RHB and the Westminster Assembly Project

You have probably already seen this from another source but just in case you haven't here is a link to the press release from Reformation Heritage Books about their agreement to publish a number of books related to the Westminster Assembly project. One of the chief members of this group, Chad Van Dixhoorn, is an OPC pastor at a church in Vienna. The first of the works should be released in March so ought to be something to look forward to!

The Westminster Assembly homepage is here.

Letter from a Reformation Martyr

Here's an interesting post from the Aquila Report. This is a letter written by Guido de Bres to his wife from prison less than two months before his execution for Protestant beliefs during the Spanish Inquisition. De Bres was the author of the Belgic Confession and it was written from where he ministered in the low countries to the Spanish Government to try to clarify what Protestants believed and to explain why they were not a radical movement like the Anabaptists but rather desired to reform the church.

Particularly interesting in the letter is how much de Bres trusted in the good providence of God even in the face of his own impending martyrdom. It expresses a heartfelt confidence in what we confess in Article 13 of de Bres' written confession and is a wonderful example of why it is so important that we do not only believe that God is our Father but that as omnipotent Creator he works all things out for good and that his decrees are both right and certain:

We do not wish to inquire with undue curiosity into what he does that surpasses human understanding and is beyond our ability to comprehend. But in all humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, being content to be Christ's disciples, so as to learn only what he shows us in his Word, without going beyond those limits.

This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures under his control, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father.

In this thought we rest, knowing that he holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without his permission and will.

Nevin vs. Hodge on the Lord's Supper

In the 19th there was a debate between John Williamson Nevin and Charles Hodge over the Reformed doctrine of the Lord's Supper. The debate arose from a book that Dr. Nevin wrote called The Mystical Presence. Dr. Hodge reviewed the book and took issue with several of Nevin's conclusions. Keith Mathison with Ligonier Ministries has posted links to the primary sources on this debate. For what it's worth, I think that Nevin's book is one of the two best resources on this subject and that he was right on this question. This was written during a very tumultuous time in American history and in American Presbyterianism in particular. As Chair of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, Hodge was involved in virtually every major theological debate of the period (and many political/social debates as well). When comparing Hodge's Systematic Theology on the Supper and Nevin's book there does not seem to be nearly as much disagreement as Hodge's review of Nevin's book suggests. I think that due to how busy he was Hodge did not take the time to carefully read and understand Nevin's work. Still, it is interesting to have access to all of this material and a good chance to deepen our understanding of what we believe about the sacrament.

Darryl Hart recently wrote a biography on Nevin for the American Reformed Biography series (the next volume to be published in this series will be on Charles Hodge) that I would recommend for trying to understand more of Nevin's theology and motivations.

Odds and Ends

I just realized that it's been three weeks since I've posted something. Here are two things that I found interesting.

• The week of August 23 is the 437th anniversary of the 1572 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Here are some thoughts on it from Scott Clark.
• Here are some thoughts from a PCA pastor on how we can be culturally relevant in preaching the gospel to a culture that no longer has a Christian majority. I think for the most part that he has some good conclusions but what do you all think?

Perseverance of the Saints pt. 2

It took several more days than I anticipated but here is a brief analysis of the second half of the Fifth Head of Doctrine from the Canons of Dort. Again this head of doctrine addresses the perseverance of the saints.

Article 8. So it is not by their own merits or strength but by God's undeserved mercy that they neither forfeit faith and grace totally nor remain in their downfalls to the end and are lost. With respect to themselves this not only easily could happen, but also undoubtedly would happen; but with respect to God it cannot possibly happen, since his plan cannot be changed, his promise cannot fail, the calling according to his purpose cannot be revoked, the merit of Christ as well as his interceding and preserving cannot be nullified, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit can neither be invalidated nor wiped out.

Building on what they said before, the Synod affirms that perseverance of the saints is ultimately not the work of the saints, though they do work in it, but is the work of God. As a divine operation its success cannot be in doubt. God never fails in his endeavors. Left to our own strength and merit we would undoubtedly be lost yet according to the power and will of God as the merit of Christ is applied to our account we can never lose the gift of the Holy Spirit and the promise of eternal salvation.

