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Canons of Dordt
FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE
Of Divine Predestination
Article 1
As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse, and are
deserving of eternal death, God would have done no injustice by
leaving them all to perish, and delivering them over to condemnation
on account of sin, according to the words of the apostle, "that
every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God" (Rom. 3:19). And verse 23: "For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God." And Romans 6:23: "For the wages of
sin is death."
Article 2
But in this the love of God was manifested, that He sent His only
begotten Son into the world, that whosoever believeth on Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. "In this was manifested the
love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son
into the world, that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). "For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting
life" (John 3:16).
Article 3
And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the
messengers of these most joyful tidings to whom He will and at what
time He pleaseth; by whose ministry men are called to repentance and
faith in Christ crucified. "How then shall they call on Him in whom
they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom
they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And
how shall they preach, except they be sent?" (Rom. 10:14-15).
Article 4
The wrath of God abideth upon those who believe not this gospel. But
such as receive it, and embrace Jesus the Savior by a true and
living faith, are by Him delivered from the wrath of God and from
destruction, and have the gift of eternal life conferred upon them.
Article 5
The cause or guilt of this unbelief, as well as of all other sins,
is no wise in God, but in man himself; whereas faith in Jesus Christ
and salvation through Him is the free gift of God, as it is written:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). "For unto you it is
given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him," etc.
(Phil. 1:29).
Article 6
That some receive the gift of faith from God and others do not
receive it proceeds from God's eternal decree, for "known unto God
are all His works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18).
"Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph.
1:11). According to which decree, He graciously softens the hearts
of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while
He leaves the non-elect in His just judgment to their own wickedness
and obduracy. And herein is especially displayed the profound, the
merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between
men, equally involved in ruin; or that decree of election and
reprobation revealed in the Word of God, which though men of
perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction,
yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.
Article 7
Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the
foundation of the world, He hath out of mere grace, according to the
sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen, from the whole
human race, which had fallen through their own fault from their
primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction, a certain
number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom He from eternity
appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation of
salvation.
This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more
deserving than others, but with them involved in one common misery,
God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be saved by Him, and
effectually to call and draw them to His communion by His Word and
Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification and
sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the
fellowship of His Son, finally, to glorify them for the
demonstration of His mercy and for the praise of His glorious grace,
as it is written: "According as He hath chosen us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure
of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He
hath made us accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere:
"Whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called,
them He also justified: and whom He justified them He also
glorified" (Rom. 8:30).
Article 8
There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same
decree respecting all those who shall be saved, both under the Old
and New Testament; since the Scripture declares the good pleasure,
purpose and counsel of the divine will to be one, according to which
He hath chosen us from eternity, both to grace and glory, to
salvation and the way of salvation, which He hath ordained that we
should walk therein.
Article 9
This election was not founded upon foreseen faith, and the obedience
of faith, holiness, or any other good quality or disposition in man,
as the prerequisite, cause or condition on which it depended; but
men are chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness,
etc.; therefore election is the fountain of every saving good, from
which proceeds faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation,
and finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects,
according to that of the apostle: "He hath chosen us [not because we
were but] that we should be holy, and without blame, before Him in
love" (Eph. 1:4).
Article 10
The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious
election, which doth not consist herein, that out of all possible
qualities and actions of men God has chosen some as a condition of
salvation; but that He was pleased out of the common mass of sinners
to adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to Himself, as it
is written, "For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil," etc., it was said (namely to Rebecca): "The
elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:11-13). "And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).
Article 11
And as God Himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient and
omnipotent, so the election made by Him can neither be interrupted
nor changed, recalled or annulled; neither can the elect be cast
away, nor their number diminished.
Article 12
The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different
measures, attain the assurance of this their eternal and
unchangeable election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret
and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves, with a
spiritual joy and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of election
pointed out in the Word of God such as a true faith in Christ,
filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, etc.
Article 13
The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of
God additional matter for daily humiliation before Him, for adoring
the depth of His mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering
grateful returns of ardent love to Him, who first manifested so
great love towards them. The consideration of this doctrine of
election is so far from encouraging remissness in the observance of
the divine commands or from sinking men in carnal security, that
these, in the just judgment of God, are the usual effects of rash
presumption or of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of
election in those who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect.
Article 14
As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel of God
was declared by the prophets, by Christ Himself, and by the
apostles, and is clearly revealed in the Scriptures, both of the Old
and New Testament, so it is still to be published in due time and
place in the Church of God, for which it was peculiarly designed,
provided it be done with reverence, in the spirit of discretion and
piety, for the glory of God's most holy Name, and for enlivening and
comforting His people, without vainly attempting to investigate the
secret ways of the Most High. "For I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27); "O the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are
His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the
mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor?" (Rom. 11:33-34);
"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every
man the measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3); "Wherein God, willing more
abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His
counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in
which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set
before us" (Heb. 6:17-18).
Article 15
What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal
and unmerited grace of election, is the express testimony of sacred
Scripture that not all, but some only are elected, while others are
passed by in the eternal decree; whom God, out of His sovereign,
most just, irreprehensible and unchangeable good pleasure, hath
decreed to leave in the common misery into which they have willfully
plunged themselves, and not to bestow upon them saving faith and the
grace of conversion; but permitting them in His just judgment to
follow their own ways, at last for the declaration of His justice,
to condemn and perish them forever, not only on account of their
unbelief, but also for all their other sins. And this is the decree
of reprobation which by no means makes God the author of sin (the
very thought of which is blasphemy), but declares Him to be an
awful, irreprehensible, and righteous Judge and avenger thereof.
