Central Carolina's Memorial to the General Assembly

Whereas it is the obligation of teaching elders to uphold in their teaching the system of doctrine taught in the Westminster Standards (BCO 2 1-5.2), and;

Whereas presbyteries are charged to condemn erroneous opinions which injure the purity or peace of the Church (BCO 13-9.f), and:

Whereas TE J. Steven Wilkins, senior minister of Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, LA, has persisted in teaching and publishing doctrines in flagrant contradiction to our Standards, to wit:

1) TE Wilkins publicly teaches a doctrine of election in flagrant contradiction to our Standards. Whereas the Confession teaches that God hath appointed the elect unto glory (WCF III.6), TE Wilkins states that the elect are appointed to a conditional relationship which they can lose through unbelief. He writes: The elect are those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. If they later reject the Savior, they are no longer elect they are cut off from the Elect One and thus, lose their elect standing (The Federal Vision, p. 58).

2) TE Wilkins teaches a doctrine of the church in flagrant contradiction to that of our Standards, in that he denies the distinction between the visible and the invisible church. The Confession states that The catholic or universal Church, which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect, whereas The visible Church consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion, and their children (WCF XXV. 1-2). The sum of TE Wilkins erroneous view is to teach that all members of the church without distinction to their actual faith and/or regeneration partake of the saving benefits of Christ. Whereas the Standards state that the visible church enjoys the ordinary means of salvation and offers of grace by Christ, they grant only to the invisible church that they enjoy union and communion with [Christ] (WLC 62-65). As such, TE Wilkins denies that there is any distinction between believing and unbelieving members of the visible church, insisting that all baptized church members enjoy the benefits of union with Christ, only conditionally. See The Federal Vision, pp. 57-62, including the following statements:

If God is for us, who can be against us? Christ died, rose again, and makes intercession for us, who can separate us from the love of God?

Clearly, Paul is not stating promises that are true only for some unknown group called the elect. Nor is he speaking only to a portion of the congregation whom he judges to be regenerate. Rather, he is applying these promises to all the members of the Church who have been baptized and united to Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6). (The Federal Vision, p. 57).

The reprobate may be in covenant with God. They may enjoy for a season the blessings of the covenant, including the forgiveness of sins, adoption, possession of the kingdom, sanctification, etc., and yet apostatize and fall short of the grace of God (The Federal Vision, p. 62). Note that Wilkins here directly contradicts WLC 69, which ascribes these blessings only to the elect and denies them to the visible church.

3) TE Wilkins teaching directly contradicts our doctrine of perseverance. The Confession teaches that They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved (WCFXVI.1). But TE Wilkins teaches the opposite. See the above quote regarding the reprobate, who according to Wilkins were at one time forgiven, adopted, and sanctified. Wilkins adds, The apostate doesn't forfeit apparent blessings that were never his in reality, but real blessings that were his in covenant with God (The Federal Vision, p. 62). In Wilkins teaching, all church members share all the benefits of union with Christ, but only provisionally. He writes, If they persevere in faith to the end, they enjoy these mercies eternally. If they fall away in unbelief, they lose these blessings and receive a greater condemnation than Sodom and Gomorrah. If they do not persevere, they lose the blessings that were given to them (The Federal Vision, pp. 60-6 1).

4) TE Wilkins teaching directly contradicts our doctrine of assurance. The Confession teaches that we may have a certain assurance of salvation based on inward evidences of faith and salvation ( WCFXVI.1-2). Wilkins directly contradicts this teaching, stating instead that "The questions of when a man is regenerated, or given saving faith, or truly converted, are ultimately questions we cannot answer and, therefore, they cannot be the basis upon which we define the Church or identify God's people [The covenant perspective] enables us to assure Christians of their acceptance with God without needless [sic] undermining their confidence in God's promises (by forcing them to ask questions of themselves they cannot answer with certainty). In a footnote defining the harmful questions, Wilkins specifies: Questions like, Have you truly believed?; Have you sincerely repented?; Do you have a new heart?; Have you been truly converted?; etc. (The Federal Vision, 67, plus footnote 15, p. 69.) But these are questions the Confession views as pastorally helpful and productive of assurance, not despair.

