March 12, 2006 Q & A

New Perspectives on Paul

Question:

I have been trying to determine your position on the New Perspectives on Paul, Federal Vision, etc. All I have been able to find is that a final report to the General Assembly will not be available until 2007.

I was wondering if you could post or email me some information concerning these matters. This would help me make a decision regarding church membership. Thank you for your consideration.

Answer:

The General Assembly of the OPC, the highest governing body in our denomination, appointed a committee to critique the New Perspectives on Paul and other related projects, with particular respect to justification and doctrines related to it.

That committee reported preliminarily to the 72nd General Assembly (2005), indicating things like the number of times that the committee had met, some of the focus of its work, and other logistical matters. The Minutes of that Assembly have not yet been published.

The completed report is to be made at the 73rd General Assembly (2006). As I said, the committee has been mandated to critique the New Perspectives on Paul, Federal Vision, and other related movements with particular reference to justification and other related doctrines.

The committee has indeed found troubling teachings in these movements, the fuller explication of which must await the final report. However, this does not mean that the OPC has not spoken very clearly about a number of matters addressed by these movements. She has in her Confession and Catechisms, and, with specific regard to justification, reiterated her Confessional commitments (Minutes of the 71st General Assembly, Journal, p. 27).

I trust that this is helpful to you in your decision making.

Note: For a more recent discussion of this topic, please see Q&A: Laymen and the Justification Report - 04/08/2007