The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Refutation of Errors, Article Two

Synod rejects the errors of those . . .

(II) Who teach that the spiritual gifts or the good dispositions and virtues such as goodness, holiness, and righteousness could not have resided in man's will when he was first created, and therefore could not have been separated from the will at the fall.

For this conflicts with the apostle's description of the image of God in Ephesians 4:24, where he portrays the image in terms of righteousness and holiness, which definitely reside in the will.

_____________________________

As we discussed a bit earlier, this particular error of the Arminians has to do with one’s estimation of the effects of the fall upon the human race. If one believes that the human race suffered great loss in the fall (as do the Reformed) then one must assign a proportionate amount of grace to undo these effects. If the fall brings great damage, grace must repair that damage before people can come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Here, the critical question that must be asked is this: “does the fall bring about damage to essential human nature?”  As we have seen, the authors of the Canons are careful to point out that, “yes, mankind suffered the loss of true righteousness, holiness, and knowledge in the fall, that these are part of essential (not accidental, in the sense of being “incidental to) human nature. The loss of them means that after the fall, even though humanity remains human because we retain the image of God, nevertheless, without the supernatural restoration of these essential characteristics through the new birth, men and women cannot come to faith in Christ apart from prior regeneration.

According to Louis Berkhof, all of the Reformers taught that the image of God, “included both natural endowments and those spiritual qualities designated as original righteousness, and holiness. The whole image was vitiated by sin, but only those spiritual qualities were completely lost” (Systematic Theology, 203). This means that sin brought great havoc upon the human race itself, not only in terms of original guilt for Adam’s, but in terms of the corruption of essential human nature.  The loss of true righteousness, holiness, and knowledge, are of great consequence.

Although this all sounds quite theoretical, it is Charles Spurgeon who put things into biblical perspective when he said, “he who thinks lightly of sin will think lightly of the Savior.”  Since the Reformed see in the fall the alteration of essential human nature, this then requires a supernatural act of God (regeneration and the new birth) to rectify the situation.  This is why we must be born again–so that we can be converted at all!  If left to ourselves, we would not, indeed we could not, believe the gospel and be saved.

But if true righteousness, knowledge, and holiness, were not part of man’s original constitution at creation, as Arminians and Roman Catholics argue, then man did not lose these in the fall.  If these things are not an essential aspect oh human nature, but only incidental to it, restoration of these things are not required in order for people to come to faith in Jesus Christ.

In semi-Pelagian schemes of sin and grace, this restoration occurs as a result of someone coming to faith in Christ.  Even though fallen in Adam, men and women supposedly retain the ability come to faith in Christ, since absolutely nothing essential to human nature has been lost as a result of the fall.

Although the “earlier Arminians taught that the image of God consisted only in man’s dominion over the lower creation” (Berkhof, ST, 203) later Arminians rejected the notion of original guilt for Adam’s act, but also questioned the very idea of the original corruption of the human race as well.  Arminius’ Adam is wounded, but not corrupted as a result of the fall.  Indeed Arminius himself stated, “it is natural and essential to the soul to be a spirit, and to be endowed with the power of understanding and of willing, both according to nature and the mode of liberty. But the knowledge of God, and of things pertaining to eternal salvation, is supernatural and accidental; as are likewise the rectitude and holiness of the will according to that knowledge” (James Arminius, The Works of, II.363). Arminius’ Adam has fallen alright . . . But unlike the Adam found in Scripture, Arminius' Adam can get up!

The best refutation of this notion is that provided by the authors of the Canons.  In Ephesians 4:24, Paul speaks of the putting on of the “new self” as one puts on a garment, which, Paul says, is created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.  Likewise in Colossians 3:10, Paul speaks of the fact that we have put on the new self, which is renewed in the knowledge of the image of its creator.  The grammatical construction in both passages makes it clear that the new self—that is, the new nature which results from regeneration—includes the putting on of true righteousness, knowledge, and holiness. The fact that these things are renewed, at the very least, indicates that these things were part of humanities’ essential human nature before the Fall.

Although these are lost in Adam, they are restored in Jesus Christ.  This is why the Reformed argue that regeneration must precede faith, since it is only as a result of the new birth, that we come to faith and are restored in the image of Christ.  Sin has done great damage to all of Adam's fallen race, but the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ inevitably triumphs!  “For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17)

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Refutation of Errors, Article One

Rejection of the Errors

Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those

(I) Who teach that, properly speaking, it cannot be said that original sin in itself is enough to condemn the whole human race or to warrant temporal and eternal punishments.

For they contradict the apostle when he says: Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death passed on to all men because all sinned (Rom. 5:12); also: The guilt followed one sin and brought condemnation (Rom. 5:16); likewise: The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

_________________________________

The first error of the Arminians addressed by the Canons is the notion that although the human race is fallen in Adam, Adam’s act of rebellion and the resulting “original sin” is not the basis upon which the unbelieving members of the human race will be condemned.

According to the Arminians, Adam’s sinful act plunged the human race into sin and condemnation, but the death of Jesus Christ (they contend) remits the guilt of that original sin. Since people are actually condemned to eternal punishment, however, it is not because of imputed or inherited guilt from Adam’s sin. Having remitted the guilt of Adam’s sin and removed the grounds for God’s just condemnation of the entire human race, it is now left up to the individual sinner to believe in Jesus Christ (as enabled by prevenient grace secured by Jesus Christ) and thus be saved. Should the sinner reject the Savior, they are lost.

Those who are condemned, the Arminians teach, are condemned by rejecting Jesus Christ and are punished for actual sins only, not because of the imputed guilt and inherited corruption resulting from Adam’s act.  “Fairness” supposedly dictates that we can only be held responsible for our own acts, not for the actions of another. This denial of the imputation of the guilt of Adam’s sin to all of his descendants sets up a very dangerous theological precedent, which, as we will see, has grave consequences for the gospel.

That this is the case, becomes very clear when looking at the efforts of several Arminian theologians in the period preceding the writing of the Canons, in dealing with the question of the death of infants, and of those who never hear the gospel. These are two groups who, in the Arminian scheme, escape condemnation on the basis of Adam’s sin. Since neither infants nor those who don’t hear the gospel perish because of the guilt of Adam’s sin, the Arminians find the death of members of either of these categories to be problematic.

