Canons of Dordt (9)

That sinners are saved is only by the work of God. They are given to Christ, redeemed by Him, but also called and drawn to His communion by His Word and Spirit. He gives them justification and sanctification, but He will also glorify them. The purpose of this is to manifest His mercy, and to praise Him for His glorious grace. God has chosen them from eternity to grace and glory, and to eternal salvation.

This we also read in Article 8:

There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same decree respecting all those who shall be saved, both under the Old and New Testament; since the Scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose, and counsel of the divine will to be one, according to which He hath chosen us from eternity, both to grace and glory, to salvation and the way of salvation, which He hath ordained that we should walk therein.

The enemies of the truth of God's free grace, the Remonstrants, have endeavored in different ways to lay the ground of salvation outside of God, in man. To that end they had many ingenious theories, in which they tried to be wiser than the Scriptures. When speaking about election, they made several distinctions, in order to lay the decision concerning man's salvation ultimately in the hand of man himself. The Remonstrants did not teach one election, but various kinds of election: 1) a general and indefinite election, and 2) a particular and definite election. The latter was then again distinguished into an incomplete, revocable, nondecisive, conditional election or a complete, irrevocable, decisive, and absolute election. The Remonstrants also taught that there is an election to faith and also an election to salvation (Canons of Dordt, Head I, Rejection 2). What did they mean with all this?

The general election implies that God has decided to elect those who will believe in Christ, and to give people a possibility of salvation; but this does not mean that they actually will be saved, for that will depend on their faith.

The particular election means that God has decreed to give salvation to those whom He knows will believe and persevere. It is again man who decides, and so the honor is not given to God.

The Remonstrants also spoke of an election to grace. Those who are chosen to grace are not necessarily chosen to glory, for they can lose that grace, so that they will not receive eternal glory.

All these distinctions make this teaching a little complicated, but it shows that the enemies of the truth tried what they could to lay the salvation ultimately in man. According to their doctrine, God only provides the possibility, and it depends on the free will of man whether he makes use of it or not.

However, God's Word teaches us so clearly the unity of God, and there is also one good pleasure, one counsel of His will. All those subtle distinctions seek to take away the mighty comfort of the precious doctrine of election. Therefore our fathers so emphatically rejected this doctrine of the Remonstrants.

The Scriptures are one

The Remonstrants also made a separation between the Old and New Testaments. According to them, the Old Testament is inferior to the New Testament. Therefore our fathers profess clearly the unity of the Scriptures. Augustine said, “The New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament, and the Old is revealed in the New.”

It is like the bulb of a tulip and the tulip itself. In the bulb, all the colors of the tulip are hidden, but when the tulip blooms, then it really becomes evident what was hidden in the bulb.

The believers of the old dispensation also have seen Christ. They have seen Him in the ceremonial worship, in the sacrifices, and in the promises of God, the prophecies. The church of the Old Testament was saved in the same way as the believers of the New. That is only in and through Christ. There is no salvation outside of Him, and the calling to this salvation was there also in the Old Testament. “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).

The church of God in the Old Testament was led by the same guidance of the Holy Spirit. Although Christ had not yet come, the believers have seen Him in the promise and have rejoiced in it.

The grace of God cannot be lost

What a privilege it also is that the distinction the Remonstrants made between an election to grace and an election to glory is not based on Scripture. No, it is not true that the grace of God can be lost again, and that the true believers still can perish. They may often be afraid that they will become manifest as deceivers and hypocrites, and that everything will come to nothing, and this would also surely happen if the Lord would leave them to themselves. They are kept by the power of God unto salvation. God does not alter the Word that He has spoken; He does not break His covenant; He does not change His eternal decrees.

The poet sings, “Thou wilt finish perfectly what Thou for me hast undertaken.” Has that ever been a true comfort to you? It will be such a comfort for those who learn to know their own weakness and foolishness, and that they cannot keep themselves. No, it is God's grace alone, and His work that guarantees their eternal salvation. Of this work they will sing forever.

Fruits of gratitude

The Remonstrants also argued that this Reformed doctrine would make man careless and ungodly. They said, “If it depends only on God's election whether you will be saved, then it does not matter how you live. Then you can sin freely, because if God has chosen you, you will be surely saved.”

This is an unholy caricature of the doctrine of predestination. That is the reason our fathers said that God has not only chosen us to salvation, but also to the way of salvation. God makes them to walk in this way. It is impossible that those who are truly ingrafted into Christ will not bring forth fruits of gratitude. The new life will be manifested in the fruits. It is like the sun, which must shine, the flower, which must blossom, and the bird, which must sing. It belongs to the character of the new life.

He has ordained that they should walk in the way of salvation. The regenerating work of God is also a sanctifying work. No, this doctrine of election does not make God's children slothful, but if they may experience something of the wonder that God has looked upon those which would never have sought Him, they will sink away in wonder and adoration. It will humble them and give them an earnest desire to render thanks unto the Lord and to honor Him with a walk in the tender fear of His Name.

The wonder in the life of God's people

Oh, ask God's children how it was in their life when the Lord gave them to believe that, before they were alive, the Lord had thoughts of peace and had chosen them to eternal salvation. They will say, “Why me? Why did the Lord not pass me by? Why did He make a difference where there is no difference?”

God's Word teaches us so clearly that God has chosen them also to a walk in holiness and uprightness before Him and in love. We read in Ephesians 1:4-5, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” The apostle testifies in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Truly this doctrine is a great comfort for God's church. Everything is prepared for them—the beginning, the continuation, and the end of it. He will provide in all their needs. The greater Joseph will feed them out of His storehouses and lead them safely to the place that He has prepared for them.

No election, no preaching

No, let not this doctrine be a stumbling block to you, because, if there would be no election, there also would be no preaching of the gospel, by which you are sincerely called and invited to salvation. The hidden things are for the Lord our God, but the revealed things are for us and for our children. We are responsible for what we do with God's revealed will. “Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

God's children also were fools and enemies of grace, but God prevailed in their lives by His irresistible grace. Ask that this gracious work also may be seen in our churches and families.

— to be continued —

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