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RATIFIED IN THE
NATIONAL SYNOD OF THE REFORMED CHURCH
Held at Dordrecht
in the years 1618 and 1619
SECOND
HEAD OF DOCTRINE
Of the Death
of Christ and the Redemption of Men Thereby
Article
1
God is not only supremely merciful, but also
supremely just. And His justice requires (as He hath revealed
Himself in His Word), that our sins committed against His infinite
majesty should be punished, not only with temporal, but with
eternal punishment, both in body and soul; which we cannot escape
unless satisfaction be made to the justice of God.
Article
2
Since therefore we are unable to make that
satisfaction in our own persons or to deliver ourselves from
the wrath of God, He hath been pleased in His infinite mercy
to give His only begotten Son, for our surety, who was made
sin, and became a curse for us and in our stead, that He might
make satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf.
Article
3
The death of the Son of God is the only and
most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite
worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of
the whole world.
Article
4
This death derives its infinite value and
dignity from these considerations because the person who submitted
to it was not only really man and perfectly holy, but also the
only begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were
necessary to constitute Him a Savior for us; and because it
was attended with a sense of the wrath and curse of God due
to us for sin.
Article
5
Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that
whosoever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish, but
have everlasting life. This promise, together with the command
to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to
all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction,
to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel.
Article
6
And whereas many who are called by the gospel
do not repent nor believe in Christ, but perish in unbelief,
this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency in the sacrifice
offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly to be imputed
to themselves.
Article
7
But as many as truly believe, and are delivered
and saved from sin and destruction through the death of Christ,
are indebted for this benefit solely to the grace of God, given
them in Christ from everlasting, and not to any merit of their
own.
Article
8
For this was the sovereign counsel, and most
gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening
and saving efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should
extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift
of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation:
that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of
the cross, whereby He confirmed the new covenant, should effectually
redeem out of every people, tribe, nation, and language, all
those, and those only, who were from eternity chosen to salvation
and given to Him by the Father; that He should confer upon them
faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of the
Holy Spirit, He purchased for them by His death; should purge
them from all sin, both original and actual, whether committed
before or after believing; and having faithfully preserved them
even to the end, should at last bring them free from every spot
and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in His own presence forever.
Article
9
This purpose proceeding from everlasting
love towards the elect has from the beginning of the world to
this day been powerfully accomplished, and will henceforward
still continue to be accomplished, notwithstanding all the ineffectual
opposition of the gates of hell, so that the elect in due time
may be gathered together into one, and that there never may
be wanting a church composed of believers, the foundation of
which is laid in the blood of Christ, which may steadfastly
love and faithfully serve Him as their Savior, who as a bridegroom
for his bride, laid down His life for them upon the cross, and
which may celebrate His praises here and through all eternity.
The true doctrine (concerning redemption)
having been explained, the Synod rejects the errors of those
who teach:
Rejection
1
That God the Father has ordained His Son
to the death of the cross without a certain and definite decree
to save any, so that the necessity, profitableness and worth
of what Christ merited by His death might have existed, and
might remain in all its parts complete, perfect and intact,
even if the merited redemption had never in fact been applied
to any person. For this doctrine tends to the despising of the
wisdom of the Father and of the merits of Jesus Christ, and
is contrary to Scripture. For thus saith our Savior: "I
lay down My life for the sheep, and I know them" (John
10:15, 27). And the prophet Isaiah saith concerning the Savior:
"When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He
shall see His seed, He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure
of the LORD shall prosper in his hand" (Is. 53:10). Finally,
this contradicts the article of faith according to which we
believe the catholic Christian church.
Rejection
2
That it was not the purpose of the death
of Christ that He should confirm the new covenant of grace through
His blood, but only that He should acquire for the Father the
mere right to establish with man such a covenant as He might
please, whether of grace or of works. For this is repugnant
to Scripture which teaches that Christ has become the Surety
and Mediator of a better, that is, the new covenant, and that
a testament is of force where death has occurred. "By so
much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament" (Heb.
7:22); "And for this cause He is the Mediator of the new
testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament, they which
are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance";
"For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise
it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth"
(Heb. 9:15, 17).