Regarding infant death, the Arminians argue that since all infants die without actual sin, they are saved since there is no guilt imputed to them for Adam’ sin. According to Arminius’ defense of his own controversial views: “since infants have not transgressed this covenant (that God made with Adam, Noah and Jesus Christ), they do not seem to be obnoxious to condemnation; unless we maintain . . . that it is the will of God to condemn them for the commission of sin” which they themselves did not commit.

This amounts to the age-old accusation that it is not fair for God to punish someone for the sins of another—an argument which ultimately boomerangs on the Arminian, since it is on this same basis that Jesus Christ bears the guilt of our sins. Arminius goes on to say, “when Adam sinned in his own person and with his free will, God pardoned that transgression; there is no reason then why it is the will of God to impute this sin to infants, who are said to have sinned in Adam.” (James Arminius, The Works of James Arminius, trans. James Nichols and William Nichols, reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker book House, 1986, II.11).

There is no question then whether the Arminians do in fact teach what the authors of the Canons accuse them of teaching, namely that the human race is not condemned because of the guilt of Adam’s sin. This seriously undermines the teaching of Scripture regarding the effects of Adam’s sin upon the human race.

The same kind of argument is offered by Arminius in response to the Reformed accusation that the Arminians teach that God condemns the “heathen” who do not hear the gospel on the ground of actual sin only, because the guilt of original sin, having been remitted, cannot be imputed to them. Arminius argues that according to Romans 1-2, all men and women without exception have a knowledge of God upon which they can and must act.  Arminius gladly accepts the Pelagian dictum of the schoolmen (the medieval scholastic theologians) with but a slight the modification—“God will bestow more grace upon that man who does what is in him by the power of divine grace which is already granted to him, according to the declaration of Christ, `To him that hath shall be given’” (Arminius, The Works of James Arminius, II.16).

According to Arminius, natural revelation does not serve to condemn, quite contrary to the apostle Paul, who clearly teaches that it does.  Rather, says Arminius, those who know God from natural revelation do indeed receive a measure of grace.  But they must act upon this grace and seek additional grace in order to respond in faith. If not they perish in unbelief because they choose not to take avail of God’s prevenient grace, which Arminius connects to general revelation.

This is self-evidently a synergistic scheme in which salvation results not from a sovereign and gracious act of God, but one in which salvation flows from cooperation between the grace of God and the fallen human will.  At its fundamental point, Arminianism is not a religion of sola gratia, but is a religion in which man and God cooperate in such a way that fallen humans must themselves act to be saved, with God’s help.

In the case of infant death, as well as in the case of the death of those who do not hear the gospel, the Arminians must argue that the ground for any condemnation is actual sin only. According to the Arminians, infants go to heaven then because they cannot sin, and must be regarded, therefore, as innocent before God.  The so-called “heathen” perish because they do not act upon natural revelation and universal prevenient grace made available to them, not because they are guilty in Adam.  If the heathen do not act upon this prevenient grace, they will not receive additional grace and will perish.  Nevertheless, such people are only punished for their actual sins, especially the supreme sin of rejecting Jesus Christ.

In this synergistic conception of salvation, God contributes an impersonal but universal prevenient grace, and then waits for the sinner to take avail of that grace.  God responds in turn, by giving the sinner even more grace.  In any case, such grace is not seen as effectual, as it remains to the sinner to act, and for God merely to respond.

But this is not what the Scriptures teach.  As the authors of the Canons make plain, in Romans 5:12-19, Paul teaches that through the disobedience of the one man, the many were declared (or regarded as) sinners.  In fact, sin enters the world through Adam’s act, and as a result the entire human race comes under condemnation.  How can the actions of the one man (Adam), render “all” of humanity to be sinners, unless Adam’s guilt is imputed, or reckoned to all of his descendants.  Romans 6:23 is also illustrative here, since death is said to be the wage of sin.  Death results from human sin, not from human finitude, which is, as we will see, the logical conclusion of the Arminian teaching.

In Psalm 51:5 we read these words:  “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  While the Arminian will agree with the Psalmist’s assertion, they will turn right around and argue that Christ’s death removes this guilt.  The only problem with this is there is not a single text anywhere in Scripture which teaches such a thing! 

In Psalm 58:3, we are told, “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.”  Moses tells us in Genesis 6:5 that the reason for the cataclysm known as the “flood,” stems from the fact that “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” If the wickedness of the people’s hearts brought about the flood, it is clear that we are guilty for the sinful condition, as well as for our own actual sins. God judged the world with the waters of the flood because of the sinful condition, as well as for actual sins!

The New Testament is equally clear.  In Romans 3:11, the apostle Paul, citing a litany of Old Testament texts, tells us that “ no one understands; no one seeks for God.”  In Ephesians 2, Paul speaks of the human race as “dead in sins and trespasses,” and that we are by nature objects of wrath, because we are enslaved to our sinful cravings.  In Colossians 2:13, Paul speaks of God making us alive in Christ when we were dead in sin and in the uncircumcision of our sinful nature.  In John’s gospel, the apostle makes plain that, “no one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him,” and that “no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”  How does that bad tree become a good tree?  Does the bad tree will itself into a good tree?  How does Lazarus prepare himself for resurrection? Does Lazarus begin unwrapping the bandages and chiseling away at the inside of the tomb!

Even from this short survey of biblcal passages, it is obvious that the Arminian position has no basis whatsoever in Scripture.  The human race is guilty for Adam’s sin and original guilt is not a figment of the Reformed mind (as Arminius contends) but is the clear teaching of scripture.

But the most obvious refutation of the Arminian view, unfortunately, is the grim fact of infant death.  If infants cannot sin—which leads to death—why, then, do infants tragically die?  The Arminian must state that infant death results from human finitude or from the sins of another against the infant.  Yet scripture clearly teaches that death is a result of sin!  And if infants cannot sin, why do infants die?  Tragically, infants die because of Adam’s sin, and this point alone, thoroughly and utterly refutes the Arminian notion that the human race is not under universal condemnation for Adam’s sin.

