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Chapter 2Dort.1.2

Rejectio Errorum (Caput I: De Divina Praedestinatione)

Introduction: Orthodox Doctrine and the Rejection of Errors

The Synod sets forth the orthodox doctrine of election and reprobation and then proceeds to reject the opposing errors.

The Belgic churches have been disturbed by these matters for some time. Once the orthodox doctrine on election and reprobation had been set forth, the Synod rejects their errors:

Error 1: Reducing Election to a General Will to Save

The Synod rejects the claim that God's entire decree of election is only a general will to save believers, without a definite choice of specific persons.

Those who teach that God's will concerning those who are to be preserved — those who will believe and persevere in faith and the obedience of faith — is that the whole and complete decree of election for salvation, and nothing else besides this decree has been revealed in the word of God. For these people impose on the simpler folk and clearly contradict Holy Scripture, which testifies that God wills not only to preserve those who will believe, but also that he chose certain specific people before others in eternity, to whom he would grant faith in Christ and perseverance ahead of others in time — as it is written: 'I have made your name known to the people whom you gave me.'✦ John 17. 6. Likewise: 'All who were ordained to eternal life believed.'✦ Acts 13. 48.

Scripture Testimony: Chosen Before the Foundation of the World

A brief Scripture chain from Ephesians 1:4 is adduced to confirm that God chose believers before the foundations of the world.

And he chose us before the foundations of the world, so that we might be holy, etc.✦ Ephesians 1. 4.

Error 2: Dividing Election into Multiple Decrees

The Synod rejects the idea of multiple, conditional, or revocable elections that separate election to faith from election to salvation.

Those who teach that God's election to eternal life is manifold: one general and indefinite, another singular and definite; and this latter again either incomplete, revocable, not peremptory, or conditional: or complete, irrevocable, peremptory, or absolute. Likewise, that one election is to faith and another to salvation, so that election to justifying faith can exist without a peremptory election to salvation. For this is a human invention devised outside the Scriptures, corrupting the doctrine of election and dissolving this golden chain of salvation: Those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified.✦ Rom. viii. 30.

Error 3: Making Election Depend on Foreseen Faith or Works

The Synod rejects the notion that God chose faith or imperfect obedience as a condition of salvation and graciously reckoned it as perfect obedience.

Those who teach that the good pleasure and purpose of God, which Scripture mentions in the doctrine of election, doesn't consist in this — that God chose certain specific people before others — but in this: that God chose, out of every possible condition (among which the works of the law are also included), or out of the whole order of things, the act of faith in itself ignoble and the imperfect obedience of faith, as a condition of salvation; and that God graciously chose to reckon this as perfect obedience, and to deem it worthy of the reward of eternal life. For by this pernicious error the good pleasure of God and the merit of Christ are weakened, and people are drawn away by useless questions from the truth of free justification and the simplicity of the Scriptures; and the word of the Apostle is falsely accused of being wrong: 'God called us with a holy calling, not because of works, but because of his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.'✦ 2 Timothy 1 9

Error 4: Requiring Prior Moral Worthiness for Election

The Synod rejects the claim that election depends on a person's right use of nature, humility, or disposition toward eternal life.

Those who teach that in election to faith this condition is required beforehand: that a person use the light of nature rightly, be upright, lowly, humble, and disposed toward eternal life — as if election itself somehow depended on these things. For they reek of Pelagius, and they quite clearly misrepresent the Apostle when he writes: We once lived in the passions of our flesh, doing what the flesh and its desires wanted, and we were by nature children of wrath, just like the rest.✦ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us — even when we were dead in our trespasses — made us alive together with Christ (by whose grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.✦ For by grace you have been saved through faith — and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God — not from works, so that no one may boast.✦ Ephes. 2. 3–9.

Error 5: Conditional Election Based on Foreseen Perseverance

The Synod rejects the teaching that election is made complete and decisive by foreseen faith, repentance, holiness, and final perseverance.

