Article I
“That God, by an eternal, unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ His Son before the foundation of the world, hath determined, out of a fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ’s sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this his Son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end; and, on the other hand, to leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under wrath, and to condemn them as alienate from Christ, according to the word of the gospel in John 3:36 – ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him’, and according to other passages of Scripture also.”
Article II
“That, agreeably thereunto, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of the Gospel of John 3:16, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’. And in the First Epistle of John 2:2, ‘And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.’”
Article III
“That man has not saving grace (faith) of himself, nor of the energy of his free will, inasmuch as he is in the state of apostacy and sin, can of and by himself neither think, will, nor do anything that is truly good (such as saving faith eminently is); but that it is needful that he be born again of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding, inclination, or will, and all his powers, in order that he may rightly understand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, according to the Word of Christ, John 15:5 ‘Without me ye can do nothing’.”
Article IV
“That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself without prevenient or assisting, awakening, following and co-operative grace can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good deeds or movements, that can be conceived, must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But as respecting the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, inasmuch as it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost. Acts 7 and elsewhere in many places.”
Article V
“That those who are incorporated into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being well understood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ assists them through His Spirit in all temptations, extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10:28, ‘Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.’ But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginnings of their life in Christ (principle of their being in Christ), of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of our minds.”
We can refrain from entering into a detailed criticism of these articles at present as we will treat them with the Canons proper and the Rejection of Errors. However, the following, quoted from “The History of the Protestant Reformed Churches”, by Rev. H. Hoeksema, is a concise evaluation of their content (pgs. 297-304):
Q. 14. “Could there be any objection to the doctrine expressed in the first proposition?
A. Seemingly not. The superficial reader might easily accept this as sound Reformed truth. No doubt, the terminology of this proposition is calculated to deceive the minds of the imprudent and inexperienced just like the terminology of many a modern sermon and also of the Three Points. It seems to teach an eternal and unchangeable counsel of God and apparently it ascribes all the work of faith and salvation to the grace of the Holy Spirit.”
Q. 15. “Do you mean to say, then, that in this first proposition the Remonstrants deny the Reformed doctrine of Predestination?
A. I most certainly maintain this.”
Q. 16. “But how can you sustain this position?
A. By pointing out, that in this first proposition the Arminians or Remonstrants do not teach that God’s Counsel is sovereign and independent, but contingent and dependent on the faith and unbelief of man. The objects of God’s election are those that believe; the objects of reprobation are the incorrigible and unbelieving. This is identical with the last proposition of Arminius, that God’s election and reprobation are determined by His foreknowledge of those that would and those that would not believe in Christ.”
Q. 17. “How would you express the difference between this proposition and the Reformed faith sharply?
A. Thus: according to the first proposition of the Remonstrance the counsel of God is determined by the faith and unbelief of man; according to the Reformed view, the counsel of God is the ultimate determining cause of faith and unbelief both.”
Q. 22. “What is your objection to the second article of the Remonstrance?
A. That it teaches the error of universal atonement, maintaining that Jesus Christ died for all and every man.”
Q. 23. “But does not the article plainly restrict the actual fruit of the death of Christ to believers?
A. It does, yet, while it also maintains that in Christ’s and God’s intention the suffering of the cross is for all and every man, it makes the cross of Christ of none effect for many. And again, determining cause of the effect or non-effect of the death of Christ is the will of man.”
Q. 24. “Is this also a serious error?
A. Most certainly; for, it necessarily implies the denial of the truth of vicarious atonement. Either, Christ’s death is atoning so that it actually is the satisfaction of God’s Justice for all our sins, but then all for whom He died and rose are certainly justified and saved; or, by the death of Christ all for whom He died are not certainly justified and saved, but then His death cannot have been atoning. The doctrine that Christ died for all men is the beginning of Modernism.”
Q. 26. “Is there any objectionable element in the third proposition?
A. Not when it is considered all by itself. The truth of the total depravity of the natural man and of his total incapability of contributing anything to his own salvation, is certainly expressed in the strongest terms. Yet, this article and its strong language are deceptive as is evident as soon as it is read in the light of the proceeding propositions and of the article that immediately follows. For although the Remonstrants seem to teach that salvation must be solely the work of God and that the natural man without grace can do nothing that is truly good, yet, in fact they deny this, when they presently add that man must show himself worthy to receive this grace. The grace of God is not irresistible.”
Q. 28 “What is the serious error of the fourth proposition?
A. That it reduces the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit to a mere offer and an attempt to persuade the sinner to accept the offer. It is a denial of the efficacious character of the grace of God.
Q. 29 “Does the article not imply a contradiction?
A. It does; for, on the one hand it asserts that the grace of God is the very beginning of all good; on the other hand it leaves to the natural man the power to will or not to will to resist or not to resist this grace of the Holy Spirit. But surely, to will the grace of God is very positively a good. If the grace of God is really the beginning of all good man can do, it cannot follow but must needs precede the will to receive it.”
Q. “What then is this article in effect?
A. A denial of the doctrine of total depravity. For, if man is really totally depraved by nature, so that he is wholly incapable of doing, thinking, or willing any good thing; if it is maintained that he is carnal and sold under sin, and that his mind is enmity against God, he surely cannot long for or will to receive the grace of God.”
Q. 31. “Is there any relation between the denial of the sovereign character of God’s decree of Predestination and the denial of the total depravity of the sinner?
A. There is. The one demands the other. He that denies the doctrine of sovereign election and reprobation must also deny the total depravity of the natural man. If salvation is an offer, there must be left in the sinner to whom the offer is made the power to accept the offer. For, to offer any good thing to one whom we know that he cannot accept it, is mere mockery.”
Q. “What is objectionable in the last article?
A. That it constitutes a denial of the perseverance of the saints even unto the end, through the almighty grace of the Holy Spirit.”
Q. 34. “But do not the Remonstrants leave the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints an open question?
A. In the last part of the article they appear to leave this a matter open for debate, for they state that they are not fully persuaded in their own minds, whether the saints can fall away from grace. But in the first part of this proposition they clearly deny the certainty of the perseverance of believers.”
Q. 35. “How do they do this?
A. By saying that Christ will assist them through His Spirit and keep them from falling, if only they are ready for the conflict and desire His help and are not inactive. For, in this statement the grace of Christ whereby only the saints are able to persevere, is made dependent once more upon the will and desire and work of man. And the truth is, that their very readiness for the conflict and desire to receive the help of Christ is dependent upon the grace of God, which is always first.”
Now then, we should not fail to notice that in these Articles the Arminians make a subtle attempt to sound Reformed and even use Scriptural and Reformed language to deny the very fundamental principles of the Reformed Truth. The enemy is very clever. Further, it will be evident that the exegesis of the texts quoted in these articles is very superficial and denies the fundamental rule of letting “Scripture interpret Scripture”. This is characteristic of the foes of truth, and, therefore, necessitates our being always on our guard that we may hold fast and contend for that faith once delivered to the saints and so beautifully expressed in our Canons of Dordt.
C. The Synod of Dordrecht: We cannot give the details of this Synod here nor is that necessary. We note only that there were fifty-seven delegates from the Netherlands and twenty-seven from other countries. The president of the Synod was Bogerman. The leader of the Arminians was Episcopius and the best known name among the Reformers was the staunch Gomarus. The great work of the Synod is its production of the Canons in which the Reformed Truth of fundamental doctrines is set forth over against the heresies of the Remonstrance.