The Canons of Dort: The 1st Main
Point of Doctrine
The Canons of Dort: The 2nd Main Point of Doctrine
The Canons of Dort: The 3rd and 4th Main Points of Doctrine
The Canons of Dort: The 5th Main Point of Doctrine
The Canons of Dort: The Conclusion
The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main
Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands is popularly known
as the Canons of Dort. It consists of statements of doctrine adopted
by the great Synod of Dort which met in the city of Dordrecht in 1618-19.
Although this was a national synod of the Reformed churches of the
Netherlands, it had an international character, since it was composed
not only of Dutch delegates but also of twenty-six delegates from
eight foreign countries. The Synod of Dort
was held in order to settle a serious controversy in the Dutch churches
initiated by the rise of Arminianism. Jacob Arminius, a theological
professor at Leiden University, questioned the teaching of Calvin
and his followers on a number of important points. After Arminius's
death, his own followers presented their views on five of these
points in the Remonstrance of 1610. In this document or in later
more explicit writings, the Arminians taught election based on foreseen
faith, universal atonement, partial depravity, resistible grace,
and the possibility of a lapse from grace. In the Canons the Synod
of Dort rejected these views and set forth the Reformed doctrine
on these points, namely, unconditional election, limited atonement,
total depravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of saints.
The Canons have a special character 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 limited character in that
they do not cover the whole range of doctrine, but focus on the
five points of doctrine in dispute.
Each of the main points consists of a positive and
a negative part, the former being an exposition of the Reformed
doctrine on the subject, the latter a repudiation of the corresponding
errors. Each of the errors being rejected is shaded in gray. Although
in form there are only four points, we speak properly of five points,
because the Canons were structured to correspond to the five articles
of the 1610 Remonstrance. Main Points 3 and 4 were combined into
one, always designated as Main Point III/IV.
This translation of the Canons, based on the only
extant Latin manuscript among those signed at the Synod of Dort,
was adopted by the 1986 Synod of the Christian Reformed Church.
The biblical quotations are translations from the original Latin
and so do not always correspond to current versions. Though not
in the original text, subheadings have been added to the positive
articles and to the conclusion in order to facilitate study of the
Canons.
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