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Synod of Dordrecht
November 13, 1618 - May 9, 1619
FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE. DIVINE ELECTION AND REPROBATION
FIRST HEAD: 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 silenced and the whole world held accountable to God."
(Rom 3:19). And: "for all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God," (Rom 3:23). And: "For the wages of sin is
death." (Rom 6:23).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 2. but in this the love of God was
manifested, that He "sent his one and only Son into the
world, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life." (1 John 4:9, John 3:16).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 3. And that men may be brought to
believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these most
joyful tiding to whom He will and at what time He pleases; by
whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith in
Christ crucified. "How, then, can they call on the one they
have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of
whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless
they are sent?" (Rom 10:14-15).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 4. The wrath of God abides 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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 it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8). Likewise: "For
it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to
believe on him, but also to suffer for him" (Phil 1:29)
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 6. That some receive the gift of faith
from God, and others do not receive it, proceeds from God's
eternal decree. "For now unto God are all his works from the
beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18 A.V.). "who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his 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 it to their own destruction,
yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 7. Election is the unchangeable purpose
of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, He has
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 the 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 has decreed to give to
Christ to be saved by Him, and effectually to call an 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 the riches of His glorious
grace; as it is written "For he chose us in him before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to
the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given
us in the One he loves." (Eph 1:4-6). And elsewhere: "And
those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he
also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Rom
8:30).
FIRST HEAD: 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
has chosen us from eternity, both to grace and to glory, to
salvation and to the way of salvation, which He has ordained
that we should walk therein (Eph 1:4, 5; 2:10).
FIRST HEAD: 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 of 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 proceed faith, holiness, and the
other gifts of salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as
its fruits and effects, according to the testimony of the
apostle: "For he chose us (not because we were, but) in him
before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight." (Eph 1:4).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 10. The good pleasure of God is the sole
cause of this gracious election; which does 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: "Yet, before the twins were born or had done
anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election
might stand: not by works but by him who calls--she (Rebekah)
was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' Just as it is
written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Rom 9:11-13).
"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the
word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life
believed." (Acts 13:48).
FIRST HEAD: 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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.
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 14. As the doctrine of 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 the 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
(Acts 20:27; Rom 11:33f; 12:3; Heb 6:17f).
FIRST HEAD: 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,
has 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 punish 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 though of which is blasphemy), but declares
Him to be an awful, irreprehensible, and righteous Judge and
Avenger thereof.
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 16. Those in whom a living faith in
Christ, and assured confidence of soul, peace of conscience,
an earnest endeavor after filial obedience, a glorying in God
through Christ, is not as yet strongly felt, and who
nevertheless make use of the means which God has 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 humble to wait for a
season of richer grace. Much less cause to be terrified by
the doctrine of reprobation have they 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.
FIRST HEAD: 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 ought not to doubt the
election and salvation of their children whom it pleases God
to call out of this life in their infancy (Gen 17:7; Acts
2:39; 1 Cor 7:14).
FIRST HEAD: ARTICLE 18. To those who murmur at the free grace
of election and the just severity of reprobation we answer
with the apostle "But who are you, O man, to talk back to
God?" (Rom 9:20), and quote the language of our Savior:
"Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own?" (Matt
20:15). And therefore, with holy adoration of these
mysteries, we exclaim in the words of the apostle: "Oh, the
depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his
counselor?' 'Who has ever given to God, that God should repay
him?' For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen." (Rom 11:33-36).
REJECTION OF ERRORS
The true doctrine concerning election and reprobation having
been explained, the Synod rejects the errors of those:
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 1. Who teach: 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, 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 will
grant in time, both faith in Christ and perseverance; as it
is written "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out
of the world. (John 17:6). "and all who were appointed for
eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)". And "For he chose us in
him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless
in his sight. (Eph 1:4)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 2. Who teach: 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,
non-decisive, 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:
"And those he predestined, he also called; those he called,
he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
(Rom 8:30)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 3. Who teach: 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,
that act of faith which from its very nature is undeserving,
as well as it 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 has
saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of
anything we have done but because of his own purpose and
grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the
beginning of time (2 Tim 1:9)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 4. Who teach: That in the election unto
faith this condition is beforehand demanded 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: "All of us
also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of
our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God
raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming
ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,
expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no
one can boast (Eph 2:3-9)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 5. Who teach: 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 by
works but by him who calls (Rom 9:12)." "And all who were
appointed for eternal life believed (Acts 13:48)." "For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy
and blameless in his sight (Eph 1:4)." "You did not choose
me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit
that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you
ask in my name (John 15:16)." "And if by grace, then it is no
longer by works (Rom 11:6)." "This is love: not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son (1 John 4:10)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 6. Who teach: That not every election
unto salvation is unchangeable, but that some of the elect,
any decree of God notwithstanding, can yet perish and do
indeed perish.
By this gross error they make God be changeable, and destroy
the comfort which the godly obtain out of the firmness of
their election, and contradict the Holy Scripture, which
teaches that the elect can not be led astray (Matt 24:24),
that Christ does not lose those whom the Father gave him
(John 6:39), and that God also glorified those whom he
foreordained, called, and justified (Rom 8:30).
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 7. Who teach: That there is in this
life no fruit and no consciousness of the unchangeable elect
to glory, nor any certainty, except that which depends on a
changeable and uncertain condition.
