Is DOUG WILSON a FALSE TEACHER? | Theocast

over the last few years we've been getting a lot of questions about Doug Wilson and a lot of questions about Federal Vision and the more that Justin and I have spent time in my elders have spent time examining this we have felt like it's time for a statement for us to put out there and with it not just a statement but actually show you the research that has gone into this so that you too can be wise in knowing how to handle particular men like Doug Wilson so this is not a simple video it's going to be quite lengthy but I wanted to let you know that in the the description below there'll be a link that'll have all of these quotes to them and that you can go and do further research for yourself but I am very concerned with Doug Wilson and his teachings and this isn't a new phenomenon so we'll go ahead and jump into that one of the things that's probably Doug Wilson's most famous for is his uh participation in the federal vision statement and if you don't know anything about that I'm going to go ahead and let you do your own research on that but it has was started back in 2002 and it was a document that was presented and in this document they were trying to bring some explanation and really I think some changes to the reformed faith and this document has been examined and condemned by multiple reformed uh denominations and seminaries and so we're going to look at that in a moment I have had a lot of people reach out to me and say well John you're misrepresenting Doug Wilson and you're misrepresenting his teaching and you're slandering him and so I do not want to misrepresent anybody I'm going to read them directly and I definitely don't want to do anything that is slanderous so to be cleared on 2017 Doug Wilson did write an article which I think people have been confused by that said Federal Vision no Moss or no more but in that article he makes it very clear that he's just denying the title let me read this to you and I provided the link if you want to go read it it's still available so he hasn't changed his mind and if he has as of today when this video comes out then I can recant this but he's there's no change on his website this article is still out there and this is what he says this statement represents a change in what I will call what I believe notice that the key word there it does not represent any substantial shift or see change in the content of what I believe okay so still holding the Federal Vision I am making this lexical shift for the sake of clarity and communication so defining more precisely what was already there again he's not removing what was there he signed the Federal Vision document and he is saying I just don't want to call myself a Federal Vision but the theology that existed behind it I'm just clarifying it more so that being the case it is true you can still see that even after he wrote this article he is continuing to believe and teach this theology so just so you understand this is not my conclusion I am standing on the shoulders of wise men who are far more educated than me been in Ministry longer than I have and I am thankful for these councils that have come together and so this is in the document I've provided this is the ecclesiastical reports of different denominations so this one is going to be from the UR CNA and they're uh their study committee had on Federal Vision and justification made this statement it's a very long document but I just want to read this one statement to you by the standards of biblical and confessional teaching this reformulation of the doctrine of Education by Federal Vision writers stands condemned okay so they're saying it is not biblical it is not acceptable rather than a radical contrast between justification by grace alone through faith alone apart from works of any kind a distinction is drawn so they're they're saying Federal Vision draws this distinction of meritorious Works which Play No role in justification and non-meritorious works which do play so they're creating this whole new category of meritorious Works versus non-meritorious Works which we're going to see here in a minute is not biblical so that's the UR and CNA they have said it is condemned uh you also have the associated Reformed Presbyterian churches uh the ARP and in their General Synod they said the new perspective on Paul and the Fed Federal Vision are in conflict with teaching of scripture and as such they are unacceptable so it's not just that it's another variation it's condemned it's unacceptable which means it cannot be accepted as a definition of justification yeah the Orthodox Presbyterian report on justification and in their 73rd general assembly and they wrote quote the committee believes that the following points that are held by some or one or others of Advocates of Federal Vision are out of accord with scripture and our doctrinal standards so they went through line by line and showed it's a very long document of where it does not line up for scripture I'm just going to read you a couple of points this is point 11. a denial of the so they're saying Federal Vision is a denial of the imputation of the act of obedience of Christ's righteousness in our justification now before you send me the Links at this point in the video hold off Doug Wilson has said I believe in the imputation of Christ's righteousness and I'm going to show you he redefines Faith he also redefines imputation so their conclusion is they do not believe in the imputation of the act of obedience of Christ or Exodus number two defining justification exclusively as the Forgiveness of sins so basically our count is cleaned by faith alone but we must add to our Salvation or we need to be completely saved by our works and the number 14 including works by use of faithfulness or obedience Etc in the very definition of faith and I would agree with them so that