Posted by Bob Mattes
Before I start, I gladly acknowledge that Anne Ivy gave me the idea for this post. She asked a question over on PuritanBoard which got me to thinking about another approach to the Federal Vision errors. However, any incapacity in the argument presented is purely mine. Thanks for the idea, Anne!
Dr. R. C. Sproul tells about the time he was accosted on the street one time and was asked: “Are you saved?” Dr. Sproul replied, “Saved from what?” to which the inquirer had no answer.
I recount that incident to say that salvation means, at a practical level apparently missed by Dr. Sproul’s questioner, being saved from the wrath of our holy, just, and loving God. Our glorification follows because in order to be saved from His wrath, we must be reborn (Jn 3), justified and sanctified (Rom 8:30), being covered (imputed) with Christ’s righteousness (active and passive obedience) (Rom 5:9. 10), and all by His grace (Eph 2:8). We must be fully justified before we can be truly saved from His just wrath, and all that have these given to us by grace (i.e., the elect) are truly saved. Salvation and its monergenistic components of regeneration, justification, propitiation, and reconciliation are digital–either yes or no. There is no temporary in-between status or mythical “objective covenant”.
That God’s just wrath lies at the heart of salvation is an undeniable recurring theme, for instance in Jn 3:36:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (All Scripture citations from the ESV)
and Rom 1:18:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
and Rom 5:9, 10:
9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
To some extent, I think that’s were Federal Vision misses the whole point of salvation. The reprobate in the visible church (what Federal Visionists call the “non-elect covenant members”), despite the baptism, preaching, pig roasts, and pot lucks, are NEVER saved from God’s wrath at ANY time. Once the elect are regenerated and justified, they are ETERNALLY and COMPLETELY saved from God’s wrath. The elect don’t need a “final justification” based on covenantal faithfulness, as justification itself is digital–you either are justified or you are not. The reprobate never HAD any kind of Divine justification. These terms have no meaning or effect for the unregenerate, making these FV constructs pointless. Scripture knows no in-between status. Jesus describes the reprobate in the visible church as the tares and the elect as the wheat (Mt 13). The tares were never temporarily wheat that just didn’t persevere. I have posted extenstively on my blog on this specific point.
So, what solution does Scripture offer to the entire creation under the just wrath of God? Not an “objective covenant” with a “final justification” based on the works of “covenantal faithfulness”, and praise the Lord for that! No, He offers, in a word, propitiation:
For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Rom 3:25)
I love this section of Romans because it lays out the problem and the solution in one compact passage: our sin, God’s grace, justification by faith alone, redemption, and propitiation. Notice what it doesn’t mention or even allude to–”objective covenant”, “covenantal faithfulness”, or “final justification”.
Propitiation is further explained in 2 Jn 2:2:
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Here we see that though we all stand under God’s just wrath for our sin, He so loves His elect that He provides the solution for us–the perfect active and passive obedience, even unto death on a cross (Phil 2:8), of His only Son Jesus Christ.
Again, you can to see how different this Scriptural model of salvation is from the Federal Vision offering. The Westminster Larger Catechism lays out the limited benefits available for the unregenerate in the visible church in Question 63:
Q. 63. What are the special privileges of the visible church?
A. The visible church hath the privilege of being under God’s special care and government; of being protected and preserved in all ages, notwithstanding the opposition of all enemies; and of enjoying the communion of saints, the ordinary means of salvation, and offers of grace by Christ to all the members of it in the ministry of the gospel, testifying, that whosoever believes in him shall be saved, and excluding none that will come unto him.
Notice that there is nothing there about a mythical “objective covenant” or “final justification”, because those concepts are foreign to Scripture. Reprobate members of the visible church participate in the Covenant of Grace broadly considered (i.e., in a legal relationship) as described in Q.68., while only the elect participate in the Covenant of Grace narrowly considered (i.e., as a community of life) (Rom 4, WLC Q. 65 & 66). There’s no need or place for a mythical “objective covenant”.
Although I’ve posted on the shortcomings in the Federal Vision errors in the past, I haven’t taken the argument down to the next level in salvation–the propitiation of the just wrath of God. This is something that’s not possible for the unregenerate, and renders the Federal Vision accommodations for the unregenerate in the visible church meaningless as well as in error. Federal Vision adds nothing pastorally or otherwise. We shouldn’t be coddling the unregenerate in the visible church with a mythical “objective covenant” and holding out the false promise of a “final justification” based on their works in “covenant faithfulness”, but instead should be clearly holding out the reality and severity of God’s wrath together with His equally real gracious provision for propitiation of that wrath through His Son Jesus Christ for the elect and only the elect; and that by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone, and to God alone be the glory. That’s the gospel, pure and simple.
Posted by Bob Mattes