The Canons of Dort
The Canons of Dort "The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrinein Dispute in the Netherlands" is popularly known as the Canons of Dort. Itconsists of statements of doctrine adopted by the great Synod of Dort whichmet in the city of Dordrecht in 1618-19. Although this was a national synod ofthe Reformed churches of the Netherlands, it had an international character,since it was composed not only of Dutch delegates but also of twenty-sixdelegates from eight foreign countries. The Synod of Dort was held in order to settle a serious controversy inthe Dutch churches initiated by the rise of Arminianism. Jacob Arminius, atheological professor at Leiden University, questioned the teaching of Calvinand his followers on a number of important points. After Arminius's death, hisown followers presented their views on five of these points in theRemonstrance of 1610. In this document or in later more explicit writings, theArminians taught election based on foreseen faith, universal atonement,partial depravity, resistible grace, and the possibility of a lapse fromgrace. In the Canons the Synod of Dort rejected these views and set forth theReformed doctrine on these points, namely, unconditional election, limitedatonement, total depravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance ofsaints. The Canons have a special character because of their original purpose asa judicial decision on the doctrinal points in dispute during the Arminiancontroversy. The original preface called them a "judgment, in which both thetrue view, agreeing with God's Word, concerning the aforesaid five points ofdoctrine is explained, and the false view, disagreeing with God's Word, isrejected." The Canons also have a limited character in that they do not coverthe whole range of doctrine, but focus on the five points of doctrine indispute. Each of the main points consists of a positive and a negative part, theformer being an exposition of the Reformed doctrine on the subject, the lattera repudiation of the corresponding errors. Each of the errors being rejectedis shaded in gray. Although in form there are only four points, we speakproperly of five points, because the Canons were structured to correspond tothe five articles of the 1610 Remonstrance. Main Points 3 and 4 were combinedinto one, always designated as Main Point III/IV. This translation of the Canons, based on the only extant Latinmanuscript among those signed at the Synod of Dort, was adopted by the 1986Synod of the Christian Reformed Church. The biblical quotations aretranslations from the original Latin and so do not always correspond tocurrent versions. Though not in the original text, subheadings have been addedto the positive articles and to the conclusion in order to facilitate study ofthe Canons.
The Canons of Dort Formally Titled The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands The First Main Point of Doctrine Divine Election and Reprobation The Judgment Concerning Divine Predestination Which the Synod Declares to Be in Agreement with the Word of God and Accepted Till Now in the Reformed Churches, Set Forth in Several Articles Article 1: God's Right to Condemn All People Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence ofthe curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it hadbeen his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, andto condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: "The whole worldis liable to the condemnation of God" (Rom. 3:19), "All have sinned and aredeprived of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), and "The wages of sin is death"(Rom. 6:23).*__________ *All quotations from Scripture are translations of the original Latinmanuscript.————— Article 2: The Manifestation of God's Love But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son intothe world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternallife. Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sendsproclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at thetime he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith inChrist crucified. For "how shall they believe in him of whom they have notheard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall theypreach unless they have been sent?" (Rom. 10:14-15). Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel God's anger remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But thosewho do accept it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith aredelivered through him from God's anger and from destruction, and receive thegift of eternal life. Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, isnot at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvationthrough him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, "It is by grace you havebeen saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God"(Eph. 2:8). Likewise: "It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ"(Phil. 1:29). Article 6: God's Eternal Decision The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, andthat others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For "all his works areknown to God from eternity" (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with thisdecision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen onesand inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in theirwickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in thisespecially is disclosed to us his act—unfathomable, and as merciful as it isjust—of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-knowndecision of election and reprobation revealed in God's Word. This decision thewicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holyand godly souls with comfort beyond words. Article 7: Election Election [or choosing] is God's unchangeable purpose by which he did thefollowing: Before the foundation of the world, by sheer grace, according to the free good pleasure of his will, he chose in Christ to salvation a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race, which had fallen by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin. Those chosen were neither better nor more deserving than the others, but lay with them in the common misery. He did this in Christ, whom he also appointed from eternity to be the mediator, the head of all those chosen, and the foundation of their salvation. And so he decided to give the chosen ones to Christ to be saved, and to call and draw them effectively into Christ's fellowship through his Word and Spirit. In other words, he decided to grant them true faith in Christ, to justify them, to sanctify them, and finally, after powerfully preserving them in the fellowship of his Son, to glorify them. God did all this in order to demonstrate his mercy, to the praise of theriches of his glorious grace. As Scripture says, "God chose us in Christ, before the foundation of theworld, so that we should be holy and blameless before him with love; hepredestined us whom he adopted as his children through Jesus Christ, inhimself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of hisglorious grace, by which he freely made us pleasing to himself in his beloved"(Eph. 1:4-6). And elsewhere, "Those whom he predestined, he also called; andthose whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he alsoglorified" (Rom. 8:30). Article 8: A Single Decision of Election This election is not of many kinds; it is one and the same election forall who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripturedeclares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God'swill, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both tosalvation and to the way of salvation, which he prepared in advance for us towalk in. Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, ofthe obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality anddisposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition inthe person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedienceof faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of eachof the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, andat last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits andeffects. As the apostle says, "He chose us" (not because we were, but) "sothat we should be holy and blameless before him in love" (Eph. 1:4). Article 10: Election Based on God's Good Pleasure But the cause of this undeserved election is exclusively the goodpleasure of God. This does not involve his choosing certain human qualities oractions from among all those possible as a condition of salvation, but ratherinvolves his adopting certain particular persons from among the common mass ofsinners as his own possession. As Scripture says, "When the children were notyet born, and had done nothing either good or bad..., she" (Rebecca)" wastold, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved,but Esau I hated"" (Rom. 9:11-13). Also, "All who were appointed for eternallife believed" (Acts 13:48). Article 11: Election Unchangeable Just as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, andalmighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered,revoked, or annulled; neither can his chosen ones be cast off, nor theirnumber reduced. Article 12: The Assurance of Election Assurance of this their eternal and unchangeable election to salvationis given to the chosen in due time, though by various stages and in differingmeasure. Such assurance comes not by inquisitive searching into the hidden anddeep things of God, but by noticing within themselves, with spiritual joy andholy delight, the unmistakable fruits of election pointed out in God's Word—such as a true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, a godly sorrow fortheir sins, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on. Article 13: The Fruit of This Assurance In their awareness and assurance of this election God's children dailyfind greater cause to humble themselves before God, to adore the fathomlessdepth of his mercies, to cleanse themselves, and to give fervent love inreturn to him who first so greatly loved them. This is far from saying thatthis teaching concerning election, and reflection upon it, make God's childrenlax in observing his commandments or carnally self-assured. By God's justjudgment this does usually happen to those who casually take for granted thegrace of election or engage in idle and brazen talk about it but are unwillingto walk in the ways of the chosen. Article 14: Teaching Election Properly Just as, by God's wise plan, this teaching concerning divine electionhas been proclaimed through the prophets, Christ himself, and the apostles, inOld and New Testament times, and has subsequently been committed to writing inthe Holy Scriptures, so also today in God's church, for which it wasspecifically intended, this teaching must be set forth—with a spirit ofdiscretion, in a godly and holy manner, at the appropriate time and place,without inquisitive searching into the ways of the Most High. This must bedone for the glory of God's most holy name, and for the lively comfort of hispeople. Article 15: Reprobation Moreover, Holy Scripture most especially highlights this eternal andundeserved grace of our election and brings it out more clearly for us, inthat it further bears witness that not all people have been chosen but thatsome have not been chosen or have been passed by in God's eternal election—those, that is, concerning whom God, on the basis of his entirely free, mostjust, irreproachable, and unchangeable good pleasure, made the followingdecision: to leave them in the common misery into which, by their own fault, they have plunged themselves; not to grant them saving faith and the grace of conversion; but finally to condemn and eternally punish them (having been left in their own ways and under his just judgment), not only for their unbelief but also for all their other sins, in order to display his justice. And this is the decision of reprobation, which does not at all make Godthe author of sin (a blasphemous thought!) but rather its fearful,irreproachable, just judge and avenger. Article 16: Responses to the Teaching of Reprobation Those who do not yet actively experience within themselves a livingfaith in Christ or an assured confidence of heart, peace of conscience, a zealfor childlike obedience, and a glorying in God through Christ, but whonevertheless use the means by which God has promised to work these things inus—such people ought not to be alarmed at the mention of reprobation, nor tocount themselves among the reprobate; rather they ought to continue diligentlyin the use of the means, to desire fervently a time of more abundant grace,and to wait for it in reverence and humility. On the other hand, those whoseriously desire to turn to God, to be pleasing to him alone, and to bedelivered from the body of death, but are not yet able to make such progressalong the way of godliness and faith as they would like—such people oughtmuch less to stand in fear of the teaching concerning reprobation, since ourmerciful God has promised that he will not snuff out a smoldering wick andthat he will not break a bruised reed. However, those who have forgotten Godand their Savior Jesus Christ and have abandoned themselves wholly to thecares of the world and the pleasures of the flesh—such people have everyreason to stand in fear of this teaching, as long as they do not seriouslyturn to God. Article 17: The Salvation of the Infants of Believers Since we must make judgments about God's will from his Word, whichtestifies that the children of believers are holy, not by nature but by virtueof the gracious covenant in which they together with their parents areincluded, godly parents ought not to doubt the election and salvation of theirchildren whom God calls out of this life in infancy. Article 18: The Proper Attitude Toward Election and Reprobation To those who complain about this grace of an undeserved election andabout the severity of a just reprobation, we reply with the words of theapostle, "Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" (Rom. 9:20), and with thewords of our Savior, "Have I no right to do what I want with my own?" (Matt.20:15). We, however, with reverent adoration of these secret things, cry outwith the apostle: "Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and theknowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways beyondtracing out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been hiscounselor? Or who has first given to God, that God should repay him? For fromhim and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever!Amen" (Rom. 11:33-36). Rejection of the Errors by Which the Dutch Churches Have for Some TimeBeen Disturbed Having set forth the orthodox teaching concerning election andreprobation, the Synod rejects the errors of those I Who teach that the will of God to save those who would believe andpersevere in faith and in the obedience of faith is the whole and entiredecision of election to salvation, and that nothing else concerning thisdecision has been revealed in God's Word. For they deceive the simple and plainly contradict Holy Scripture in itstestimony that God does not only wish to save those who would believe, butthat he has also from eternity chosen certain particular people to whom,rather than to others, he would within time grant faith in Christ andperseverance. As Scripture says, "I have revealed your name to those whom yougave me" (John 17:6). Likewise, "All who were appointed for eternal lifebelieved" (Acts 13:48), and "He chose us before the foundation of the world sothat we should be holy..." (Eph. 1:4). II Who teach that God's election to eternal life is of many kinds: onegeneral and indefinite, the other particular and definite; and the latter inturn either incomplete, revocable, nonperemptory (or conditional), or elsecomplete, irrevocable, and peremptory (or absolute). Likewise, who teach thatthere is one election to faith and another to salvation, so that there can bean election to justifying faith apart from a peremptory election to salvation. For this is an invention of the human brain, devised apart from theScriptures, which distorts the teaching concerning election and breaks up thisgolden chain of salvation: "Those whom he predestined, he also called; andthose whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he alsoglorified" (Rom. 8:30). III Who teach that God's good pleasure and purpose, which Scripture mentionsin its teaching of election, does not involve God's choosing certainparticular people rather than others, but involves God's choosing, out of allpossible conditions (including the works of the law) or out of the whole orderof things, the intrinsically unworthy act of faith, as well as the imperfectobedience of faith, to be a condition of salvation; and it involves hisgraciously wishing to count this as perfect obedience and to look upon it asworthy of the reward of eternal life. For by this pernicious error the good pleasure of God and the merit ofChrist are robbed of their effectiveness and people are drawn away, byunprofitable inquiries, from the truth of undeserved justification and fromthe simplicity of the Scriptures. It also gives the lie to these words of theapostle: "God called us with a holy calling, not in