Steve Wilkins

“What if I say to the church, “God chose you for salvation and Jesus died for you,” and then some of those people fall away and apostatize and end up in hell? Haven’t I lied to them? No, I haven’t. I have spoken the truth. In Scripture, truth is more than just conformity to the facts. It is trustworthiness and faithfulness.10 I have spoken to these people in a trustworthy manner. I have spoken to them in a faithful manner, a manner that they can bank their whole lives on, because I have spoken to them in accordance with God’s revelation. There is a tough, challenging, and surprising passage in Ezekiel 33:13 and following. The Lord says there: When I say to the righteous, he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. But when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die,” and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes of life [NASB margin] without committing iniquity, he will surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he will surely live.11 Yet we want to say to God, “You said to the righteous man, ‘You will surely live’—living you will live, in the Hebrew idiom—but he died. You said to the wicked man, ‘You will surely die’—dying you will die—and he lived. You lied to them, didn’t you? You didn’t tell the truth to them.” But who are we to teach God how to speak the truth? This is how God speaks. He says to people, “You will surely live,” and then they die because they trust in their own righteousness instead of trusting in Him. But God was telling the truth when He said to them, “You will surely live.” He was not lying to them. He was saying something trustworthy. When He says to the wicked man, “You will surely die,” He’s saying something trustworthy to that man and the man takes heed to what God has said. He trusts what God has said. He believes that if he stays on the path on which he is going he will surely die. In faith he trembles at the warning and he will surely live. God speaks this way and we must learn from him how to speak. God speaks to His people and He calls them elect, and therefore we also need to speak to God’s people this way. We must. We have no other choice but to let God teach us how to address his people, even if we don’t have it all worked out in our minds. If we are not comfortable with biblical language, not only hearing it but also saying it, if biblical language sounds strange to us, and if our theology gets in the way of our speaking and receiving the language of Scripture, then what has become of us—we, who are to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord?”
― Steve Wilkins, The Federal Vision

“Todos aqueles com o rótulo “Visão federal” abraçam enfaticamente o sola fide (justificação pela fé somente). O que eles têm enfatizado, que aos seus oponentes parece ser uma novidade ou erro, é que a fé salvadora é uma fé que persevera e também uma fé que opera pelo amor. A justificação não é baseada nas obras do indivíduo cristão. A justificação é baseada na obra do próprio Cristo e recebida pela fé. A justificação ocorre somente em união com o Jesus ressurreto e glorificado. O crente compartilha da posição justa de Cristo diante do Pai. Mas nossa união com Cristo não é uma coisa morta. Aquele único a Cristo na justificação está necessariamente unido a ele no poder salvador sobre o pecado. Seguindo Calvino (e o apóstolo Paulo em Romanos 6), eles colocam uma forte ênfase sobre o fato que a união com Jesus confere um benefício duplo: libertação da penalidade do pecado bem como libertação do poder do pecado.”
― Steve Wilkins, The Federal Vision