For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain certainty,
but also contrary to the experience of the saints, who by
virtue of the consciousness of their election rejoice with
the apostle and praise this favor of God (Eph 1); who
according to Christ's admonition rejoice with his disciples
that their names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20); who also
place the consciousness of their election over against the
fiery darts of the devil, asking: "Who will bring any charge
against those whom God has chosen? (Rom 8:33)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 8. Who teach: That God, simply by
virtue of His righteous will, did not decide either to leave
anyone in the fall of Adam and in the common state sin and
condemnation, or to pass anyone by in the communication of
grace which is necessary for faith and conversion.
For this is firmly decreed: "God has mercy on whom he wants
to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden (Rom
9:18)." And also this: "The knowledge of the secrets of the
kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them (Mat
13:11)." Likewise: "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and
learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes , Father,
for this was your good pleasure (Mat 11:25-26)."
FIRST HEAD: PARAGRAPH 9. Who teach: That the reason why God
sends the gospel to one people rather than to another is not
merely and solely the good pleasure of God, but rather the
fact that one people is better and worthier than another to
which the gospel is not communicated.
For this Moses denies , addressing the people of Israel as
follows: "To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the
highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the LORD
set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he
chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is
today (Deu 10:14-15)." And Christ said: "Woe to you, Korazin!
Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in
you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have
repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Mat 11:21)."
SECOND HEAD OF DOCTRINE. THE DEATH OF CHRIST, AND THE
REDEMPTION OF MEN THEREBY
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 1. God is not only supremely merciful,
but also supremely just. And His justice requires (as He has
revealed Himself in His Word) that our sins committed against
His infinite majesty should be punished, not only with
temporal but with eternal punishments, both in body and soul;
which we cannot escape, unless satisfaction be made to the
justice of God.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 2. Since, therefore, we are unable to
make that satisfaction in our own persons, or to deliver
ourselves from the wrath of God, He has been pleased of His
infinite mercy to give His only begotten Son for our Surety,
who was made sin, and became a curse for us and in our stead,
that He might make satisfaction to divine justice on our
behalf.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 3. The death of the Son of God is the
only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and
is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to
expiate the sins of the whole world.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 4. This death is of such infinite value
and dignity because the person who submitted to it was not
only begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite
essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, which
qualifications were necessary to constitute Him a Savior for
us; and, moreover, because it was attended with a sense of
the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 5. Moreover, the promise of the gospel
is that whosoever believes in Christ crucified shall not
perish, but have eternal life. This promise, together with
the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and
published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously
and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure
sends the gospel.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 6. And, whereas many who are called by
the gospel do not repent nor believe in Christ, but perish in
unbelief, this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency in
the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly
to be imputed to themselves.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 7. But as many as truly believe, and are
delivered and saved from sin and destruction through the
death of Christ, are indebted for this benefit solely to the
grace of God given them in Christ from everlasting, and not
to any merit of their own.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 8. For this was the sovereign counsel
and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father that the
quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of
His Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon
them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring
them infallibly to salvation; that is, it was the will of God
that Christ by the blood of the cross, whereby He confirmed
the new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every
people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those
only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation and given to
Him by the Father; that He should confer upon them faith,
which, together with all the other saving gifts of the Holy
Spirit, He purchased for them by His death; should purge them
from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed
before or after believing; and having faithfully preserved
them even to the end, should at last bring them, free from
every spot and blemish, to the enjoyment of glory in His own
presence forever.
SECOND HEAD: ARTICLE 9. This purpose, proceeding from
everlasting love towards the elect, has from the beginning of
the world to this day been powerfully accomplished, and will
henceforeward still continue to be accomplished,
notwithstanding all the ineffectual opposition of the gates
of hell; so that the elect in due time may be gathered
together into one, and that there never may be wanting a
Church composed of believers, the foundation of which is laid
in the blood of christ; which may stedfastly love and
faithfully serve Him as its Savior (who, as a bridegroom for
his bride, laid down His life for them upon the cross); and
which may celebrate His praises here and through all
eternity.
REJECTION OF ERRORS
The true doctrine having been explained, the Synod rejects
the errors of those:
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 1. Who teach: That God the Father has
ordained His Son to the death of the cross without a certain
and definite decree to save any, so that the necessity,
profitableness, and worth of what christ merited by His death
might have existed, and might remain in all its parts
complete, perfect, and intact, even if the merited redemption
had never in fact been applied to any person.
For this doctrine tends to the despising of the wisdom of the
Father and of the merits of Jesus Christ, and is contrary to
Scripture. For thus says our Savior: "I lay down my life for
the sheep ... and I know them. (John 10:15, 27)." And the
prophet Isaiah says concerning the Savior: "Yet it was the
Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though
the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his
offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will
prosper in his hand (Isa 53:10)." Finally, this contradicts
the article of faith according to which we believe the
catholic Christian Church.
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 2. Who teach: That it was not the
purpose of the death of Christ that He should confirm the new
covenant of grace through His blood, but only that He should
acquire for the Father the mere right to establish with man
such a covenant as He might please, whether of grace or of
works.
For this is repugnant to Scripture which teaches that "Jesus
has become the guarantee of a better covenant that is a new
covenant ..." and that "it never takes effect while the one
who made it is living. (Heb 7:22; 9:15, 17)."