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Seventeen

Article 17: God's Use of Means in Regeneration

Just as the almighty work of God by which he brings forth and sustains our natural life does not rule out but requires the use of means, by which God, according to his infinite wisdom and goodness, has wished to exercise his power, so also the aforementioned supernatural work of God by which he regenerates us in no way rules out or cancels the use of the gospel, which God in his great wisdom has appointed to be the seed of regeneration and the food of the soul. For this reason, the apostles and the teachers who followed them taught the people in a godly manner about this grace of God, to give him the glory and to humble all pride, and yet did not neglect meanwhile to keep the people, by means of the holy admonitions of the gospel, under the administration of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline. So even today it is out of the question that the teachers or those taught in the church should presume to test God by separating what he in his good pleasure has wished to be closely joined together. For grace is bestowed through admonitions, and the more readily we perform our duty, the more lustrous the benefit of God working in us usually is and the better his work advances. To him alone, both for the means and for their saving fruit and effectiveness, all glory is owed forever. Amen.
______________________________

Article seventeen, although lengthy, simply reminds us that the Scriptures themselves connect the divinely appointed ends (the salvation of God's elect) with the divinely appointed means–the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments.

Therefore, as Christians, we must not only believe the correct things about God and his grace as taught us in his word, but that we must also ever be on our guard not to separate that which God has joined together. God does not effectually call his elect to faith in Christ, nor does he give us the new birth, through any means other than those which he has prescribed in his word.

This means that there is a spiritual marriage between divinely appointed means and ends, a marriage in which we dare not attempt to divide what God has so clearly joined together. This, of course, was the error of the Anabaptists at the time of the Reformation, who sought the guidance of the Holy Spirit apart from the text of Holy Scripture, the same error made by many Charismatics and Pentecostals today. Everything we need to know about how God saves sinners has been revealed in God's word and is confirmed through the two divinely appointed sacraments.

Since the Holy Spirit works in and through the word and the sacraments, we must seek God to do the things he has promised to do through the means which he has prescribed, and only through the means he has prescribed. This is why the Canons contend that “it is out of the question that the teachers or those taught in the church should presume to test God by separating what he in his good pleasure has wished to be closely joined together.”

We cannot expect God’s blessing if we divorce the work of the Spirit from the word, or expect the Spirit to work apart from the word and sacraments. This is not to say that God cannot work outside of these means (and ordinarily he does not), but that he has bound himself to these particular means.  We can expect God’s blessings only if we trust in God’s promise, power, grace and mercy, and reject all humanly devised efforts and techniques.

Therefore, when all is said and done, we are left with the two things God has prescribed—word and sacrament. These are the weapons and instruments of our spiritual warfare. When we trust in the power of God to work in and through the means he has prescribed, there we will see God advance his kingdom.  Let no man divide that which God has joined together!

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Sixteen

Article 16: Regeneration's Effect

However, just as by the fall man did not cease to be man, endowed with intellect and will, and just as sin, which has spread through the whole human race, did not abolish the nature of the human race but distorted and spiritually killed it, so also this divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its 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 prevail where before the rebellion and resistance of the flesh were completely dominant. It is in this that the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our will consists. Thus, if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, man would have no hope of getting up from his fall by his free choice, by which he plunged himself into ruin when still standing upright.
_______________________________

In article sixteen we are reminded once again that without the grace of God acting upon us and in us (when we were dead in sin), we would forever remain unbelievers.  Even though the effects of sin are all-pervasive, nevertheless, the imago Dei remains in us, although badly defaced. 

That the remnant remains can be proven from a number of biblical texts. In Ephesians 4:24, Paul speaks of the Christian “putting on the new self”—which is clearly a reference to the regenerate new man is a description of being restored to the true righteousness and holiness we lost in the Fall.  In Colossians 3:10, Paul reiterates much the same thing, this time mentioning that putting on the new self includes the restoration of true knowledge.

In some sense then regeneration restores particular aspects of the imago Dei, things which had been lost in the fall, including true righteousness, true knowledge, and true holiness. Therefore, putting on the new-self is, in part, descriptive of the restoration of fallen human nature.

There is other biblical evidence that strongly argues for the fact that even though sin has brought horrific damage upon the human race, nevertheless, fallen men and women do retain the image of God.  When we consider the words of Moses in Genesis 9:6, it is clear that the taking of a life is a great sin, since the one killed retains the image of God, even after the fall. In James 3:9, James makes the same point, when he says that when we curse another person, we sin because the person we curse with our tongue, even as fallen, remains in the image of God.

As a result of Adam’s act of rebellion, the good gifts given in creation are completely distorted and defaced, although we still remain human and retain the image of God.  Given the damage wrought upon human nature by Adam’s act of rebellion, it is God, therefore, who must bend us back, to pick up on a point made so powerfully by Luther.

The consequence of the effects of the fall is that our wills are completely enslaved to sin and we struggle to make sense of God’s world with our darkened understanding.  As Paul puts it in Ephesians 4:18-19, men and women “are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.”  The point is that after effectual calling, regeneration, and conversion have taken place, our struggle to come to faith is nevertheless real and difficult. But since God regenerates men and women and makes them new, grace will always prevail and God’s elect will inevitably come to faith in Jesus Christ.

This means that some will come to faith merely when hearing the gospel for the first time—as they had always believed as much, but had never heard it expressed.  Others will struggle with doubt, or certain “besetting sins,” and will come to faith with tears, and only after prolonged and intense struggle.  Still others will be called to faith from infancy, and never know unbelief for even a moment (2 Timothy 3:15 comes to mind).

But despite our struggle because of our sin, calling and regeneration are efficacious, and the person made alive by God the Holy Spirit will indeed come to faith in Christ.  As Paul says in Romans 11:29, the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.  It is in this sense that we speak of grace as “irresistible.”

This does not for a moment mean that grace cannot be resisted.  But it does mean that God’s sovereign grace will ultimately triumph over unbelief.  This is God’s effort, and we who are effectually called, made alive in Christ, and converted, no matter how greatly we struggle, will at last embrace the savior through faith.

We are also reminded that such grace renews our fallen wills, restores our spiritual sight—what is known as illumination (1 Corinthians 2:10-16)—and bends us back from being curved in upon ourselves.  As a result of calling, regeneration, and conversion we now believe the gospel and we will come alive to all of God’s commandments, for our heart of stone is sovereignly turned into a heart of flesh as the law is now written upon our hearts.  As Paul teaches us in Galatians 5, as Christians, we walk in the Spirit and no longer walk in the flesh—although we will struggle with indwelling sin until the day we die, or Jesus Christ comes back, whichever comes first.

This would never be the case, if Arminianism were true, and God left us on our own, expecting us to save our selves by taking avail of a provisional, and not effectual grace.  This is why we must acknowledge that this is God’s doing not ours!  "For if the marvelous Maker of every good thing were not dealing with us, man would have no hope of getting up from his fall by his free choice, by which he plunged himself into ruin when still standing upright."

