8/12/2019 2002 Issue 1 - What's So Controversial About the New Controversy? - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/4

FROM THE EDITORS

... continued i ll

page

2

One of

the things you will have already noticed is

that we are introducing a change

in

our presentation.

Our

desire is to make the magazine easy to navigate

and reader friendly. As the Lord provides, we wish

to progress toward a

more

typical magazine format,

using more color and perhaps even slick inside pages.

These ideas will depend

on

subscription growth and

continued as well as increasing support from

our

many

faithful patrons.

Our pologies

We

realize that for some time now we have

advertised this magazine as monthly and yet have

been producing

it

every other

month

and lately

not

even that often. We offer

our

sincerest apologies

and ask the forgiveness of all our readers. Any who

wish to do so may request appropriate refunds for

the unpublished issues. We will no longer advertise

ourselves

as

monthly. However, we do intend to

publish

on

a more regular schedule, starting with every

other month and then, as

God

allows in His kind

providence, we hope to reinstitute a monthly schedule.

We anticipate completing the year with this issue

July / August) plus two more (September/October

and November/December). Depending on God's

provision through our readers' generosity, we are

renewing our efforts and energy to

push

forward.

he

Current Controversy

In this issue, we are devoting a number of pages

to topics pertinent to

the

current controversy over

the teaching

of

several Reformed pastors. As the

result of studying closely the public teachings of these

pastors, Covenant Presbytery of the RPCUS (the

Reformed Presbyterian Church

in

the United States)

recently issued two resolutions, one condemning the

teachings and the other calling for their repentance

(both of the resolutions are reprinted in this issue).

The

overall response

to

these resolutions saddens

me deeply. Very few people have discussed the issues

at hand but instead have chosen to deflect criticism

with personal attacks or by focusing on perceived

deviations from appropriate procedures.

One of

the

accusations has been that these men have been labeled

heretics without a trial. This is incorrect, instead they

have been said to teach heresy. The heresies they are

4

the

COUNSEL o CH LCEDON

advocating were labeled such

in

trials

and

councils

held centuries ago.

The other accusation has been regarding

procedure. Some have said that the RPCUS failed

to follow appropriate procedure, some even alleging

that Matthew 18 was violated. As one person recently

remarked, it

is as

if a witness to a capital crime

is

being

forbidden to testify because he double parked

on

arrival at the courthouse. Whether there has

been

any

actual double parking

is

doubtful (see Brian Abshire's

article

on

the application of Matthew 18

to

public sin

in this issue). It is far more important to discuss the

doctrinal errors

in

question

than

these

other

detracting

issues.

f

anyone indeed has any personal offense

in

their craw, they are the ones

in

need

of

practicing

Matthew 18 directly rather than discussing the offense

publicly with others (especially over the internet). In

the mean time, we will confine ourselves,

as

before,

to

discussing the actual error involved in doctrine rather

than personally attacking anyone.

The challenge has been made to show whether

these men have been appropriately understood. This

issue will provide detailed support for concerns over

the doctrinal accuracy of the new teachings, and more

will be forthcoming in subsequent issues. Additional

help for those struggling with the current controversy

is available at www.rpcus.com and www.chalcedon.org.

Readers should be sure to read the reprint in this issue

of

Joe Morecraft's editorial introduction from the

recently published

Nel} SoNthern

Presbyte ian

Revielv.

This is not a mere difference of opinion.

At

stake

is the definition of the way of salvation. To borrow an

analogy from my dear friend Kyle Dixon, this is not

about the color of the carpet, the size

of

communion

cups, or pews vs. chairs. It

is

about the question

What must I do to be saved? Paul did not , in answer

to the Phillipian jailer, instruct him in the error of his

question. Rather, he answered

it

simply, Believe in the

LordJesus and you shall be saved, you and your house.

Perhaps, as some have suggested, there is mere

carelessness and imprecision involved. This is

highly doubtful,

but

even

if

these arrows

of

doctrine

have been shot carelessly, they have landed in the

very throne room of the King. And we are duty

bound to

defend the King against

all

attacks.

Q

-Mark D Anthon St:

8/12/2019 2002 Issue 1 - What's So Controversial About the New Controversy? - Counsel of Chalcedon

2/4

What s So

Controversial About

the New Controversy

y

Joe Morecraft III

Note: This article original JI

appeared

as Joe Morecrcift's

introductory

note in the recent

inaugural

issue oj

The New

Southern

Presf?yterian

Review".

y heart hurts

as

I write this,

but

I must

because the

truth of

the g o ~ p l is at stake

(Galatians

1 6 1 0). In the w1nter of 2002

the Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church Pastors

Conference

took

place

in

Monroe, Louisiana.

The

speakers were Steve Wilkins, Steve Schlissel, Douglas

Wilson, and

John

Barach.

Norman

Shepherd was

supposed to be one of the speakers

but

he was

providentially hindered in the loss of his wife. Since

then we have often prayed that

od

would bring him

comfort.

I have carefully listened to all the lecture tapes

of this conference and have read related material by

some of the lecturers. I have spent hours studying

the roots of the perspective presented at this

conference. I earnestly and sadly believe that what

was presented by these men,

all

of

whom

have made

major contributions to the advance

of

the Reformed

Faith in the late Twentieth Century, represents at

best a blurring

of the gospel of Christ, and at worst,

a betrayal of that gospel. This is

not

to say that

all they presented was in error,

but

it is to say that

misrepresentations, caricatures, reckless statements,

deceptive statements and departures from the truth of

od

were intermixed with the good things they said.

