Is Doug Wilson REDEFINING FAITH?

for now we've had so many people say well prove it prove it show it so we're going to be talking about Doug Wilson and this one's a it's going to be a lot more complicated because there's a lot more that could be said uh so we're going to do our best here to put this all in here but Doug Wilson um is obviously been a part of the Federal Vision he no longer accepts the title but on his blog part A Blog article you can go there and look at what we'll link to it he says he still agrees to what he signed off on theologically so it rejects the time that's like saying this Justin I don't like the word Calvinism I'm no longer a calvinist but then you were to ask me but do you heal Five Points yes yeah I hold the Five Points I affirm everything written in the canons of Dort right yeah right it's the same thing yeah so rejecting a title is not the same as rejecting the actual theology true and the title of our episode today is easy listening legalism the reason we called it that is because what we're trying to expose here is how there are so many ways that we can talk about works and obedience that our is using and we would contend with the first two guys biblicists with good intentions have spoken in ways that are less than clear and helpful about the relationship between faith and works and now what we're going to get into is an even more what we think is an intentional Distortion yeah of how to think through these matters but all of this that we're talking about it's it's a new law and it's a new kind of legalism and works righteousness woven into justification soul of fide all the while trying to maintain the claim to justification solo fide on the basis of Christ alone and that's what's concerning is that like especially with Doug Wilson I mean he's going to say no I don't I don't claim the Federal Vision anymore uh I'm Sola fide Solas Christus all of those things and it's like yeah but bro in all honesty look at the things that you're writing and saying you're you're talking out of both sides of your mouth and you're contradicting solar feet so we're going to start with this uh before we can even explain before even read a quote of Doug we have to clarify some things here so one of the things that's really hard about dealing with Doug Wilson is he knows what is he knows how to say the right thing and he knows how to say the right words so you have to be very careful when someone says like for instance Justin if someone walks up and says I am a Christian well there needs to be some clarification to that because even in the world today we don't agree on what is a Christian Mormons say that Jehovah's Witness say that you know there's a Catholic say that there's got to be some clarity yeah well I mean at a basic level do you have you affirm the Apostles Creed then I seen Creed and all these things yeah I mean yeah so look uh uh Wilson will say I am reformed I hold to this I hold to the West commissioner confession I hold to the Solas but he doesn't and this is why he holds to the same wording but different definitions and so we're going to talk to you guys about the definition he holds and then you will see when you read him he says no no I believe in faith alone but his word when he says faith means something different yeah like I don't think that word means what you think right I mean it's it's a very Princess Bride kind of money exactly using that word so first of all we're going to talk about what he denies and this will help you understand so first of all he denies the Covenant of Works um just real quickly even in uh their own um uh how do you call this uh Federal Vision And even in their cross-examination so this is the cross-examination from his own denomination and his response to this it says I believe the Covenant of Works mentioned in chapter seven is badly named I would prefer something like the Covenant of life or the Covenant of creation I believe that this Covenant obligated Adam to a wholehearted obedience to the required men of God that one stipulation I would add 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 have all been by grace through faith the Covenant of Works was not a meritorious oh sorry was not meritorious and we deny that any Covenant can be kept without faith sorry go ahead no I mean so the thing is though is that so what he's saying he's denying the the Covenant of works in the framework that reformed theologians have articulated for hundreds of years right and I would argue the idea that has been communicated by theologians throughout the history of the church and that is this that Adam stood as our representative in the Garden of Eden Doug would affirm that but we understand that had Adam obeyed the Covenant that God made with him he would have earned eternal life and blessedness for himself and all of his posterity that's right that's been understood throughout the history of the church Romans 5 makes that very plain other places in the scripture do too we've talked about this at length in other venues so that's a big concern that that Doug Wilson does not understand that Adam could have earned obedience and this has a tremendous Downstream effect then on how you understand the work of Christ that's right John and I were talking about this a little bit ago and this fires me up a little bit I'm gonna try to just be clear and not too passionate about it to say that Adam would have been saved by grace through faith implies then that Jesus was accounted righteous on the basis of faith and was it was by grace through faith that Jesus would have a obtained eternal life and that we and him attain it that way it's a problem because where the first Adam failed the second time succeeded and that was in obeying that was in keeping the law perfectly and so Jesus did was not given anything he was not gifted anything he earned eternal life and he accomplished righteousness and what Jesus earned we are given by faith in the Covenant of Grace that is a mass alone right yeah so when you reject that and this is why well as someone dispensations might listen well I reject Covenant Works language that's fine but what you do not reject is imputation by faith alone right well and go ahead no I was going to say this is important if you reject that you you know that is heresy if you reject that you are not imputed by Christ's righteousness by faith alone then you are denying the gospel and they they there's there's a play with words here which we're going to get into in essence they say no no we believe even the complete imputation of Christ's righteousness but then they deny it and we're going to show that here well and here's the thing like from a framework perspective understand where this goes there Doug Wilson when he looks at the Covenant God made with Adam he sees that the requirements of the Covenant are obedience and faith and so then now ever that's the Paradigm in