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Fifteen

Article 15: Responses to God's Grace

God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to one who has nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to one who has nothing of his own to give but sin and falsehood? Therefore the person who receives this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to God alone; the person who does not receive it either does not care at all about these spiritual things and is satisfied with himself in his condition, or else in self-assurance foolishly boasts about having something which he lacks. Furthermore, following the example of the apostles, we are to think and to speak in the most favorable way about those who outwardly profess their faith and 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 who calls things that do not exist as though they did. In no way, however, are we to pride ourselves as better than they, as though we had distinguished ourselves from them.
______________________________________

Article fifteen deals with the attitude that we as Christian are to have about our salvation from sin and its consequences.  Given the fact that it is God alone who saves (because human sinfulness renders us incapable of saving ourselves), salvation originates not in an act of the sinful human will, but in the gracious decree of God who loved the fallen world so much that he sent Jesus Christ to die for those very same unworthy sinners that he has graciously decreed to save (cf. John 3:16).

The point the canons make here is that grace is not truly gracious if we define grace in such a way that it is owed to us by God because of something we have done which places God under obligation to respond to wicked and sinful creatures who have collectively rebelled against his majesty and holiness (cf. Romans 4:16).  This is why we must be very careful not to discuss theology with the presuppositions of American democracy, which teaches us that we are all equal and able, and that those who act righteously get what they deserve in the end—a reward.

As we have seen repeatedly, the bible does not begin to discuss redemption from the perspective of human worth, ability, or equality, as the Arminians would like us to believe. Instead, the Bible begins with the fall of the human race into sin.  This includes universal human sinfulness, inability, and guilt.  The Reformed have always charged that in the Arminian system, grace cannot be truly gracious, because we supposedly have it in our power to act, and when we act in faith, God must respond by granting us eternal life.

At this point the Canons raise what is truly the salient question.  How on earth can we as sinful creatures, who are justly under God’s righteous condemnation, ever pay off our debt to God (namely, our offence to God’s infinite majesty and holiness because of our sin)? What can we do to make things right before a Holy God?  To sin but a single time against the Holy God is to accrue an infinite debt, a debt which we can never pay, and a debt which only increases every day. 

The canons remind us that all we have to offer God in an attempt to assuage his anger is sin and falsehood.  Rather, our attitude should be that of the apostle Paul, who when contemplating these matters in Romans 8:31-39, declared,

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Arminian system cannot account for such spontaneous doxological theology, since, according to the Arminian, we are more than conquerors because we took advantage of prevenient grace and saved ourselves.  How can someone who believes such a thing ascribe all praise, glory and honor to God?  They cannot.  God is for us, the Arminians say, because, we were for him first!

Article fifteen also addresses the fact that people who do not respond to the gospel are those who have not been crushed by the righteous demands of God’s law. They refuse to see their need of the merits of the Savior, since, as self-deceived, they are confident of their own righteousness.  As the Canons put it, "Therefore the person who receives this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to God alone; the person who does not receive it either does not care at all about these spiritual things and is satisfied with himself in his condition, or else in self-assurance foolishly boasts about having something which he lacks."  This is why the self-righteousness of unbelief is nothing but so much folly.  To be satisfied with our own righteousness, is to be headed for eternal judgement.

This article also reminds us that many times we do not truly know the identity of God’s elect.  We can only go upon a person's profession of faith and (with great caution) the outward conduct of people’s lives.  There will indeed be tares growing among the wheat, and goats mixed among the sheep.  But God knows those who are his, and separating the wheat from the tare is his business, not ours.

Since our confidence is to be placed in his grace and mercy, not in the human will or in human merit, this also teaches us that there are many more apparent wolves out there waiting to be converted into sheep, and even shepherds.  Consider that at one time the Apostle Paul, was known as Saul of Tarsus, and cheered on the crowd who were stoning Stephen to death.  This is the same man whom God chose to be the apostle to the Gentiles!  As Calvin once put it, God turned a wolf into a sheep.

Therefore, the biblical focus upon the grace of God means that we cannot boast about our own faith, spiritual accomplishments, or godliness, since the only reason we believe in the first place is because God has called us to faith when we were “dead in our sins.”  Those who trust in Christ must never forget that it is God who chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27-31).  This is why Arminianism is seriously flawed.  It robs God of the glory and honor due him, and attributes our salvation to an act of the sinful human will.

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Fourteen

Article 14: The Way God Gives Faith

In this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that it is offered by God for man to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed on man, breathed and infused into him. Nor is it a gift in the sense that God bestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent--the act of believing—from man's choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that he who works both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all people produces in man both the will to believe and the belief itself.
________________________________________

In article eight, the Canons introduced the subject of effectual calling—that is, the objective call of God through the preaching of the gospel. This gospel call is sincerely offered to all, but only effectually realized in God’s elect.  In article ten, we saw that conversion (a person coming to faith and repentance), is the result of a prior act of God enabling them to believe and trust in the Savior.  Article eleven, assigned the work of conversion to the Holy Spirit, not to an act of the fallen human will, as taught by the Arminians.  It is the Holy Spirit who “makes us alive with Jesus Christ when we were [formerly] dead in sins and trespasses.” Finally, in article twelve, the Canons set out in a bit more detail the fact that the Holy Spirit works regeneration in God’s elect, and that this subconscious regeneration, or “new birth” precedes the exercise of faith, logically, if not temporally.  We are born again, and then exercise faith and repentance.

In article fourteen, the Canons turn to a discussion of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in calling, converting, and regenerating those same sinners whom God has decreed to save from before the foundation of the world, and for whom Christ has died.  It is to these individuals that God gives faith.  The Reformed speak of this as redemption decreed, redemption accomplished, and here, as redemption applied.

The main point being made in this article is that faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from God.  In other words, men and women believe in Jesus Christ only because God enables them to do so.  Faith is not simply a response by those fallen sinners, who now choose to exercise their free-will and believe, having been enabled to do so by the “prevenient grace” of God, supposedly secured for all by the death of Christ.  Rather, the Scriptures teach that all of those who are effectually called and regenerated, are converted, and as a result of God's acting upon them, now exercise faith and repentance.  This means that effectual calling and regeneration necessarily issues forth in the exercise of faith.