when they say faith they don't mean the same definition that we mean this is Mid-America reforms uh Seminary they put out a testimony regarding the recent errors this is back in 2007. and their article 52 it says we deny that faith alone means that the fruits that accompany our faith such as works of Love or faith in its faithfulness or faith in its non-meritorious working or any other kinds of works are included in the definition and instrumentality of justifying faith so they are picking up on the issue it's a redefining of terms Faith no longer just means faith it has there's a deaf new definition to it we'll talk about that for a moment and so we deny that justifying faith is Faith as it as a virtue and then article 53 says we affirm that faith is merely the instrument for receiving Christ and accepting his Merit so we're receiving his forgiveness and we're receiving his obedience we deny the claim that God having withdrawn his demand for perfect obedience to the law counts Faith itself and the imperfect Obedience of Faith as perfect obedience to the law and graciously looks upon this as worthy of the reward of eternal life so again these links are there we have a seminary who is saying that they're clearly out of bounds and they're adding things back into it and we would say that this is an error and it's underneath the article of rejection of an error so throughout this my study it's been very hard because I've received videos I've watched the James White video I've seen Doug Wilson's solofita video where he perfectly and accurately without fail gives a clear affirmation of solofide but the problem is just because one claims to believe in faith alone doesn't mean that they actually hold to the same definition so I'm going to prove to you at this point that Doug will say one thing what he thinks faith is but then he redefines it from its biblical and historical understanding so here's a couple of definitions so this is from one of his blogs you can see this in the link uh here below it says this in the New Testament obedience is a good word also in the New Testament works is not unless it is modified with a word like good we are called to do good works but we are not saved by works okay so he's creating distinction really that I've never really seen in scripture before um or in history he's so again pay attention to the language he's redefining even what works and obedience are he's saying good our obedience is a good thing it's a it's a good word and then works or not so he's saying obedience is good works is not unless it has the the word good in front of it so then he put in his article Ephesians 2 8-9 and so we are called to do good works Titus 2 7 but we are not saved by works um well the problem is is that in his definition doesn't work like John 17 says that Jesus fulfilled the work that the father had given him and he didn't put good with her so the Bible doesn't make this distinction he's making this distinction and the reason is uh he goes on to explain in the article here by way of contrast Sinners do not obey the truth the Lord is the author of Eternal salvation for all who obey him that is not true we do not gain salvation by our obedience it's even misquoting Hebrews 5 9 here he goes on to say God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him acts 5 32 but the bottom line is that simple words obey and obedience should not set off alarm bells for people who read their Bibles it doesn't set off alarm bells for me every Christian who is called and regenerated by Christ is called to obey but it is the result of our justification it is the result of a new life it is not the cause of it and he is making it the cause he literally says the Lord is the author of his of Eternal salvation for all who obey him and we are adding Works back into the definition so before I keep going because there's more to be read I want to give you a definition of Faith so that we can see here's the historic understanding of the definition of faith and um I've got this there's a full article here you can read it from Ligonier I thought it was helpful but there are really three ways in which we would Define faith there are three aspects to understanding justifying faith right so you have them you have the notion the first which is uh um which is referring to knowledge okay you have to be aware that there's you have to have uh data you have to have knowledge in order to say you're going to put your faith into something so we're putting our fillets in not necessarily something but someone so in order to believe we must know that something about we have to know something about Jesus so we aren't just believing in the concept of believing we're believing in the gospel the gospel is the Declaration of good news so that's the knowledge the gospel that's the knowledge and then there's What's called the asensis or that is where uh as it says here in the article our conviction that the content of our faith is true so you can know about the Christian faith and yet believe that it is not true atheists know the know the knowledge but they don't necessarily say that it's true so there's the data and then there's believing that it's true and then there's fiducia which is the last way of understanding this and that's where you go from knowledge believing that it's true to relying on the truth to trusting the truth and so that's how we've always defined it uh throughout history is those three ways where there's knowledge it's the knowledge is the facts are true and then we put our trust in that by faith alone no no Works required well in his book reformed is not enough where he's trying to kind of shake up the reformed tree and get get people's attention which is still available by the way so if he doesn't believe these things anymore and he's denying them he needs to take it off of his website and I confirmed as before