Church History: Examining the Creeds and Confessions of the Church Through the Ages and Why They Matter.
Lesson 11: The Canons of Dort
QUESTION: How many of you have ever heard of the theological acronym TULIP?
Typically the TULIP is known as the Doctrines of Grace.
Sometimes it is referred to as the Five Points of Calvinism.
Well, the foundations for what would later become TULIP were established during the Synod of Dordrecht.
Tonight, we are going to examine the purpose of this Synod and the conclusions which were drawn from it.
Through the lesson, we will see that this Synod had a profound impact on church history and solidified the foundations of Reformed Theology for generations to come.
The Background of the Synod
The Synod was held from November 13, 1618 to May 9, 1619 in Dordrecht, Holland.
It arose because of a controversy regarding the doctrines of a man by the name of Jakobus Arminius (also known as James Hermanson).
Though Arminius had been dead for some time, the students of Arminius had taken up his doctrines and were promoting them within the church.
Arminius had been the student of Theodore Beza.
Beza was the successor of John Calvin in Geneva.
Often you will hear people talk about the debate between Calvin and Arminius, but such a thing never occurred.
At the time of Calvin’s death, Arminius would have been a young boy, and there was no interaction between the two.
Yet, Arminius did rebel against Calvin’s teachings, and the teachings of Beza.
Arminius had become influenced by Dirik Volckaerts zoon Koornhert who, himself had been influenced by the humanist scholar Desiderius Erasmus.
Erasmus is an important name in biblical history, as he was the one who produced the Greek manuscript which would later give rise to the Textus Receptus, the foundational text for the King James Bible.
Erasmus was also famous for his debate with Luther over the freedom of the human will, which can be seen in the book entitled “The Bondage of the Will”.
It is interesting that the debate between Eramus and Luther was similar to the debate between Pelagius and Augustine which occurred more than 1,000 years prior.
The issue of Arminianism was a revival, of sorts, or this age-old controversy.
Having given up his Reformed Theology, Arminius set out to develop and teach his theology, and garnered a significant following.
Arminius died in 1609, but his theology would live on in his students.
Following his death, his students published a “Remonstrance Against the Reformed Churches”.
A Remonstrance was a “protest”, and the supporters became known as the Remonstrants, or the protesters.
In 1610, the Remonstrants proposed five points of theology.
1 - Human Ability: Man has the ability by his own free will to choose or not choose to cooperate with God’s free gift of grace.
2 - Conditional Election: God chooses based on the condition of foreseen faith.
3 - Universal Atonement: The death of Christ made atonement for all people, but that it was not effective unless a person exercised faith.
4 - Resistible Grace: God’s grace can be ultimately resisted and rejected.
5 - Falling from Grace: A person who comes to faith can be saved and yet later reject faith and fall away and be lost.
NOTE: It is only faith to note that Arminius himself did not hold to a certain view of the first and fifth of these points.
He taught a position of “Prevenient Grace” which means that he did not deny that man was unable to come to God by his own free will, but that God had given enough grace to make all men able to come.
QUOTE: "God decreed to save and damn certain particular persons. This decree has its foundation in the foreknowledge of God, by which he knew from all eternity those individuals who would, through his preventing [going before] grace, believe, and, through his subsequent grace would persevere . . . by which foreknowledge, he likewise knew those who would not believe and persevere." The Works of James Arminius, Vol 1, p. 248
He also did not teach that men could necessarily fall from grace. This is one point which has always been contended among Arminians. The fifth article of the Remonstrants reads ambiguously on this issues:
“But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginning of their life in Christ, of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of our mind.” (http://www.theopedia.com/Five_articles_of_Remonstrance)
It was these five teachings which the Synod conveyed to deal with.
This was a time when theological positions were important and could lead to not only unrest in the church, but also in politics and society as well.
As a result, this International Synod was called, which has become known by its shortened name, the Synod of Dort.
The Synod had members representing Reformed groups from continental Europe, as well as from the British isles.
Among these groups were also Anglican delegates from the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.
14 members of the Remonstrants were also summoned to act as defendants of the cause.
The Conclusions of the Synod
The Synod officially condemned the Remonstrance teachings as being opposed to Scripture and heretical.
They responded with a series of Canons - standards - which were mean to both teach truth and correct error.
These five canons were what would later be called “The Doctrines of Grace”.
The Canons of Dort demonstrate a pastoral response in regard to the issues raised by the Remonstrants.