God has decreed whom he will save.  God has sent Jesus Christ to save them by providing for his own the forgiveness of sins and a perfect righteousness.  At some point in time, then, God the Holy Spirit calls and regenerates those whom God has chosen and for whom Christ has died, thereby ensuring that they believe when the gospel is preached to them.

This preserves the Trinitarian symmetry of the Reformed doctrine of salvation, in which it is argued that the members of the Holy Trinity effectually secure the actual salvation of God’s elect according to God’s decree. This stands in sharp contrast to the Arminian notion in which it is argued that God decrees to save based upon his foreknowledge of what the sinner will do when the gospel is preached to them, and as a result sends Jesus to die—saving no one effectually, but providing a universal enabling grace for everyone—so that anyone who uses his or her free will can be saved. 

In the Arminian scheme, the Holy Spirit does not open the human heart, enabling the person to believe.  The Holy Spirit indwells all those who open their own hearts to him, and this only after they have used their free will to exercise faith in Christ.  Therefore, on the classical Arminian model, God makes salvation possible for all, and then waits for the sinner to act. This means that salvation is a kind of divine reaction to action of the creature in which God bestows regeneration only after the sinner contributes faith.

In the Reformed conception, however, God acts directly upon those whom he intends to save.  He does not make salvation possible for all who will believe, but actually and effectually saves all of those whom he has decreed to save.  As Warfield once noted, this is the very essence of the Reformed faith.  “Calvinism insists that the saving operations of God are directed in every case immediately to the individuals who are saved.  Particularism in the process of salvation becomes the mark of Calvinism.”  (B. B. Warfield, The Plan Of Salvation (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1980), 87).  Therefore, those individuals given to Christ by the Father (i.e., John 17:2), are also those for whom Christ dies (John 10:15), and are those effectually called, regenerated, and who come to faith. The Scriptures do not teach that God makes everyone “savable,” in the sense that he restores the ability to believe to the entire world and then waits for them to meet certain conditions—i.e. faith and repentance.

That this is what the Scriptures teach becomes evident when we survey the New Testament.  Indeed, we look in vain for any passage, anywhere, which teaches that any aspect of salvation stems from an exercise of the human will.  Faith, we are told, is a gift from God.  And if faith be a gift form God, it follows that there is a profound sense in which faith does not arise within us through a sheer act of the will, but that faith arises in us after an act of God (regeneration). 

Paul makes this point very clearly in a famous passage, Ephesians 2:8-10. Says Paul, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”  Salvation is a free gift, it arises not from ourselves, it stems from God’s grace, not from our works and is not something about which we boast.

In an attempt to escape the obvious ramifications of this, many will quibble about whether Paul intends to say whether it is “faith” or “salvation” (defined as deliverance from eschatological wrath) that is in view here, when Paul speaks of a “gift.”  But do not let this debate obscure the real issue at stake, for it is ultimately a moot point.  For Paul, salvation is a gift from God—meaning that everything which is required for us to be saved—including faith, is freely given to us (i.e. through, or as a result of God’s graciousness), apart from anything we do to earn it! 

Ultimately, it does not matter whether or not Paul means that faith is a gift here, or whether he is referring to the broader category of salvation.  At a minimum, it is the apostle’s intention to say that salvation itself is a gift, and that faith is certainly a part of what is entailed in our deliverance from judgement—i.e., our “salvation.”  There is simply no way around this.

If faith is a gift, obviously, the Arminian position is in error.  If salvation is a “gift,” then faith must be regarded as a part of our salvation, and the Arminian is still in error!

There are other important texts to consider here as well.  In Philippians 1:29, Paul writes, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.”  Here, it is clear, faith has been granted by God to the believer. This point, it seems to me, is but another way of saying that ‘faith is a gift”! This same notion is also echoed in 1 Timothy 1:14, where Paul writes that “and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” 

Here, it is important to notice that grace (not a “stuff,” but better God’s “graciousness”) as well as faith and love, were poured out by God upon the apostle.  Is this not another way of expressing the fact that this is God’s gracious act upon the sinner, and that faith is, therefore, a gift?

The author of the Hebrews also makes the same point in Hebrews 12:2—“looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  For the author of Hebrews, it is Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith. This stands in direct opposition to the Arminian notion that God’s grace is merely prevenient, not effectual, and which supposedly enables all to exercise their free-will and, therefore, believe the Gospel.  Rather, Jesus is said to be the author and perfecter of our faith, meaning that not only does faith have its origin in an act of the Savior and not the human will, but that faith itself is perfected by the author of that faith, namely, the one who endured the shame of the cross for our redemption and who now sits enthroned at the right hand of the father.

Another important point made in Article Fourteen is that since effectual calling and regeneration issue forth in faith, therefore, all the elect will eventually believe the gospel when it is preached to them.  Election, taken by itself as pure decree without redemptive act, cannot save.  Likewise, the merits of the cross of Jesus Christ, applied to no one, also cannot save.  A particular election must issue forth in a particular redemption.  And a particular redemption must issue forth in effectual calling and regeneration, if any of those chosen are to actually be saved by being united to Jesus Christ through faith.

If God decrees to save some, he must provide the means by which they are to be saved, and he must also ensure that those whom he has chosen, and for whom Christ has died, do in fact, believe and thereby become beneficiaries of the redemption he has decreed. 

This is wonderful in theory, some may say, but is there a direct and biblical linkage between redemption decreed, accomplished and applied?  Yes there is, for this too, is clearly taught in Scripture.  We have already seen this connection made by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-14, but there are other equally texts as well.  In Romans 8:28-30, Paul sets forth the so-called “golden chain” of salvation.  “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Paul could not be any clearer about this than he is here.  Those whom God chooses to save are also certainly called through the gospel.  Those certainly called are certainly justified—i.e., they are given faith, and receive the justifying merits of Jesus Christ.  And those justified, will be glorified.

Taken by itself, this passage completely destroys all so-called “universal” or “hypothetical” schemes of redemption.  Paul is absolutely clear that all of God’s elect are called, justified, and glorified.  This clearly links election to redemption and to faith.  All of those chosen will believe.  All of those who believe are justified.  All of those justified will be glorified.

Another clear indication of this occurs in Acts 13:48, where Luke writes, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”  Luke is every bit as clear as Paul.  All of those whom God has chosen, believe the gospel, when it is preached to them.  Once again, the divinely appointed end (who will be saved) is linked to divinely appointed means (the preaching of the gospel).