I read this today it's still there on the website it's still on Amazon so in his book he begins to explain and Define faith which I would say he's going to redefine it so this is from his book it says this in the historic Protestant view good works are inseparable from salvation uh that's not the Protestant view because this is the case he then missed quotes James and says James can speak of justification by works no the Protestant view is not that good works are inseparable for salvation we actually do separate them that's a collapsing of long gospel that's a collapsing a justification and sanctification into one basically you're removing or redefining both justification and sanctification so James does not speak of us being saved by works that's a complete misquoting of James James is dealing with people who are quoting or saying I'm a Christian to other individuals and they're unwilling to show love and he's saying your claim your verbal claim to being of Christ is not justified because your Works aren't demonstrating that there's nowhere we would say that that is in comparison to Paul at all so it's it's a denial of our understanding of the Protestant view of James it's definitely an agreement with Rome and again just go back and read the statement he is saying because this is true that good works are inseparable from Biblical salvation that the statement from James is that we are justified by works we're not later on he's quoting someone and kind of proving his point and in this section he's dealing with in this section of the book he is dealing with apostasy and good works basically we are in the New Covenant we've been regenerated we have the Holy Spirit we are of the elect and the way in which we remain that way his argument is this he's now reading another quote the means by which men apostasize from the Covenant is unfaithfulness the means by which men Preserve in the Covenant is faithfulness and he ends the quote and this is where Wilson picks up in other words to assert that men fall away because their salvation was contingent upon continued faithfulness in the gospel is not to deny the sovereignty of God at all so he is saying it's within God's Sovereign plan that we must remain faithful notice he says that faithfulness to the gospel and we are we do not remain faithful that's not how we are saved there is never faithfulness there is Faith but there is not faithfulness which is obedience again so he's redefining not only what is covenant theology which we're not going to get into but he is saying apostasy is when we are no longer faithful in our obedience that's not apostasy apostasy is when you deny the truth so you know the truth this is starting with the first one right we see the knowledge and then there's Essentia you can believe that it's true they stop believing that it's true apostasy is deny the Lord that bought them to deny the truth they walk away from the truth that's that is apostasy it is not faithfulness or an unfaithfulness um which he has defined here he goes on to say this faith is the only instrument God uses in our justification but when God has done this wonderful work listen to this the faithful instrument does not shrivel up and die he keeps intertwining faith and faithfulness they are different our good works are always the fruit of our justification it's the fruit of the new life it is not the means it is not the instrument so he says this the faithful instrument it is completely constructing what the Bible has taught he continues I this faithful instrument continues to love God and Obey him if it does not but just lies there like a corpse then we have good reasons to believe that it was just lying there like a corpse some days before not being there for an instrument of justification faith without works is a dead faith and a dead faith never Justified anybody so he says things that are true I agree with them that faith without works is a dead faith that is true but there's a difference of it being the fruit of our justification right guilt Grace gratitude we we obey because of what has been done for us he is saying faithfulness is the instrument of our justification so it's really hard if you're not paying attention it sounds right but when you press in this is now how many quotes are we in but we're not done so I'm going to give you another one this is from one uh this was an interview that was done and in this interview uh Doug makes the statement which I think is interesting he says why are we Heretics because we say faith cannot be separated from trust and obedience and because we say saving faith cannot be separated from a life of obedience and Trust well Doug the reason why you're being called a heretic is because that is the definition of heresy this is why there's the five soulism one of them being Christ Alone faith alone right so yes if you're adding obedience into justification that is heresy so Doug knowingly has had these accusations and he's basically pushing back saying why are you calling us a heretic well even in your statement you're proving that you're holding to heretical documents um now to be abundantly clear we are going to look at some other documents so I sometimes people say you're only looking at one of his writings you're confused that was a bad writing I'm going to show you a couple of more these are interviews so we've not only seen what Doug has written we're going to hear what Doug says and then I'll look at a couple more blog articles and we'll be done I mean there's just overwhelming condemning evidences here so Doug was being interviewed by a Christian Renewal magazine and in this interview there's a very clear question this is a question I wish James White would have asked him but he didn't and it says this Doug when you cite continuing in goodness right continuing in obedience in Romans 11 in your 2002 lecture is that the