SR
← Canons of Dort (Dordtsche Leerregels)/Book 1 · Canones Synodi Dordrechtanae
Chapter 8Dort.1.8

Rejectio Errorum (Caput V: De Perseverantia Sanctorum)

The True Source of Perseverance

The Synod rejects the error that perseverance is a human-condition of the new covenant and affirms instead that it flows from election and is given through Christ's death, resurrection, and intercession.

Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those Those who teach that the perseverance of the truly faithful is not the result of election, or a gift of God obtained through the death of Christ, but is instead a condition of the new covenant — something to be furnished by human effort, based on a person's own free will, before election and justification (as they themselves put it) — For Holy Scripture testifies that perseverance follows from election, and is given to the elect by the power of Christ's death, resurrection, and intercession. Romans 11 7: Election has obtained its end; the rest have been hardened.✦ Likewise, Romans 8 32: He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for all of us — how will he not also, along with him, give us all things?✦

No Separation from Christ’s Love

Drawing on Romans 8, the text proclaims that God justifies, Christ intercedes, and no created thing can sever believers from God’s love in Christ.

Who will bring charges against God's chosen ones?✦ It is God who justifies.✦ Who is the one who condemns?✦ It is Christ Jesus who died, and more than that, who was raised, who also sits at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?✦✦

Against a Pelagian View of Perseverance

The Synod rejects the teaching that perseverance hangs on the human will and warns that such a view is Pelagian and contradicts the Gospel’s transfer of praise to divine grace alone.

Those who teach that God indeed equips a faithful person with sufficient strength to persevere and is ready to preserve that strength in them if they do their duty — yet, with all those things necessary for persevering in faith having been laid out, and which God wills to employ for preserving faith, it always hangs on the decision of the human will whether one perseveres or does not persevere. For this teaching contains outright Pelagianism, and while it aims to make people free, it makes them sacrilegious, against the constant teaching of the gospel, which takes away from every person all matter for boasting and transfers the praise of this benefit to divine grace alone, and against the Apostle testifying that it is God who will confirm us blameless to the end, on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.✦ 1 Cor. 1. 8.

Rejection of Total and Final Apostasy

The Synod denies that truly regenerated believers can totally and finally fall away, arguing from Romans, 1 John, and John 10 that such a view nullifies grace and contradicts Christ’s promise of eternal security for His sheep.

Those who teach that believers and the reborn truly can not only fall away from justifying faith, from grace, and from salvation — completely and finally — but that they also rarely do fall away from these and perish forever… For this opinion renders the grace of justification and regeneration itself, and Christ's perpetual keeping power, null and void — against the express words of the Apostle Paul in Romans… 5… 8, 9: If Christ died for us when we were still sinners, how much more, now justified in his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath. And against the Apostle John in 1 John 3… 9: Everyone born from God does not pursue sin, because his seed remains in him, nor can he sin, because he is begotten from God. Nor against the words of Jesus Christ in John 10… 10… "I give eternal life to my sheep, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand; my Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand."✦

The Sin Against the Holy Spirit

The Synod rejects the idea that truly faithful believers can commit the sin against the Holy Spirit, and appeals to 1 John to distinguish such sin from the preserved state of those born of God.

Those who teach that the truly faithful and regenerated can sin with the sin unto death, or against the Holy Spirit. Since the same Apostle John, in his Epistle, chapter 1, after verse verses 16 and 17, had remembered the sin unto death and had forbidden praying for those who sin unto death, immediately adds: Let me add this: we know that whoever is born of God does not sin — at least not with that kind of sin — but the one who is begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.✦

Assurance Without Extraordinary Revelation

The Synod rejects the claim that assurance of perseverance requires special revelation, teaching instead that Scripture’s promises and the Spirit’s indwelling witness give believers firm certainty of salvation.

