The Federal Vision
In this fresh and stimulating study, several of today’s most provocative Reformed theologians combine efforts to work toward a better understanding of the Covenant.
Steve Wilkins writes, “Covenant is the central teaching of the Word of God; it describes a relationship with the Triune God through Jesus Christ, His only Begotten Son. To be in covenant is to be in real communion with God, attendant with real privileges and real blessings. It is to be brought into the circle of the eternal fellowship that has always existed between Father, Son, and Spirit. It is to be made partaker of the divine nature. It is to be beloved of the Father for the sake of His Son and is founded upon union with Christ.”
The Federal Vision communicates the importance of applying a more robust Covenant theology to our study of the relationship between obedience and faith, and to the role of the Church and Sacraments in our salvation.
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In this fresh and stimulating study, several of today’s most provocative Reformed theologians combine efforts to work toward a better understanding of the Covenant.
Steve Wilkins writes, “Covenant is the central teaching of the Word of God; it describes a relationship with the Triune God through Jesus Christ, His only Begotten Son. To be in covenant is to be in real communion with God, attendant with real privileges and real blessings. It is to be brought into the circle of the eternal fellowship that has always existed between Father, Son, and Spirit. It is to be made partaker of the divine nature. It is to be beloved of the Father for the sake of His Son and is founded upon union with Christ.”
The Federal Vision communicates the importance of applying a more robust Covenant theology to our study of the relationship between obedience and faith, and to the role of the Church and Sacraments in our salvation.
“However epochal have been the advances made at certain periods and however great the contributions of particular men we may not suppose that theological construction ever reaches definitive finality. There is the danger of a stagnant traditionalism and we must be alert to this danger, on the one hand, as to that of discarding our historical moorings, on the other…. As it is true that ecclesia reformata est so also is it true that theology reformata reformanda est. When any generation is content to rely upon its theological heritage and refuses to explore for itself the riches of divine revelation, then declension is already under way and heterodoxy will be the lot of the succeeding generation. The powers of darkness are never idle and in combating error each generation must fight its own battle in exposing and correcting the same. It is light that dispels darkness and in this sphere light consists in the enrichment which each generation contributes to the stores of theological knowledge.”
-John Murray, professor of Systematic Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary, 1937-1966.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Duane and his wife Sarah have been married since 1997, and have two children. Duane has served in various forms of vocational ministry since 1994. He earned a Bachelor of Bible Languages from Oxford Baptist Institute, Oxford, MS and studied at the Bucer Institute for Biblical Studies, Monroe, LA for four years. He is an ACBC certified Biblical counselor. He has edited, written and contributed to a number of books, including “The Federal Vision”, “The Glory of Kings” and “Why the End is Not Near.” Duane loves baseball, college basketball, motor sports, doppelbocks, bluegrass, science fiction and long languid lunches.