The Great Reformed Disaster II
When I read about the justification controversy last week, I immediately began wondering if presbyterianism in America is dead. After the PCA and OPC, what else is there? The roots of the current justification heresy began in the feeder seminary (Westminster in Philadelphia) for these two denominations with Norman Shepherd.
The OPC recently came out with a ruling on the subject, so on paper, the OPC looks pretty good. The situation on the ground is much different. There are many ministers and elders in the OPC that have been influenced by Norman Shepherd's views. They teach justification by "the obedience of faith," in other words, denying sola fide (a doctrine to which our Armininian brethren subscribe to as well). They make Spirit-wrought works part of the instrument by which we are justified. I haven't read the ruling yet, but hopefully it will encourage the remaining pastors with Shepherd's views to leave the denomination. This has apparently already taken place in the PCA, where many of the men associated with the Federal Vision have left.
R. Scott Clark has been blogging on the Federal Vision and justification quite a bit. Now I know why. The Federal Vision and justification "by the obedience of faith" leads back to Rome or the Eastern Orthodox faith. Many in the Reformed community have already taken this path. God willing, this pernicious corruption of sola fide will be rooted out of the OPC and PCA, and there won't be a need to start an "orthodox, orthodox" presbyterian church or other such nonsense.
Also, The Trinity Foundation does not appear to be a reliable source of information on this matter, as I have heard from several different people, including ministers. As one emailed me, "What good is it to be right on justification but to deny it by being a jerk?"
PRCalDude
After talking to another OP minister that I've been friends with for awhile, I'm much more optimistic about the situation in the OPC. Apparently, the new ruling by the OPC leaves no doubts as to whether or not Norman Shepherd's views are acceptable (they are not). In my friend's prebytery, they've already had two ruling elders leave the OPC for other denominations. The OPC's ruling appears to be having the desired affect, as it was very well received by the General Assembly.
4 Comments
Reader Comments (4)
Two thousand years later and even the reformed group cannot decide what justification is. Oh yea, we are going to reach the world. Sometimes we are a caricture of what we should and need to be.
Henry,
Don't get discouraged. The Holy Spirit is much more powerful than we are. The church will never be defeated: it's the body of Christ.
The brides garments maybe stained, but she is still the bride.
April 10, 2007 | Henry frueh
I think this is exactly the point. As sinful humans we are indeed caricatures of what we should be. And even as Christians we remain sinful in our human nature.
Christ never said His sacrifice would make us sinless in our humanity. He said His sacrifice would make us righteous in the eyes of the Father upon final judgement of our past, present, and future sins.