Those who teach that the election of individual persons to salvation is incomplete and not decisive, made on the basis of foreseen faith, repentance, holiness, and piety begun or continued for some time, but that it is complete and decisive based on foreseen faith, repentance, holiness, and final perseverance — and that this is a gracious and evangelical dignity, because of which the one who is chosen is worthier than the one who is not chosen — and therefore that faith, obedience of faith, holiness, piety, and perseverance are not the fruits or effects of an immutable election leading to glory, but rather conditions and causes sine quibus non, completely prerequisite and foreseen in those who are to be chosen, as though they had been provided beforehand. This position is opposed to the whole of Scripture, which everywhere instills these and other sayings into our ears and hearts: Election is not from works, but from the one who calls. Rom. ix. 11. All who were appointed to eternal life believed.✦ Act. xiii.

Scripture Testimony: Chosen to Holiness and Fruitfulness

Scripture is cited to show that believers are chosen in Christ to be holy and that Christ chose them in order that they might bear fruit.

48. He chose us in himself so that we might be holy.✦ Ephesians 1. 4. You didn't choose me, but I chose you.✦ John 15.

Scripture Testimony: Grace Excludes Works and Defines Love

The Synod cites Romans 11:6 and 1 John 4:10 to show that where grace works, works are excluded, and that divine love precedes human love.

16. If it's from grace, it's not from works. Rom. 11. 6. This is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son.✦ 1 John 4.

Error 6: Denying the Perseverance of the Elect

The Synod rejects the claim that the elect can finally and utterly perish, and affirms the unchangeable chain of salvation from predestination to glorification.

10. Those who teach that not every election is unchangeable for salvation, but that certain elected ones can perish — and perish forever — with no decree of God standing in their way. By this crude error they make God changeable, overturn the consolation of the godly regarding the steadfastness of their own election, and contradict the Holy Scriptures when they teach that the elect cannot be led astray — Matt.1 xxiv. 24. (That Christ would not lose those given to him by the Father — John✦ vi. 39.) Those whom God predestined, he also called and justified, and those he also glorifies.✦ Rom. 8. 30.✦

Error 7: Making Election Uncertain in This Life

The Synod rejects the teaching that immutable election produces no sense or certainty in this life apart from a contingent condition.

Those who teach that an immutable election to glory bears no fruit in this life, offers no felt reality, no assurance—except by way of a changeable and contingent condition. Besides the fact that it is absurd to posit an uncertain certainty, these things run contrary to the experience of the saints, who together with the Apostle exult from a sense of their own election, and celebrate this blessing of God, who together with the disciples rejoice, according to Christ's admonition, because their names are written in the heavens: Luke 10. 10:20; who then set the sense of election against the fiery darts of diabolical temptations, asking, Who shall bring charges against God's elect? Rom. 8. 33.

Error 8: God's Sovereign Will in Showing Mercy and Sending the Gospel

The Synod rejects the idea that God's decree leaves people in sin or passes them over merely out of sheer righteous will, and cites Romans 9:18 and Matthew 13:11.

Those who teach that God, out of his own sheer righteous will, has decreed to leave no one in Adam's fall and in the shared condition of sin and damnation, or to pass over anyone in the sharing of grace necessary for faith and conversion —✦ For that word stands: 'He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.'✦2 Rom. 9 18. And that other word: 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.'✦3 Matt. 13

Scripture Testimony: The Father's Good Pleasure in Election

The Synod cites Matthew 11:25-26 to show that God's election and revelation depend solely on the Father's good pleasure.

11. Likewise, I glorify you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants as well. Yes, Father, because that is what has pleased you.✦ Matt.✦ 11✦ 25, 26.✦

Error 9: Making the Gospel's Reach Dependent on Human Worthiness

The Synod rejects the claim that God sends the Gospel to one nation rather than another because that nation is better or worthier.

