The five heads of Dort

From Leiden to Dordrecht

In the early seventeenth century the Reformed churches of the Netherlands were divided by a dispute over predestination. Jacob Arminius, professor of theology at Leiden, debated the question with his colleague Franciscus Gomarus; in his Declaration of Sentiments before the States of Holland in 1608 he taught that God elects in Christ those he foreknows will believe Arminius, Declaration of Sentiments. He died the next year, and in 1610 his followers presented five articles, the Remonstrance, to the States of Holland Articles of Remonstrance. They taught that God decreed to save in Christ those who, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, would believe and persevere; that Christ died for all, though only believers enjoy forgiveness; that no one can think or do any good of himself, but must be born again by the Spirit, and that grace is the beginning, progress and completion of all good — yet that grace can be resisted. Whether true believers can fall away, they said, needed further study of Scripture. They did not deny grace, and they believed their reading was the more faithful to the Bible.

To settle the matter the States General called a synod at Dordrecht. Besides the Dutch delegates, theologians came from Great Britain, the Palatinate, Hesse, Switzerland, Geneva, Bremen and other Reformed churches; the French delegates, it is usually said, were forbidden by their king to attend. The Remonstrants came not as members but as parties summoned to answer. In 1619 the synod adopted the Canons of Dort, which answer the five articles in turn Canons of Dort. Afterwards Remonstrant ministers were deposed or sent into exile, and the church's quarrel was tangled up with the politics of the young republic. Reformed Christians can give thanks for what Dort confessed and still look back with humility on the harshness that followed.

The five heads

The First Head teaches unconditional election. From a human race that had fallen and deserved condemnation, God chose some in Christ, not because he foresaw faith or good works in them but according to his good pleasure; faith is the fruit of election, not its ground. "Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me," Jesus said (John 6:37), and in Antioch "all who were appointed for eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48).

The Second Head concerns the death of Christ. It is the one perfect sacrifice for sin, of infinite worth, "abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world" Canons of Dort II.3. Yet it was God's will that this death should effectually redeem all those he had chosen, give them faith, and bring them safely to salvation (II.8). This is the old formula handed down from the medieval schools: sufficient for all, efficient for the elect. Jesus says, "I lay down My life for the sheep" (John 10:15), and Matthew Henry notes, "Our Lord laid not his life down for his doctrine, but for his sheep" Matthew Henry.

The Third and Fourth Heads are joined. By the fall the whole person is corrupted and spiritually dead; some light of nature remains, but it cannot bring anyone back to God.

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!

Ephesians 2:4-5

Only God raises the dead. So among those who hear the gospel, God by his Spirit gives new birth to those he has chosen, and with it faith and repentance. Matthew Henry, on John 6, writes: "No one will come, till Divine grace has subdued, and in part changed his heart; therefore no one who comes will ever be cast out" Matthew Henry. How this grace renews the will rather than forcing it is the subject of the next lesson.

The Fifth Head teaches the perseverance of the saints. Believers still sin, and may for a time fall into grave sin, but God is faithful: he keeps them to the end and renews them to repentance. "No one can snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28).

About TULIP

Today these teachings are often summed up in the English acronym TULIP. It is a much later summary — it became popular in the twentieth century, and its origin is unclear — and it follows a different order from the Canons. Its words can mislead. Total depravity does not mean that people are as bad as they could be, but that every part of us is touched by sin, so that we cannot turn to God by ourselves. Limited atonement sounds as if Christ's death were somehow small; definite or particular redemption says better what Dort meant. Irresistible grace sounds like a force that drags people against their will; Dort speaks of an effectual grace that renews the will, so that people come willingly.

A comforting confession

The Canons were written in controversy, but they are full of pastoral care. Election is to be taught in the church, they say, with reverence and discretion, for the glory of God and the comfort of his people, without prying into the secret ways of the Most High (I.14). Assurance of election comes not from searching God's hidden counsel but from seeing its fruits in ourselves: true faith in Christ, a childlike fear of God, godly sorrow for sin, a hunger and thirst for righteousness (I.12). Those who do not yet feel a living faith, but who use the means of grace and long to turn to God, are not to be alarmed by the doctrine of reprobation (I.16), for the Lord is the one of whom it is written, "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish" (Matthew 12:20). In its Conclusion the synod rejects the caricatures — that this teaching makes people careless, or that God created people for damnation like a tyrant — and asks that the Reformed faith be judged by its public confessions, not by slanders.

What, then, of the texts that say God wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4, 2 Peter 3:9)? Dort confesses that all who are called by the gospel are called in earnest: God sincerely desires that those he calls should come, and promises rest and eternal life to all who come and believe (III/IV.8). Reformed interpreters often read ‘everyone’ in 1 Timothy 2 as all kinds of people — Paul has just urged prayer even for kings and all in authority — or as God's revealed will, what he delights in and commands. Many read 2 Peter 3:9 as Matthew Henry does: "What men count slackness, is long-suffering, and that to us-ward" Matthew Henry. Wesleyans and Lutherans read these texts as God's saving will for every person and teach differently from Dort; the doctrine course's lesson on grace and election and What is predestination? set out the views.

In the end the five heads say one thing: salvation is God's work from beginning to end. So we may share Paul's confidence "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).

Practice