The Canons of Dort, First Head of Doctrine, Article 1
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 at 02:00PM 
With this post, I'm beginning a new series at the Riddleblog entitled, "notes on the Canons of Dort." This is material which I prepared some time ago when I took our congregation through the Canons during our evening service. Those notes will be edited and posted here.
The goal of this series is to go through the Canons of Dort, article by article, and explain many of the basics of the Reformed faith, especially those associated with the so-called "five points of Calvinism." It is my hope that you will find this helpful, edifying, and that you will discover as I once did, the Canons are not the theological bogeyman people make them out to be. The Canons are biblical, non-speculative and very pastoral. They deserve to be read and studied by God's people.
It has long been my concern that many "five point" Calvinists are not familiar with the document which gave the five points confessional status in the Reformed churches. Hopefully, this series will in some measure help rectify that shortcoming.
This series is designed to be a basic introduction to the Canons, so all of you arm-chair theologians out there, please keep this in mind as the series unfolds.
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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I. The Canons begin with the human condition as set forth in the Scriptures.
- All of humanity is subject to the just judgement of God [Romans 3:19]
- All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory [his righteous requirements for perfect obedience— Romans 3:23]
- The human race is under the curse—which is death [Romans 6:23]
Too often Americans approach matters of sin and grace from a cultural rather than a biblical perspective. Since this is the case, many of our contemporaries begin the discussion of human sinfulness and God’s grace with a far different set of presuppositions than we find in Scripture and which are summarized in the opening article of the Canons.
This difference in presuppositions explains why there is so much anger and confusion whenever a Reformed Christian even mentions the five-points of Calvinism in a non-Reformed context.
According to most of our contemporaries, we must not begin this discussion with the fact of human sin, but with a kind of democratic egalitarianism. In other words, most Americans already assume the notion to be true that “God isn’t being fair with his creatures, unless everyone has an equal chance at heaven." While it is easy to acknowledge that we are sinners, it is not easy to take that admission to the obvious conclusion--because we are sinners, we are guilty before God. In fact, when you take this as far as Scripture does--we are sinners, we are guilty before God, and we are unable to do anything to save ourselves from God's anger toward our sins--then the trouble begins.
II. These typically American presuppositions are as follows:
- All men and women have an equal opportunity to go to heaven and God would not be acting fairly if any were somehow deprived of that to which they are entitled—they must deprive themselves.
- Of course, all have sinned, but free will and natural ability remain. We are not robots after all.
- We are may be guilty , but we still have the ability to remove the curse from ourselves with Christ’s help, if only we are willing.
These different presuppositions (The Reformed--"we can do nothing to help ourselves" v. the American ideal--"everyone should be given an equal chance to go to heaven") explains why Reformed theology strikes so many Americans as a strange and cruel. The theology set forth in the Canons does not begin with the rosy estimation that most Americans have about human nature--it begins with a biblical realism about human sin and a great confidence in God's grace to save his people from their sins.
The Canons therefore strive begin where Scripture does--with the biblical teaching regarding the sinfulness and inability of men and women to save themselves. Because we begin with humanities’ sin, guilt and inability to come to faith, God’s grace is seen as a rescue of those [the “elect”] who deserve God’s wrath, but are instead chosen to be the recipients and beneficiaries of God's mercies in Christ.
III. This is an age-old debate
- Those in the Augustinian tradition emphasize God’s graciousness to sinners—it is God who saves sinners from beginning to end.
- Those in the Pelagian tradition focus upon humanities natural ability—salvation from sin stems from acting upon our knowledge of God’s commands. If God commands something, it is because we have the ability to carry out that command. (Ironically, this has more in common with Kant’s categorical imperative “ought implies can” than it does with the biblical estimation of human nature after the fall!).
- Most American Christians are “semi-Pelagian.” Simply put, semi-Pelagians see human salvation from sin not so much as a divine rescue in which men and women who are described as “dead in sin” require a resurrection from death to life before they can even respond to God. Semi-Pelagians often speak of salvation as a kind of transaction in which God contributes grace and men and women contribute faith. He has done his part, now its up to you . . .
As Augustine once said, “the grace of God does not find men fit for salvation, but makes them so.” This is a fundamental choice every Christian must make--either we can save ourselves by acting upon the proper information (Pelagianism), God will help us save ourselves (semi-Pelgianism), or God save sinners who can do nothing to save themselves (Augustinianism).
The Bible speaks to this matter directly. "We are dead in sins and transgressions,” (Ephesians 2:1). We are by nature “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3), we “do not seek God” (Romans 3:11), and like the leopard, “we cannot change our spots” (Jeremiah 13:23). In fact, we cannot even come to God unless he first draws us to himself (John 6:44, 65). How, then, can we say as our contemporaries do, that our salvation depends upon our choice, our willing, our efforts, even if God helps us do these things.
Scripture is clear that the latter is not the case. In the first chapter of John’s Gospel we read, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). And, as Paul says in Romans 9:16, “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.”
We are fallen and enslaved in sin. If God did not act first in our lives, no one would have any hope of heaven nor enjoy the comfort of eternal life. Indeed, the wrath of God would still abide on us. That is where Scripture begins when addressing the matter of sin and grace. This is where the Canons begin as well.
Reader Comments (13)
I look forward to the rest.
Good stuff.
Zrim
Steve
Tsk, Tsk...
Thank you for putting the meat on the table, Pastor Kim.
This may sound odd and maybe even a little Roman Catholic, but standing in line with great teachers and confessions of the Church is standing in line with the Bible. You are not the only one who has the knowledge of the truth, and you are not the one who is the pillar and ground of the truth; the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
Steve