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 3. Who teach: That Christ by His
satisfaction merited neither salvation itself for any one,
nor faith, whereby this satisfaction of Christ unto salvation
is effectually appropriated; but that He merited for the
Father only the authority or the perfect will to deal again
with man, and to prescribe new conditions as He might desire,
obedience to which, however, depended on the free will of
man, so that it therefore might have come to pass that either
none or all should fulfill these conditions.
For these adjudge too contemptuously of the death of Christ,
in no wise acknowledge that most important fruit or benefit
thereby gained and bring again out of the hell the Pelagian
error.
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 4. Who teach: That the new covenant of
grace, which God the Father, through the mediation of the
death of Christ, made with man, does not herein consist that
we by faith, in as much as it accepts the merits of Christ,
are justified before God and saved, but in the fact that God,
having revoked the demand of perfect obedience of faith,
regards faith itself and the obedience of faith, although
imperfect, as the perfect obedience of the law, and does
esteem it worthy of the reward of eternal life through
grace.
For these contradict the Scriptures, being: "justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ
Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through
faith in his blood (Rom 3:24-25)." And these proclaim, as did
the wicked Socinus, a new and strange justification of man
before God, against the consensus of the whole Church.
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 5. Who teach: That all men have been
accepted unto the state of reconciliation and unto the grace
of the covenant, so that no one is worthy of condemnation on
account of original sin, and that no one shall be condemned
because of it, but that all are free from the guilt of
original sin.
For this opinion is repugnant to Scripture which teaches that
we are by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3).
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 6. Who use the difference between
meriting and appropriating, to the end that they may instil
into the minds of the imprudent and inexperienced this
teaching that God, as far as He is concerned, has been minded
to apply to all equally the benefits gained by the death of
Christ; but that, while some obtain the pardon of sin and
eternal life, and others do not, this difference depends on
their own free will, which joins itself to the grace that is
offered without exception, and that it is not dependent on
the special gift of mercy, which powerfully works in them,
that they rather than others should appropriate unto
themselves this grace.
For these, while they feign that they present this
distinction in a sound sense, seek to instil into the people
the destructive poison of the Pelagian errors.
SECOND HEAD: PARAGRAPH 7. Who teach: That Christ neither
could die, nor needed to die, and also did not die, for those
whom God loved in the highest degree and elected to eternal
life, since these do not need the death of Christ.
For the contradict the apostle, who declares, Christ: "loved
me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20)." Likewise: "Who will
bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God
who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who
died (Rom 8:33-34)", namely, for them; and the Savior who
says: "I lay down my life for the sheep (John 10:15)." And:
"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends (John 15:12-13)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEADS OF DOCTRINE. THE CORRUPTION OF MAN,
HIS CONVERSION TO GOD, AND THE MANNER THEREOF
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 1. Man was originally formed
after the image of God. His understanding was adorned with a
true and saving knowledge of his Creator, and of spiritual
things; his heart and will were upright, all his affections
pure, and the whole man was holy. But, revolting from God by
the instigation of the devil and by his own free will, he
forfeited these excellent gifts; and an in the place thereof
became involved in blindness of mind, horrible darkness,
vanity, and perverseness of judgment; became wicked,
rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will, and impure in his
affections.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 2. Man after the fall begat
children in his own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a
corrupt offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ
only excepted, have derived corruption from their original
parent, not by limitation, as the Pelagians of old asserted,
but by the propagation of a vicious nature, in consequence of
the just judgment of God.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 3. Therefore all men are
conceived in sin, and are by nature children of wrath,
incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in
bondage thereto; and without the regenerating grace of the
Holy Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return to
God, to reform the depravity of their nature, or to dispose
themselves to reformation
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 4. There remain, however, in
man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural light, whereby
he retains some knowledge of God, or natural things, and of
the difference between good and evil, and shows some regard
for virtue and for good outward behavior. But so far is this
light of nature from begin sufficient to bring him to a
saving knowledge of God and to true conversion that he is
incapable of using it aright even in things natural and
civil. Nay further, this light, such as it is , man in
various ways renders wholly polluted, and hinders in
unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable before
God.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 5. In the same light are we to
consider the law of the decalogue, delivered by God to His
peculiar people, the Jews, by the hands of Moses. For though
it reveals the greatness of sin, and more and more convinces
man thereof, yet, as it neither points out a remedy nor
imparts strength to extricate him from his misery, but, being
weak through the flesh, leaves the transgressor under the
curse, man cannot by this law obtain saving grace.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 6. What, therefore, neither
the light of nature nor the law could do, that God performs
by the operation of the Holy Spirit through the word or
ministry of reconciliation; which is the glad tidings
concerning the Messiah, by means whereof it has pleased God
to save such as believe, as well under the Old as under the
New Testament.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 7. This mystery of His will
God reveals to but a small number under the Old Testament;
under the New Testament (the distinction between various
peoples having been removed) He reveals it to many. The cause
of this dispensation is not to be ascribed to the superior
worth of one nation above another, nor to their better use of
the light of nature, but results wholly from the sovereign
good pleasure and unmerited love of God. Hence they to whom
so great and so gracious a blessing is communicated, above
their desert, or rather notwithstanding their demerits, are
bound to acknowledge it with humble and grateful hearts, and
with the apostle to adore, but in no wise curiously to pry
into, the severity and justice of God's judgments displayed
in others to whom this grace is not given.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 8. As many as are called by
the gospel are unfeignedly called. For God has most earnestly
and truly declared in His Word what is acceptable to Him,
namely, that those who are called should come unto Him. He
also seriously promises rest of soul and eternal life to all
who come to Him and believe.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 9. It is not the fault of the
gospel, nor of Christ offered therein, nor of God, who calls
men by the gospel and confers upon them various gifts, that
those who are called by the ministry of the Word refuse to
come and be converted. The fault lies in themselves; some of
whom when called, regardless of their danger, reject the Word
of life; other, though they receive it, suffer it not to make
a lasting impression on their heart; therefore, their joy,
arising only from a temporary faith, soon vanishes, and they
fall away; while others choke the seed of the Word by
perplexing cares and the pleasures of this world, and produce
no fruit. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower
(Matt 13).
