It's good to remember anniversaries, and so I note that tomorrow marks the 400th anniversary of the official publication of the Canons of Dort. These formal statements of church teaching were unanimously adopted by the Synod of Dort (Nov. 13, 1618 - May 29, 1619), a gathering of Protestant church leaders mainly from the Netherlands but also from eight other European countries.
You may have never heard of the Synod of Dort, and the 400th anniversary of the publication of its canons will probably go unnoticed in most Christian churches. But I believe that the canons are a great treasure and should be celebrated. They wonderfully summarize and defend the teachings of the Bible about God's amazing and sovereign grace.
The calling of the Synod of Dort was preceded, as was often the case with major synods, by doctrinal disputes and political upheaval.
After weathering the storm of the Spanish inquisition and celebrating political independence in 1581, the Protestant church in the Netherlands had enjoyed a time of relative peace. But about 30 years later, civil war seemed to be simmering, in part because of a doctrinal issue that some would consider an intramural dispute.
What was this issue?
At the heart of it was a very capable and well-respected theologian by the name of Jacobus Arminius. He began to publicly question some of the accepted Reformed doctrines. He had reservations about what the church believed concerning God's sovereignty in our salvation. In particular, he had serious questions about what the churches confessed in article 16 of the Belgic Confession, which states the following: "We believe that, when the entire offspring of Adam plunged into perdition and ruin by the transgression of the first man, God manifested himself to be as he is: merciful and just. Merciful, in rescuing and saving from this perdition those whom in his eternal and unchangeable counsel he has elected in Jesus Christ our Lord by his pure goodness, without any consideration of their works. Just, in leaving the others in the fall and perdition into which they have plunged themselves."
After raising many questions about this article and related teachings, Jacobus Arminius died in the year 1609.
He had accumulated a group of like-minded thinkers, however, and these followers (the Remonstrants) published five articles expressing their beliefs in 1610. After much discussion and dispute from the years 1610 to 1618, the States-General of the Netherlands finally called a synod to settle the issues. It was this synod, held in the city of Dort, that crafted and published the Canons of Dort, and declared the Remonstrants to be in error.
Why not search the internet and check out the Canons of Dort for yourself?
Many Christians are skeptical about them, but I believe that they are full of faithful and rich biblical teachings about grace - a grace that gives all the praise and honour to God.