virtue of works, but invirtue of his own purpose and the grace which was given to us in Christ Jesusbefore the beginning of time" (2 Tim. 1:9). IV Who teach that in election to faith a prerequisite condition is that manshould rightly use the light of nature, be upright, unassuming, humble, anddisposed to eternal life, as though election depended to some extent on thesefactors. For this smacks of Pelagius, and it clearly calls into question thewords of the apostle: "We lived at one time in the passions of our flesh,following the will of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature childrenof wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the greatlove with which he loved us, even when we were dead in transgressions, made usalive with Christ, by whose grace you have been saved. And God raised us upwith him and seated us with him in heaven in Christ Jesus, in order that inthe coming ages we might show the surpassing riches of his grace, according tohis kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have beensaved, through faith (and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God) notby works, so that no one can boast" (Eph. 2:3-9). V Who teach that the incomplete and nonperemptory election of particularpersons to salvation occurred on the basis of a foreseen faith, repentance,holiness, and godliness, which has just begun or continued for some time; butthat complete and peremptory election occurred on the basis of a foreseenperseverance to the end in faith, repentance, holiness, and godliness. Andthat this is the gracious and evangelical worthiness, on account of which theone who is chosen is more worthy than the one who is not chosen. And thereforethat faith, the obedience of faith, holiness, godliness, and perseverance arenot fruits or effects of an unchangeable election to glory, but indispensableconditions and causes, which are prerequisite in those who are to be chosen inthe complete election, and which are foreseen as achieved in them. This runs counter to the entire Scripture, which throughout impressesupon our ears and hearts these sayings among others: "Election is not byworks, but by him who calls" (Rom. 9:11-12); "All who were appointed foreternal life believed" (Acts 13:48); "He chose us in himself so that we shouldbe holy" (Eph. 1:4); "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16);"If by grace, not by works" (Rom. 11:6); "In this is love, not that we lovedGod, but that he loved us and sent his Son" (1 John 4:10). VI Who teach that not every election to salvation is unchangeable, but thatsome of the chosen can perish and do in fact perish eternally, with nodecision of God to prevent it. By this gross error they make God changeable, destroy the comfort of thegodly concerning the steadfastness of their election, and contradict the HolyScriptures, which teach that "the elect cannot be led astray" (Matt. 24:24),that "Christ does not lose those given to him by the Father" (John 6:39), andthat "those whom God predestined, called, and justified, he also glorifies"(Rom. 8:30). VII Who teach that in this life there is no fruit, no awareness, and noassurance of one's unchangeable election to glory, except as conditional uponsomething changeable and contingent. For not only is it absurd to speak of an uncertain assurance, but thesethings also militate against the experience of the saints, who with theapostle rejoice from an awareness of their election and sing the praises ofthis gift of God; who, as Christ urged, "rejoice" with his disciples "thattheir names have been written in heaven" (Luke 10:20); and finally who hold upagainst the flaming arrows of the devil's temptations the awareness of theirelection, with the question "Who will bring any charge against those whom Godhas chosen?" (Rom. 8:33). VIII Who teach that it was not on the basis of his just will alone that Goddecided to leave anyone in the fall of Adam and in the common state of sin andcondemnation or to pass anyone by in the imparting of grace necessary forfaith and conversion. For these words stand fast: "He has mercy on whom he wishes, and hehardens whom he wishes" (Rom. 9:18). And also: "To you it has been given toknow the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given"(Matt. 13:11). Likewise: "I give glory to you, Father, Lord of heaven andearth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, andhave revealed them to little children; yes, Father, because that was yourpleasure" (Matt. 11:25-26). IX Who teach that the cause for God's sending the gospel to one peoplerather than to another is not merely and solely God's good pleasure, butrather that one people is better and worthier than the other to whom thegospel is not communicated. For Moses contradicts this when he addresses the people of Israel asfollows: "Behold, to Jehovah your God belong the heavens and the highestheavens, the earth and whatever is in it. But Jehovah was inclined in hisaffection to love your ancestors alone, and chose out their descendants afterthem, you above all peoples, as at this day" (Deut. 10:14-15). And alsoChrist: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! for if those mighty worksdone in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long agoin sackcloth and ashes" (Matt. 11:21).
The Second Main Point of Doctrine Christ's Death and Human Redemption Through It Article 1: The Punishment Which God's Justice Requires God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just. His justicerequires (as he has revealed himself in the Word) that the sins we havecommitted against his infinite majesty be punished with both temporal andeternal punishments, of soul as well as body. We cannot escape thesepunishments unless satisfaction is given to God's justice. Article 2: The Satisfaction Made by Christ Since, however, we ourselves cannot give this satisfaction or deliverourselves from God's anger, God in his boundless mercy has given us as aguarantee his only begotten Son, who was made to be sin and a curse for us, inour place, on the cross, in order that he might give satisfaction for us. Article 3: The Infinite Value of Christ's Death This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice andsatisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficientto atone for the sins of the whole world. Article 4: Reasons for This Infinite Value This death is of such great value and worth for the reason that theperson who suffered it is—as was necessary to be our Savior—not only a trueand perfectly holy man, but also the only begotten Son of God, of the sameeternal and infinite essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Anotherreason is that this death was accompanied by the experience of God's anger andcurse, which we by our sins had fully deserved. Article 5: The Mandate to Proclaim the Gospel to All Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes inChrist crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise,together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced anddeclared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people,to whom God in his good pleasure sends the gospel. Article 6: Unbelief Man's Responsibility However, that many who have been called through the gospel do not repentor believe in Christ but perish in unbelief is not because the sacrifice ofChrist offered on the cross is deficient or insufficient, but because theythemselves are at fault. Article 7: Faith God's Gift But all who genuinely believe and are delivered and saved by Christ'sdeath from their sins and from destruction receive this favor solely fromGod's grace—which he owes to no one—given to them in Christ from eternity. Article 8: The Saving Effectiveness of Christ's Death For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intentionof God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son'scostly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones, in order that hemight grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without failto salvation. In other words, it was God's will that Christ through the bloodof the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectivelyredeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only thosewho were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father;that he should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit's other savinggifts, he acquired for them by his death); that he should cleanse them by hisblood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed beforeor after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to thevery end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a gloriouspeople, without spot or wrinkle. Article 