Those who teach that no certainty of future perseverance can be had in this life without a special revelation For through this teaching the solid consolation that belongs to the faithful is taken away from this life, and the doubt of the papal party is brought back into the Church. But Sacred Scripture everywhere seeks this certainty not from a special and extraordinary revelation, but from the distinctive marks of God's children and from the most steadfast promises of God. First of all, the Apostle Paul, Romans 8. (39) No created thing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.✦ And John, First Epistle 1. 3. 24: Whoever keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him; and through this we know that he abides in us, from the Spirit he has given us.✦

Perseverance Does Not Induce Laziness

The Synod rejects the charge that the doctrine of perseverance fosters moral laxity, arguing that certainty of salvation actually fuels devotion and is confirmed by the examples of saints who prayed fervently while trusting in God’s faithfulness.

Those who teach that 'the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and of the certainty of salvation, by its very nature and character, is a cushion for the flesh, and harmful to devotion, good morals, prayers, and other holy exercises; but that, on the contrary, to doubt it is praiseworthy.' For these people show that they are ignorant of the efficacy of divine grace and of the operation of the indwelling Holy Spirit; and they contradict the Apostle John, who affirms the contrary in clear words, in his Epistle. I. iii. 2, 3: Beloved, we are now children of God; but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We do know, however, that when he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.✦ And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.✦ These people are furthermore refuted by the examples of the saints of both the Old and the New Testament, who, although they were certain about their own perseverance and salvation, were nevertheless assiduous in prayers and other exercises of devotion.

Temporary Faith Versus Saving Faith

The Synod rejects the notion that temporary and saving faith differ only in duration, using Christ’s parable of the sower to show that temporary believers lack root and fruit, while true believers persevere.

Those who teach that the faith of temporary believers differs from the faith that justifies and saves only in duration. For Christ himself, in Matthew 13 20 and Luke 8 13, and then beyond that, he clearly establishes a threefold distinction between temporary believers and true faithful ones: those who receive the seed in rocky ground, and those in good ground or a good heart; those who lack root, and those who have a firm root; those who are empty of fruit, and those who bring forth their fruit in varying measure, steadfastly and perseveringly.

The Incorruptible Seed of Regeneration

The Synod rejects the idea that a once-regenerated person can be “born again” a second time, affirming with 1 Peter that the seed of regeneration is incorruptible.

Those who teach that it makes no sense for someone to be reborn a second time—indeed, to be born again—once the first regeneration has been extinguished. For by this teaching they deny the incorruptibility of the seed of God by which we are reborn, against the testimony of the Apostle Peter in his first epistle. 1 Peter 2: 23: "Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible."✦

Christ’s Prayer for Our Preservation

The Synod rejects the claim that Christ did not pray for believers’ infallible perseverance, appealing to His high-priestly prayer in John 17 for the preservation of all who believe.

Those who teach that Christ never asked for infallible perseverance in faith for believers For they contradict Christ himself when he says — as recorded in Luke — 22 32: 'I have asked for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail'; and the evangelist John, testifying — as recorded in John —✦ 17 20: that Christ prayed not only for the apostles but also for all who would believe through their word — as recorded in verse✦ 11: 'Holy Father, keep them in your name'; and verse✦ 15: 'I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from evil.'✦

Read the original Latin

Exposita doctrina orthodoxa, Synodus rejicit errores eorum:

Qui docent, ‘Perseverantiam vere fidelium non esse effectum electionis, aut donum Dei morte Christi partum, sed esse conditionem novi fœderis, ab homine ante sui electionem ac justificationem’ (ut ipsi loquuntur) ‘peremtoriam, libera voluntate præstandam.’ Nam sacra Scriptura testatur eam ex electione sequi, et vi mortis, resurrectionis et intercessionis Christi electis donari. Rom. xi. 7: Electio assecuta est, reliqui occalluerunt. Item, Rom. viii. 32: Qui proprio Filio non pepercit, sed pro omnibus nobis tradidit ipsum, quomodo non cum eo nobis omnia donabit?

Quis intentabit crimina adversus electos Dei? Deus est qui justificat. Quis est qui condemnet? Christus in est qui mortuus est, imo qui etiam resurrexit, qui etiam sedet ad dexteram Dei, qui etiam intercedit pro nobis: Quis nos separabit a dilectione Christi?