continuing in your goodness the cause of your salvation or the fruit of it the reformed the Protestant the biblical understanding is that all good works is the fruit of our Salvation it is never the cause of it okay so let me reach to me read this clearly again so you can hear it continuing in goodness is that the cause of your salvation or the fruit of it and Doug Wilson replies yes okay very clearly he says yes and then he goes on to explain his answer again this is where I was saying he's claiming to hold in his hand but he doesn't he's trying to hold solofide and he's trying to hold um uh faith and worked at the same time so he goes on and says look in Colossians Paul says as you received Christ so walk in him so the way we become Christians is the way we stay Christians is the way we finish as Christians Faith by faith From First to Last I agree with him but when he says the way we become Christians he means by continuing in goodness that is not the same that is complete heresy uh so let me just read you the last statement it says so we continue in God's goodness by trust We Stand By Faith they fell but you stand doing that is to the end is how you come to your salvation listen we don't come to our Salvation by standing on faithfulness continuing it is the gift of Godless anyone should boast okay now we're combining phrases and saying well no we're not boasting because these are the good works that God has given us but that's not solafide I believe we are saved by faith From First to Last which is why I have been accused of denying solofide well you're being you're being accused of it because you are adding Works into it so one last quote this is from his blog article trying to clarify this uh whole predicament and he says this I am treating obedient Faith so this is called living faith I am treating obedient faith and Living Faith as synonymous it is obedient in its life and in that living condition it is the instrument of our justification I mean hey how many more times is he going to write and clarify and he keeps saying the same thing obedient faith is the instrument of justification and he is combining two parts of theology that just cannot be collapsed and the reason for this is I'm not to go through this as fast as I can is that he is denying two essential doctrines and so I'm going to just point these out I think it's going to help us understand why there's a confusion so I would hope to see him repent this repent of this and change his mind and one of these is a law gospel distinction and the other is a covenant of works now some of you might be saying well I don't understand those phrases but they're not necessarily they're just helpful phrases like the Trinity you don't have to hold to them but the concepts you need to hold to so this is the joint Federal vision statement which Doug Wilson is also in his blog articles has also agreed that he denies this it says we deny the law gospel should be considered as a hermeneutic or treated as such we believe that any passage whether indicative or imperative so indicative is a declared truth like the gospel imperative as commands like the law can be heard by the faithful as good news now no it's not the law is never good news for a Believer it's it it shows us Christ's righteousness it shows us the Holiness of God and it can show us how we can live but it's bad news because in order for one to be justified by the law it requires absolute perfection this is what makes the gospel the good news so we have to define those differently so they're saying we don't hold to this distinction it goes on to say whether containing gospel promises or not will be heard by the rebellious as intolerable demand the fundamental division is not in the text but rather in the human heart it is in the text I mean Paul how many times does Paul have to say that we are saved by grace not of works less any man should boast but works in what works of the law so the law cannot change the heart it can guide and direct us but it cannot change the heart so therefore it is not good news and then this is dealing with the Covenant so this is why you have a collapsing of law gospel where they keep saying that we there's this distinction is so so important because if you aren't clear on what the gospel is the gospel is the good news of what has been done this is good news this news literally means you know events that are passed law is all potential this is why Jesus tells the Rich Young Ruler do this and live that's not good news right that's not that's bad news that's law and this also plays into his understanding of covenant theology specifically the Covenant of works now some of you might say well I don't believe in a covenant of work so I don't really care about this point just hear it out to the end you actually do believe in What's called the imputation of Christ righteousness why are you considered sorry why are you declared righteous in the eyes of God it's not your works right it was Christ's works on your behalf think about what Paul says where the first Adam failed to obey the second Adam succeeded right we are we inherit atoms sin and we inherit Christ's righteousness and what righteousness is that it's his obedience to the father it's obedience to the law so this is what doug writes uh in his examination he's trying to explain his own denomination examined him on Federal Vision he's trying to explain his view it says this I believe the Covenant of Works mentioned in chapter 7 is badly named I would prefer something like the Covenant of life okay so all right change the title I don't really care definitions our titles aren't necessarily always perfect but that's not what he's doing he's going to tell he's changing more than the title I believe that this Covenant obligated Adam to a wholehearted obedience to the requirement of God agree that one stipulation I would add here