We see this pastoral nature in the opening language of the Canons.
FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE: Divine Election and Reprobation
Article 1
As all men have sinned in Adam1, lie under the curse, and are deserving of eternal death,2 God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin,3 according to the words of the apostle: "that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of 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). 1 Rom 5:12; 2 Rom 6:23; 3 Eph 2:1-3
Article 2
But in this the love of God was manifested, that He "sent His only begotten Son into the world, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (1 Jn 4:9; Jn 3:16).
Article 3
And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these most joyful tidings1 to whom He will and at what time He pleases; by whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified.2 "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they are sent?" (Rom 10:14-15). 1 Isa 52:7; Rom 10:14-17; 2 I Cor 1:23-24
In these articles is seen an attempt to demonstrate the whole council of God on these issues, and not minimize the issue to simple sound-bytes.
The Five Canons of Dort, each one having several articles, are listed as following:
FIRST HEAD OF DOCTRINE: Divine Election and Reprobation
SECOND HEAD OF DOCTRINE: The Death of Christ, and the Redemption of Men Thereby
THIRD AND FOUTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE: The Corruption of Man, His Conversion to God, and the Manner Thereof
FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE: The Perseverance of the Saints
QUOTE: Westminster Seminar California “The five Canons of the Synod of Dort are the crown jewel of Reformed Theology.”
QUOTE: Scott Clark “The Canons of Dordt represent a remarkable consensus of conviction among the Reformed churches on essential doctrines. Indeed, the very Reformation was at stake. If God’s favor is conditioned upon anything in us, then we are lost because we are dead in sin. If the Gospel is reconfigured to include our obedience, then it is no longer the Gospel. If atonement is merely hypothetical, if the elect can fall away, then grace is no longer grace. “
Time does not allow us to read all of the articles which accompany these Canons.
I would encourage you to search them out and read them
I would especially encourage reading the “Rejections” which follow each Canon, wherein the errors of the Remonstrance are clearly outlined.
Over the years these canons have been distilled into a form which is more easily memorized and recalled, which leads us to...
The Theology of the TULIP
Most people who are initially introduced to the Canons of Dort, are introduced by way of the acronym TULIP.
Since this is how the majority of people understand the Canons of Dort, it does do us good to understand the acronym and what it means.
SEE: CHART
The TULIP was not something invented by the Synod, but rather came into general use relatively recently.
People were using the term “Five Points of Calvinism” as early as 1878, as that is when R.L. Dabney’s work of that name was introduced.
However, Dabney’s five headings are different than that of TULIP.
Dabney’s were Total Depravity, Effectual Calling, God’s Election, Particular Redemption, and Perseverance of the Saints.
The earliest place wherein we see the acronym TULIP used was in 1905 by Rev. Cleland Boyd McAfee, in a lecture before the Presbyterian Union.
It was popularized by Loraine Boettner in the book “The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination” published in 1932.
Many modern theologians have attempted to change the names as to make them easier to define.
James Boice and Philip Ryken [From "The Doctrines of Grace"]
Radical Depravity
Unconditional Election
Particular Redemption
Efficacious Grace
Persevering Grace
R.C. Sproul [From "Chosen By God"]
Radical Corruption
Sovereign Election
Limited Atonement
Effectual Grace
Preservation of the Saints
Roger Nicole
Grace
Obligatory grace
Sovereign grace
Provision-making grace
Effectual grace
Lasting grace
NOTE: I understand the reason for these attempts to rewrite the TULIP, as unfortunately the acronym has had a somewhat negative effect on how people understand Reformed Theology.
It is often mocked by those who reject it, and its terms miscommunicated and misdefined.
What we must understand is that the teaching of the Canons of Dort are Scriptural, and they cannot be captured properly or completed in a simple acronym.
CONCLUSION: As I noted, the complexity of the Canons of Dort cannot properly be expressed in a short acronym or chart.
We suffer in our modern day from a profoundly short attention spans; and yet, to really understand these principles takes more than just a cursory study.
We need to understand these truths - and what the Bible says about them - because they form the bedrock of our Reformed faith.
Sadly, Reformed Theology is not the majority report among churches in our modern day.
However, that has been a resurgence in recent years, as churches have begun to rediscover these important truths which our forefathers enunciated and fought for.
Next week, we are going to begin looking at the Great Denominational Explosion which occurred following the Reformation.