Those who teach that the reason God sends the Gospel to this nation rather than to some other is not merely God's sheer good pleasure, but that this nation is better and worthier than the one to which the Gospel is not communicated. For Moses cries out, addressing the people of Israel this way: The heavens of the Lord your God, and the heavens of the heavens, the earth, and everything in it belong to the Lord your God. Yet the Lord set his heart's love on your ancestors, loving them, and so chose their descendants after them — you, before all peoples, as it is today.✦4 Deut. 10 14, 15. And Christ says: Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes.✦5 Matt. 11

Conclusion: Christ's Woe to the Unrepentant

The chapter concludes with Christ's pronouncement of woe upon Chorazin and Bethsaida for their unrepentance despite mighty works.

21.

Read the original Latin

Quibus Ecclesiæ Belgicæ sunt aliquamdiu perturbatæ. Exposita doctrina Orthodoxa de Electione et Reprobatione, Synodus rejicit Errores eorum:

Qui docent, ‘Voluntatem Dei de servandis credituris, et in fide fideique obedientia perseveraturis, esse totum et integrum electionis ad salutem decretum; nec quicquam aliud de hoc decreto in verbo Dei esse revelatum.’ Hi enim simplicioribus imponunt, et Scripturæ sacræ manifeste contradicunt, testanti Deum non tantum servare velle credituros, sed etiam certos quosdam homines ab æterno elegisse, quos præ aliis in tempore fide in Christum et perseverantia donaret; sicut scriptum est, Manifestum feci nomen tuum hominibus, quos dedisti mihi. Johan. xvii. 6. Item, Crediderunt quotquot ordinati erant ad vitam æternam. Act xiii. 48.

Et, Elegit nos ante jacta mundi fundamenta, ut essemus sancti, etc. Ephes. 1. 4.

Qui docent, ‘Electionem Dei ad vitam æternam esse multiplicem; aliam generalem et indefinitam, aliam singularem et definitam; et hanc rursum vel incompletam, revocabilem, non peremptoriam, sive conditionatam: vel completam, irrevocabilem, peremptoriam, seu absolutam.’ Item, ‘Aliam electionem esse ad fidem, aliam ad salutem; ita ut electio ad fidem justificantem absque electione peremptoria ad salutem esse possit.’ Hoc enim est humani cerebri commentum extra Scripturas excogitatum, doctrinam de electione corrumpens, et auream hanc salutis catenam dissolvens: Quos prædestinavit, eos etiam vocavit: et quos vocavit, eos etiam justificavit: quos autem justificavit, eos etiam glorificavit. Rom. viii. 30.

Qui docent, ‘Dei beneplacitum ac propositum, cujus Scriptura meminit in doctrina electionis, non consistere in eo, quod Deus certos quosdam homines præ aliis elegerit, sed in eo, quod Deus ex omnibus possibilibus conditionibus (inter quas etiam sunt opera legis) sive ex omnium rerum ordine actum fidei, in sese ignobilem, et obedientiam fidei imperfectam, in salutis conditionem elegerit; eamque gratiose pro perfecta obedientia reputare, et vitæ æternæ præmio dignam censere voluerit.’ Hoc enim errore pernicioso beneplacitum Dei et meritum Christi enervatur, et homines inutilibus quæstionibus a veritate justificationis gratuitæ, et simplicitate Scripturarum avocantur; illudque Apostoli falsi arguitur; Deus nos vocavit vocatione sancta; non ex operibus, sed ex suo proposito et gratia, quæ data est nobis in Christo Jesu ante tempora sæculorum. 2 Tim. i. 9.