the Frameworks and so it's going to be obedience and faith in the way that he understands the New Covenant yep and the way that he understands life in the church and everything else and you might be in by Grace but you're kept by obedience and so that that's the Paradigm and that's important the other thing that he denies though verbatim and we're just getting this from The Joint Federal vision statement is there is a denial of the law gospel distinction that's right so quote from The Joint Federal vision statement we deny that law and gospel should be considered as hermeneutics or treated as such close quote so we have been clear on on this show along with the reformed and our Lutheran brothers and sisters through history that there is a distinction between the law and the gospel that there's law and gospel in the Old Testament there's long gospel in the New Testament and then whenever you hear something that we are to do in order to have righteousness before God right that's law whenever you hear of something that Christ has done that God then gives us that we receive by faith that's gospel that's right and so they deny the Federal Vision is to do but Doug Wilson does as well deny that law and gospel distinction as a hermeneutic and would contend that it should not be used as a way to understand the scriptures well I would say look you don't have to have it as a hermeneutic but to deny his existence is a massive problem because he even where they go is they end up conflating it and they're like passages are both law and gospel that's right and this is where you hear people say things that sound holy like you know the law is all of Grace and like the law is good news and it's like uh no no in that the first people wouldn't be titled good news if it wasn't the good news the law is good and holy Amen in Romans 7 but it's not good news there's no problem with the law but there's a huge problem with us in that we cannot live up to its standard and therefore it condemns us yep so one last category so there's first of all there's a denial of Covenant of works there's a denial of the law gospel and then he has this thing that he changes words and this is why I said you have to pay attention to words so he changes the definition of faith so this is quoting from um his uh website it says I put the link down there so this is still live you can go read it in the New Testament obedience is a good word also in the New Testament works is not unless it is modified with the word like good we are called to good works but we are not saved by work so you see what he did there is that he's saying not by works as anyone should boast those are bad kinds of works and obviously this doesn't work because John 17 Jesus says I've fulfilled the work that you've given me and Jesus doesn't put good work in front of there but he says this by way of contrast Sinners do not obey the truth the Lord is the author of Eternal salvation for all who obey him no so he is saying basically faith and obedience is synonymous um I'll just keep reading all nations are summoned to The Obedience of Faith obedience is unto righteousness even thought I'm sorry every thought is to be brought into Obedience of Christ God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him and of course obedience is an evil thing when it is referred sorry rendered to the wrong Master which should be obvious enough but the bottom line is that simple words obey and obedience should not set off alarm bells for those who read the Bible and yes they should shut off alarm Bells if you're saying obedience and Faith are the same thing which he is and we have further quotes to help you understand that this is what he's arguing for sure he's he's saying as others have said that obedience and Faith are effectively one and the same or at at least that obedience and Faith are sort of part of the same they're like flip sides of the same coin which is just not helpful no and the whole business about how he tries to drive a wedge between works and obedience is crazy it's wild obedience is good works is not a good word in the New Testament unless it's Modified by a word like good and so what he's saying is yeah we're not saved by works but implication our obedience is at least a part of our Salvation if not obedience is the way that we are Justified right you know because obedience is a good word whereas works is the bad thing so it's not Faith versus works in the way that we would think because he's like yeah works are clearly bad but it's he's saying yeah like obedience which is wild uh because so this is where he he's he's setting this up so that it's like yeah we're not saved by works but obedience now that's different yeah yeah and and when you have when you're always defending salvation by by works you have to come up with this kind of stuff that is like I I've just never heard someone describe the Bible that way before like that that is very wow well it plays out so here's an example this is from his book reformed is not enough um so a lot of these quotes I want you to understand these some of these quotes are from the Federal Vision which is 20 years old and he's still teaching this he says he rejects it but he's still teaching this today uh the means by which men Preserve in the Covenant is faithfulness so you have to understand his argument here is that he believes that baptism regenerates babies or even for those of us who are adults baptism brings you into what's called a temporary election or this uh visible election and that the way in which one preserves and reaches final election is through faithfulness continue quote 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 somehow he's constructing saying well God in his sovereignty projected for this to happen that you could be legitimately in election in Covenant with God you could be temporarily elect right through baptism in the church right not be eternally elect because the way that you persevere in the Covenant is through faithfulness and thereby become eternally elect and he will argue that in his mind that is faith alone no no we are justified by faith alone but he's redefining the word faith it doesn't mean the same thing that when we say faith alone or the reformers it does not mean the same thing foreign [Music]

Channel: Theocast

Views: 5,168

Keywords: theocast, jon moffitt, justin perdue, easy listening legalism, john piper, john macarthur, doug wilson, critique teaching, sola fide, faith, faith plus works, works, good works, clarity of the gospel, christ alone, social, political, doctrine, are we saved by faith alone, are saved by our works, lordship salvation, federal vision, final justification, reformed theology, covenant theology, grace through faith, sanctification, justification, salvation, justification plus works

Id: cTD4_RIpzzg

Length: 13min 39sec (819 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 25 2022