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 10. But that others who are
called by the gospel obey the call and are converted is not
to be ascribed to the proper exercise of free will, whereby
one distinguishes himself above others equally furnished with
grace sufficient for faith and conversion (as the proud
heresy of Pelagius maintains); but it must be wholly ascribed
to God, who, as He has chosen His own from eternity in
Christ, so He calls them effectually in time, confers upon
them faith and repentance, rescues them from the power of
darkness, and translates them into the kingdom of His own
Son; that they may show forth the praises of Him who has
called them out of darkness into His marvelous light, and may
glory not in themselves but in the Lord, according to the
testimony of the apostles in various places.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 11. But when God accomplishes
His good pleasure in the elect, or works in them true
conversion, He not only cause the gospel to be externally
preached to them, and powerfully illuminates their minds by
His Holy Spirit, that they may rightly under and discern the
things of the Spirit of God; but by the efficacy of the same
regenerating Spirit He pervades the inmost recesses of man;
He opens the closed and softens the hardened heart, and
circumcises that which was uncircumcised; infuses new
qualities into the will, which, though heretofore dead, He
quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and refractory, He
renders it good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and
strengthens it, that like a good tree, it may bring forth the
fruits of good actions.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 12. And this is that
regeneration so highly extolled in Scripture, that renewal,
new creation, resurrection from the dead, making alive, which
God works in us without out aid. But this is in no wise
effected merely by the external preaching of the gospel, by
moral suasion, or such a mode of operation that, after God
has performed His part, it still remains in the power of man
to be regenerated or not, to be converted or to continue
unconverted; but it is evidently a supernatural work, most
powerful, and at the same time most delightful, astonishing,
mysterious, and ineffable; not inferior in efficacy to
creation or the resurrection from the dead, as the Scripture
inspired by the Author of this work declares; so that all in
whose heart God works in this marvelous manner are certainly,
infallibly, and effectually regenerated, and do actually
believe. Whereupon the will thus renewed is not only actuated
and influenced by God, but in consequence of this influence
becomes itself active. Wherefore also man himself is rightly
said to believe and repent by virtue of that grace received.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 13. The manner of this
operation cannot be fully comprehended by believers in this
life. Nevertheless, they are satisfied to know and experience
that by this grace of God they are enabled to believe with
the heart and to love their Savior.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 14. Faith is therefore to be
considered as the gift of God, not on account of its being
offered by God to man, to be accepted or rejected at his
pleasure, but because it is in reality conferred upon him,
breathed and infused into him; nor even because God bestows
the power or ability to believe, and then expects that man
should by the exercise of his own free will consent to the
terms of salvation and actually believe in Christ, but
because He who works in man both to will and to work, and
indeed all things in all, produces both the will to believe
and the act of believing also.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 15. God is under no obligation
to confer this grace upon any; for how can He be indebted to
one who had no previous gifts to bestow as a foundation for
such recompense? Nay, how can He be indebted to one who has
nothing of his own but sin and falsehood? He, therefore, who
becomes the subject of this grace owes eternal gratitude to
God, and gives Him thanks forever. Whoever is not made
partaker thereof is either altogether regardless of these
spiritual gifts and satisfied with his own condition, or is
in no apprehension of danger, and vainly boasts the
possession of that which he has not. Further, with respect to
those who outwardly profess their faith and amend their
lives, we are bound, after the example of the apostle, to
judge and speak of them in the most favorable manner; for the
secret recesses of the heart are unknown to us. And as to
others who have not yet been called, it is our duty to pray
for them to God, who calls the things that are not as if they
were. But we are in no wise to conduct ourselves towards them
with haughtiness, as if we had made ourselves to differ.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 16. But as man by the fall did
not cease to be a creature endowed with understanding and
will, nor did sin which pervaded the whole race of mankind
deprive him of the human nature, but brought upon him
depravity and spiritual death; so also this grace of
regeneration does not treat men as senseless stocks and
blocks, nor take away their will and it properties, or do
violence thereto; but is spiritually quickens, heals,
corrects, and at the same time sweetly and powerfully bends
it, that where carnal rebellion and resistance formerly
prevailed, a ready and sincere spiritual obedience begins to
reign; in which the true and spiritual restoration and
freedom of our will consist. Wherefore, unless the admirable
Author of every good work so deal with us, man can have no
hope of being able to rise from his fall by his own free
will, by which, in a state of innocence, he plunged himself
into ruin.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: ARTICLE 17. As the almighty operation
of God whereby He brings forth and supports this our natural
life does not exclude but require the use of means by which
God, of His infinite mercy and goodness, has chosen to exert
His influence, so also the aforementioned supernatural
operation of God by which we are regenerated in no wise
excludes or subverts the use of the gospel, which the most
wise God has ordained to be the seed of regeneration and food
of the soul. Wherefore, as the apostles and the teachers who
succeeded them piously instructed the people concerning this
grace of God, to His glory and to the abasement of all pride,
and in the meantime, however, neglected not to keep them, by
the holy admonitions of the gospel, under the influence of
the Word, the sacraments, and ecclesiastical discipline; so
even now it should be far from those who give or receive
instruction in the Church to presume to tempt God by
separating what He of His good pleasure has most intimately
joined together. For grace is conferred by means of
admonitions; and the more readily we perform our duty, the
more clearly this favor of God, working in us, usually
manifest itself, and the more directly His work is advanced;
to whom alone all the glory, both for the means and for their
saving fruit and efficacy, is forever due. Amen.
