Customer Reviews

But for the Grace of God: An Exposition of the Canons of Dort

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A growing segment of people in Europe were getting more and more upset at the teachings of the Reformed Faith. They felt it painted man in a more sinful life than man wanted to be presented. Thus, in early European history several teachers and scholars presented to the Dutch State Church their five complaints about the Reformed Faith. They felt they had uncovered the errors of Martin Luther, Augustine, and John Calvin. Their five complaints (the Five Remonstrants) were presented for review...in many ways they were a restatement (with a more scholarly presentation than Pelagius had done years before). At that time, Pelagianism was found to be heresy and banned from the church.

The Remonstrants were presented to the Synod of Dordt for review and refutation of the Reformed Teaching that was sweeping the Church of Europe. After careful deliberation (with scholars from 8 countries), each Remonstrance was explored, examined, and finally refuted. All five were found to be in direct contradiction to Holy Scripture. The Scholars did not just dismiss the Five Remonstrants, but instead, they published the five errors along with the exposition of Scripture to explain what the true teaching of Scripture should be. These five points developed into an acrostic known to us all as T.U.L.I.P., or the five points of Calvinism.

Please be reminded that John Calvin was long dead when the Synod of Dordt came to their conclusions and published the Canons of Dordt. Sadly, John Calvin has forever since been saddled with these five points as they are called the five points of Calvinism. Yes, they reflect accurately the teachings of Calvin, but more importantly, the scholars felt that these five teachings now reflected the true presentation of man, sin, and salvation.

Most people would think that reading a book on the minutes of a meeting that took place centuries ago as being boring, dusty, and ancient. Yet, this book is vibrant. It brings the answers of the Synod of Dordt to life for all to see and read. Most importantly, it demonstrates once and for all that the teaching of Pelagius (Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism) to be in error. Unfortunately, in the western church, Pelagianism is the majority report in many pulpits. Many schools and seminaries by-pass the teachings and findings of the church fathers and history and teach whatever "wind of doctrine" sounds pleasing to people, that makes man the engineer of his own soul, and allows man to exercise complete free will.

This book is not a long book to read, but every chapter is worth the price of the book. The actual minutes of the Synod are included and the reasoning and exposition of Scripture is foundational for every reader and well worth reading, meditating and seeing the grace of God.