9: The Fulfillment of God's Plan This plan, arising out of God's eternal love for his chosen ones, fromthe beginning of the world to the present time has been powerfully carried outand will also be carried out in the future, the gates of hell seeking vainlyto prevail against it. As a result the chosen are gathered into one, all intheir own time, and there is always a church of believers founded on Christ'sblood, a church which steadfastly loves, persistently worships, and—here andin all eternity—praises him as her Savior who laid down his life for her onthe cross, as a bridegroom for his bride. Rejection of the Errors Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors ofthose I Who teach that God the Father appointed his Son to death on the crosswithout a fixed and definite plan to save anyone by name, so that thenecessity, usefulness, and worth of what Christ's death obtained could havestood intact and altogether perfect, complete and whole, even if theredemption that was obtained had never in actual fact been applied to anyindividual. For this assertion is an insult to the wisdom of God the Father and tothe merit of Jesus Christ, and it is contrary to Scripture. For the Saviorspeaks as follows: "I lay down my life for the sheep, and I know them" (John10:15, 27). And Isaiah the prophet says concerning the Savior: "When he shallmake himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolonghis days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand" (Isa. 53:10).Finally, this undermines the article of the creed in which we confess what webelieve concerning the Church. II Who teach that the purpose of Christ's death was not to establish inactual fact a new covenant of grace by his blood, but only to acquire for theFather the mere right to enter once more into a covenant with men, whether ofgrace or of works. For this conflicts with Scripture, which teaches that Christ "has becomethe guarantee and mediator of a better—"that is, "a new-covenant" (Heb. 7:22;9:15), "and that a will is in force only when someone has died" (Heb. 9:17). III Who teach that Christ, by the satisfaction which he gave, did notcertainly merit for anyone salvation itself and the faith by which thissatisfaction of Christ is effectively applied to salvation, but only acquiredfor the Father the authority or plenary will to relate in a new way with menand to impose such new conditions as he chose, and that the satisfying ofthese conditions depends on the free choice of man; consequently, that it waspossible that either all or none would fulfill them. For they have too low an opinion of the death of Christ, do not at allacknowledge the foremost fruit or benefit which it brings forth, and summonback from hell the Pelagian error. IV Who teach that what is involved in the new covenant of grace which Godthe Father made with men through the intervening of Christ's death is not thatwe are justified before God and saved through faith, insofar as it acceptsChrist's merit, but rather that God, having withdrawn his demand for perfectobedience to the law, counts faith itself, and the imperfect obedience offaith, as perfect obedience to the law, and graciously looks upon this asworthy of the reward of eternal life. For they contradict Scripture: "They are justified freely by his gracethrough the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, whom God presented as asacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:24-25). And alongwith the ungodly Socinus, they introduce a new and foreign justification ofman before God, against the consensus of the whole church. V Who teach that all people have been received into the state ofreconciliation and into the grace of the covenant, so that no one on accountof original sin is liable to condemnation, or is to be condemned, but that allare free from the guilt of this sin. For this opinion conflicts with Scripture which asserts that we are bynature children of wrath. VI Who make use of the distinction between obtaining and applying in orderto instill in the unwary and inexperienced the opinion that God, as far as heis concerned, wished to bestow equally upon all people the benefits which aregained by Christ's death; but that the distinction by which some rather thanothers come to share in the forgiveness of sins and eternal life depends ontheir own free choice (which applies itself to the grace offeredindiscriminately) but does not depend on the unique gift of mercy whicheffectively works in them, so that they, rather than others, apply that graceto themselves. For, while pretending to set forth this distinction in an acceptablesense, they attempt to give the people the deadly poison of Pelagianism.VII Who teach that Christ neither could die, nor had to die, nor did die forthose whom God so dearly loved and chose to eternal life, since such people donot need the death of Christ. For they contradict the apostle, who says: "Christ loved me and gavehimself up for me" (Gal. 2:20), and likewise: "Who will bring any chargeagainst those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he thatcondemns? It is Christ who died," that is, for them (Rom. 8:33-34). They alsocontradict the Savior, who asserts: "I lay down my life for the sheep" (John10:15), and "My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you. Greaterlove has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends" (John15:12-13).
The Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine Human Corruption, Conversion to God, and the Way It Occurs Article 1: The Effect of the Fall on Human Nature Man was originally created in the image of God and was furnished in hismind with a true and salutary knowledge of his Creator and things spiritual,in his will and heart with righteousness, and in all his emotions with purity;indeed, the whole man was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil'sinstigation and by his own free will, he deprived himself of these outstandinggifts. Rather, in their place he brought upon himself blindness, terribledarkness, futility, and distortion of judgment in his mind; perversity,defiance, and hardness in his heart and will; and finally impurity in all hisemotions. Article 2: The Spread of Corruption Man brought forth children of the same nature as himself after the fall.That is to say, being corrupt he brought forth corrupt children. Thecorruption spread, by God's just judgment, from Adam to all his descendants—except for Christ alone—not by way of imitation (as in former times thePelagians would have it) but by way of the propagation of his pervertednature. Article 3: Total Inability Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children ofwrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, andslaves to sin; without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they areneither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature,or even to dispose themselves to such reform. Article 4: The Inadequacy of the Light of Nature There is, to be sure, a certain light of nature remaining in man afterthe fall, by virtue of which he retains some notions about God, naturalthings, and the difference between what is moral and immoral, and demonstratesa certain eagerness for virtue and for good outward behavior. But this lightof nature is far from enabling man to come to a saving knowledge of God andconversion to him—so far, in fact, that man does not use it rightly even inmatters of nature and society. Instead, in various ways he completely distortsthis light, whatever its precise character, and suppresses it inunrighteousness. In doing so he renders himself without excuse before God. Article 5: The Inadequacy of the Law In this respect, what is true of the light of nature is true also of theTen Commandments given by God through Moses specifically to the Jews. For mancannot obtain saving grace through the Decalogue, because, although it doesexpose the magnitude of his sin and increasingly convict him of his guilt, yetit does not offer a remedy or enable him to escape from his misery, and,indeed, weakened as it is by the flesh, leaves the offender under the curse. Article 6: The Saving Power of the Gospel What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law can do, Godaccomplishes by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word or the ministryof reconciliation. This is the gospel about the Messiah, through which it haspleased God to save believers, in both the Old and the New Testament. Article 7: God's Freedom in Revealing the Gospel In the Old Testament, God revealed this secret of his will to a smallnumber; in the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples) hediscloses it to a large