Article 9. Concerning this preservation of those chosen to salvation and concerning the perseverance of true believers in faith, believers themselves can and do become assured in accordance with the measure of their faith, by which they firmly believe that they are and always will remain true and living members of the church, and that they have the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Therefore our assurance does not flow from looking to ourselves. As Calvin said, we when look at ourselves we only see damnable sin. Instead assurance of God's love is a saving grace that God gives to those he gives the gift of saving faith. So our confidence of belonging in the church and of eternal salvation is because we know that God who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it.

Article 10. Accordingly, this assurance does not derive from some private revelation beyond or outside the Word, but from faith in the promises of God which he has very plentifully revealed in his Word for our comfort, from the testimony of the Holy Spirit testifying with our spirit that we are God's children and heirs (Rom. 8:16-17), and finally from a serious and holy pursuit of a clear conscience and of good works. And if God's chosen ones in this world did not have this well-founded comfort that the victory will be theirs and this reliable guarantee of eternal glory, they would be of all people most miserable.

Therefore we know that assurance of faith does not come from a private revelation that is given to us but is only found in the promise of God that are contained in Scripture and the Holy Spirit's work that makes the Word of God living and active in the people of God. So again we do not look to ourselves for assurance but we look to God's promises in his Word and then to the signs of saving faith described in that Word, particularly the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit and the external manifestation of the good works that we are created in Christ to do (Eph. 2:10).

Article 11. Meanwhile, Scripture testifies that believers have to contend in this life with various doubts of the flesh and that under severe temptation they do not always experience this full assurance of faith and certainty of perseverance. But God, the Father of all comfort, does not let them be tempted beyond what they can bear, but with the temptation he also provides a way out (1 Cor. 10:13), and by the Holy Spirit revives in them the assurance of their perseverance.

The Synod does not wish to discourage believers unbiblically and so they do state that even mature believers in this life will have to deal with doubts and will question their assurance in times of temptation. At the same time, the sure and certain promise in the Word is that God will not allow his elect to be tempted to the point where they would possibly fall away eternally but will renew them again to repentance and give them a new and greater certainty of faith.

Article 12. This assurance of perseverance, however, so far from making true believers proud and carnally self-assured, is rather the true root of humility, of childlike respect, of genuine godliness, of endurance in every conflict, of fervent prayers, of steadfastness in crossbearing and in confessing the truth, and of well-founded joy in God. Reflecting on this benefit provides an incentive to a serious and continual practice of thanksgiving and good works, as is evident from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints.

Because this assurance does not stem from ourselves but from God it does not serve as a source of boasting in ourselves or in our own work but rather causes us to humble ourselves and to rejoice in the Holy Spirit. It is ultimately as we reflect on the work of God in us to preserve us in our perseverance that we do persevere in good works to the glory of God.

Article 13. Neither does the renewed confidence of perseverance produce immorality or lack of concern for godliness in those put back on their feet after a fall, but it produces a much greater concern to observe carefully the ways of the Lord which he prepared in advance. They observe these ways in order that by walking in them they may maintain the assurance of their perseverance, lest, by their abuse of his fatherly goodness, the face of the gracious God (for the godly, looking upon his face is sweeter than life, but its withdrawal is more bitter than death) turn away from them again, with the result that they fall into greater anguish of spirit.

Here the Synod has careful words for those today who would try to use the doctrine of perseverance of the saints as an excuse for lawlessness (saying, "once saved, always saved"). This doctrine does not excuse sin and disobedience. Instead it places them in the proper context of a new relationship with God. The relationship is not one of wrath but now we are a part of the household of God. It behooves us as beloved children of God to live in a manner that is worthy of our calling and thus to seek to honor, please, and glorify our heavenly Father in our conduct and behavior.

Article 14. And, just as it has pleased God to begin this work of grace in us by the proclamation of the gospel, so he preserves, continues, and completes his work by the hearing and reading of the gospel, by meditation on it, by its exhortations, threats, and promises, and also by the use of the sacraments.

This grace of the perseverance of the saints is accomplished through the same means that the gospel is first delivered to us. It is through the means of grace, meaning the Word and sacraments, that the gospel promising eternal salvation to all who believe in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins is delivered to us.

Article 15. This teaching about the perseverance of true believers and saints, and about their assurance of it--a teaching which God has very richly revealed in his Word for the glory of his name and for the comfort of the godly and which he impresses on the hearts of believers--is something which the flesh does not understand, Satan hates, the world ridicules, the ignorant and the hypocrites abuse, and the spirits of error attack. The bride of Christ, on the other hand, has always loved this teaching very tenderly and defended it steadfastly as a priceless treasure; and God, against whom no plan can avail and no strength can prevail, will ensure that she will continue to do this. To this God alone, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.

