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Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith -- Article Nine, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 9: Election Not Based on Foreseen Faith

This same election took place, not on the basis of foreseen faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, or of any other good quality and disposition, as though it were based on a prerequisite cause or condition in the person to be chosen, but rather for the purpose of faith, of the obedience of faith, of holiness, and so on. Accordingly, election is the source of each of the benefits of salvation. Faith, holiness, and the other saving gifts, and at last eternal life itself, flow forth from election as its fruits and effects. As the apostle says, He chose us (not because we were, but) so that we should be holy and blameless before him in love (Eph. 1:4).

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The authors of the Canons move on to make the point that since the Scriptures teach that election is based upon God’s good pleasure and purpose (and nothing good within us), election cannot be based upon anything external to God (i.e., something good that God sees in the creature). It is equally clear that God does not elect any as the consequence of some action that the creature takes which causes or motivates God to respond (in this case, the exercise of faith). The view of election set forth in the Canons assigns all glory to God when we believe the gospel, and all blame to us if we do not.

Many have tried to evade the force of this critical point by arguing that God’s election is based upon factors external to God, i.e., something which the creature does. God sets things in motion (by providing a generic, universal, and non-saving grace), and he then reacts to what his creatures do with the grace he’s made available to them. But this amounts to nothing more than a practical deism and mistakenly assumes that Adam’s fall has left us with the ability to choose Christ apart from prior regeneration.

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"A Single Decision of Election" -- Article Eight, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 8: A Single Decision of Election

This election is not of many kinds; it is one and the same election for all who were to be saved in the Old and the New Testament. For Scripture declares that there is a single good pleasure, purpose, and plan of God’s will, by which he chose us from eternity both to grace and to glory, both to salvation and to the way of salvation, which he prepared in advance for us to walk in.

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Scripture teaches us that election is based upon God’s eternal counsel and purpose, and is a mystery to us unless revealed by God in his word or through the passage of time, when that which God has decreed in eternity past comes to fruition in human history (cf. Ephesians 1:3-14). The previous articles have pointed out that election is not based upon anything God foresees in the creature. He sovereignly decrees what comes to pass, and does not merely react to what his creatures may or may not do.

In Article Eight, we now learn that God’s decree is one. God does not have multiple wills or purposes, as for example, when our Lutheran friends contend that God has an antecedent (prior) will to save all men and women, and a consequent (subsequent) will to save those who believe and do not resist grace (i.e., the elect). This may be a sincere attempt to solve the problem of reprobation (God not choosing some to be saved, thereby rendering them objects of his wrath), but ends up creating another unnecessary problem–two apparently contradictory wills within God. These two wills include God’s will to save all, and his subsequent will to save the elect, only because his prior will (the salvation of all), cannot be realized.

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerMarch 27, 2023A single decree of electionComment

“God's Eternal Decision” -- Article Six, First head of Doctrine, the Canons of Dort

Article 6: God’s Eternal Decision

The fact that some receive from God the gift of faith within time, and that others do not, stems from his eternal decision. For “all his works are known to God from eternity” (Acts 15:18; Eph. 1:11). In accordance with this decision he graciously softens the hearts, however hard, of his chosen ones and inclines them to believe, but by his just judgment he leaves in their wickedness and hardness of heart those who have not been chosen. And in this especially is disclosed to us his act—unfathomable, and as merciful as it is just—of distinguishing between people equally lost. This is the well-known decision of election and reprobation revealed in God’s Word. This decision the wicked, impure, and unstable distort to their own ruin, but it provides holy and godly souls with comfort beyond words.

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The doctrine of election is a difficult concept, especially for Americans operating with the presuppositions of modern democracy–our personal choices determine our future and that any proper understanding of fairness is tied to equality. Despite its difficulties, election is a doctrine which is widely taught throughout the pages of Holy Scripture. If God gets all the glory when undeserving sinners are saved, and if men and women are blamed for not believing, how are we to understand this? What about the question of “fairness?” Is it fair for God to decide to save some, but not all?

In Article Six, the authors of the Canons deal with the implications raised by the fact that our salvation only comes about because of something good in God, and not because of anything good that God finds in us, his sinful and rebellious creatures.

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"The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith" -- Article Five, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith

The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, It is by grace you have been 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).

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In light of the previous articles (One-Four), the Canons here deal with the difficult question as to why some people believe the gospel when it is preached to them, while others reject that same gospel. The authors of the Canons are very careful to follow the biblical testimony about this matter when they assign all blame for eternal loss to humanity (cf. Article One), while giving all glory to God for the salvation of any of Adam's fallen children (Article Two).