number. The reason for this difference must not beascribed to the greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better useof the light of nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love ofGod. Therefore, those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of allthey deserve, ought to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts; on theother hand, with the apostle they ought to adore (but certainly notinquisitively search into) the severity and justice of God's judgments on theothers, who do not receive this grace. Article 8: The Serious Call of the Gospel Nevertheless, all who are called through the gospel are calledseriously. For seriously and most genuinely God makes known in his Word whatis pleasing to him: that those who are called should come to him. Seriously healso promises rest for their souls and eternal life to all who come to him andbelieve. Article 9: Human Responsibility for Rejecting the Gospel The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel donot come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel,nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls themthrough the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the peoplethemselves who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain theWord of life; others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for thatreason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; otherschoke the seed of the Word with the thorns of life's cares and with thepleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches inthe parable of the sower (Matt. 13). Article 10: Conversion as the Work of God The fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospeldo come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to man, as thoughone distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished withequal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy ofPelagius maintains). No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity hechose his own in Christ, so within time he effectively calls them, grants themfaith and repentance, and, having rescued them from the dominion of darkness,brings them into the kingdom of his Son, in order that they may declare thewonderful deeds of him who called them out of darkness into this marvelouslight, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic wordsfrequently testify in Scripture. Article 11: The Holy Spirit's Work in Conversion Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, orworks true conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel isproclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by theHoly Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of theSpirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regeneratingSpirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closedheart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that isuncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead willalive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn onecompliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, itmay be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds. Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from thedead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which Godworks in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only byoutward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, afterGod has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be rebornor converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at thesame time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, andinexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that ofcreation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of thiswork) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in thismarvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and doactually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated andmotivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For thisreason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly saidto believe and to repent. Article 13: The Incomprehensible Way of Regeneration In this life believers cannot fully understand the way this work occurs;meanwhile, they rest content with knowing and experiencing that by this graceof God they do believe with the heart and love their Savior. Article 14: The Way God Gives Faith In this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that itis offered by God for man to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed onman, breathed and infused into him. Nor is it a gift in the sense that Godbestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent—the act ofbelieving—from man's choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that he whoworks both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all peopleproduces in man both the will to believe and the belief itself. Article 15: Responses to God's Grace God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to one whohas nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to onewho has nothing of his own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore the personwho receives this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to God alone; the personwho does not receive it either does not care at all about these spiritualthings and is satisfied with himself in his condition, or else inself-assurance foolishly boasts about having something which he lacks.Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, we are to think and tospeak in the most favorable way about those who outwardly profess their faithand better their lives, for the inner chambers of the heart are unknown to us.But for others who have not yet been called, we are to pray to the God whocalls things that do not exist as though they did. In no way, however, are weto pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguishedourselves from them. Article 16: Regeneration's Effect However, just as by the fall man did not cease to be man, endowed withintellect and will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole humanrace, did not abolish the nature of the human race but distorted andspiritually killed it, so also this divine grace of regeneration does not actin people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will andits properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives,heals, reforms, and—in a manner at once pleasing and powerful—bends it back.As a result, a ready and sincere obedience of the Spirit now begins to prevailwhere before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completelydominant. It is in this that the true and spiritual restoration and freedom ofour will consists. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were notdealing with us, man would have no hope of getting up from his fall by hisfree choice, by which he plunged himself into ruin when still standingupright. Article 17: God's Use of Means in Regeneration Just as the almighty work of God by which he brings forth and sustainsour natural life does not rule out but requires the use of means, by whichGod, according to his infinite wisdom and goodness, has wished to exercise hispower, so also the aforementioned supernatural work of God by which heregenerates us in no way rules out or cancels the use of the gospel, which Godin his great wisdom has appointed to be the seed of regeneration and the foodof the soul. For this reason, the apostles and the teachers who followed themtaught the people in a godly manner about this grace of God, to give him theglory and to humble all pride, and yet did not neglect meanwhile to keep thepeople, by means of the holy admonitions of the gospel, under theadministration of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline. So even today itis out of the question that the teachers or those taught in the church shouldpresume to test God by separating what he in his good pleasure has wished tobe closely joined together. For grace is bestowed through admonitions, and themore readily we perform our duty, the more lustrous the benefit of God workingin us usually is and the better his work advances. To him alone, both for themeans and for their saving fruit and effectiveness, all glory is owed forever.Amen. Rejection of the Errors Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors ofthose I Who teach that, properly speaking, it cannot be said that original sinin itself is enough to condemn the whole human race or to warrant temporal andeternal punishments. For they contradict the apostle when he says: "Sin entered the worldthrough one man, and death through sin, and in this way death