Is Reformed Enough?

In an attempt to become more familiar with the current Auburn Avenue debate, I recently read Douglas Wilson's Reformed is Not Enough. This was written in 2002, the same time that Wilson, Steve Wilkens, Steve Schlissel, and John Barach were accused by the Covenant Presbytery of the RPCUS of teaching new doctrines that deny some of the essential elements of justification. It was claimed that their teachings were "contrary to the Bible and the Westminster standards." These accusations were brought in light of teachings offered by these four at the Auburn Avenue Pastor's Conference at Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church. This book addresses largely the same issues that brought these charges and also acts to some degree as a response to them. It also serves the purposes of being a primer on the basics of the Auburn Avenue position, albeit a fairly conservative statement of these positions.

I must admit, I don't care much for the little of Wilson that I have read before, and no doubt, this prejudice will come through to a degree in my response to this book. The driving theme behind Wilson's attempt to "reform" the Reformation tradition is the idea of the "objectivity of the covenant." His conception of the objective nature of the covenant includes removing the distinction of the visible and the invisible church, affirming a form of baptismal regeneration, allowing for true "Christians" (according to his understanding of anyone who makes a profession of faith and partakes in the sacraments as a true Christian without acknowledging that there are false brothers present in the midst of the Church - if this sounds confusing then we're in the same boat) to fall away from salvation, a view of justification that includes an eschatalogical vindication according to a believers faithfulness to the covenant, among other things. According to Wilson, if the covenant is truly objective in nature and if the sacraments are truly affective, then anyone who apparently enters into covenant with God and his church and partakes of the sacraments must receive the blessings that they confer and therefore must be saved in a very real sense.

Wilson spends the first part of the book attempting to secure his allegiance to traditional Reformed thought. He would add, however, that most modern Reformed theologians, being influenced by Enlightenment thought, have misrepresented the Westminster Divines and even Calvin himself, who were writing from a medieval perspective. However, his exposition of the Confession seems more than a little forced at most points. He generally affirms the traditional understanding of a particular passage and then adds a certain element or nuance that he claims has been lost. Most of the language that he uses is extremely orthodox, and one would be hard pressed to find particular comments or formulations that could actually be called heretical (although I do believe they are there for the astute reader). However, the general emphasis of his position certainly seems to lean towards a works righteousness, with more emphasis placed on the individual's faithfulness to the covenant than on God's faithfulness to preserve the elect; more on man holding up his end of the covenant than on the Holy Spirit working effectually upon the individual. While Wilson is certainly more guarded in his language than some of the other Auburn Avenue theologians, he certainly seems to be communicating the same thing. When it comes down to it, his view of the covenant and justification is closer to that of N.T. Wright and the New Perspectives on Paul (see post http://tacstout.blogspot.com/2006/01/nt-wright-fresh-perspective-or-simply.html) than the traditional Reformed position. Ultimately, this is not a "new paradigm" or even a return to a more faithful representation of the traditional Reformed faith. Rather, it is the same mistake than originally caused the Reformers to separate from Rome and the mistake that Christians have always made and will probably always continue to make until Christ's return; it is the attempt to combine human works with the work of Christ in justification.