Qui docent, ‘In electione ad fidem hanc conditionem prærequiri, ut homo lumine naturæ recte utatur, sit probus, parvus, humilis, et ad vitam æternam dispositus, quasi ab ipsis electio aliquatenus pendeat.’ Pelagium enim sapiunt, et minime obscure falsi insimulant Apostolum scribentem: Versati sumus olim in cupiditatibus carnis nostræ, facientes quæ carni et cogitationibus libebant, eramusque natura filii iræ, ut et reliqui. Sed Deus, qui dives est misericordia, propter multam charitatem suam, qua dilexit nos, etiam nos cum in offensis mortui essemus, una vivificavit cum Christo, cujus gratia estis servati, unaque suscitavit, unaque collocavit in cœlis in Christo Jesu; ut ostenderet in seculis supervenientibus supereminentes illas opes suæ gratiæ, pro sua erga nos benignitate in Christo Jesu. Gratia enim estis servati per fidem (et hoc non ex vobis, Dei donum est), non ex operibus, ut ne quis glorietur. Ephes. ii. 3–9.

Qui docent, ‘Electionem singularium personarum ad salutem, incompletam et non peremptoriam, factam esse ex prævisa fide, resipiscentia, sanctitate et pictate inchoata, aut aliquamdiu continuata: completam vero et peremptoriam ex prævisæ fidei, resipiscentiæ, sanctitatis, et pietatis finali perseverantia: et hanc esse gratiosam et evangelicam dignitatem, propter quam qui eligitur dignior sit illo qui non eligitur: ac proinde fidem, fidei obedientiam, sanctitatem, pietatem, et perseverantiam non esse fructus sive effectus electionis immutabilis ad gloriam, sed conditiones, et caussas sine quibus non, in eligendis complete prærequisitas, et prævisas, tanquam præstitas.’ Id quod toti Scripturæ repugnat, quæ hæc et alia dicta passim auribus et cordibus nostris ingerit: Electio non est ex operibus, sed ex vocante. Rom. ix. 11. Credebant quotquot ordinati erant ad vitam æternam. Act. xiii.

48. Elegit nos in semetipse ut sancti essemus. Ephes. i. 4. Non vos me elegistis, sed ego elegi vos. Johan. xv.

16. Si ex gratia, non ex operibus. Rom. xi. 6. In hoc est charitas, non quod nos dilexerimus Deum, sed quod ipse dilexit nos, et misit Filium suum. 1 Johan. iv.

10.

Qui docent, ‘Non omnem electionem ad salutem immutabilem esse, sed quosdam electos, nullo Dei decreto obstante, perire posse et æternum perire.’ Quo crasso errore et Deum mutabilem faciunt, et consolationem piorum de electionis suæ constantia subvertunt, et Scripturis sacris contradicunt docentibus, Electos non posse seduci: Matt. xxiv. 24. Christum datos sibi a Patre non perdere: Johan. vi. 39. Deum quos prædestinavit, vocavit et justificavit, eos etiam glorificare.

Rom. viii. 30.

Qui docent, ‘Electionis immutabilis ad gloriam nullum in hac vita esse fructum, nullum sensum, nullam certitudinem, nisi ex conditione mutabili et contingente.’ Præterquam enim quod absurdum sit ponere certitudinem incertam, adversantur hæc experientiæ sanctorum, qui cum Apostolo ex sensu electionis sui exultant, Deique hoc beneficium celebrant, qui gaudent cum discipulis, secundum Christi admonitionem, quod nomina sua scripta sunt in cœlis: Luc. x. 20; qui sensum denique electionis ignitis tentationum diabolicarum telis opponunt, quærentes, Quis intentabit crimina adversus electos Dei? Rom. viii. 33.

Qui docent, ‘Deum neminem ex mera justa sua voluntate decrevisse in lapsu Adæ et in communi peccati et damnationis statu relinquere, aut in gratiæ ad fidem et conversionem necessariæ communicatione præterire.’ Stat enim illud, Quorum vult, miseretur; quos vult, indurat. Rom. ix. 18. Et illud, Vobis datum est nosse mysteria regni cœlorum, illis autem non est datum. Matt. xiii.