passed on to allmen because all sinned" (Rom. 5:12); also: "The guilt followed one sin andbrought condemnation" (Rom. 5:16); likewise: "The wages of sin is death" (Rom.6:23). II Who teach that the spiritual gifts or the good dispositions and virtuessuch as goodness, holiness, and righteousness could not have resided in man'swill when he was first created, and therefore could not have been separatedfrom the will at the fall. For this conflicts with the apostle's description of the image of God inEphesians 4:24, where he portrays the image in terms of righteousness andholiness, which definitely reside in the will. III Who teach that in spiritual death the spiritual gifts have not beenseparated from man's will, since the will in itself has never been corruptedbut only hindered by the darkness of the mind and the unruliness of theemotions, and since the will is able to exercise its innate free capacity oncethese hindrances are removed, which is to say, it is able of itself to will orchoose whatever good is set before it—or else not to will or choose it. This is a novel idea and an error and has the effect of elevating thepower of free choice, contrary to the words of Jeremiah the prophet: "Theheart itself is deceitful above all things and wicked" (Jer. 17:9); and of thewords of the apostle: "All of us also lived among them" (the sons ofdisobedience) "at one time in the passions of our flesh, following the will ofour flesh and thoughts" (Eph. 2:3). IV Who teach that unregenerate man is not strictly or totally dead in hissins or deprived of all capacity for spiritual good but is able to hunger andthirst for righteousness or life and to offer the sacrifice of a broken andcontrite spirit which is pleasing to God. For these views are opposed to the plain testimonies of Scripture: "Youwere dead in your transgressions and sins" (Eph. 2:1, 5); "The imagination ofthe thoughts of man's heart is only evil all the time" (Gen. 6:5; 8:21).Besides, to hunger and thirst for deliverance from misery and for life, and tooffer God the sacrifice of a broken spirit is characteristic only of theregenerate and of those called blessed (Ps. 51:17; Matt. 5:6). V Who teach that corrupt and natural man can make such good use of commongrace(by which they mean the light of nature)or of the gifts remaining afterthe fall that he is able thereby gradually to obtain a greater grace—evangelical or saving grace—as well as salvation itself; and that in this wayGod, for his part, shows himself ready to reveal Christ to all people, sincehe provides to all, to a sufficient extent and in an effective manner, themeans necessary for the revealing of Christ, for faith, and for repentance. For Scripture, not to mention the experience of all ages, testifies thatthis is false: "He makes known his words to Jacob, his statutes and his lawsto Israel; he has done this for no other nation, and they do not know hislaws" (Ps. 147:19-20); "In the past God let all nations go their own way"(Acts 14:16); "They" (Paul and his companions)" were kept by the Holy Spiritfrom speaking God's word in Asia;" and "When they had come to Mysia, theytried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit would not allow them to" (Acts16:6-7). VI Who teach that in the true conversion of man new qualities,dispositions, or gifts cannot be infused or poured into his will by God, andindeed that the faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion andfrom which we receive the name "believers" is not a quality or gift infused byGod, but only an act of man, and that it cannot be called a gift except inrespect to the power of attaining faith. For these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that Goddoes infuse or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, andthe experiencing of his love: "I will put my law in their minds, and write iton their hearts" (Jer. 31:33); "I will pour water on the thirsty land, andstreams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring" (Isa.44:3); "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit,who has been given to us" (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuouspractice of the Church, which prays with the prophet: "Convert me, Lord, and Ishall be converted" (Jer. 31:18). VII Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing buta gentle persuasion, or(as others explain it) that the way of God's acting inman's conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that whichhappens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral suasioneven by itself from making natural men spiritual; indeed, that God does notproduce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral suasion, andthat the effectiveness of God's work by which it surpasses the work of Satanconsists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promisestemporal ones. For this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole ofScripture, which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far moreeffective and divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in man's conversion. AsEzekiel 36:26 puts it: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inyou; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh...." VIII Who teach that God in regenerating man does not bring to bear that powerof his omnipotence whereby he may powerfully and unfailingly bend man's willto faith and conversion, but that even when God has accomplished all the worksof grace which he uses for man's conversion, man nevertheless can, and inactual fact often does, so resist God and the Spirit in their intent and willto regenerate him, that man completely thwarts his own rebirth; and, indeed,that it remains in his own power whether or not to be reborn. For this does away with all effective functioning of God's grace in ourconversion and subjects the activity of Almighty God to the will of man; it iscontrary to the apostles, who teach that "we believe by virtue of theeffective working of God's mighty strength" (Eph. 1:19), and that "Godfulfills the undeserved good will of his kindness and the work of faith in uswith power" (2 Thess. 1:11), and likewise that "his divine power has given useverything we need for life and godliness" (2 Pet. 1:3). IX Who teach that grace and free choice are concurrent partial causes whichcooperate to initiate conversion, and that grace does not precede—in theorder of causality—the effective influence of the will;that is to say,thatGod does not effectively help man's will to come to conversion before man'swill itself motivates and determines itself. For the early church already condemned this doctrine long ago in thePelagians, on the basis of the words of the apostle: "It does not depend onman's willing or running but on God's mercy" (Rom. 9:16); also: "Who makes youdifferent from anyone else?" and "What do you have that you did not receive?"(1 Cor. 4:7); likewise: "It is God who works in you to will and act accordingto his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). The Fifth Main Point of Doctrine The Perseverance of the Saints Article 1: The Regenerate Not Entirely Free from Sin Those people whom God according to his purpose calls into fellowshipwith his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, he alsosets free from the reign and slavery of sin, though in this life not entirelyfrom the flesh and from the body of sin. Article 2: The Believer's Reaction to Sins of Weakness Hence daily sins of weakness arise, and blemishes cling to even the bestworks of God's people, giving them continual cause to humble themselves beforeGod, to flee for refuge to Christ crucified, to put the flesh to death moreand more by the Spirit of supplication and by holy exercises of godliness, andto strain toward the goal of perfection, until they are freed from this bodyof death and reign with the Lamb of God in heaven. Article 3: God's Preservation of the Converted Because of these remnants of sin dwelling in them and also because ofthe temptations of the world and Satan, those who have been converted couldnot remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. But God isfaithful, mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on themand powerfully preserving them in it to the end. Article 4: The Danger of True Believers' Falling into Serious Sins Although that power of God strengthening and preserving true believersin grace is more than a match for the flesh, yet those converted are notalways so activated and motivated by God that in certain specific actions theycannot by their own fault depart from the leading of grace, be led astray bythe desires of the flesh, and give in to them. For this reason they mustconstantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations. When theyfail to do this, not onlycan they be carried away by the flesh, the world, andSatan into sins, even serious and outrageous ones, but also by God's justpermission they sometimesare so carried away—witness the sad cases, describedin Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins. Article 5: The Effects of Such Serious Sins By such monstrous sins, however, they greatly offend God, deserve thesentence of death, grieve the Holy Spirit, suspend the exercise of faith,severely wound the conscience, and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for atime—until, after they have returned to the way by genuine repentance, God'sfatherly face again shines upon them. Article 6: God's Saving Intervention For God, who is rich in mercy, according to his unchangeable purpose ofelection does not take his Holy Spirit from his own completely, even when theyfall grievously. Neither does he let them fall down so far that they forfeitthe grace of adoption and the state of justification, or commit the sin whichleads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit), and plunge themselves,entirely forsaken by him, into eternal ruin. Article 7: Renewal to Repentance For, in the first place, God preserves in those saints when they fallhis imperishable seed from which they have been born again, lest it perish orbe dislodged. Secondly, by his Word and Spirit he certainly and effectivelyrenews them to repentance so that they have a heartfelt and godly sorrow forthe sins they have committed; seek and obtain, through faith and with acontrite heart, forgiveness in the blood of the Mediator; experience again thegrace of a reconciled God; through faith adore his mercies; and from then onmore eagerly work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. Article 8: The Certainty of This Preservation So it is not by their own merits or strength but by God's undeservedmercy that they neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in theirdownfalls to the end and are lost. With respect to themselves this not onlyeasily could happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect toGod it cannot possibly happen, since his plan cannot be changed, his promisecannot fail, the calling according to his purpose cannot be revoked, the meritof Christ as well as his interceding and preserving cannot be nullified, andthe sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out. Article 9: The Assurance of This Preservation Concerning this preservation of those chosen to salvation and concerningthe perseverance of true believers in faith, believers themselves can and dobecome assured in accordance with the measure of their faith, by which theyfirmly believe that they are and always will remain true and living members ofthe church, and that they have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Article 10: The Ground of This Assurance Accordingly, this assurance does not derive from some private revelationbeyond or outside the Word, but from faith in the promises of God which he hasvery plentifully revealed in his Word for our comfort, from the testimony of"the Holy Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are God's children andheirs" (Rom. 8:16-17), and finally from a serious and holy pursuit of a clearconscience and of good works. And if God's chosen ones in this world did nothave this well-founded comfort that the victory will be theirs and thisreliable guarantee of eternal glory, they would be of all people mostmiserable. Article 11: Doubts Concerning This Assurance Meanwhile, Scripture testifies that believers have to contend in thislife with various doubts of the flesh and that under severe temptation they donot always experience this full assurance of faith and certainty ofperseverance. But God, the Father of all comfort, "does not let them betempted beyond what they can bear, but with the temptation he also provides away out" (1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit revives in them the assuranceof their perseverance. Article 12: This Assurance as an Incentive to Godliness This assurance of perseverance, however, so far from making truebelievers proud and carnally self-assured, is rather the true root ofhumility, of childlike respect, of genuine godliness, of endurance in everyconflict, of fervent prayers, of steadfastness in crossbearing and inconfessing the truth, and of well-founded joy in God. Reflecting on thisbenefit provides an incentive to a serious and continual practice ofthanksgiving and good works, as is evident from the testimonies of Scriptureand the examples of the saints.Article 13: Assurance No Inducement to Carelessness Neither does the renewed confidence of perseverance produce immoralityor lack of concern for godliness in those put back on their feet after a fall,but it produces a much greater concern to observe carefully the ways of theLord which he prepared in advance. They observe these ways in order that bywalking in them they may maintain the assurance of their perseverance, lest,by their abuse of his fatherly goodness, the face of the gracious God (for thegodly, looking upon his face is sweeter than life, but its withdrawal is morebitter than death) turn away from them again, with the result that they fallinto greater anguish of spirit. Article 14: God's Use of Means in Perseverance And, just as it has pleased God to begin this work of grace in us by theproclamation of the gospel, so he preserves, continues, and completes his workby the hearing and reading of the gospel, by meditation on it, by itsexhortations, threats, and promises, and also by the use of the sacraments. Article 15: Contrasting Reactions to the Teaching of Perseverance This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints, andabout their assurance of it—a teaching which God has very richly revealed inhis Word for the glory of his name and for the comfort of the godly and whichhe impresses on the hearts of believers—is something which the flesh does notunderstand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and the hypocritesabuse, and the spirits of error attack. The bride of Christ, on the otherhand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastlyas a priceless treasure; and God, against whom no plan can avail and nostrength can prevail, will ensure that she will continue to do this. To thisGod alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen. Rejection of the Errors Concerning the Teaching of the Perseverance of the Saints Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors ofthose I Who teach that the perseverance of true believers is not an effect ofelection or a gift of God produced by Christ's death, but a condition of thenew covenant which man, beforewhat they callhis "peremptory" election andjustification, must fulfill by his free will. For Holy Scripture testifies that perseverance follows from election andis granted to the chosen by virtue of Christ's death, resurrection, andintercession: "The chosen obtained it; the others were hardened" (Rom. 11:7);likewise, "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all—howwill he not, along with him, grant us all things? Who will bring any chargeagainst those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he thatcondemns? It is Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised—whoalso sits at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us. Who shallseparate us from the love of Christ?" (Rom. 8:32-35). II Who teach that God does provide the believer with sufficient strength topersevere and is ready to preserve this strength in him if he performs hisduty, but that even with all those things in place which are necessary topersevere in faith and which God is pleased to use to preserve faith, it stillalways depends on the choice of man's will whether or not he perseveres. For this view is obviously Pelagian; and though it intends to make menfree it makes them sacrilegious. It is against the enduring consensus ofevangelical teaching which takes from man all cause for boasting and ascribesthe praise for this benefit only to God's grace. It is also against thetestimony of the apostle: "It is God who keeps us strong to the end, so thatwe will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:8). III Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again not onlycan forfeit justifying faith as well as grace and salvation totally and to theend, but also in actual fact do often forfeit them and are lost forever. For this opinion nullifies the very grace of justification andregeneration as well as the continual preservation by Christ, contrary to theplain