What Federal Vision?

There is an increasing amount of interest in England at the moment about the “Federal Vision”. I understand Don Carson spoke at considerable length during question time at the EMA this year. I am of the opinion that in England at least it really doesn’t make sense to talk of “The Federal Vision” as an entity that really exists.

The labels “Federal Vision” and “Federal Visionist” referring to the theology and its proponents respectively (though definitely not respectfully), following a pastors’ conference in 2002 entitled “The Federal Vision: An Examination of Reformed Covenantalism”, seem initially to have been applied by those who have denounced the theology as a denial of the gospel and those who taught it as false teachers. It makes sense at this present time to talk about the “Federal Vision”, now that “Federal Visionists” have come together to make a joint profession about what they believe, although before that, I don’t think it was justified, and even now, it is hardly an homogeneous position. This statement can be found HERE and articulates a commitment to historic reformed teaching, and to Scripture, along with an optimistic eschatology, an emphasis on thinking in terms of the visible, historical church, and an articulation of the real privileges that its members have and the objectivity of the sacraments and the blessings they convey. I am very impressed with John Piper for sticking his neck out and inviting Doug Wilson to speak at his Desiring God conference this year (I believe Doug was actually invited first, so that the other speakers knew who they would be sharing a platform with). Piper has recently recorded a video clip endorsing Doug and explaining why he wanted him to speak and this can be found, along with Doug giving his testimony, HERE. It appears Piper has, perhaps not unexpectedly, come in for some criticism for his decision.

As I hope the extracts which I posted previously from Calvin’s Institutes and Bradshaw’s The Olive Branch show, this view of the church and sacraments is nothing other than what Calvin himself believed and taught, and is also the classical reformed evangelical Anglican view. As my bishop remarked to me, a high reformed ecclesiology is a mainstream Anglican position which goes right back to the Reformation and indeed beyond that back to Augustine, or rather, Scripture as seen through the eyes of Augustine. Moreover, most of the Puritans were postmillenarian. Evangelicals, particularly Anglican evangelicals with their doctrinal and liturgical heritage in the Thirty-Nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, should have nothing to fear from the insights of those who come under the Federal Vision umbrella. It doesn’t make sense to talk about “The Federal Vision” in England as a distinct doctrinal position or movement. What goes by the name “Federal Vision” already has a name here: classical reformed Anglican evangelicalism.