The Canons of Dort

An Introduction

I met my wife Deborah online through the web-service e-harmony. Our running joke is that you really can find anything online these days. 😉

In the early days of getting to know each other we only communicated through e-mail. It was obvious early on in our relationship that neither of us was interested in a casual dating experience. We were looking for a spouse.

Many people advise that when looking for a spouse and a successful marriage that you need to have conversations about and agree on several items: Having and raising children, how you will handle arguments, financial issues, and religious and moral values. Deborah and I both knew from the start that our relationship wasn’t going to go far unless we agreed on some key theological and doctrinal questions.

Only several e-mails into our conversation with one another Deborah asked me:

Has there been a time in your life when a certain part of your theology has been questioned? What do you think about baptism, women in leadership, creation, and whatever?

~ Deborah

Neither of us are too subtle about these kind of things.

I took some time to type out my answers about thoughts on Baptism, women in leadership, creation, and then summed up by saying:

I’m a five point Calvinist, I believe in the sovereignty of God, and in predestination.

~ Jory

Breath held, crossing my fingers I eagerly waited to hear back from her. Did she believe the same things that I did? Did we share a similar understanding of God’s covenant promises and interpretation of scripture? While everything about her so far was encouraging, I knew this was the crux of the matter. These five points of theology and doctrine were so important to my biblical world view, I knew that I could not marry someone who did not hold these same beliefs. Likewise, there would be no reason in continuing the relationship.

When she responded, I immediately felt a great sense of relief. Not only did we both hold similar views on interpreting the scriptures but she added:

Tulip is the core of what I believe but there are not that many people who would know what I mean by that.

~ Deborah

I did know what she was talking about and she also gave me her phone number so I could call her. The rest, as they say, is history. 😁

TULIP is a mnemonic or memory tool that cleverly (and in a very Dutch way) sums up the Five Points of Calvinism, or the five points also called The Doctrines of Grace and are historically accepted as a summary of the Canons of Dort. It stands for:

• Total Depravity
• Unconditional Election
• Limited Atonement
• Irresistible Grace
• Perseverance of the Saints

Do these five ideas sum up all of what I or my wife believe as Christians? Hardly. Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the hope of His Resurrection; these are the things that Christian faith hang on. Yet these five points do address what makes our faith, and that of the Reformed church we attend unique. Are these points so significant to our faith that agreeing on them could be the difference between getting married or not, even important enough to consider if we would even start dating?

Some people might think that such a discussion early in the relationship before we even talked to one another on the phone or met in person is too extreme. It doesn’t matter if she’s a five point Calvinist or not. You both are followers of Jesus Christ, your exact views on the doctrine of grace can’t be that important.

The authors of The Canons of Dort would unpleasantly disagree. In the early 1600’s Jacob Arminius a professor of theology at Leiden University in the Netherlands began teaching ideas that questioned beliefs that had become held by Calvin and his followers after the Reformation. After Arminius died his own followers created a document in 1610 called the Remonstrance. This document and more explicit Remonstrance writings generally held five points of direct conflict with the Reformed teachings, the Arminians taught election based on foreseen faith, the universal application of Christ’s atonement available to all who freely choose to accept it, limited human depravity, the resistibility of God’s grace, and the possibility of a fall from salvation.

The political and religious upheaval from these teachings nearly resulted in a civil war, differing groups of believers were becoming factions fighting over the concept of election, focused primarily on the question if people were capable of accepting and rejecting salvation on their own, or if in fact salvation was the pure gift of God’s grace.

In 1618-19 the Great Synod of Dort, which included the Dutch reformed churches of the Netherlands as well as twenty-six delegates from eight different countries convened and produced The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands. The Canons of Dort rejected the Armenian teachings and set forth what they believed were the correct biblical Reformed teachings on the doctrines of grace so that believers could have a deep assurance of salvation in accordance with the scriptures.

The CRCNA says this about the Canons of Dort:

The Canons are thus unique among the Reformed confessions because of their original purpose as a judicial decision on the doctrinal points in dispute during the Arminian controversy. The original preface called them a “judgment, in which both the true view, agreeing with God’s Word, concerning the aforesaid five points of doctrine, is explained, and the false view, disagreeing with God’s Word, is rejected.” The Canons also have a narrower scope than the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism in that they do not cover the whole range of doctrine but focus on the five points of doctrine in dispute.

Translation © 2011, Faith Alive Christian Resources, Christian Reformed Church in North America.”

Although there are technically only four sections or articles in the Canons, they address or respond to the five errors of Arminianism. The writers combined their response to the third and fourth articles, calling it “the Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine.” Reformed Churches do not give confessional status to the “Rejection of errors” But because they help interpret or understand the canons, they are often included.

So I’ve set out to start a study on this over 400 year old confession. While these confessions may seem old or out dated to some, they are foundationally Reformed. Written during a period of political and religious upheaval they stated the truth that salvation was of pure grace. It was a message of the assurance of God’s grace and salvation in the life of believers and in their homes, and I whole heatedly believe that in today’s political and religious upheaval, going back to the foundations of what we believe is a message we need to hear today.

I hope you come and join me as we take a closer look at:

What We Believe: The Canons of Dort.

In Christ,

Jory