Q. How can you make the statement that there is "acceptance of the teaching of justification by faith plus works, and water baptism as an instrument of salvation, in denominations such as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)"?

A. We stand by this statement because there is demonstrated acceptance of these false teachings in the PCA and the OPC. Does that mean we should look for official denominational statements titled, “Why We Endorse Justification by Faith Plus Works” or “Covenant Baptism Is the Instrument of Salvation”? Not at all.  Likewise, it is misleading for denominations to simply say, “We've made no official pronouncement endorsing these things; we haven't changed our doctrinal standards; therefore the ERPC and others are wrong." That is not how error begins and spreads. By the time it becomes the official position of a church, false doctrine has been at work for a long, long time. The Biblical image is that of a little leaven that spreads to leaven the whole lump (Galatians 5:7-9).

If you are not familiar with what has been happening, we commend to you materials available from the Trinity Foundation (www.trinityfoundation.org) including

• The Changing of the Guard by Mark W. Karlberg

• The Current Justification Controversy by O. Palmer Robertson

• A Companion to the Current Justification Controversy by John W. Robbins

• Not Reformed at All by John W. Robbins and Sean Gerety

• Christianity & Neo-Liberalism: The Spiritual Crisis in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Beyond by Paul M. Elliott (a member of our Organizing Committee)

These doctrinal errors are both a top-down and bottom-up problem. The Federal Vision, New Perspective on Paul, and Norman Shepherd's teachings receive open endorsement or purportedly "neutral" hearing in classrooms at many major Reformed seminaries. These teachings should be treated with neither cordiality nor purported neutrality in the institutions that train our ministers. That is the top-down component. But the problem is also a bottom-up one in the individual congregations and presbyteries, and is not isolated to a few places as some have insisted. This is a cancer that has been growing not for a few years but for decades. As is the case with cancer in the human body, its greatest facilitators are ignorance of the nature of the disease, complacency when warning signs are present, and denial when it is clear that something is wrong.

One of the most disturbing things is that even many who (to their credit) oppose these teachings still refer to unrepentant Federal Visionists, New Perspectivists, and Shepherdites as “brothers.”  This is contrary to the words of the Lord Himself (Matthew 18:17) and the Spirit-inspired writings of the apostles (Romans 16:17-19; Titus 3:10-11; 2 John 9-10). Church history repeatedly demonstrates that it is a fatal error to treat false teachers as brethren. Instead, the contemporary church would do well to heed the words of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

To regard a church, or a council of churches, as a forum in which fundamental matters can be debated and discussed…is sheer confusion and muddled thinking. There is to be no discussion about "the foundation"…If men do not accept that, they are not brethren and we can have no dialog with them. We are to preach to such and to evangelize them.

…Those who question and query, let alone deny, the great cardinal truths that have been accepted throughout the centuries do not belong to the church, and to regard them as brethren is to betray the truth. As we have already reminded ourselves, the apostle Paul tells us clearly what our attitude to them should be: “A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject” (Tit. 3:10). They are to be regarded as unbelievers who need to be called to repentance and acceptance of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. To give the impression that they are Christians with whom other Christians disagree about certain matters is to confuse the genuine seeker and enquirer who is outside [and, we would add, to confuse true believers within the church]. But such is the position prevailing today. It is based upon a failure to understand the nature of the New Testament church which is “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). In the same way it is a sheer waste of time to discuss or debate the implications of Christianity with people who are not agreed as to what Christianity is. Failure to realize this constitutes the very essence of the modern confusion.

[D. M. Lloyd-Jones, “The Basis of Christian Unity” in Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions 1942-1977 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), pages 161-162]