Therefore, we are on safe ground when we conclude that God gives faith, not by making it possible for men and women to believe, but that when God “gives faith,” he does so by bestowing it on man, breathing and infusing faith into his elect, as the Canons make plain.

Thus the Arminian notion, in which prevenient grace supposedly enables all to believe, but whether someone believes or not, depends upon an act of the will, is simply unfounded.  Ultimately, this is an affront to God, since it robs him of his glory by attributing salvation not to his gracious act, but to an act of sinful creature

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Thirteen

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 grace of God they do believe with the heart and love their Savior.
________________________________________

Article Thirteen reminds us of the fact that God does not fully explain the mechanics of the way in which he gives new life (regeneration) to people who are dead in sin.  Scripture simply speaks of the fact that God does so, and ties this to the work of the Holy Spirit through divinely appointed means (the preaching of the gospel).

At this point the Canons echo what our Lord told Nicodemus as recounted in John 3:7-8, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

If regeneration is an act of God which occurs at the the level of the subconscious, and in which the believer is strictly passive, then we may not “experience” the new birth at all, even though we may have received the new birth, and cannot enter heaven without it!  If we are looking to Jesus Christ alone to deliver us from the guilt of our sin, we are assured of the fact that we are justified by his death and resurrection and that we will spend eternity in heaven.  Jesus' merits are sufficient to save even the vilest of sinners, even if we have no remarkable "experience" of the new birth.  What is important is not that someone had a "conversion experience," but that they presently trust in Jesus alone for their salvation.  It is not the "experience" of the new birth which matters, but the fact of the matter.

This is why it is so problematic to speak of regeneration as a “born again” experience, as do many of our contemporaries.  There will be many people in heaven who do not know the date and hour of their regeneration, but who nevertheless trust the Savior's promise to save them from their sins.  Likewise, there will be many folk in hell who have had all kinds of religious experiences (including some who have had what they claim as a "born again" experience), but who know not Jesus Christ, nor trust in his saving work. 

Looking to Christ for deliverance will never disappoint us!  As Horatius Bonar puts it in the hymn, Not What My Hands Have Done, “not what I feel or do, can give me peace with God.” This why the Canons exhort us not to look within, seeking an experience of something about which we may never be aware.  Instead, the Canons exhort us to look to the finished work of Christ, where we will never be disappointed.

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Twelve

Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work

And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.
_______________________________________

Having established that conversion (defined as the exercise of faith and repentance) is closely connected to effectual calling and is the direct result of the Holy Spirit working upon a person in and through the Word of God, the Canons now go on to make the point that regeneration, likewise, is not the result of an act of human will. Rather, regeneration is the direct result of the supernatural action of God upon the heart of the sinner before the sinner comes to faith. Indeed, it is regeneration which enables the sinner to come to faith! Regeneration is caused by the Holy Spirit and precedes faith. To use a biblical metaphor, a bad tree must become a good tree in order to exercise the good fruit of faith and repentance.

It might be helpful to recall the important distinctions made by Reformed theologians when considering effectual calling, conversion, and regeneration. All of which are closely related and are connected to the prescribed means by which God calls his elect to faith—the proclamation of gospel. Effectual calling is that act of God, when, through the preaching of the gospel, God’s elect are summoned (called) to faith in Christ. Effectual calling is, therefore, an objective act of God occurring through the proclamation of the message of reconciliation—the gospel. Conversion, though directly connected to effectual calling and regeneration, strictly speaking, is a conscious act when the sinner who has been effectually called, then, in turn, exercises faith in Jesus Christ and turns from his or her sin (repentance). All of God’s elect are effectually called and converted.

Regeneration, on the other hand, is subconscious. A person may not be aware that regeneration has taken place. It occurs when God supernaturally acts upon the sinner, implanting in them the principle of new life which now becomes the governing disposition of the soul. (See, for example, Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 469).

Logically speaking, both effectual calling and regeneration must precede conversion (the exercise of faith and repentance).  However, the sinner who comes to faith in Christ many not experience these things in such a precise manner. To put it another way, because elect sinners have been effectually called through the preaching of the gospel, the sinner suddenly becomes conscious of his or her sins, and their need of the merits of Christ. Yet the sinner may not be aware that regeneration has already occurred, even though the sinner could never exercise faith in Christ, if they had not been made alive when formerly dead in sin.

The Scriptures are replete with references to regeneration being an act of God upon the sinner while the sinner is passive. There are no biblical texts which teach that regeneration is the result of an act of the fallen human will.  In Titus 3:5-7, for example, Paul writes “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”  Paul is very clear about who saves whom.  God “saved us by . . .”  Paul does not in any way say, or imply, that God merely provides what we need so that we can now act and save ourselves.

We have already seen that dead people cannot effect their own resurrection. In Ephesians 2:5, Paul contends that “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”  In other words, God acted upon us when we were unwilling and unable to act, because we are dead in sin until God makes us alive with Christ.  From passages such as these, it is very clear that regeneration precedes both conversion and the exercise of faith and repentance.

Paul is not the only one who addresses this subject.  In the opening chapter of his first epistle, the apostle Peter declares that “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God (1 Peter 1:23).”  From this text it is clear that God acts upon the sinner in and through the preached word.  In fact, we are "born again" through the proclamation of the word of God (the means through which the Holy Spirit works), not through an act of the fallen human will.

John teaches the same thing.  In a text that we have considered previously, John 1:13, John informs us that we are born of God (John is obviously referring to the “new birth” here), not because of an act of the human will, but because we are “born of God.”  This is a point that John will make yet again in John 3, when Jesus and Nicodemus discuss what it means to “be born again.”

By now it should be clear for all to see that regeneration is not the result of an act of the sinful human will in exercising faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin,  Rather these this is the result from God’s prior act of regeneration.

When we considered article eleven (the prior article) and addressed the subject of the Spirit’s work in conversion, we had to occasion to mention John 3:1 ff.  At this point, it is important to discuss a contemporary problem in light of that passage, i.e, "how would we as Reformed Christians respond to the popular American Evangelical and fundamentalist stress upon being “born again”?  According to most statistics, nearly one-half of all Americans claim to be “born again,” or to have had a “born again” experience of some sort.  We have every right to regard as specious the claim that one-half of America’s nearly 300 million citizens are believing Christians!