The Synod closes in doxology. It is not believers but those outside who mock this doctrine. The church receives it as the gracious promise of the Bridegroom who died to purify her from all sins so that at the last day he might receive her unto himself in glory and thus rejoices and loves her Christ all the more while longing for that day.

A belated Happy New Year

I should have put this up yesterday but I never really got around to sitting down at the computer so it got pushed back to being a day late. Happy New Year to all and here are a few late things on it.

First, if you don't already have a plan to read through the Bible in a year then you should check out these ESV Bible Reading Plans. There are ten options on there to choose from and you're only one day behind so far so easy to get going. Andrea and I are going to try to do the plan that is listed in the ESV Study and Literary Study Bibles (though I'm horrible at keeping up with these things). This plan has a selection from the Psalms and Wisdom Literature, the Pentateuch and Historical books, Chronicles and the Prophets, and the Gospels and Epistles for every day. It is designed to read through the Psalms, Isaiah, Luke, and Romans twice during the year in their entirety. If you choose this then not only is it already in the back of those Bibles but this .pdf is designed to be cut into four bookmarks that you place in your Bible to keep your place. Justin Taylor also has directions for how to get any of these plans as a podcast that you can download through iTunes. Don't forget the plans out to read Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion in a year as well (see posts lower down).

Second, January 1 was the 71st anniversary of when the Lord called J. Gresham Machen to glory. Machen was the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary and a crucial figure in the foundation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. He was a stallwart defender of biblical Christianity against the errors and heresies of theological liberalism. He died of pneumonia while preaching and helping to build up several young OPC churches in the Dakotas. His last recorded words were a telegram that he sent to his younger colleague at WTS, John Murray, "[I am] so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it." I highly recommend Stephen Nichols book, J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought, as a short biography of Machen and also a summary of his most important writings. You should certainly read Christianity and Liberalism, listed as one of the top 100 books of the Millenium by World Magazine and the Top 100 of the 20th century by Christianity Today, and the subsequent What Is Faith? (Christianity and Liberalism is also available to read online)

Finally, I wanted to put a quick survey of the Fifth Head of Doctrine from the Canons of Dort on the perseverance of the saints and true assurance of salvation. This will be in two parts so only the first seven articles are here. I find Dort very helpful here as the Synod carefully shows that from the perspective of man our assurance is tied to perseverance but from the divine perspective perseverance is assured as God preserves.

Article 1. Those people whom God according to his purpose calls into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, he also sets free from the reign and slavery of sin, though in this life not entirely from the flesh and from the body of sin.

In transitioning from the articulation of regeneration and effectual calling to perseverance the Synod first holds that the regenerate are free from the slavery to sin though they are not entirely free from indwelling sin. So believers continue to sin as long as they are in this body of sin in death even though in their inner man they have been raised to new life in Christ.

Article 2. Hence daily sins of weakness arise, and blemishes cling to even the best works of God's people, giving them continual cause to humble themselves before God, to flee for refuge to Christ crucified, to put the flesh to death more and more by the Spirit of supplication and by holy exercises of godliness, and to strain toward the goal of perfection, until they are freed from this body of death and reign with the Lamb of God in heaven.

Therefore the Synod holds that even our best works are blemished by indwelling sin. This requires us to constantly repent of our sins and to turn from them to God and to plead again only the merit of Christ's atoning death. On the basis of Christ's perfect finished work believers still know that they are justified before God. Thus we find that is it justification by grace alone through faith alone and in Christ alone that is the key to perseverance. Michael Horton says that it is only if we are justified by faith that our works are justified. Believers persevere in good works as the regenerate and justified people of God because they know that the perfection of those works is not what justifies them but it rather the feeble offering of sons and daughters to a gracious and loving Father who receives those works done for his glory as they are done by us in Christ.

Article 3. Because of these remnants of sin dwelling in them and also because of the temptations of the world and Satan, those who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. But God is faithful, mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them and powerfully preserving them in it to the end.

Having placed the believer in the paradox of being renewed in the image of Christ in the inner man even while the body decays because of sin and death the Synod states that indwelling sin would prohibit the believer from persevering according to their own resources. So perseverance by the believer is the work of God who continues to build his elect up in the grace given to them in regeneration and preserves them in that grace to the end. Thus we see how it is from our perspective that it is perseverance and from God's it is preservation unto perseverance.