11. Item, Glorifico te, Pater, Domine cœli et terræ, quod hæc occultaveris sapientibus et intelligentibus, et ea detexeris infantibus: etiam, Pater, quia ita placuit tibi. Matt. xi. 25, 26.

Qui docent, ‘Caussam cur Deus ad hanc potius, quam ad aliam gentem Evangelium mittat, non esse merum et solum Dei beneplacitum, sed quod hæc gens melior et dignior sit ea, cui Evangelium non communicator.’ Reclamat enim Moses, populum Israeliticum sic alloquens, En Jehovæ Dei tui sunt cœli, et cœli cœlorum, terra, et quicquid est in ea: Tantum in majores tuos propensus fuit amore Jehova diligendo eos; unde selegit semen eorum post eos, vos inquam, præ omnibus populis, sicut est hodie. Deut. x. 14, 15. Et Christus: Væ tibi Chorazin, væ tibi Bethsaida, quia si in Tyro et Sidone factæ essent virtutes illæ quæ in vobis factæ sunt, in sacco et cinere olim pœnitentiam egissent. Matt. xi.

21.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩John.17.6 — I have made your name known to the people whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
  2. ↩Acts.13.48 — When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.
  3. ↩Eph.1.4 — just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love
  4. ↩Rom.8.30 — And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
  5. ↩2Tim.1.9 — who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.
  6. ↩Eph.2.3 — Among them we too all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the thoughts, and we were by nature children of wrath, just like the rest.
  7. ↩Eph.2.4-Eph.2.7 — But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, Eph.2.5 — even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— Eph.2.6 — and raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus Eph.2.7 — so that in the coming ages he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
  8. ↩Eph.2.8-Eph.2.9 — For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Eph.2.9 — not by works, so that no one may boast
  9. ↩Acts.13.48 — When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.
  10. ↩Eph.1.4 — just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love
  11. ↩John.15.16 — You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you.
  12. ↩1John.4.10 — In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
  13. ↩John.6.39 — And this is the will of the one who sent me: that everything he has given me I should lose none of it, but should raise it up on the last day.
  14. ↩Rom.8.30 — And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
  15. ↩Rom.8.30 — And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
  16. ↩Rom.9.18 — So then, He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
  17. ↩Rom.9.18 — So then, He has mercy on whom He wills, and He hardens whom He wills.
  18. ↩Matt.13.11 — He answered them, 'To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.'
  19. ↩Matt.11.25-Matt.11.26 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26. Matt.11.26 — Yes, Father, for so it was your good pleasure before you.
  20. ↩Matt.11.25-Matt.11.26 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26. Matt.11.26 — Yes, Father, for so it was your good pleasure before you.
  21. ↩Matt.11.25-Matt.11.26 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26. Matt.11.26 — Yes, Father, for so it was your good pleasure before you.
  22. ↩Matt.11.25-Matt.11.26 — At that time Jesus answered and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to infants.'" Use "for" to strengthen the prayer's causal movement and reduce repetition with v.26. Matt.11.26 — Yes, Father, for so it was your good pleasure before you.
  23. ↩Deut.10.14-Deut.10.15 — Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it. Deut.10.15 — Yet Yahweh set his affection on your fathers, loving them, and he chose their seed after them—you—above all peoples, as it is this day.
  24. ↩Matt.11.21 — Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin 'Electos non posse seduci' is cited as scriptural teaching; the Synod presents this as what Scripture affirms against the error.
  2. 2 ↩The Latin 'Stat enim illud' introduces a quoted proof-text. The antecedent of 'illud' is the apostolic/Romance teaching just rejected; the Council treats it as settled authority.
  3. 3 ↩The Latin 'Et illud' introduces a second proof-text. The contrast between 'vobis' and 'illis' reinforces the selective revelation the Council attributes to divine decree.
  4. 4 ↩Deuteronomy 10:14–15, following the Vulgate's 'Jehovae Dei tui' and 'propensus fuit amore' phrasing.
  5. 5 ↩Matthew 11:21.

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