Article 16
Those who do not yet experience a lively faith in Christ, an assured
confidence of soul, peace of conscience, an earnest endeavor after
filial obedience, and glorying in God through Christ, efficaciously
wrought in them, and do nevertheless persist in the use of the means
which God hath appointed for working these graces in us, ought not
to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor to rank themselves
among the reprobate, but diligently to persevere in the use of
means, and with ardent desires devoutly and humbly to wait for a
season of richer grace. Much less cause have they to be terrified by
the doctrine of reprobation, who, though they seriously desire to be
turned to God, to please Him only, and to be delivered from the body
of death, cannot yet reach that measure of holiness and faith to
which they aspire; since a merciful God has promised that He will
not quench the smoking flax nor break the bruised reed. But this
doctrine is justly terrible to those, who, regardless of God and of
the Savior Jesus Christ, have wholly given themselves up to the
cares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh, so long as they
are not seriously converted to God.
Article 17
Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word which
testifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature,
but in virtue of the covenant of grace, in which they, together with
the parents, are comprehended, godly parents have no reason to doubt
of the election and salvation of their children whom it pleaseth God
to call out of this life in their infancy.
Article 18
To those who murmur at the free grace of election and just severity
of reprobation, we answer with the apostle: "Nay but, O man, who art
thou that repliest against God?" (Rom. 9:20), and quote the language
of our Savior: "Is it not lawful for Me to do what I will with Mine
own?" (Matt. 20:15). And therefore with holy adoration of these
mysteries, we exclaim in the words of the apostle: "O the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known
the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath
first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For
of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be
glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. 11:33-36).
The true doctrine concerning election and rejection having been
explained, the Synod rejects the errors of those who teach:
Rejection 1
That the will of God to save those who would believe and would
persevere in faith and in the obedience of faith, is the whole and
entire decree of election unto salvation, and that nothing else
concerning this decree has been revealed in God's Word.
For these deceive the simple and plainly contradict the Scriptures
which declare that God will not only save those who will believe,
but that He has also from eternity chosen certain particular persons
to whom above others He in time will grant both faith in Christ and
perseverance, as it is written: "I have manifested Thy Name unto the
men which Thou gavest Me out of the world" (John 17:6). "And as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). And:
"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love"
(Eph. 1:4).
Rejection 2
That there are various kinds of election of God unto eternal life:
the one general and indefinite, the other particular and definite;
and that the latter in turn is either incomplete, revocable,
nondecisive and conditional, or complete, irrevocable, decisive and
absolute. Likewise: that there is one election unto faith and
another unto salvation, so that election can be unto justifying
faith without being a decisive election unto salvation. For this is
a fancy of men's minds, invented regardless of the Scriptures,
whereby the doctrine of election is corrupted, and this golden chain
of our salvation is broken: "Moreover whom He did predestinate, them
He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom
He justified, them He also glorified" (Rom. 8:30).
Rejection 3
That the good pleasure and purpose of God, of which Scripture makes
mention in the doctrine of election, does not consist in this, that
God chose certain persons rather than others, but in this, that He
chose out of all possible conditions (among which are also the works
of the law), or out of the whole order of things, the act of faith
which from its very nature is undeserving, as well as its incomplete
obedience, as a condition of salvation, and that He would graciously
consider this in itself as a complete obedience and count it worthy
of the reward of eternal life. For by this injurious error the
pleasure of God and the merits of Christ are made of none effect,
and men are drawn away by useless questions from the truth of
gracious justification and from the simplicity of Scripture, and
this declaration of the apostle is charged as untrue: "Who hath
saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9).
Rejection 4
That in the election unto faith this condition is beforehand
demanded, namely, that man should use the light of nature aright, be
pious, humble, meek, and fit for eternal life, as if on these things
election were in any way dependent. For this savors of the teaching
of Pelagius, and is opposed to the doctrine of the apostle, when he
writes: "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past
in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us
together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up
together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.
2:3-9).
Rejection 5
That the incomplete and non-decisive election of particular persons
to salvation occurred because of a foreseen faith, conversion,
holiness, godliness, which either began or continued for some time;
but that the complete and decisive election occurred because of
foreseen perseverance unto the end in faith, conversion, holiness
and godliness; and that this is the gracious and evangelical
worthiness for the sake of which he who is chosen is more worthy
than he who is not chosen; and that therefore faith, the obedience
of faith, holiness, godliness and perseverance are not fruits of the
unchangeable election unto glory, but are conditions, which, being
required beforehand, were foreseen as being met by those who will be
fully elected, and are causes without which the unchangeable
election to glory does not occur.
This is repugnant to the entire Scripture which constantly
inculcates this and similar declarations: Election is not out of
works, but of Him that calleth. "That the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth"
(Rom. 9:11). "And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed"
(Acts 13:48). "He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy" (Eph. 1:4). "Ye have not chosen Me,
but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). "But if it be of works, then is
it no more grace" (Rom. 11:6). "Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son" (1 John 4:10).
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