5) TE Wilkins teaches a doctrine of baptism strikingly different from that of Standards. Wilkins states that When someone is united to the Church by baptism, he is incorporated into Christ and into His body; he becomes bone of Christ's bone and flesh of His flesh (Eph. 5:30). He becomes a member of the house, family, and kingdom of God (WCF 25.2). Until and unless that person breaks covenant, he is to be reckoned among God's elect and regenerate saints. (Summary Statement of AAPC's Position on the Covenant, Baptism, and Salvation (Revised), para 4.).

But, while the Confession describes baptism as a sign and seal of Christ's blessings including regeneration (WCF XXVI. 1)  the Standards do not equate all baptized persons with the elect, nor do they equate baptism with regeneration.

Wilkins teaches that

If [someone] has been baptized, he is in covenant with God (The Federal Vision, p. 67).

covenant is union with Christ (p. 58) and

being in covenant gives all the blessings of being united to Christ (p. 58), which blessings he enumerates by appeal to Eph. 1:3, stating, those who are in covenant have all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (p. 58).

The doctrine found in these representative statements from TE Wilkins teaching can be none other than that to be baptized is to have all the eternal blessings of salvation and, by inference, he teaches that all persons baptized in water must be eternally saved, unless they apostatize. This is made explicit as TE Wilkins applies all the blessings noted in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians to those who receive water baptism, including the salvific blessings of union with Christ, reaching all the way back to election from before creation to final salvation at the end of history. Thus, in contrast to the Confession's teaching that water baptism is a sign and seal of these salvific blessings, Wilkins plainly teaches that water baptism grants actual possession of these salvific blessings.

Whereas the Louisiana Presbytery has exonerated and approved the teaching of TE Wilkins as faithful to the confessional standards of the PCA, contrary to their obligation to uphold the Westminster Standards, and;

Whereas the Louisiana Presbytery's exoneration of TE Wilkins contradicts its own published declarations regarding the acceptable boundaries of teaching, to wit:
1) The Louisiana Presbytery has declared that the Confession itself uses the term elect to speak of only those who have been unchangeably chosen by God for eternal salvation... The Confessional understanding of election does not allow for the view that a person can be elect and, later, unelect (LA Presbytery Ad Hoc Committee on Federal Vision Theology Final Report and Recommendations, adopted July 2005). But Wilkins teaches the very doctrine that the Louisiana Presbytery has forbidden.

2) In its teaching on apostasy, the Louisiana Presbytery officially requires teaching on the visible/invisible church and on perseverance that TE Wilkins plainly contradicts. According to the LA Presbytery, one must acknowledge the reality of apostasy, that a person can be a member of the visible church and fall away and thus loose the real benefits of belonging to God's people, the real loss of external Covenant blessings claimed through being a member of the visible church through baptism.

3) The Louisiana Presbytery states that the Confession does not accommodate a view that an individual can have a vital, internalized relationship with the Lord and lose it. But this is TE Wilkins explicit teaching.

4) The Louisiana Presbytery admits that TE Wilkins teaching on baptism has led to confusion, and has exhorted him to clarify/reformulate his teachings to define them more precisely, but it has specified no remedy to the harm potential or real produced by TE Wilkins' published teaching.

Whereas a failure to uphold the doctrines of Scripture as summarized in our Standards threatens the purity and peace of the Church;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Central Carolina Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America sends this memorial to the Standing Judicial Commission of the Presbyterian Church in America to assume jurisdiction over the investigation of TE Steven Wilkins' teaching, (BCO 34-1 & SJC Manual 18), in order to preserve the PCA's commitment to sound doctrine, protect our reputation for faithfulness to God's Word, and secure peace within our denomination.

Additionally, in the event that the Standing Judicial Committee declines to accept original jurisdiction over the investigation of TE Steven Wilkins' teaching, then the Central Carolina Presbytery hereby petitions the Standing Judicial Commission to cite Louisiana Presbytery to appear per BCO 40-5 and SJC Manual 16.

Adopted by Central Carolina Presbytery at the Stated Meeting on January 28, 2006.
Attested by /s/ David Frierson, Clerk of Presbytery