it is he even tells you I'm adding something is that had Adam stood he would have been required to thank God for his gracious protection and provision and had Adam stood he would have done so by believing the word of God in other words it would all have been by grace through faith no that is not grace through faith the Covenant of Works was not meritorious and we denied that any Covenant can be kept without faith that is just historically and biblically 100 percent inaccurate this is why it says that Christ is the second Adam when he obeyed the father he brought Hebrews 2 he brought many sons to glory for all have sinned and false short of the glory of God it was not Grace that Adam was working upon he didn't need Grace Grace is to receive that which you don't deserve he didn't need Grace he didn't need Mercy because he was perfect he was in perfect relationship with the father if he would have obeyed he would have received what he earned which was righteousness he would have earned he would have merited it so when he fundamentally denies that he is fundamentally denying the gospel this is why the writers and I agree with it say they deny imputation so I we could keep going I think this is enough to just show you that this is clearly not what the Bible teaches it's a denial of the Gospel it's another gospel it's heretical and so this is the last thing I'm going to read to you it's a Blog article called semper di for Manda and this is in an interview that this fictitious interview that he's having with the Seminary Student in relationship to this and I don't know how you make this any more clear he says this I do not deny the existence of such a covenant I simply maintain that Adam broke the Covenant through his unbelief and that had he kept it he would have done so by grace alone through faith alone so he said it twice there's two times now that Doug Wilson has said that so no Adam was not acting on an obedient Faith uh he was not acting on faith at all he wasn't trusting in God for righteousness he wasn't trusting in God for forgiveness he didn't need to do that it the the concept of mercy and Grace was not given to Adam and Eve until they fall that was the promise of the seed which is Jesus so um you know I wish the interview that James White did where there was a lot of clarifying going on here he was giving him definitions and asking them do you agree but he wasn't asking him to explain and that's what this is for I'll take the same questions that Doug or that Doug received and then I'll use his words were written when he says faith alone it means something different when he says justification he means something different so are you saying John that he is a heretic well he is if he continues to teach this and he has taught this for over 20 years it's been documented in his sermons his lectures and his blog articles and his books on Federal Vision I don't know what else to tell you so until he actually completely repents of this and does hold to a uh historical understanding of faith alone he is a false teacher and the Bible says that we are not to just be aware of them but we are to avoid them and to put them out so some people have asked me well John I know he's confusing here can't we just like enjoy some of the teachings he does on politics and on marriage and my answer to that is absolutely not um you wouldn't do that with Mormon writers you wouldn't do that with Catholic writers because they deny the gospel like for instance if I walked up to someone and said hey are you a Christian and they said yes I'm a Christian and then you find out they're Mormon that they're not a Christian just because they hold the title but don't hold believed to the definition that doesn't mean it's true okay so yeah I would recommend for all of our congregants and those who listen to stay away from if it is teachings and his podcasts can impress uh it is there they are not clear clear at all on their definition defining views of it and to be frank a lot of some of the other things he says just make I think it's it's crude and how he treats women in marriage the whole thing is is a lot of concerning um that's not why I'm making this video we can disagree on how one should handle marriage but when you mess with the gospel it's at that point we're on a whole another playing field you don't belong on the Evangelical playing field you don't belong here uh you have proven to yourself to be a denier of the gospel and so um I doubt that Mr Wilson would ever watch this but if he does I would uh strongly encourage him to reconsider uh repent and um believe in the gospel so if you have any other questions um you know this is probably the most that we're going to do on this everything I've quoted to you you can go read this your own you can read them in context I have spent so much time reading and evaluating and reading and my conclusion was to create this video so I hope this is encouraging to you to really use discernment to be clear on the gospel possible know your definitions which is why it's the whole point of theocast and Grace reform church and the grn network which is to clarify the gospel and to reclaim the purpose of the Kingdom so we hope that was helpful for you to do that and we'll see you next time

Channel: Theocast

Views: 38,657

Keywords: Jon Moffitt, Doug Wilson, Federal Vision, Canon Press, Doug Wilson False Teacher, Doug Wilson Federal Vision, Federal Vision Doug Wilson, Wilson Federal Vision, Faith Alone Doug Wilson, Wilson Faith Alone, Wilson Denies the Gospel, Is Doug Wilson A False Teacher, Doug Wilson heretic, Heretic Doug Wilson, Sola Fide Doug Wilson, Doug Wilson Sola Fide, Doug Wilson Theology, Doug Wilson teachering, false teaching of doug wilson, Theocast doug wilson, beware of doug wilson

Id: dDOSLx1z2Z4

Length: 28min 18sec (1698 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 26 2022