AP

The purpose of this series of Articles is to look at what the ‘Five Points of Calvinism’ (‘Five Points’) are, why they are called by this title, how they must all go together as a unit, so that one can’t be a ‘Four Point Calvinist’ or a ‘Three Point Calvinist’, etc, and how they are integrally connected to the fundamental Biblical Doctrines of The Fall, The Authority of Scripture, The Trinity, and Salvation.

The story of the ‘Five Points’ really begins at the start of the seventeenth century in the Netherlands, although its roots can be traced back as early as the third century AD.  James (Jacobus) Arminius was a Dutch Theologian who served from 1603 as Professor in Theology at the University of Leiden and wrote many books and treatises on theology.  He was born on10 October 1560 and died on 16 October 1609.

It is part of the nature of The Fall that human beings, being ‘made in the image and likeness of God’ want to believe that they are free to run their own lives and make their own choices – in other words that they possess ‘free will’.  This flies in the face of the Bible’s persistent assertion that God, being God, is absolutely sovereign over all that he has made.  So, at the beginning of the third Century, Clement of Alexandria, with his taste for Greek philosophy, was determined to align the sovereignty of God with human wisdom, and therefore human freedom of will. 

This paradigm for interpreting Scripture was developed by Pelagius (c. 354–418) and became known as Pelagianism.  By the early fifth century, it was necessary for Augustine to refute the heretical teachings of Pelagius who claimed that we are all born innocent with an unimpaired freedom of will.  However, many of the opponents of Pelagius still did not find Augustine’s insistence on the absolute sovereignty of God acceptable, and a teaching arose which, while acknowledging original sin, credited man with the native ability to take the first steps towards his salvation.  This teaching became known as Semi-Pelagianism and is really the forerunner of Arminianism, named after the teaching of the Dutch Theologian.

The sixteenth century Reformers like John Calvin and Martin Luther had rejected both Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism.  Their stand was on sola Scriptura, sola fides, and sola gratia (Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone).  But it was inevitable, since man’s nature doesn’t change from one generation to the next, that it would not be long before the churches coming from the Reformation would once more have to deal with this problem – i.e. that there would be those who, while wanting to stand with Calvin and Luther on ‘Scripture alone’ and ‘Faith alone’, would part company with them on the question of ‘Grace alone’ since this third ‘sola’ implied that it is God who must take the initiative in Salvation and choose/elect all those who would be saved.

So it was that within 50 years of the publication of the first edition of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion on August 1, 1536, Arminius, himself once a pupil of Beza, was teaching what amounted to Semi-Pelagianism in a new guise.  Arminius died in 1609 and the next year a group of his followers presented a protest (or “Remonstrance”) to the state of Holland calling on the Churches of Holland to alter their Reformed Documents – the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism – to conform to a doctrinal position consistent with their Five Arminian Articles.

These Five Articles can be briefly summarised as follows:

I.          God ‘elects’ or ‘reproves’ on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief.

II.         Christ died for all men and for every man, although only believers are saved.

III.        Man is so depraved that divine grace is necessary unto faith or any good deed.

IV.       This grace may be resisted.

V.        Whether all who are regenerate will certainly persevere in the faith is a point which needs further investigation.

The Remonstrance caused considerable disquiet throughout the Dutch Churches and so, on 13 November, 1618, a national synod was convened in the town of Dort (short for ‘Dordrecht’) to examine their Five Articles in the light of Scripture.  The 84 members of the Great Synod (including 27 delegates from Germany, the Palatinate, Switzerland and England), together with 18 secular commissioners, met in 154 sessions over 7 months until, on 6 May, 1619, the official findings were published as the Canons of Dort.  The 18-page document can be accessed on the Internet under ‘Canons of Dort’.  They consist of a Preface, five Heads of Doctrine, a Conclusion, a Sentence Against the Remonstrants, and the official Approval of the States General of Holland. 

The five Heads of Doctrine (corresponding to the five Arminian Articles) are arranged in four chapters (the Third and Fourth Articles being dealt with conjointly in one chapter), each chapter consisting of a number of Articles, followed by another set of Articles detailing the Errors Rejected, and a list of names subscribing to the Canon.  In this form the Canons of Dort suffer from the fact that their structure is dictated by a theological framework which they are refuting, rather than one which they are espousing.  In the passage of time, therefore, they have been arranged into an order more consistent with their own theological framework, and in that form have become known as the ‘Five Points of Calvinism’.  In English they are usually remembered by the mnemonic TULIP –

            Total depravity

            Unconditional election

            Limited atonement

            Irresistible grace

            Perseverance of the saints.

In embarking on this series in this way, two things need to be noted:  Firstly, the “Five Points” were not formulated by Calvin, nor are they the comprehensive teachings of Calvin summarised under five headings.  While they are at the very core of the biblical understanding rediscovered by the Genevan Reformer, and essential to it, they nevertheless by no means exhaust Calvin’s teachings.  Secondly, there is a danger inherent in studying the “Five Points” without reference to the Canons themselves in the context of the Arminian Articles they refute.  The astute reader will notice in what follows that no place is found in the “Five Points” for the Canons III/IV : 15, 16 & 17.  These three articles deal with the free offer of the Gospel to all; with the need for humility regarding those things which God does not reveal to us; and with the need to recognise that God ordains, not only the results, but also the means as well.

Each of the Five Points will be dealt with separately in future issues of AP, with the exception of Points Four and Five which are more appropriately dealt with together and concluding by showing the essential connection between the Doctrine of the Trinity and the Five Points of Calvinism.

– Bruce Christian