Article 4. Although that power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh, yet those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God that in certain specific actions they cannot by their own fault depart from the leading of grace, be led astray by the desires of the flesh, and give in to them. For this reason they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations. When they fail to do this, not only can they be carried away by the flesh, the world, and Satan into sins, even serious and outrageous ones, but also by God's just permission they sometimes are so carried away--witness the sad cases, described in Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins.

This article helps to guard against perfectionism. Though God does perfectly preserve believers in perseverance this does not mean that believers are made incapable of committing sins, even horrible sins. Like all that occurs this is by the good counsel of God that they are permitted to fall away into these sins.

Article 5. By such monstrous sins, however, they greatly offend God, deserve the sentence of death, grieve the Holy Spirit, suspend the exercise of faith, severely wound the conscience, and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time--until, after they have returned to the way by genuine repentance, God's fatherly face again shines upon them.

Furthermore, sins committed by believers are not different in character than those committed by unbelievers. All sin is offensive to God and deserves his wrath and curse (see Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A 83). Because of this believers who fall into grevious sin can lose some or all of their sense of the assurance of their salvation until they again return to the promise of God in Scripture and come again in repentance of their sin. This returning to repentance is not a second salvation, that was accomplished one time in their conversion, but it does lead to the renewal of their sense of assurance as they again sense and experience God's fatherly blessings.

Article 6. For God, who is rich in mercy, according to his unchangeable purpose of election does not take his Holy Spirit from his own completely, even when they fall grievously. Neither does he let them fall down so far that they forfeit the grace of adoption and the state of justification, or commit the sin which leads to death (the sin against the Holy Spirit), and plunge themselves, entirely forsaken by him, into eternal ruin.

The reason that we know this is not a second salvation is because God has given his Holy Spirit to regenerate believers and he does not ever take it away from them. Even when in their sin they grieve the Holy Spirit of God they remain still united to Christ and saved in him and thereby safe from eternal condemnation.

Article 7. For, in the first place, God preserves in those saints when they fall his imperishable seed from which they have been born again, lest it perish or be dislodged. Secondly, by his Word and Spirit he certainly and effectively renews them to repentance so that they have a heartfelt and godly sorrow for the sins they have committed; seek and obtain, through faith and with a contrite heart, forgiveness in the blood of the Mediator; experience again the grace of a reconciled God; through faith adore his mercies; and from then on more eagerly work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

In showing how this relationship is perserved the Synod argues that God first keeps believers from ever committing an impardonable sin. All of their sins, past and future, are paid for by Christ on the cross. Thus the work of the Spirit to unite us to Christ's person and work secures our eternal salvation. Second, because the Spirit remains in us and works in us even when we fall into sin he will renew us again to repentance. We will have true grief and hatred of sin and will turn from it to God with full pursuit of new obedience (see WSC Q&A 86). Therefore in these two points we see that perseverance is wholly the work of God but in that work he causes us to work also.

Canons of Dort - 3rd and 4th Heads of Doctrine - 2

Here is part two of yesterday's analysis of the 3rd and 4th heads of doctrine in the Canons of Dort.

Article 10. 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.

Having established that all responsibility for rejecting the gospel is attributed to human sin and that sinful men are incapable of coming to salvation on their own the Synod turns to ask how is it that sinners can be converted to the gospel. Because of human depravity the credit for those who do come to embrace the gospel must not go to them but must go entirely to God who effectively calls those whom he has elected from all eternity so that all righteous response to the gospel on man's part is the work of God and they must boast only in him.

Article 11. 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.

So we hold that those who do come to saving faith in Christ do so because God providentially causes them to hear the gospel preached and works in them to cause them to respond. The way he does this is by making those who are dead alive in Christ. He makes sinful men into new men with new desires and new works. So what God makes new cannot help but to produce new fruit.

Article 12. 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.

This work of God within us is what the Scriptures call regeneration or God's making us alive. This does not happen through the outward proclamation of the gospel or by human works of apologetics. Regeneration is not our work; it is the work of the Spirit. This work of making the dead alive is equivalent to God's work of creation. Bringing life out of death is the same as bringing the things that are out of nothing. So the will of new creatures is motivated by the things of God because it is the restored and renewed creation of God that is not marred by the sin of the old.