REJECTION OF ERRORS
The true doctrine having been explained, the Synod rejects
the errors of those:
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 1. Who teach: That it cannot
properly be said that original sin in itself suffices to
condemn the whole human race or to deserve temporal and
eternal punishment.
For these contradict the apostle, who declares: "Therefore,
just as sin entered the world through one man, and death
through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because
all sinned (Rom 5:12)." And: "The judgment followed one sin
and brought condemnation (Rom 5:16)." And "the wages of sin
is death (Rom 6:23)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 2. Who teach: That the
spiritual gifts or the good qualities and virtues, such as
goodness, holiness, righteousness, could not belong to the
will of man when he was first crated, and that these,
therefore, cannot have been separated therefrom in the fall.
For such is contrary to the description of the image of God
which the apostle gives in Eph. 4:24, where he declares that
it consists in righteousness and holiness, which undoubtedly
belong to the will.
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 3. Who teach: That in
spiritual death the spiritual gifts are not separate from the
will of man, since the will in itself has never been
corrupted, but only hindered through the darkness of the
understanding and the irregularity of the affection; and
that, these hindrances having been removed, the will can then
bring into operation its nature powers, that is, that the
will of itself is able to will and to choose, or not to will
and not to choose, all manner of good which may be presented
to it.
This is an innovation and an error, and tends to elevate the
powers of the free will, contrary to the declaration of the
prophet: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure (Jer 17:9)"; and of the apostle: "All of us also lived
among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful
nature and following its desires and thoughts (Eph 2:3)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 4. Who teach: That the
unregenerate man is not really nor utterly dead in sin, nor
destitute of all powers unto spiritual good, but that he can
yet hunger and thirst after righteousness and life, and offer
the sacrifice of a contrite and broken spirit, which is
pleasing to God.
For these things are contrary to the express testimony of
Scripture: "you were dead in your transgressions and sins
(Eph 2:1, 5)." And: "every inclination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil all the time. (Gen 6:5, 8:21)." Moreover,
to hunger and thirst after deliverance from misery and after
life, and to offer unto God the sacrifice of a broken spirit,
is peculiar to the regenerate and those that are called
blessed (Ps 51:17; Matt 5:6).
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 5. Who teach: That the
corrupt and natural man can so well use the common grace (by
which they understand the light of nature), or the gifts
still left him after the fall, that he can gradually gain by
their good use a greater, that is, the evangelical or saving
grace, and salvation itself; and that in this way God on His
part shows Himself ready to reveal Christ unto all men, since
He applies to all sufficiently and efficiently the means
necessary to conversion.
For both the experience of all ages and the Scriptures
testify that this is untrue. "He has revealed his word to
Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for
no other nation; they do not know his laws (Psa 147:19-20)."
"In the past, he let all nations go their own way (Acts
14:16)." And: "Paul and his companions traveled throughout
the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the
Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.
When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter
Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to
(Acts 16:6-7)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 6. Who teach: That in the
true conversion of man no new qualities, powers, or gifts can
be infused by God into the will, and that therefore faith,
through which we are first converted and because of which we
are called believers, is not a quality or gift infused by God
but only an act of man, and that it cannot be said to be a
gift, except in respect of the power to attain to this
faith.
For thereby they contradict the Holy Scriptures, which
declare that God infuses new qualities of faith, of
obedience, and of the consciousness of His love into our
hearts: ""This is the covenant I will make with the house of
Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my
law in their minds and write it on their hearts (Jer 31:33)."
And: "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams
on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your
offspring, and my blessing on your descendants (Isa 44:3)."
And: "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us (Rom 5:5)." This is also
repugnant to the constant practice of the Church, which prays
by the mouth of the prophet thus: "Restore me, and I will
return (Jer 31:18)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 7. Who teach: That the grace
whereby we are converted to God is only a gentle advising, or
(as others explain it) that this is the noblest manner of
working in the conversion of man, and that this manner of
working, which consists in advising, is most in harmony with
man's nature; and that there is no reason why this advising
grace alone should not be sufficient to make the natural man
spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the consent of
the will except through this manner of advising; and that the
power of the divine working, whereby it surpasses the working
of Satan, consists in this that God promises eternal, while
Satan promise only temporal good.