Rejection
3
That Christ by His satisfaction merited neither
salvation itself for anyone, nor faith, whereby this satisfaction
of Christ unto salvation is effectually appropriated; but that
He merited for the Father only the authority or the perfect
will to deal again with man, and to prescribe new conditions
as He might desire, obedience to which, however, depended on
the free will of man, so that it therefore might have come to
pass that either none or all should fulfill these conditions.
For these adjudge too contemptuously of the death of Christ,
do in no wise acknowledge the most important fruit or benefit
thereby gained, and bring again out of hell the Pelagian error.
Rejection
4
That the new covenant of grace, which God
the Father, through the mediation of the death of Christ, made
with man, does not herein consist that we by faith, inasmuch
as it accepts the merits of Christ, are justified before God
and saved, but in the fact that God having revoked the demand
of perfect obedience of faith, regards faith itself and the
obedience of faith, although imperfect, as the perfect obedience
of the law, and does esteem it worthy of the reward of eternal
life through grace. For these contradict the Scriptures: "Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood" (Rom. 3:24-25). And these proclaim,
as did the wicked Socinus, a new and strange justification of
man before God against the consensus of the whole church.
Rejection
5
That all men have been accepted unto the
state of reconciliation and unto the grace of the covenant,
so that no one is worthy of condemnation on account of original
sin, and that no one shall be condemned because of it, but that
all are free from the guilt of original sin. For this opinion
is repugnant to Scripture which teaches that we are by nature
children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).
Rejection
6
The use of the difference between meriting
and appropriating, to the end that they may instill into the
minds of the imprudent and inexperienced this teaching that
God, as far as He is concerned, has been minded of applying
to all equally the benefits gained by the death of Christ; but
that, while some obtain the pardon of sin and eternal life,
and others do not, this difference depends on their own free
will, which joins itself to the grace that is offered without
exception, and that it is not dependent on the special gift
of mercy, which powerfully works in them, that they rather than
others should appropriate unto themselves this grace. For these,
while they feign that they present this distinction in a sound
sense, seek to instill into the people the destructive poison
of the Pelagian errors.
Rejection
7
That Christ neither could die, needed to
die, nor did die for those whom God loved in the highest degree
and elected to eternal life, and did not die for these, since
these do not need the death of Christ. For they contradict the
apostle, who declares: "the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Likewise: "Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died" (Rom.
8:33-34), namely, for them; and the Savior who says: "I
lay down My life for the sheep" (John 10:15). And: "This
is My commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved
you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his life for his friends" (John 15:12-13).
Of the Corruption
of Man, His Conversion to God, and the Manner Thereof
Article
1
Man was originally formed after the image
of God. His understanding was adorned with a true and saving
knowledge of his Creator and of spiritual things; his heart
and will were upright; all his affections pure; and the whole
man was holy; but revolting from God by the instigation of the
devil, and abusing the freedom of his own will, he forfeited
these excellent gifts; and on the contrary entailed on himself
blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness
of judgment, became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart
and will, and impure in his affections.
Article
2
Man after the fall begat children in his
own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring.
Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have
derived corruption from their original parent, not by imitation,
as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the propagation of
a vicious nature.
Article
3
Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and
by nature children of wrath, incapable of saving good, prone
to evil, dead in sin, and in bondage thereto, and without the
regenerating grace of the Holy Spirit, they are neither able
nor willing to return to God, to reform the depravity of their
nature, or to dispose themselves to reformation.
Article
4
There remain, however, in man since the fall,
the glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains some knowledge
of God, of natural things, and of the differences between good
and evil, and discovers some regard for virtue, good order in
society, and for maintaining an orderly external deportment.
But so far is this light of nature from being sufficient to
bring him to a saving knowledge of God and to true conversion,
that he is incapable of using it aright even in things natural
and civil. Nay, further, this light, such as it is, man in various
ways renders wholly polluted and holds it in unrighteousness,
by doing which he becomes inexcusable before God.
Article
5
In the same light are we to consider the
law of the decalogue, delivered by God to His peculiar people
the Jews by the hands of Moses. For though it discovers the
greatness of sin, and more and more convinces man thereof, yet
as it neither points out a remedy nor imparts strength to extricate
him from misery, and thus being weak through the flesh leaves
the transgressor under the curse, man cannot by this law obtain
saving grace.