Qui docent, ‘Deum quidem hominem fidelem sufficientibus ad perseverandum viribus instruere, ac paratum esse eas in ipso conservare si officium faciat: positis tamen illis omnibus, quæ ad perseverandum in fide necessaria sunt, quæque Deus ad conservandam fidem adhibere vult, pendere semper a voluntatis arbitrio, ut perseveret, vel non perseveret.’ Haec enim sententia manifestum Pelagianismum continet; et homines, dum vult facere liberos, facit sacrilegos, contra perpetuum evangeliæ doctrina; consensum, quas omnem gloriandi materiam homini adimit, et hujus beneficii laudem soli divinæ gratia; transcribit; et contra Apostolum testantem: Deum esse qui confirmabit nos usque in finem inculpatos in die Domini nostri Jesu Christi. 1 Cor. i. 8.

Qui docent, ‘Vere credentes et regenitos non tantum posse a fide justificante, item gratia, et salute totaliter et finaliter excidere, sed etiam reipsa non raro ex iis excidere, atque in æternum perire. ‘Nam hæc opinio ipsam justificationis ac regenerationis gratiam, et perpetuam Christi custodiam irritam reddit, contra diserta Apostoli Pauli verba, Rom. v. 8, 9: Si Christus pro nobis mortuus est, quum adhuc essemus peccatores, multo igitur magis, jam justificati in sanguine ejus, servabimur per ipsum ab ira. Et contra Apostolum Johannem, 1 John iii. 9: Omnis qui natus est ex Deo, non dat operam peccato: quia semen ejus in eo manet, nec potest peccare, quia ex Deo genitus est. Nec non contra verba Jesu Christi, Johan. x.

28, 29: Ego vitam æternam do ovibus meis, et non peribunt in æternum, nec rapiet eas quisquam de manu mea; Pater meus, qui mihi eas dedit, major est omnibus, nec ullus potest eas rapere de manu Patris mei.

Qui docent, ‘Vere fideles ac regenitos posse peccare peccato ad mortem, vel in Spiritum Sanctum.’ Quum idem Apostolus Johan. [Ep. I.] cap. v. postquam vers. 16, 17 peccantium ad mortem meminisset, et pro iis orare vetuisset, statim ver.

18 subjungat: Scimus quod quisquis natus est ex Deo, non peccat (nempe illo peccati genere), sed qui genitus est ex Deo, conservat seipsum, et malignus ille non tangit eum.

Qui docent, ‘Nullam certitudinem futuræ perseverantiæ haberi posse in hac vita, absque speciali revelatione.’ Per hanc enim doctrinam vere fidelium solida consolatio in hac vita tollitur, et pontificiorum dubitatio in Ecclesiam reducitur. Sacra vero Scriptura passim hanc certitudinem, non ex speciali et extraordinaria revelatione, sed ex propriis filiorum Dei signis, et constantissimis Dei promissionibus petit. Imprimis Apostolus Paulus, Rom. viii. 39: Nulla res creata potest nos separare a charitate Dei, quæ est in Christo Jesu, Domino nostro. Et Johannes, Epist. I.

iii. 24: Qui servat mandata ejus, in eo manet, et ille in eo: et per hoc novimus ipsum in nobis manere, ex Spiritu quem dedit nobis.

Qui docent, ‘Doctrinam de perseverantiæ: ac salutis certitudine, ex natura et indole sua, esse carnis pulvinar, et pietati, bonis moribus, precibus aliisque sanctis exercitiis noxiam; contra vero de ea dubitare, esse laudabile.’ Hi enim demonstrant se efficaciam divinæ gratiæ, et inhabitantis Spiritus S. operationem ignorare: et contradicunt Apostolo Johanni contrarium disertis verbis affirmanti, Epist. I. iii. 2, 3: Dilecti mei, nunc filii Dei sumus; sed nondum patefactum est id quod erimus: scimus autem fore, ut quum ipse patefactus fuerit, similes ei simus, quoniam videbimus eum, sicuti est. Et quisquis habet hanc spem in eo, purificat seipsum, sicut et ille purus est. Hi præterea sanctorum tam Veteris quam Novi Testament! exemplis redarguuntur, qui licet de sua perseverantia et salute essent certi, in precibus tamen, aliisque pietatis exercitiis, assidui fuerunt.