But this is altogether Pelagian and contrary to the whole
Scripture, which, besides this, teaches yet another and far
more powerful and divine manner of the Holy Spirit's working
in the conversion of man, as in Ezekiel: "I will give you a
new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you
your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Ezek
36:26)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 8. Who teach: That god in
the regeneration of man does not use such powers of His
omnipotence as potently and infallibly bend man's will to
faith and conversion; but that all the works of grace having
been accomplished, which God employs to convert man, man may
yet so resist god and the Holy Spirit, when God intends man's
regeneration and wills to regenerate him, and indeed that man
often does so resist that he prevents entirely his
regeneration, and that it therefore remains in man's power to
be regenerated or not.
For this is nothing less than the denial of all that
efficiency of God's grace in our conversion, and the
subjecting of the working of Almighty God to the will of man,
which is contrary to the apostles, who teach that we believe
accord to the working of the strength of his might (Eph
1:19); and that God fulfills every desire of goodness and
every work of faith with power (2 Th 1:11); and that "His
divine power has given us everything we need for life and
godliness (2 Pet 1:3)."
THIRD AND FOURTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 9. Who teach: That grace and
free will are partial causes which together work the
beginning of conversion, and that grace, in order of working,
does not precede the working of the will; that is, that God
does not efficiently help the will of man unto conversion
until the will of man moves and determines to do this.
For the ancient Church has long ago condemned this doctrine
of the Pelagians according to the words of the apostle: "It
does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on
God's mercy (Rom 9:16)." Likewise: "For who makes you
different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not
receive? And if you did receive it (1 Cor 4:7)?" And: "for it
is God who works in you to will and to act according to his
good purpose (Phil 2:13)."
FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE. THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 1. Those whom God, according to His
purpose, calls to the communion of His Son, our Lord Jesus
Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, He also delivers
from the dominion and slavery of sin, though in this life He
does not deliver them altogether form the body of sin and
from the infirmities of the flesh.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 2. Hence spring forth the daily sins of
infirmity, and blemishes cleave even to the best works of the
saints. These are to them a perpetual reason to humiliate
themselves before God and to flee for refuge to Christ
crucified; to mortify the flesh more and more by the spirit
of prayer and by holy exercises of piety; and to press
forward to the goal of perfection, until at length, delivered
from this body of death, they shall reign with the Lamb of
God in heaven.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 3. By reason of these remains of
indwelling sin, and also because the temptations of the world
and of Satan, those who are converted could not persevere in
that grace if left to their own strength. But God is
faithful, who, having conferred grace, mercifully confirms
and powerfully preserves them therein, even to the end.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 4. Although the weakness of the flesh
cannot prevail against the power of God, who confirms and
preserves true believers in a state of grace, yet converts
are not always so influenced and actuated by the Spirit of
God as not in some particular instances sinfully to deviate
from the guidance of divine grace, so as to be seduced by and
to comply with the lusts of the flesh; they must, therefore,
be constant in watching and prayer, that they may not be led
into temptation. When these are great and heinous sins by the
flesh, the world, and Satan, but sometimes by the righteous
permission of God actually are drawn into these evils. This,
the lamentable fall of David, Peter, and other saints
described in Holy Scripture, demonstrates.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 5. By such enormous sins, however, they
very highly offend God, incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy
Spirit, interrupt the exercise of faith, very grievously
wound their consciences, and sometimes for a while lose the
sense of God's favor, until, when they change their course by
serious repentance, the light of God's fatherly countenance
again shines upon them.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 6. But God, who is rich in mercy,
according to His unchangeable purpose of election, does not
wholly withdraw the Holy Spirit from His own people even in
their grievous falls; nor suffers them to proceed so far as t
lose the grace of adoption and forfeit the state of
justification, or to commit the sin unto death or against the
Holy Spirt; nor does He permit them to be totally deserted,
and to plunge themselves into everlasting destruction.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 7. For in the first place, in these falls
He preserves in them the incorruptible seed of regeneration
from perishing or being totally lost; and again, by His Word
and Spirit He certainly and effectually renews them to
repentance, to a sincere and godly sorrow for their sins,
that they may seek and obtain remission in the blood of the
Mediator, may again experience the favor of a reconciled God,
through faith adore His mercies, and henceforward more
diligently work out their own salvation with fear and
trembling.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 8. Thus it is not in consequence of their
own merits or strength, but of God's free mercy, that they
neither totally fall from faith and grace nor continue and
perish finally in their backslidings; which, with respect to
themselves is not only possible, but would undoubtedly
happen; but with respect to God, it is utterly impossible,
since His counsel cannot be changed nor His promise fail;
neither can the call according to His purpose be revoked, nor
the merit, intercession, and preservation of Christ be
rendered ineffectual, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit be
frustrated or obliterated.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 9. Of this preservation of the elect to
salvation and of their perseverance in the faith, true
believers themselves may and do obtain assurance according to
the measure of their faith, whereby they surely believe that
they are and ever will continue true and living members of
the Church, and that they have the forgiveness of sins and
life eternal.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 10. This assurance, however, is not
produced by any peculiar revelation contrary to or
independent of the Word of God, but springs from faith in
God's promises, which He has most abundantly revealed in His
Word for our comfort; from the testimony of the Holy Spirit,
witnessing with our spirit that we are children and heirs of
God (Rom 8:16); and lastly, from a serious and holy desire to
preserve a good conscience and to perform good works. And if
the elect of God were deprived of this solid comfort that
