s blog has moved to weswhite.net.]