Two verses (not just these two) seem to do massive damage to the Federal Vision: 1 John 2:19 and Mathew 7:22-23.
On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
Now, if the FV is right, Jesus’ response does not seem right. If the FV is right, Jesus should have said, “I knew you, but only in a sense.” But that is not his response. Jesus says that he never knew them. As is, there was no time in which I knew you. These men had all the outward evidence of being one on the “in.” They prophesy, they cast out demons and they do many mighty works. This group surely would have been part of the “visible” Church. Those who had all the outward signs of being ‘in’ Christ, but the Lord Jesus Christ tells them that he never knew them.
I'm not so sure that it is a given that these people are part of the visible Church. It would be just as easy to see them as leaders and members of heretical sects, doing things in the name of Jesus, but not the true Jesus proclaimed by the orthodox faith. Early Church examples would be Gnostics and Ebionites. In our day we could point to the JW's, Mormons, and neo-Gnostics.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying that your interpretation is not plausible too, just that the case is not as cut and dry as you make it out to be.