Dr. R. Scott Clark: Federal Vision

Dr. R. Scott Clark is a professor of Church History and Historical Theology at Westminster Seminary in Southern California. He's also an associate minister at at Escondido United Reformed Church in Escondido, California. He has a blog at Heidelblog.net, where you can also find the Heidelcast, his podcast.

For this episode, Dr. Clark joins me to discuss Federal Vision, an errant teaching that is popular in some Reformed circles. We discuss what it is, as well as the dangers that it presents upon the church.

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Outline of the Discussion

• Federal Vision came about in about 1974 by way of Norman Shepherd, teaching at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. He announced a doctrine of justification by way of faith and works. Through time, faith and works morphed into “faithfulness”. He taught that we are justified partly through grace, and partly through cooperation with grace.
• It was later discovered that what Shepherd was actually teaching was an initial, temporary salvation or justification at baptism, and that the Christian life is a life-long process of retaining that justification. In effect, we get in through baptism, and we stay in through “faithfulness”.
• The name “Federal Vision” was one given to the group by themselves, and is meant to imply that they hold on to “the true Federal (Covenant) theology.”
• The teaching is a form of Covenantal Arminianism. Once a person is initiated into the covenant, they teach a doctrine of salvation quite similar to the Remonstrance (Arminianism).
• Though Federal Vision appears to be synergistic in their view of salvation, they would deny being synergists, and hold to two different kinds of election: temporal and eternal. The temporal would be an administrative classification.
• Their view of justification and baptism is eerily similar to the Roman view, and adherents have endorsed an understanding of baptism, that it not only initiates people into the Kingdom, but the act itself necessarily creates a spiritual union with Christ.
• Some consider Federal Vision to be heretical. Dr. Clark is more comfortable calling it error. It introduces a problematic view of hermeneutics, as well as a problematic doctrine of God, as well as other areas of theology. One writer has even introduced a problematic doctrine of the Trinity.
• They have a tendency to read the Bible in the same manner as the Socinians, which is to say they read the Bible as if it has never been read before, understanding it at the most basic level.
• The heart of the Federal Vision error is their view on apostasy. Historically, Reformed teaching has recognized there are two classifications of the church: an internal (invisible), and an external (visible). Those who are in the church are in the external/visible, but only those actually saved are in the internal/invisible church. Federal Visionists recognize only the external/visible, which creates a form of sacerdotalism. So when people “fall away,” Federal Visionists would say that they walked away from true salvation (whereas the Reformed view is that “they went out from us because they were never really one of us.” (1 John 2:19)
• The Federal Vision shares the Arminian view on Perseverance of the Saints.
• There is a connection between Federal Vision and the “New Perspectives on Paul.” The New Perspectives saw much of our understanding as being “tainted” by 16th century concerns, and attempts to re-evaluate Paul's writings by disengaging from the Reformers.
• Most Federal Visionists have roots in the Theonomy movement. Theonomists believe the civil laws of the Old Testament are still binding upon the church, and that the church should work to re-establish those laws, as well as the prescribed punishments for violating them, within the civil laws of the modern world.
  • Theonomy, likewise, has a lot of popularity throughout Christendom, and shares many views with Dominionism (popular among Pentecostal, New-Apostolic Reformation circles.)
• Federal Vision does not like the distinction between the Law (which says “do this and live”) and the Gospel (which says “Christ has done”), perhaps the most important distinction made by the Reformation.

Scriptures Referenced

• Hebrews 6:4-9
• 1 John 2:19

Additional Resources

• For Those Just Tuning In: What Is The Federal Vision? – Heidelblog
• The Nine Points – Heidelblog
• The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification – Walter Marshall (pdf)
• The Marrow of Modern Divinity – Edward Fisher (Google ebook)
• The Marrow of Modern Divinity on Heidelblog
• Explanation of the Nine Points of Synod Schereville – Heidelcast
• R. Scott Clark