they shall finally obtain the victory, and of this infallible
pledge of eternal glory, they would be of all men the most
miserable.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 11. The Scripture moreover testifies that
believers in this life have to struggle with various carnal
doubts, and that under grievous temptations they do not
always feel this full assurance of faith and certainty of
persevering. But God, who is the Father of all consolation,
does not suffer them to be tempted above that they are able,
but will with the temptation make also the way of escape,
that they may be able to endure it (1 Cor 10:13), and by the
Holy Spirit again inspires them with the comfortable
assurance of persevering.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 12. This certainty of perseverance,
however, is so far from exciting in believers a spirit of
pride, or of rendering them carnally secure, that on the
contrary it is the real source of humility, filial reverence,
true piety, patience in every tribulation, fervent prayers,
constancy in suffering and in confessing the truth, and of
solid rejoicing in God; so that the consideration of this
benefit should serve as an incentive to the serious and
constant practice of gratitude and good works, as appears
from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the
saints.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 13. Neither does renewed confidence of
persevering produce licentiousness or a disregard of piety in
those who are recovered from backsliding; but it renders them
much more careful and solicitous to continue in the ways of
the Lord, which He has ordained, that they who walk therein
may keep the assurance of persevering; lest, on account of
their abuse of His fatherly kindness, God should turn away
His gracious countenance from them (to behold which is to the
godly dearer than life, and the withdrawal of which is more
bitter than death) and they in consequence thereof should
fall into more grievous torments of conscience.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 14. And as it has pleased God, by the
preaching of the gospel, to begin this work of grace in us,
so He preserves, continues, and perfects it by the hearing
and reading of His Word, by meditation thereon, and by the
exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof, and by the
use of the sacraments.
FIFTH HEAD: ARTICLE 15. The carnal mind is unable to
comprehend this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints
and the certainty thereof, which God has most abundantly
revealed in His Word, for the glory of His Name and the
consolation of pious souls, and which He impresses upon the
hearts of the believers. Satan abhors it, the world ridicules
it, the ignorant and hypocritical abuse it, and the heretics
oppose it. But the bride of Christ has always most tenderly
loved and constantly defended it as an inestimable treasure;
and God, against whom neither counsel nor strength can
prevail, will dispose her so to continue to the end. Now to
this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and
glory forever. Amen.
REJECTION OF ERRORS
The true doctrine having been explained, the Synod rejects
the errors of those:
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 1. Who teach: That the perseverance of
the true believers is not a fruit of election, or a gift of
God gained by the death of Christ, but a condition of the new
covenant which (as they declare) man before his decisive
election and justification must fulfil through his free
will.
For the Holy Scripture testifies that this follows out of
election, and is given the elect in virtue of the death, the
resurrection, and the intercession of Christ: "What Israel
sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The
others were hardened (Rom 11:7)." Likewise: "He who did not
spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he
not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who
will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It
is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus,
who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the
right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ (Rom 8:32-35)?"
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 2. Who teach: That God does indeed
provide the believer with sufficient powers to persevere, and
is ever ready to preserve these in him if he will do his
duty; but that, though all though which are necessary to
persevere in faith and which God will use to preserve faith
are made us of, even then it ever depends on the pleasure of
the will whether it will persevere or not.
For this idea contains outspoken Pelagianism, and while it
would make men free, it make them robbers of God's honor,
contrary to the prevailing agreement of the evangelical
doctrine, which takes from man all cause of boasting, and
ascribes all the praise for this favor to the grace of God
alone; and contrary to the apostle, who declares that it is
God, "He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be
blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 1:8)."
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 3. Who teach: That the true believers
and regenerate not only can fall from justifying faith and
likewise from grace and salvation wholly and to the end, but
indeed often do fall from this and are lost forever.
For this conception makes powerless the grace, justification,
regeneration, and continued preservation by Christ, contrary
to the expressed words of the apostle Paul: "While we were
still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from
God's wrath through him (Rom 5:8-9)." And contrary to the
apostle John: "No one who is born of God will continue to
sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on
sinning, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9)." And
also contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: "I give them
eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch
them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father's
hand (John 10:28-29)."
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 4. Who teach: That true believers and
regenerate can sin the sin unto death or against the Holy
Spirit.
Since the same apostle John, after having spoken in the fifth
chapter of his first epistle, vs. 16 and 17, of those who sin
unto death and having forbidden to pray for them, immediately
adds to this in vs. 18: "We know that anyone born of God does
not continue to sin (meaning a sin of that character); the
one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one
cannot harm him (1 John 5:18)."
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 5. Who teach: That without a special
revelation we can have no certainty of future perseverance in
this life.
For by this doctrine the sure comfort of the true believers
is taken away in this life, and the doubts of the papist are
again introduced into the Church, while the Holy Scriptures
constantly deduce this assurance, not from a special and
extraordinary revelation, but from the marks proper to the
children of God and from the very constant promises of God.
So especially the apostle Paul: "neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate
us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom
8:39)." And John declares: "Those who obey his commands live
in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives
in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us (1 John 3:24)."
