The Historical Tracings of the Doctrines of Grace | Part 6

Key Scriptures

• Romans 9:11–16 – “Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls… So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
• John 10:14–15, 26–29 – “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me… and I lay down my life for the sheep.… but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
• Ephesians 2:1–5 – “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins… But God, being rich in mercy… made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”
• Philippians 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

The Reformers had reclaimed the gospel of grace from the grip of Rome, but the story was far from over. The sixteenth century closed with a new challenge—not from outside the Protestant movement, but from within it.

The old Pelagian errors that Augustine fought, and that the Reformers refuted, began to reappear under a new name: Arminianism. The man behind it was Jacob Arminius, a Dutch pastor and professor whose influence would ignite the next great theological conflict in church history.

The Rise of Arminius
Jacob Arminius (1560–1609) was trained in the Reformed tradition and even studied in Geneva under Theodore Beza, Calvin’s successor. But over time, his commitment to Scripture’s testimony of God’s sovereignty began to erode.

Influenced by humanist philosophy, Arminius could not accept that God alone determines who will be saved. He began to argue that election is based on God’s foreknowledge of human faith—that God chooses those who He foresees will choose Him.

At first, Arminius spoke cautiously. But after his death in 1609, his followers—the Remonstrants—made their opposition public. In 1610, they presented a document known as The Remonstrance to the Dutch government, formally protesting against the Reformed confessions.

This Remonstrance contained five points of doctrine that directly contradicted the biblical theology of the Reformers.

The Five Articles of the Remonstrants
Each of the five articles sounds, at first glance, reasonable. But each one undermines the very heart of the gospel. Let’s examine them briefly and measure them against the Word of God.

(1) Conditional Election
The Remonstrants taught that God elects individuals based on His foreknowledge of their faith. In other words, God looks down the corridors of time to see who will believe and then chooses them accordingly.

But Romans 9:11–16 demolishes this reasoning: “Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls.” Paul’s conclusion is unmistakable: “It depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

To say that election is conditional is to make grace a reward, not a gift.

(2) Universal Atonement
The Remonstrants claimed that Christ died for all people equally, making salvation possible for everyone but certain for no one. They taught that His death did not actually save—it merely opened the door for sinners to save themselves through belief.

Yet Jesus said, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15), not for the goats. The atonement was not a potential rescue—it was an actual redemption. When Christ bore the wrath of God on the cross, He secured the salvation of those the Father had given Him.

A universal atonement that saves no one in particular is weaker than a definite atonement that saves completely. Christ’s blood is too precious to be wasted on a theoretical offer. It was shed for a chosen people, and not one of them will be lost (John 10:28).

Not one drop of Christ’s blood was wasted.

(3) Partial Depravity
Arminius and his followers denied that man is spiritually dead. They claimed that sin has weakened humanity but not enslaved it, leaving people capable of cooperating with grace.

Scripture, however, paints a different picture. Ephesians 2:1 declares, “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” Dead men do not move toward God—they rot in rebellion. Only divine mercy can resurrect the dead.

Semi-Pelagianism always begins here—with a lighter view of sin. But a light view of sin leads to a light view of grace.

(4) Resistible Grace
The Remonstrants argued that God’s grace can be resisted—that the Holy Spirit calls all men to salvation, but His call can be rejected by human free will.

But Jesus said in John 6:37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me.” When God calls His people, they come—not because their will is overridden, but because their will is made new. Grace is irresistible not because it coerces but because it recreates.

If grace can fail, then God can fail. But the God of Scripture never fails in anything He purposes to do.

(5) Conditional Perseverance
Finally, the Remonstrants denied the security of the believer, teaching that those who are truly saved can fall away and lose their salvation.

Yet Philippians 1:6 promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” Salvation is not a temporary experiment—it is an eternal covenant. Jesus said, “My sheep will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

To say that grace can be lost is to deny that grace is grace.

The Return of Semi-Pelagianism
Though Arminius and his followers claimed to be Reformed, their theology was nothing more than a revival of semi-Pelagianism—the idea that man takes the first step toward God and grace meets him halfway.

What Augustine condemned in the fifth century, and Luther and Calvin refuted in the sixteenth, was now being repackaged in the name of moderation and human freedom. Arminianism was the Protestant version of Rome’s theology: salvation by cooperation rather than by sovereign grace.

R.C. Sproul once said, “Arminianism seeks to rescue God from the charge of injustice and man from the charge of helplessness. In doing so, it destroys the gospel.”

The Need for a Response
The spread of Arminianism threatened to divide the Dutch churches and corrupt the Reformation’s legacy. The question was urgent: Does salvation depend on God’s sovereign mercy or on man’s free will?

To settle the matter, the Reformed churches called an international council—the Synod of Dort—which would meet from 1618 to 1619 to examine the teachings of the Remonstrants in light of Scripture.

What began as an internal dispute would become one of the most defining moments in the history of the church—a moment when the doctrines of grace were not only affirmed but permanently codified as the true expression of biblical Christianity.

The Reformation had recovered grace from Rome. Dort would defend grace from compromise.