Article 13. 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.

In this article the Synod references John 3. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Spirit's work of new birth is a mysterious one that cannot be explained just like how the wind blows where it will and no one can see why it blows one way and not another. So God's people cannot explain why God chooses to regenerate one and not another or even entirely how the new birth happens but they can be confident on the basis of the effects of the Spirit's work that it has taken place.

Article 14. 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.

On this basis we see that faith is not of men but is of God. The very faith that embraces the gospel does not belong naturally to man but is the Spiritual work of God within man. Faith is not something given to man for him to choose what to place it in but faith is given that embraces Christ as he is offered in the gospel. Regeneration makes men both willing and able to believe so that they cannot, will not, and would not do otherwise.

Article 15. 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.

The Synod goes on to argue that God does not owe the grace of regeneration to any man. Because of sin we cannot ever purchase anything from God. Instead we have to recognize that if we are regenerate then we have nothing to boast in and no one to praise except for Jesus Christ. Furthermore, because regeneration is the work of God we find that we are not able to judge whether or not an other is a true or false believer. Instead God alone judges the heart and so we can only pray for them and speak favorably of them when they do profess faith. Finally, we cannot claim to be in anyway better than the unregenerate for anything within ourselves because that work belongs to God alone and does not spring from anything within us.

Article 16. 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.

The Synod now wants to clarify what does not happen when God works his grace of regeneration. Sin did not completely abolish human will be instead made it depraved and opposed to God. Similarly regeneration does not abolish the human will but instead makes it holy and restores human will in the image of God. So new men are obedient in the Spirit and it is in that obedience that they have true freedom of their wills. Therefore it is the gracious work of the Spirit which not only renews the creation but also guarantees its consummation and continual perfection as wills are restored to a higher state than even Adam possessed as he was made holy and good.

Article 17. 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.

Further clarifying how this work of regeneration occurs the Synod teaches that just as God uses means in sustaining our natural lives (such as food, rain, sunshine, etc.) he also uses means in ushering us into the new Spiritual life. These outward means are the preaching of the gospel. Therefore the Synod concludes that this understanding of God's effectual call and his irresistible grace does not make the preaching of the gospel and the outward call superflous or unnecessary. Instead the usefulness of the outward call is confirmed in God's work. It is because he has ordained and appointed the means of grace in the preaching of the word, the adminstration of the sacraments, and the use of discipline in the church that he brings men to salvation. Thus though salvation is God's work alone he still sees fit to bestow the grace of his gospel through outward admonitions to repent and believe the gospel. It is true that saving faith is the means through which God saves us. Yet as that saving faith is the gift of God we must recognize that all of the praise and glory of salvation goes to God alone.

Canons of Dort - 3rd and 4th Heads of Doctrine - 1

I wanted to follow up on my earlier post that surveyed the Second Head of Doctrine in the Canons of Dort in light of the doctrine of definite atonement. These two heads of doctrine survey human corruption, conversion to the gospel, and the way that one moves from one to the other. In other words the Synod of Dort addresses what we today call total depravity and irresistible grace in this section. This is just a very brief survey of what our confession says on this topic.

Article 1. Man was originally created in the image of God and was furnished in his mind with a true and salutary knowledge of his Creator and things spiritual, in his will and heart with righteousness, and in all his emotions with purity; indeed, the whole man was holy. However, rebelling against God at the devil's instigation and by his own free will, he deprived himself of these outstanding gifts. Rather, in their place he brought upon himself blindness, terrible darkness, futility, and distortion of judgment in his mind; perversity, defiance, and hardness in his heart and will; and finally impurity in all his emotions.

Here the Synod simply affirms their belief that creation as completed by God at the end of the sixth day was "very good" just as Scripture tells us. With that we can say that man as created was both holy and good. So the fall and consequent depravity of man cannot be blamed on the Creator for any deficiency in his creation but instead is attributed wholly to man who sinned out of his own free will and brought the estate of sin and misery upon himself.

Article 2. Man brought forth children of the same nature as himself after the fall. That is to say, being corrupt he brought forth corrupt children. The corruption spread, by God's just judgment, from Adam to all his descendants-- except for Christ alone--not by way of imitation (as in former times the Pelagians would have it) but by way of the propagation of his perverted nature.