Article
6
What therefore neither the light of nature,
nor the law could do, that God performs by the operation of
the Holy Spirit through the Word or ministry of reconciliation,
which is the glad tidings concerning the Messiah, by means whereof
it hath pleased God to save such as believe, as well under the
Old, as under the New Testament.
Article
7
This mystery of His will God discovered to
but a small number under the Old Testament; under the New (the
distinction between various peoples having been removed), He
reveals Himself to many without any distinction of people. The
cause of this dispensation is not to be ascribed to the superior
worth of one nation above another, nor to their making a better
use of the light of nature, but results wholly from the sovereign
good pleasure and unmerited love of God. Hence they, to whom
so great and so gracious a blessing is communicated above their
desert, or rather notwithstanding their demerits, are bound
to acknowledge it with humble and grateful hearts, and with
the apostle to adore, not curiously to pry into the severity
and justice of God's judgments displayed to others, to whom
this grace is not given.
Article
8
As many as are called by the gospel are unfeignedly
called. For God hath most earnestly and truly declared in His
Word what will be acceptable to Him; namely, that all who are
called, should comply with the invitation. He, moreover, seriously
promises eternal life and rest to as many as shall come to Him
and believe on Him.
Article
9
It is not the fault of the gospel nor of
Christ, offered therein, nor of God, who calls men by the gospel
and confers upon them various gifts, that those who are called
by the ministry of the Word refuse to come and be converted.
The fault lies in themselves, some of whom when called, regardless
of their danger, reject the word of life; others, though they
receive it, suffer it not to make a lasting impression on their
heart; therefore, their joy, arising only from a temporary faith,
soon vanishes and they fall away; while others choke the seed
of the Word by perplexing cares and the pleasures of this world,
and produce no fruit. This our Savior teaches in the parable
of the sower (Matt. 13).
Article
10
But that others who are called by the gospel
obey the call and are converted is not to be ascribed to the
proper exercise of free will, whereby one distinguishes himself
above others, equally furnished with grace sufficient for faith
and conversions as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains; but
it must be wholly ascribed to God, who as He has chosen His
own from eternity in Christ, so He confers upon them faith and
repentance, rescues them from the power of darkness, and translates
them into the kingdom of His own Son, that they may show forth
the praises of Him who hath called them out of darkness into
His marvelous light; and may glory not in themselves, but in
the Lord according to the testimony of the apostles in various
places.
Article
11
But when God accomplishes His good pleasure
in the elect or works in them true conversion, He not only causes
the gospel to be externally preached to them and powerfully
illuminates their mind by His Holy Spirit, that they may rightly
understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God; but
by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades the
inmost recesses of the man; He opens the closed, and softens
the hardened heart, and circumcises that which was uncircumcised,
infuses new qualities into the will, which though heretofore
dead, He quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and refractory,
He renders it good, obedient, and pliable; actuates and strengthens
it, that like a good tree, it may bring forth the fruits of
good actions.
Article
12
And this is the regeneration so highly celebrated
in Scripture and denominated a new creation: a resurrection
from the dead, a making alive, which God works in us without
our aid. But this is in no wise effected merely by the external
preaching of the gospel, by moral suasion, or such a mode of
operation, that after God has performed His part, it still remains
in the power of man to be regenerated or not, to be converted
or to continue unconverted; but it is evidently a supernatural
work, most powerful, and at the same time most delightful, astonishing,
mysterious, and ineffable; not inferior in efficacy to creation
or the resurrection from the dead, as the Scripture inspired
by the author of this work declares; so that all in whose heart
God works in this marvelous manner are certainly, infallibly,
and effectually regenerated, and do actually believe. Whereupon
the will thus renewed is not only actuated and influenced by
God, but in consequence of this influence, becomes itself active.
Wherefore also, man is himself rightly said to believe and repent,
by virtue of that grace received.
Article
13
The manner of this operation cannot be fully
comprehended by believers in this life. Notwithstanding which,
they rest satisfied with knowing and experiencing that by this
grace of God they are enabled to believe with the heart, and
love their Savior.
Article
14
Faith is therefore to be considered as the
gift of God, not on account of its being offered by God to man,
to be accepted or rejected at his pleasure; but because it is
in reality conferred, breathed, and infused into him; or even
because God bestows the power or ability to believe, and then
expects that man should by the exercise of his own free will,
consent to the terms of salvation and actually believe in Christ;
but because He who works in man both to will and to do, and
indeed all things in all, produces both the will to believe
and the act of believing also.
Article
15
God is under no obligation to confer this
grace upon any; for how can He be indebted to man, who had no
previous gifts to bestow, as a foundation for such recompense?
Nay, who has nothing of his own but sin and falsehood? He therefore
who becomes the subject of this grace, owes eternal gratitude
to God, and gives Him thanks forever. Whoever is not made partaker
thereof, is either altogether regardless of these spiritual
gifts and satisfied with his own condition, or is in no apprehension
of danger and vainly boasts the possession of that which he
has not. With respect to those who make an external profession
of faith and live regular lives, we are bound, after the example
of the apostle, to judge and speak of them in the most favorable
manner. For the secret recesses of the heart are unknown to
us. And as to others, who have not yet been called, it is our
duty to pray for them to God, who calls the things that are
not, as if they were. But we are in no wise to conduct ourselves
towards them with haughtiness, as if we had made ourselves to
differ.
Article
16
But as man by the fall did not cease to be
a creature endowed with understanding and will, nor did sin
which pervaded the whole race of mankind deprive him of the
human nature, but brought upon him depravity and spiritual death;
so also this grace of regeneration does not treat men as senseless
stocks and blocks, nor takes away their will and its properties,
neither does violence thereto; but spiritually quickens, heals,
corrects, and at the same time sweetly and powerfully bends
it; that where carnal rebellion and resistance formerly prevailed,
a ready and sincere spiritual obedience begins to reign, in
which the true and spiritual restoration and freedom of our
will consist. Wherefore unless the admirable Author of every
good work wrought in us, man could have no hope ofrecovering
from his fall by his own free will, by the abuse of which, in
a state of innocence, he plunged himself into ruin.
Article
17
As the almighty operation of God, whereby
He prolongs and supports this our natural life, does not exclude,
but requires the use of means, by which God of His infinite
mercy and goodness hath chosen to exert His influence, so also
the beforementioned supernatural operation of God, by which
we are regenerated, in no wise excludes or subverts the use
of the gospel, which the most wise God has ordained to be the
seed of regeneration and food of the soul. Wherefore, as the
apostles, and teachers who succeeded them, piously instructed
the people concerning this grace of God, to His glory, and the
abasement of all pride, and in the meantime, however, neglected
not to keep them by the sacred precepts of the gospel in the
exercise of the Word, sacraments and discipline; so even to
this day, be it far from either instructors or instructed to
presume to tempt God in the church by separating what He of
His good pleasure hath most intimately joined together. For
grace is conferred by means of admonitions; and the more readily
we perform our duty, the more eminent usually is this blessing
of God working in us, and the more directly is His work advanced;
to whom alone all the glory both of means, and of their saving
fruit and efficacy is forever due. Amen.
The true doctrine (concerning corruption
and conversion) having been explained, the Synod rejects the
errors of those who teach:
Rejection
1
That it cannot properly be said that original
sin in itself suffices to condemn the whole human race or to
deserve temporal and eternal punishment. For these contradict
the apostle, who declares: "Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12). And:
"The judgment was by one to condemnation" (Rom. 5:16).
And: "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).
Rejection
2
That the spiritual gifts or the good qualities
and virtues, such as goodness, holiness, righteousness, could
not belong to the will of man when he was first created, and
that these, therefore, could not have been separated therefrom
in the fall. For such is contrary to the description of the
image of God which the apostle gives in Ephesians 4:24, where
he declares that it consists in righteousness and holiness,
which undoubtedly belong to the will.
Rejection
3
That in spiritual death the spiritual gifts
are not separate from the will of man, since the will in itself
has never been corrupted, but only hindered through the darkness
of the understanding and the irregularity of the affections;
and that, these hindrances having been removed, the will can
then bring into operation its native powers, that is, that the
will of itself is able to will and to choose, or not to will
and not to choose, all manner of good which may be presented
to it. This is an innovation and an error, and tends to elevate
the powers of the free will, contrary to the declaration of
the prophet: "The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9); and of the apostle:
"Among whom (sons of disobedience) also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind" (Eph. 2:3).