The objection is often raised to this; “if salvation depends entirely upon the grace of God, and not all are saved, then God is somehow unfair in his dealings with his creatures.” More questions follow and you have undoubtedly heard them, asked them, or thought them. “Why didn’t God chose everyone?” If what the Canons are teaching is true, then “it seems as though God is somehow preventing people from believing by choosing some but not everyone.” But the most common objection is, “Why did God choose one and not the other?” a question which will be answered in subsequent articles.

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerFebruary 6, 2023The source of sin -- us, The source of faith -- GodComment

"A Twofold Response to the Gospel" -- Article Four, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 4: A Twofold Response to the Gospel

God’s anger remains on those who do not believe this gospel. But those who do receive it and embrace Jesus the Savior with a true and living faith are delivered through him from God’s anger and from destruction, and receive the gift of eternal life.

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The Scriptures are very clear about human guilt before God. Article Four of the First Head of Doctrine briefly summarizes the many biblical passages which teach this. As difficult as this can be to accept, the wrath of God abides on all of those apart from Christ. Those who trust in Jesus Christ and his gospel will be delivered from the wrath to come. Here, the canons are laying the groundwork for the subsequent doctrine of election which follows (especially in articles 5-7). The point being made is that there are those who believe and receive the gift of eternal life, and those who do not believe and who face the wrath of God. There is no middle ground. Either you respond to the gospel in faith, or you do not.

We read in John’s gospel that, “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). However sincere our motives, we cannot offer the false hope to those apart from Christ that “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” as found in evangelical tracts such as the Four Spiritual Laws. This promise is true, but only for a believer in Jesus. But those apart from Christ have no such hope. Those who reject Christ and his gospel can only expect God’s wrath. A vague promise of God’s love is not helpful. Rather, people need to hear the law of God (his commandments), come to realize their sin and guilt before God (because they have broken these commandments), and thereby be stripped of all false hope of a personal righteousness which they mistakenly hope can sustain them on the day of judgment.

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerJanuary 16, 2023A twofold response, The gift of eternal life, The wrath of GodComment

"The Preaching of the Gospel" -- Article Three, First Head of Doctrine of the Canons of Dort

Article 3: The Preaching of the Gospel

In order that people may be brought to faith, God mercifully sends proclaimers of this very joyful message to the people he wishes and at the time he wishes. By this ministry people are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified. For “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without someone preaching? And how shall they preach unless they have been sent?” (Romans 10:14-15).

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The authors of the Canons are careful to link the end (God’s gracious desire to save sinners who do not deserve his favor), with the means by which those same sinners are called to faith in Jesus Christ--the preaching, teaching, and communication of the gospel (specifically identified as the message of Christ crucified) to both the people of God (to strengthen their faith and to help them live in assurance) as well as to non-Christians (so that they might be called and and come to trust in Jesus Christ to deliver them from the guilt and power of sin).

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerJanuary 3, 2023Article Three - The Preaching of the GospelComment

"The Manifestation of God's Love" -- Article Two, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 2: The Manifestation of God's Love

But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (1 John 4:9; John 3:16).

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In the opening articles, the authors of the Canons are careful to explain that any possible deliverance from our sinful condition (guilt, condemnation and the inability to do anything to save ourselves) arises from something good in God--specifically his love for his rebellious creatures--and not because there is something “good” in us which God sees and which motivates him to act to save us.

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The Canons of DortKim RiddlebargerDecember 7, 2022God's Love for Sinners, John 3:16 in the Canons of DortComment

"God's Right to Condemn All People" -- Article One, First Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 1: God’s Right to Condemn All People

Since all people have sinned in Adam and have come under the sentence of the curse and eternal death, God would have done no one an injustice if it had been his will to leave the entire human race in sin and under the curse, and to condemn them on account of their sin. As the apostle says: “The whole world is liable to the condemnation of God” (Rom. 3:19), “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23).

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The Canons of Dort open with due consideration of the human condition after Adam’s fall into sin, guilt, and the curse (death), as set forth in numerous biblical passages, three of which are cited in Article One: Romans 3:19; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23.

But far too often, people do not begin with a biblical perspective on matters of sin and grace, but with a number of flawed cultural assumptions usually tied to optimism regarding human nature, especially those associated with American democracy— “everyone should have a say in things.” This difference in presuppositions explains why there is so much resistance and indignation whenever a Reformed Christian dares mention the “five-points of Calvinism” in a non-Reformed context. Reformed folk understand our redemption from the guilt and power of sin as a divine rescue of people who cannot save themselves, and would not do so even if they could. People who are dead in sin cannot resurrect themselves by an act of will. People who are born guilty for Adam’s sin and a corresponding sinful nature have no interest in Jesus Christ or his gospel. They see no need of redemption, they do not fear judgment since they view themselves as basically good people who truly possess the power to do what God asks of them.

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