Part of the problem here is that evangelicals often identify themselves as “born again” Christians, using terminology not used in this manner by Reformed Christians.  What then, does it mean to be “born again” and how does this relate to our confessions and the Scriptures?

As the authors of the Canons indicate, Reformed Christians have not placed the notion of being “born again” at the center of the Christian faith in the way in which many of our evangelical contemporaries have done. The reason for this is not that Reformed Christians reject the idea of being “born again.”  Rather, the Reformed have equated John’s teaching on being “born again,” with the larger biblical category of “regeneration.”  This moves the discussion away from the so-called “born again” experience, into the biblical teaching about effectual calling and conversion.

Being “born again” is (biblically speaking), a synonym for being “regenerate,” or being “made alive,” when previously, we had been dead in sins and trespasses (Cf. Ephesians 2:5). Therefore, it is an essential aspect of the Christian life as the Canons make clear. Indeed, in one sense the Christian life begins when we are “born again.”

One important reason why historic Protestants, including the Reformed, have not stressed being “born again,” is because regeneration is a supernatural act of God upon the sinner, which occurs subconsciously, and as such, will manifest itself in faith and repentance (elect infants and small children will come to faith after some interval of time, of course).  It is something which may not even be “experienced” by the sinner.

To put it another way, the sinner who is regenerate and trusts in Jesus Christ many not have “experienced” anything—they simply know that they are born again and that they believe that Jesus Christ is their savior and only hope of heaven. This is the case for many, who may have grown up in Christian households, and who can state with assurance that they are “born again,” but cannot describe a time or place when such an “experience” occurred.

On the other hand, there are many, who having led a life of notorious sin and rebellion against God, do have a dramatic conversion experience, and can state with great clarity and precision the exact date and hour of their “born again” experience.  Since regeneration is the subconscious act of God the Holy Spirit, a sinner may indeed be regenerate and not have any experience of being “born again.” They simply believe the gospel!

Another important and related reason that Reformed Christians speak of the new birth a bit differently from evangelicals, is that the New Testament stresses that the gospel itself is something that God has done for us in Christ, in history, outside of ourselves, and that the gospel alone (the message that Christ died and rose again for sinners – 1 Corinthians 15:1-8) is the power of God unto salvation.  It is through the preaching the gospel that God gives the new birth, since the new birth is related to effectual calling and necessarily precedes conversion.

The great irony is that new birth does not come through preaching the new birth!  There is no command anywhere in the Bible—John 3 included—which commands sinners to become “born again!”  This is a very important point to grasp, and I am not sure that many evangelicals do.

It is important to notice that Jesus’ words in John 3:3 (“unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”) are not to be taken as a command in which we are to do what it takes to “be born again.”  This is how many understand these words today. Jesus is not telling us to do anything! This is not an imperative, but an indicative.  It is a statement of fact.  Jesus is telling us about our condition.  Something supernatural must happen to us if we are to enter the kingdom. “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Note--Jesus is not telling us what to do: “Born yourself again!”

As we know from other passages in Scripture that we have already treated, the Scripture says we are “dead in transgressions and sin,” and that “God must make us alive with Christ” if we are to be saved (Ephesians 2:1-5).  Jesus himself tells us that “truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24).  Jesus also says that no one can even come to Him unless the Father not only draw them (6:44), but also enables them to come to Him (6:65).  In fact, in John 3:3-8, notice that Jesus makes it very clear that “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”  The Spirit is like the wind, it blows wherever it wills. Regeneration is clearly God’s act, not man’s.

Hence, the popular teaching that “we can be born again and escape the judgement of God by simply believing in him,” (Chuck Smith, New Testament Study Guide, Costa Mesa CA: The Word for Today, 1982, 39) confuses the cause (regeneration) with the effect (faith), putting things exactly backwards!  Dead men cannot resurrect themselves!

This is why it is vital to notice that throughout the Scriptural data, especially in John 3, God the Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration, not a human “decision” to accept Jesus as our "personalLordandSavior" as the semi-Pelagians, or the Arminians would have us believe.  As most commentators point out, the word translated here as “born again,” (anothen) is a word that can either mean “from above” or a “second time.”  Nicodemus very likely understood it to have the latter meaning since he very pointedly asks Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

It is also important to notice that Jesus connects being “born again” to being born of “water and the Spirit.”  No matter what Jesus means by this (and the Christian family is greatly divided), one thing that is certainly precluded is the idea that being “born again,” is something which results from an act on our part, i.e., we believe and as a result, we are born again!

If Jesus is clear about anything here, it is that God is the active party while we remain passive.  In the new birth, God is one who finds men and women dead in sins and transgressions and unable to resurrect themselves.  This is why the Reformed connect regeneration to the proclamation of the word of God.  If we wish to see God give the gift of new birth, we should preach Christ crucified and God will give his people the gift of the new birth (regeneration) and effectually calls them to faith in his Son (conversion).

This is why the Canons state, “but this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches.” Indeed, this is what Paul means when he says “when we were dead in sins and trespasses God made us alive with Christ.”  Regeneration is a distinctly supernatural work! 

Says Jesus as recorded in John 5:24-25: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”  Jesus cannot be any clearer: Those who have (who presently possess) eternal life (are “born again”) will, at some point, believe the gospel when it is preached to them.

It is also important to point out that if this is truly the case, it is not necessary to know when you were born again (as if we could actually tell the day and the hour that the Spirit made us alive), but is it necessary to know that you are born again.  If you have placed your trust in Christ, you have done so because God has made you alive with Christ, even when you were dead in sin (Ephesians 2).

Thus any view of being “born again,” which defines it either as a work of man, or based upon a work of man, is seriously deficient. This is why the authors of the Canons state— “And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help.”

Therefore, when we speak of regeneration, or being “born again,” it is vital to note that men and women are passive, as God sovereignly acts upon the sinner while the sinner is still described as dead in sins and trespasses. There is no place for human co-operation when we speak of regeneration as the Arminians argue. To hear the Arminians tell it, it were as though Lazarus was inside the tomb, unwrapping his bandages and opening the latch on the inside of the Tomb so that Jesus could call him forth. It was our Lord’s effectual call that brought Lazarus back to life, not an act of Lazarus’ will!

A major second point made by the authors of the Canons is that it is a mistake to think of regeneration as something that happens at a single point of time. Rather, we should think of regeneration as something that begins at a point of time, but continues on eternally. This is why the authors go on to say, “as a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.”