Rejection
4
That the unregenerate man is not really nor
utterly dead in sin, nor destitute of all powers unto spiritual
good, but that he can yet hunger and thirst after righteousness
and life, and offer the sacrifice of a contrite and broken spirit,
which is pleasing to God. For these are contrary to the express
testimony of Scripture. "Who were dead in trespasses and
sins"; "Even when we were dead in sins" (Eph.
2:1, 5); and: "every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5); "for
the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth"
(Gen. 8:21). Moreover, to hunger and thirst after deliverance
from misery, and after life, and to offer unto God the sacrifice
of a broken spirit, is peculiar to the regenerate and those
that are called blessed. "Create in me a clean heart, O
God; and renew a right spirit within me"; "Then shalt
Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt
offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks
upon Thine altar" (Ps. 51:10, 19); "Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall
be filled" (Matt. 5:6).
Rejection
5
That the corrupt and natural man can so well
use the common grace (by which they understand the light of
nature), or the gifts still left him after the fall, that he
can gradually gain by their good use a greater, namely, the
evangelical or saving grace and salvation itself. And that in
this way God on His part shows Himself ready to reveal Christ
unto all men, since He applies to all sufficiently and efficiently
the means necessary to conversion. For the experience of all
ages and the Scriptures do both testify that this is untrue.
"He sheweth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments
unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for
His judgments, they have not known them" (Ps. 147:19, 20).
"Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their
own ways" (Acts 14:16). And: "Now when they (Paul
and his companions) had gone throughout Phrygia and the region
of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the
word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to
go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts
16:6, 7).
Rejection
6
That in the true conversion of man no new
qualities, powers or gifts can be infused by God into the will,
and that therefore faith through which we are first converted,
and because of which we are called believers, is not a quality
or gift infused by God, but only an act of man, and that it
cannot be said to be a gift, except in respect of the power
to attain to this faith. For thereby they contradict the Holy
Scriptures which declare that God infuses new qualities of faith,
of obedience, and of the consciousness of His love into our
hearts: "I will put My law in their inward parts, and write
it in their hearts" (Jer. 31:33). And: "I will pour
water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground:
I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed" (Is. 44:3). And: "the
love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which
is given unto us"(Rom. 5:5). This is also repugnant to
the continuous practice of the Church,which prays by the mouth
of the prophet thus: "turn Thou me, and I shall be turned"
(Jer.31:18).
Rejection
7
That the grace whereby we are converted to
God is only a gentle advising, or (as others explain it), that
this is the noblest manner of working in the conversion of man,
and that this manner of working, which consists in advising,
is most in harmony with man's nature; and that there is no reason
why this advising grace alone should not be sufficient to make
the natural man spiritual, indeed, that God does not produce
the consent of the will except through this manner of advising;
and that the power of the divine working, whereby it surpasses
the working of Satan, consists in this, that God promises eternal,
while Satan promises only temporal goods. But this is altogether
Pelagian and contrary to the whole Scripture which, besides
this, teaches yet another and far more powerful and divine manner
of the Holy Spirit's working in the conversion of man, as in
Ezekiel: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh"
(Ezek. 36:26).
Rejection
8
That God in the regeneration of man does
not use such powers of His omnipotence as potently and infallibly
bend man's will to faith and conversion; but that all the works
of grace having been accomplished, which God employs to convert
man, man may yet so resist God and the Holy Spirit when God
intends man's regeneration and wills to regenerate him, and
indeed that man often does so resist that he prevents entirely
his regeneration, and that it therefore remains in man's power
to be regenerated or not. For this is nothing less than the
denial of all the efficiency of God's grace in our conversion,
and the subjecting of the working of the Almighty God to the
will of man, which is contrary to the apostles, who teach: "who
believe, according to the working of His mighty power"
(Eph. 1:19). And: "That our God would...fulfil all the
good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power"
(2 Thess. 1:11). And: "According as His divine power hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness"
(2 Pet. 1:3).
Rejection
9
That grace and free will are partial causes,
which together work the beginning of conversion, and that grace,
in order of working, does not precede the working of the will;
that is, that God does not efficiently help the will of man
unto conversion until the will of man moves and determines to
do this. For the ancient Church has long ago condemned this
doctrine of the Pelagians according to the words of the apostle:
"So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that
runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Rom. 9:16). Likewise:
"For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast
thou that thou didst not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). And: "For
it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His
good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).
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