This makes their statements all the more dangerous,

since careful discernment is necessary

to

distinguish

truth

from plausibly expressed falsehoods.

Those aspects of the gospel that were blurred or

redefined in an unbiblical manner by the speakers

of

the AAPC Pastors Conference included: the nature

of justification, the role of faith in justification, the

relation of faith and works, the meaning of baptism,

the eternal security and perseverance of the saints,

the nature

of

revelation, the unity

of

the covenant

of grace, the difference between the Old Testament

the COUNSEL

of

CH LCEDON

5

8/12/2019 2002 Issue 1 - What's So Controversial About the New Controversy? - Counsel of Chalcedon

3/4

What s So Controversial About the New Controversy?

and Judaism, the relation

of

Law and Gospel, and

the nature and goal of evangelism. Closely related to

these issues was the caricaturing of the solas of the

Reformation and the Westminster Standards as Greek

and Hellenistic misinterpretations

of.

the teaching

of

the \ Vord

of

God, which Standards must, at best, be re

cast according to these men's innovative perspective or,

at worst, cast aside completely in order for the gospel to

be presented effectively with its full antithetical nature

to the

21

5t

Century.

Lest you think all this is an exaggeration or

misrepresentation

on

my part, consider the following

comments made at various times by the speakers from

the 110nroe pastors' conference. I will be accused of

taking these quotes out of context,

but

I assure you that

their context does

not

make them any less erroneous.

But how do you know that

God

chose you? The

answer is that you've had the special experience.

You've been baptized. All God's salvation-from

election to

glorification-is

found in

All this [John

15]

means that a

man

can be genuinely

attached to Christ and yet bear

no

fruit.

He is

as

attached as the fruit-bearing branch is. They

both

partake of the root and fatness

of

the tree. Sap

flows

to

both

branches.

The

fruitless branch tastes

the heavenly gift. He has been enlightened (Heb.

6:4).

And

when the process

of

apostasy comes to

completion, he tramples underfoot the blood of

the covenant

l Y }vhich he }vas sanctified

(Heb. 10:29).

Douglas

Wilson, S

llmbling

into

Aposta.ry,

CRE

DENDAAGENDA,

Vol. 13,

Number

2, p. 16

...

reading the Bible this way, and

in

this sense, we

can speak

of

baptismal regeneration... By our

baptism we have been reborn

in

this sense-having

died with Christ, we've been raised with Him.

...

because by baptism-by baptism-the Spirit

joins us to Christ. Since

He

is the elect one, and

the church

is

the elect people, we are joined to

His body, we therefore are elect. Since

He

is the

justified one, we are justified in Him.

Steve Willdns,

The Legary

o

the Ha f-Wqy

Christ. And when you were baptized,

God

promised to unite you to Jesus

Christ. That's what it means to be

baptized into Christ. You're united

to Jesus and

all

His salvation is for

you. At baptism,

God

promises

that you're really one of His

elect

.. Doubting your election when

God

has promised it to you is sin;

... good works .. are nev

ertheless necessary for

salvation from eternal

Covenant, lecture delivered at the Auburn

Avenue Pastors' Conference.

Does

the

LORD

delight

in

the solas

as much as

in

obeying the voice

of

the LORD? To obey

is

better than

sacrifice, and to heed is better than

the systems

of men.... Do not trust

condemnation and there-

fore for justification ..

Norman Shepherd

-

John Barach,

answering a letter

to the editor

on

www.messiahnyc.org,

http:/

/

www.messiahnyc.org/ article. php?sid

=

62

Our goal is

not to

get people to believe in something

called Christianity. Here I am drawing

on

a couple

of essays, one by Mark Horne ... and another by

Peter Leithart, called, 'Against Christianity

For

the Church.'

The

Bible does

not

say anything

about Christianity; it talks about the Church.

- John

Barach,

Covenallt and EvangelislJl, lecture

delivered at the

Auburn

Avenue Pastors'

Conference

A theological liberal in

.a mainstream

denomination should be considered covenantally

a Christian, even though

he

denies the virgin

birth, the substitutionary death of Christ,

the resurrection, and the final judgment.

Douglas

WilsonJlldas JJ as aBishop, in

CREDENDA

AGENDA, Vol. 13,

Number

2,

p.

12

6

the COUNSEL

of

CH LCEDON

in

deceptive words and

say,

The

solas

of the Reformation,

The

solas of the

Reformation, The solas of the Reformation.

Steve Schlissel, We lJIust

be

Christians, ot Hellenists,

p. 9, unpublished paper.

Because faith which is

not

obedient faith is dead

faith, and because repentance is necessary for the

pardon

of

sin included in justification, and because

abiding

in

Christ by keeping his commandments

...

are all necessary for continuing in the state

of

justification, good works, works done from

true faith, according

to

the law

of

God

..

are

nevertheless necessary for salvation from eternal

condemnation and therefore for justification

..

Norman

Shepherd, Thi11Yjour Theses

on Justification

in

Relation

to Faith, Repentance and Good Works,

http://www.hornes.org/ theologia/

content/

00000076.htm

The

viewpoint of these men, and others within the

Evangelical and Reformed camp, stems from their own

8/12/2019 2002 Issue 1 - What's So Controversial About the New Controversy? - Counsel of Chalcedon

4/4

What's So Controversial

About

the

New

Controversy?

readjustments of a movement that is oyer thirty years

old called by its representatives

The New

Perspective

on

Paul. Its representatives include I