When we are regenerate, or “born again,” we not only enter into eternal life, but the continuance of that life itself is the ongoing manifestation of regeneration. We continue on in faith and we repent of our sins when the law is preached!  New life begins at regeneration and continues on unto our glorification.

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Eleven

Article 11: The Holy Spirit's Work in Conversion

Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, or works true conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.
_______________________________________

As we have seen, the Scriptures assign the role of working conversion in elect sinners to the Holy Spirit.  One of the most important passages in this regard is John 3:1-12:

3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Jesus clearly teaches us that the new birth comes not as a result of obeying a command to be born again (as many of our contemporaries understand Jesus to be saying–“born yourself again!”), but the new birth comes before one can see the kingdom of God.  This is the result of the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, who like the wind, operates sovereignly as he sees fit.

Another critical text is 1 Corinthians 2, where Paul attributes the ability to believe the gospel to the power of the Holy Spirit.

2:1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

This, then, is why the Canons state, “when God carries out this good pleasure in his chosen ones, or works true conversion in them, he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised.”

The great miracle in this is that God the Holy Spirit gives life to the dead. The Spirit turns a heart of stone into a heart of flesh.  It is the Holy Spirit who opens the fallen mind and heart to understand the Scriptures of which he himself is the author.

Ironically, this means that the Reformed are committed to a “signs and wonders” ministry (only understood a bit differently than you might be thinking).  God coverts the fallen children of Adam into Christian believers!  Through the foolishness of preaching, God raises the dead and calls the things that are not as though they were!  The work of the Holy Spirit is not about making people do idiotic things in public that they would not even think to do in private  Yet, the Reformed are fully committed to the supernatural activity of God the Holy Spirit—for he works conversion and grants illumination and understanding of his word.

Simply stated, the Holy Spirit “infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.”

It is the Holy Spirit who turns a bad tree into a good tree.  It is the Holy Spirit who turns a heart of stone into a heart of flesh so that God’s elect then believe the gospel, embrace the Savior by faith and are justified.

The great miracle here (the sign and wonder, if you will) is not that legs are lengthened or cavities filled, but that dead men and women are made alive in Christ, and made members of Christ’s body—his temple which is indwelt by the Holy Spirit—and who are at last conformed to the image of Jesus Christ!  This is the work of God the Holy Spirit, not the efforts of the human will as the Arminians would teach.

The Canons of Dort, Third/Fourth Head of Doctrine, Article Ten

Article 10: Conversion as the Work of God

The fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to man, as though one distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains). No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity he chose his own in Christ, so within time he effectively calls them, grants them faith 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 the wonderful deeds of him who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in Scripture.
_________________________________

When it comes to the matter of people coming to faith in Christ, the Reformed place their confidence in the power of God, rather than in the natural ability of sinful men and women. It is quite appropriate at this point for the authors of the Canons to set forth the fact that conversion (which is defined as a person’s coming to faith, as well as the subsequent exercise of repentance) is not the work of the sinner, but is solely the work of God upon the sinner.

In this, we see yet again the Trinitarian emphasis of Reformed ordo salutis (order of salvation). The Father has chosen those whom he will save (redemption decreed). The Father has sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross as the satisfaction for the guilt of the sins of those that he has chosen (redemption accomplished). When the gospel is preached, those whom the Father has chosen, and for whom Christ has died, are effectually called to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit (redemption applied).

As we have seen in the First Head of Doctrine (Article Five), this is the pattern laid out for us by the Apostle Paul in the opening chapter of his letter to the Ephesians (1:3-14):

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Paul is very clear that election was “in Christ” before the foundation of the world (1:4). Such election is based solely upon God’s own pleasure and purpose (1:9, 11). The Apostle also points out in verse 7, that Jesus Christ came in history to accomplish what was necessary for our redemption, namely the forgiveness of the guilt of our sins through the shedding of his blood. And then in verse 13, Paul points out that the believer was included in Christ, “when you heard the word of truth.” Here, Paul is speaking about the time of conversion. Redemption must not only be decreed in eternity and accomplished during Christ’s messianic mission, but such redemption must be applied at the moment in time when we believe (conversion). Paul plainly attributes such conversion to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Article Ten of the Canons simply restates what has already been said repeatedly throughout the earlier heads of doctrine, namely "the fact that others who are called through the ministry of the gospel do come and are brought to conversion must not be credited to man, as though one distinguishes himself by free choice from others who are furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conversion (as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains)."

As we have seen, the fallen human will is held captive to both the darkened understanding of the mind as well as sinful desires of the flesh. While able to make choices (an essential part of what it means to be human) we must ask, “what choices will such a fallen will make when enslaved to sinful desires and passions, and unable to discern or understand spiritual things?” The answer is simple–anything but Christ. A bad tree bears only bad fruit. A sinner who can do nothing to save themselves, will quite naturally hate a holy Savior who holds their fate in his hands.

It is positively unbiblical to speak of conversion as the work of the sinner (i.e, the making of a choice, the exercise of the will,etc.), when it is clear that conversion is the work of God the Holy Spirit, applying the saving benefits of Jesus Christ to God’s elect, who now in turn embrace the gospel and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life. Those who believe, do so only because God has effectually called them through the gospel, and not because they supposedly used their free or natural ability to believe and come to the savior. This is the heresy of the Pelagians and the Canons rightly call out those who still champion this ancient error.

It is clear that “salvation is of the Lord”–a point which the Canons clearly make, when they state, “No, it must be credited to God: just as from eternity he chose his own in Christ, so within time he effectively calls them, grants them faith 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 the wonderful deeds of him who called them out of darkness into this marvelous light, and may boast not in themselves, but in the Lord, as apostolic words frequently testify in Scripture.”

This is what distinguishes Reformed theology from all other systems of Christian theology (even other Augustinian varieties such as Lutheranism). In every case, the Scriptures declare (and the Canons reiterate this over and over again), that the saving operations of God are not directed to “the world” generically, or to people impersonally as nameless, faceless, individuals. The Scriptures know not of a people for whom God provides a “potential” salvation, and for whom God does nothing to actually save the individual sinner, except to provide them with a means to save themselves, if only they will.

This is the fatal biblical weakness in all forms of universalism. In every case, the Bible teaches that the saving actions of God are directed effectually to specific individuals that God intends to save. The Scripture teaches that the shepherd knows his sheep, and that they know him.