In the second article we read that all of Adam's descendents were infected with the same depravity that Adam brought upon himself in his original sin. The Westminster Standards also affirm this by saying that the covenant made with Adam was made with him for him and all his descendents so that all mankind sinned in him and fell with him. So through the one sin of Adam we see that sin, condemnation, and death spread to all men. So men are not totally depraved on the basis of their own sins but rather because of their solidarity with Adam in his original sin and their own sins are the outworking of that depravity.

Article 3. Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin; without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves to such reform.

On this basis the Synod concludes that no one is able to save his or her self. All are born in sin and so cannot work any good or righteousness that will justify them to God apart from the saving work of the Holy Spirit. Even more, no one can even truly bend their will toward the righteousness that God requires so long as they are dead in their sins.

Article 4. There is, to be sure, a certain light of nature remaining in man after the fall, by virtue of which he retains some notions about God, natural things, and the difference between what is moral and immoral, and demonstrates a certain eagerness for virtue and for good outward behavior. But this light of nature is far from enabling man to come to a saving knowledge of God and conversion to him--so far, in fact, that man does not use it rightly even in matters of nature and society. Instead, in various ways he completely distorts this light, whatever its precise character, and suppresses it in unrighteousness. In doing so he renders himself without excuse before God.

This is balanced by an understanding of common grace. The Synod reminds us that Scripture teaches that it is not true on this basis that people have no knowledge of God or his moral demands (Ps. 19; Rom. 1:18ff.). Yet God's common grace in his general revelatory activity is not sufficient to bring depraved people who are dead in their sins to salvation. Instead in their depravity sinful men distort the truth of that revelation and confirm their condemnation before God.

Article 5. In this respect, what is true of the light of nature is true also of the Ten Commandments given by God through Moses specifically to the Jews. For man cannot obtain saving grace through the Decalogue, because, although it does expose the magnitude of his sin and increasingly convict him of his guilt, yet it does not offer a remedy or enable him to escape from his misery, and, indeed, weakened as it is by the flesh, leaves the offender under the curse.

Here the Canons teach that though God's revelatory activity goes beyond nature to the special revelation of his law in the Decalogue even that is not sufficient to save sinful man. The law does more than nature in that it exposes the depth of our depravity and does even more to convict us as guilty before God but it does not give us the remedy to our dead estate and so leaves us under God's curse.

Article 6. What, therefore, neither the light of nature nor the law can do, God accomplishes by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word or the ministry of reconciliation. This is the gospel about the Messiah, through which it has pleased God to save believers, in both the Old and the New Testament.

Therefore we know that since the revelation in nature and the law are not sufficient to rescue us from our depraved condition we need still further revelation in the gospel. It is the in the gospel, through the work of the Holy Spirit in the means of grace, that God gives the good news of Christ wherein God has placed the promise of salvation.

Article 7. In the Old Testament, God revealed this secret of his will to a small number; in the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples) he discloses it to a large number. The reason for this difference must not be ascribed to the greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better use of the light of nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love of God. Therefore, those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of all they deserve, ought to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts; on the other hand, with the apostle they ought to adore (but certainly not inquisitively search into) the severity and justice of God's judgments on the others, who do not receive this grace.

Now the Synod begins to ask how the gospel has been revealed. During the Old Testament period God only revealed this to the people of Israel but now he discloses it to all tribes, tongues, and nations through the apostolic ministry. When one hears the gospel and another does not this does not mean that the one has greater value than the other but rather only speaks of God's free and electing love and his sovereign choice to reveal himself to whom he wills.

Article 8. Nevertheless, all who are called through the gospel are called seriously. For seriously and most genuinely God makes known in his Word what is pleasing to him: that those who are called should come to him. Seriously he also promises rest for their souls and eternal life to all who come to him and believe.

At the same time the Synod affirms the free and universal offer of the gospel. All who hear the message of the gospel are seriously and honestly called to respond in faith and repentance. The promise of salvation in the gospel to those who respond is a true and not a deceitful promise.

Article 9. The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls them through the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain the Word of life; others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; others choke the seed of the Word with the thorns of life's cares and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).

Thus the Synod states that all responsibility for destruction because of rejecting the gospel lies with men and not with God. The gospel contains all of the promises of God and the power to fulfill those promises. So those who refuse the gospel are responsible for their own destruction. The seed is good it is the soil that is bad.

Since there are too many headings to address in one post there will be a follow up with Articles 10-17 tomorrow.