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 6. Who teach: That the doctrine of the
certainty of perseverance and of salvation from its own
character and nature is a cause of indolence and is injurious
to godliness, good morals, prayers, and other holy exercises,
but that on the contrary it is praiseworthy to doubt.
For these show that they do not know the power of divine
grace and the working of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And they
contradict the apostle John, who teaches that opposite with
express words in his first epistle: "Dear friends, now we are
children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made
known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this
hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure (1 John
3:2-3)." Furthermore, these are contradicted by the example
of the saints, both of the Old and the New Testament, who
though they were assured of their perseverance and salvation,
were nevertheless constant in prayers and other exercises of
godliness.
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 7. Who teach: That the faith of those
who believe for a time does not differ from justifying and
saving faith except only in duration.
For Christ Himself, in Matt 13:20, Luke 8:13, and in other
places, evidently notes, beside this duration, a threefold
difference between those who believe only for a time and true
believers, when He declares that the former receive the seed
on stony ground, but the latter in the good ground or heart;
that the former are without root, but the latter have a firm
root; that the former are without fruit, but that the latter
bring forth their fruit in various measure, with constancy
and steadfastness.
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 8. Who teach: That it is not absurd
that one having lost his first regeneration is again and even
often born anew.
For these deny by this doctrine the incorruptibleness of the
seed of God, whereby we are born again; contrary to the
testimony of the apostle Peter: "For you have been born
again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable (1 Pet
1:23)."
FIFTH HEAD: PARAGRAPH 9. Who teach: That Christ has in no
place prayed that believers should infallibly continue in
faith.
For the contradict Christ Himself, who says: "I have prayed
for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail (Luke 22:32)",
and the evangelist John, who declares that Christ has not
prayed for the apostles only, but also for those who through
their word would believe: "Holy Father, protect them by the
power of your name," and "My prayer is not that you take them
out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one
(John 17:11, 15, 20)."
CONCLUSION
And this is the perspicuous, simple, an ingenuous declaration
of the orthodox doctrine respecting the five articles which
have been controverted in the Belgic Churches; and the
rejection of the errors, with which they have for some time
been troubled. This doctrine the Synod judges to be drawn
from the Word of God, and to be agreeable to the confession
of the Reformed Churches. Whence it clearly appears that
some, whom such conduct by no means became, have violated all
truth, equity, and charity, in wishing to persuade the
public:
"That the doctrine of the Reformed Churches concerning
predestination, and the points annexed to it, by its own
genius and necessary tendency, leads off the minds of men
from all piety and religion; that it is a opiate administered
by the flesh and the devil; and the stronghold of Satan,
where he lies in wait for all, and from which he wounds
multitudes, and mortally strikes through many with the darts
both of despair and security; that it makes God the author of
sin, unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical; that it is noting more
than interpolated Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism;
that it renders men carnally secure, since they are persuaded
by it that noting can hinder the salvation of the elect, let
them live as they please; and, therefore, that they may
safely perpetrate every species of the most atrocious crimes;
and that, if the reprobate should even perform truly all the
works of the saints, their obedience would not in the least
contribute tot their salvation; that the same doctrine
teaches that God, by a mere arbitrary act of his will,
without the least respect or view to any sin, has
predestinated the greatest part of the world to eternal
damnation, and has created them for this very purpose; that
in the same manner in which the election is the fountain and
cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of
unbelief and impiety; that many children of the faithful are
torn, guiltless, from their mothers' breasts, and
tyrannically plunged into hell: so that neither baptism nor
the prayers of the Church at their baptism can at all profit
them;" and many other things of the same kind which the
Reformed Churches not only do not acknowledge, but even
detest with their whole soul.
Wherefore, this Synod of Dort, in the name of the Lord,
conjures as many as piously call upon the name of our Savior
Jesus Christ to judge of the faith of the Reformed Churches,
not from the calumnies which on every side are heaped upon
it, nor from the private expressions of a few among ancient
and modern teachers, often dishonestly quoted, or corrupted
and wrested to a meaning quite foreign to their intention;
but from the public confessions of the Churches themselves,
and from this declaration of the orthodox doctrine, confirmed
by the unanimous consent of all and each of the members of
the whole Synod. Moreover, the Synod warns calumniators
themselves to consider the terrible judgment of God which
awaits them, for bearing false witness against the
confessions of so many Churches; for distressing the
consciences of the weak; and for laboring to render suspected
the society of the truly faithful.
Finally, this Synod exhorts all their brethren in the gospel
of Christ to conduct themselves piously and religiously in
handling this doctrine, both in the universities and
churches; to direct it, as well in discourse as in writing,
to the glory of the Divine name, to holiness of life, and to
the consolation of afflicted souls; to regulate, by the
Scripture, according to the analogy of faith, not only their
sentiments, but also their language, and to abstain from all
those phrases which exceed the limits necessary to be
observed in ascertaining the genuine sense of the Holy
Scriptures, and may furnish insolent sophists with a just
pretext for violently assailing, or even vilifying, the
doctrine of the Reformed Churches.
May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, seated at the Father's
right hand, gives gifts to men, sanctify us in the truth;
bring to the truth those who err; shut the mouths of the
calumniators of sound doctrine, and endue the faithful
ministers of his Word with the spirit of wisdom and
discretion, that all their discourses may tend to the glory
of God, and the edification of those who hear them. Amen.