words of the apostle Paul: "If Christ died for us while we were stillsinners, we will therefore much more be saved from God's wrath through him,since we have now been justified by his blood" (Rom. 5:8-9); and contrary tothe apostle John: "No one who is born of God is intent on sin, because God'sseed remains in him, nor can he sin, because he has been born of God" (1 John3:9); also contrary to the words of Jesus Christ: "I give eternal life to mysheep, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. MyFather, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch themout of my Father's hand" (John 10: 28-29). IV Who teach that those who truly believe and have been born again cancommit the sin that leads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit). For the same apostle John, after making mention of those who commit thesin that leads to death and forbidding prayer for them (1 John 5: 16-17),immediately adds: "We know that anyone born of God does not commit sin" (thatis, that kind of sin), "but the one who was born of God keeps himself safe,and the evil one does not touch him" (v. 18). V Who teach that apart from a special revelation no one can have theassurance of future perseverance in this life. For by this teaching the well-founded consolation of true believers inthis life is taken away and the doubting of the Romanists is reintroduced intothe church. Holy Scripture, however, in many places derives the assurance notfrom a special and extraordinary revelation but from the marks peculiar toGod's children and from God's completely reliable promises. So especially theapostle Paul: "Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of Godthat is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:39); and John: "They who obey hiscommands remain in him and he in them. And this is how we know that he remainsin us: by the Spirit he gave us" (1 John 3:24). VI Who teach that the teaching of the assurance of perseverance and ofsalvation is by its very nature and character an opiate of the flesh and isharmful to godliness, good morals, prayer, and other holy exercises, but that,on the contrary, to have doubt about this is praiseworthy. For these people show that they do not know the effective operation ofGod's grace and the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and they contradictthe apostle John, who asserts the opposite in plain words: "Dear friends, nowwe are children of God, but what we will be has not yet been made known. Butwe know that when he is made known, we shall be like him, for we shall see himas he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he ispure" (1 John 3:2-3). Moreover, they are refuted by the examples of the saintsin both the Old and the New Testament, who though assured of theirperseverance and salvation yet were constant in prayer and other exercises ofgodliness. VII Who teach that the faith of those who believe only temporarily does notdiffer from justifying and saving faith except in duration alone. For Christ himself in Matthew 13:20ff. and Luke 8:13ff. clearly definesthese further differences between temporary and true believers: he says thatthe former receive the seed on rocky ground, and the latter receive it in goodground, or a good heart; the former have no root, and the latter are firmlyrooted; the former have no fruit, and the latter produce fruit in varyingmeasure, with steadfastness, or perseverance. VIII Who teach that it is not absurd that a person, after losing his formerregeneration, should once again, indeed quite often, be reborn. For by this teaching they deny the imperishable nature of God's seed bywhich we are born again, contrary to the testimony of the apostle Peter: "Bornagain, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable" (1 Pet. 1:23). IX Who teach that Christ nowhere prayed for an unfailing perseverance ofbelievers in faith. For they contradict Christ himself when he says: "I have prayed for you,Peter, that your faith may not fail" (Luke 22:32); and John the gospel writerwhen he testifies in John 17 that it was not only for the apostles, but alsofor all those who were to believe by their message that Christ prayed: "HolyFather, preserve them in your name" (v. 11); and "My prayer is not that youtake them out of the world, but that you preserve them from the evil one" (v.15). Conclusion Rejection of False Accusations And so this is the clear, simple, and straightforward explanation of theorthodox teaching on the five articles in dispute in the Netherlands, as wellas the rejection of the errors by which the Dutch churches have for some timebeen disturbed. This explanation and rejection the Synod declares to bederived from God's Word and in agreement with the confessions of the Reformedchurches. Hence it clearly appears that those of whom one could hardly expectit have shown no truth, equity, and charity at all in wishing to make thepublic believe: —that the teaching of the Reformed churches on predestination and on the points associated with it by its very nature and tendency draws the minds of people away from all godliness and religion, is an opiate of the flesh and the devil, and is a stronghold of Satan where he lies in wait for all people, wounds most of them, and fatally pierces many of them with the arrows of both despair and self-assurance; —that this teaching makes God the author of sin, unjust, a tyrant, and a hypocrite; and is nothing but a refurbished Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, and Mohammedanism; —that this teaching makes people carnally self-assured, since it persuades them that nothing endangers the salvation of the chosen, no matter how they live, so that they may commit the most outrageous crimes with self-assurance; and that on the other hand nothing is of use to the reprobate for salvation even if they have truly performed all the works of the saints; —that this teaching means that God predestined and created, by the bare and unqualified choice of his will, without the least regard or consideration of any sin, the greatest part of the world to eternal condemnation; that in the same manner in which election is the source and cause of faith and good works, reprobation is the cause of unbelief and ungodliness; that many infant children of believers are snatched in their innocence from their mothers' breasts and cruelly cast into hell so that neither the blood of Christ nor their baptism nor the prayers of the church at their baptism can be of any use to them; and very many other slanderous accusations of this kind which the Reformed churches not only disavow but even denounce with their whole heart. Therefore this Synod of Dort in the name of the Lord pleads with all whodevoutly call on the name of our Savior Jesus Christ to form their judgmentabout the faith of the Reformed churches, not on the basis of falseaccusations gathered from here or there, or even on the basis of the personalstatements of a number of ancient and modern authorities—statements which arealso often either quoted out of context or misquoted and twisted to convey adifferent meaning—but on the basis of the churches' own official confessionsand of the present explanation of the orthodox teaching which has beenendorsed by the unanimous consent of the members of the whole Synod, one andall. Moreover, the Synod earnestly warns the false accusers themselves toconsider how heavy a judgment of God awaits those who give false testimonyagainst so many churches and their confessions, trouble the consciences of theweak, and seek to prejudice the minds of many against the fellowship of truebelievers. Finally, this Synod urges all fellow ministers in the gospel of Christto deal with this teaching in a godly and reverent manner, in the academicinstitutions as well as in the churches; to do so, both in their speaking andwriting, with a view to the glory of God's name, holiness of life, and thecomfort of anxious souls; to think and also speak with Scripture according tothe analogy of faith; and, finally, to refrain from all those ways of speakingwhich go beyond the bounds set for us by the genuine sense of the HolyScriptures and which could give impertinent sophists a just occasion to scoffat the teaching of the Reformed churches or even to bring false accusationsagainst it. May God's Son Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God and givesgifts to men, sanctify us in the truth, lead to the truth those who err,silence the mouths of those who lay false accusations against sound teaching,and equip faithful ministers of his Word with a spirit of wisdom anddiscretion, that all they say may be to the glory of God and the building upof their hearers. Amen.