Qui docent, ‘Fidem temporariorum a justificante et salvifica fide non differre nisi sola duratione.’ Nam Christus ipse Matt. xiii. 20 et Luc. viii. 13 ac deinceps, triplex præterea inter temporarios et veros fideles discrimen manifesto constituit, quum illos dicit semen recipere in terra petrosa, hos in terra bona, seu corde bono: illos carere radice, hos radicem firmam habere: illos fructibus esse vacuos, hos fructum suum diversa mensura, constanter seu perseveranter proferre.

Qui docent, ‘Non esse absurdum, hominem priore regeneratione extincta, iterate, imo renasci.’ Hi enim per hanc doctrinam negant seminis Dei, per quod renascimur, incorruptibilitatem: adversus testimonium Apostoli Petri, Epist. I. i. 23: Renati non ex semine corruptibili, sed incorruptibili.

Qui docent, ‘Christum nunquam rogasse pro infallibili credentium in fide perseverantia. ‘Contradicunt enim ipsi Christo, dicenti, Luc. xxii. 32: Ego rogavi pro te, Petre, ne deficiat fides tua; et Evangelistæ Johanni, testanti, Johan. xvii. 20, Christum non tantum pro apostolis, sed etiam pro omnibus, per sermonem ipsorum credituris, orasse, ver. 11: Pater sancte, conserva eos in nomine tuo; Et ver. 15: Non oro ut eos tollas e mundo, sed ut conserves eos a malo.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Rom.11.7 — What then? What Israel sought, it did not obtain, but the elect obtained it, and the rest were hardened.
  2. ↩Rom.8.32 — He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
  3. ↩Rom.8.33 — Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
  4. ↩Rom.8.33 — Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
  5. ↩Rom.8.34 — Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus—the one who died, and more than that, was raised—who is also at the right hand of God, and who also intercedes for us.
  6. ↩Rom.8.34 — Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus—the one who died, and more than that, was raised—who is also at the right hand of God, and who also intercedes for us.
  7. ↩Rom.8.35 — Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
  8. ↩1Cor.1.8 — who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus [Christ]
  9. ↩John.10.28-John.10.29 — I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — not forever — and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John.10.29 — My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
  10. ↩1John.5.18 — We know that everyone born of God does not keep on sinning, but the one who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.
  11. ↩Rom.8.39 — nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord
  12. ↩1John.3.24 — And the one who keeps his commands remains in him, and he remains in that one. And by this we know that he remains in us: by the Spirit he gave us.
  13. ↩1John.2.28-1John.3.3 — And now, little children, abide in him, so that if he is revealed, we may have confidence and not be put to shame before him at his coming. 1John.2.29 — If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1John.3.1 — See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. For this reason the world does not know us: it did not know him. 1John.3.2 — Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1John.3.3 — And everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
  14. ↩1John.3.3 — And everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
  15. ↩1Pet.1.23 — For you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
  16. ↩Luke.22.32 — But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.
  17. ↩John.17.20 — But I do not ask concerning these only, but also concerning those who believe in me through their word.
  18. ↩John.17.11 — And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given to me, so that they may be one, just as we are one.
  19. ↩John.17.15 — I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

Canons of Dort (Dordtsche Leerregels) companion

Finish the Canons in daily portions

The full Canons of Dort, readable in modern English, delivered daily in the free Chosen Portion iOS app

Dort was written to steady doubting believers through ordered doctrine; Chosen Portion delivers those same articles as a steady daily reading practice.

  • Complete all 9 chapters in about 3 weeks at 5 minutes a day
  • Every article and rejected error in modern readable English
  • Move straight on to the Augsburg Confession and 78+ other works
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →