It is difficult for me to express how grateful I am to the Bayly brothers for their continued refusal to play the petty game of ecclesiastical politics. The only thing I am worried about for them is the possibility that they will fall between two stools. Their insistence that the Reformed church debate these FV issues in a manner consistent with biblical justice is one of the more admirable things I have ever seen — and I honor them for it. But, of course, getting honor from me is not exactly what they need in this circumstance. Not surprisingly, this stance they have taken has caused some true-bluers among the FV critics to wonder, and not very quietly, if the Baylys are really FV critics down in their hearts. But loyalty to justice is larger than any faction or party, at least for men who love the truth.
So let me speak personally for a moment on a couple issues. One of the many charges leveled against me is that I am a would-be empire-builder, trying to recruit, cajole, and manipulate the Reformed world into allowing me some sort of fiefdom — and in this project, I apparently allow nothing to get in my way. By hook or crook, I lure churches into the CREC, bringing them under my despotic control, bwa ha ha ha. But if that were the case, what I am doing fighting to keep FV men from being run out of the PCA unjustly? If the personal charge against me were true, and my character were as black as all that, I would object just enough to let everyone know that I disapproved of the action, but not enough to actually affect whether or not it happened. All this is to say that I am obviously fighting contrary to the interest my adversaries say that I have for fighting at all. But in all honesty, I hope and pray that Steve Wilkins will finish his honorable ministry, many years from now, in the PCA.
The second point is that a pastor must be willing to fight when the occasion demands, otherwise he is no pastor at all. But Paul tells us in the pastorals that an elder must not be violent or quarrelsome — a man who likes fighting for the sake of the fighting is disqualified from holding office in the Church. Above all else, I want my ministry at the last day to be approved and received by God, not by man. As a teacher and pastor, I want to build on the foundation of Christ, and I don’t want to do it with wood, hay, and stubble, all of which will be simply consumed. That means all my fighting has to be in the former category, and not in the latter. No man does this kind of thing perfectly, no one is sufficient in himself, and everyone who attempts it is desperately in need of the prayers of the saints.
One of the ways observers can tell that I am not fighting as a “faction-leader” is this: I have not drawn the lines in a white hats/black hats way at all, where all the FV men inhabit Rivendell, with the critics crawling out of their orc-dens. I am happy to state publicly what my strategy in all this is. For those who don’t get it, me stating it openly won’t matter, and for those who do get it, the ones I am aiming at, the argument is, in my view, compelling.
My whole approach in this is not to categorize the FV critics (or those suspicious of the FV) as evil men. Rather, I presuppose that the overwhelming majority of them know exactly what fair play and justice are. Do I think that the judicial mechanism that I fear is going to do a number on Louisiana would be responsive to direct appeals from me, or Mark Horne, or Peter Leithart? Of course not. But I do believe that there are any number of people on the other side of this unfortunate divide who are not so invested in the controversy that they are blind to the basic principles of justice. I am writing what I am writing for them. There are any number of conscientious men in the PCA who don’t have a doctrinal dog in our doctrinal fight, but who are capable of seeing a railroad job when they see one. They are capable of saying, “Yeah, what about that?” And they are in a position to make a phone call to ask about it. And, unlike the attempts at personal contact I have initiated, they will actually get through.