“God’s Freedom Revealed in the Gospel” -- Article Seven, The Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 7: God’s Freedom in Revealing the Gospel

In the Old Testament, God revealed this secret of his will to a small number; in the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples) he discloses it to a large number. The reason for this difference must not be ascribed to the greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better use of the light of nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love of God. Therefore, those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of all they deserve, ought to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts; on the other hand, with the apostle they ought to adore (but certainly not inquisitively search into) the severity and justice of God’s judgments on the others, who do not receive this grace.

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While Arminians place much emphasis upon human freedom, the Canons are clear that Christians must begin any discussion of God’s saving purposes where Scripture begins the discussion. This is not with human freedom, but with the freedom of God.

As we have seen throughout prior articles, Scripture informs us that the human race has fallen in Adam and is described as dead in sin, unable and unwilling to exercise faith in Jesus Christ (i.e., Romans 3:9-20). Yet because he is loving and gracious God has chosen to elect a vast multitude unto salvation based upon reasons known only to himself. Furthermore, God has also determined how he will call those to faith whom he has chosen—through the preaching of the gospel (Romans 10:17). God ordains both the ends (those whom he will save) and the means by which he will save them (the preaching of the gospel).

In article 7, the Canons make the point that God’s hidden decree (in eternity past) is carried out in time and space, of which the Scriptures are the divinely-inspired account. God’s plan to save fallen sinners–otherwise hidden in the shadows of eternity–is revealed in ordinary human history as God brings to pass the very things that he has decreed would come to pass, and which accomplish our salvation.

In terms of a logical order, of course, we must begin with God’s eternal decree. But when we view things historically in the Scriptures (i.e. as the things God has decreed unfold in redemptive history), we must begin where the Scriptures begin. This is not with what was hidden, but with the execution of that decree as it is revealed in the history of God’s people. The Bible is both the explanatory record of God bringing to pass what he has decreed, as well as the history of the covenants (indeed, the covenant documents themselves). Since Jesus is the elect one (i.e., that one in whom God’s elect are chosen), Jesus is also the mediator of God’s gracious covenant. Redemptive history (the Bible) is the record of Christ’s redemptive work from beginning (Genesis) to end (Revelation), and focuses exclusively upon the unfolding drama of redemption.

The first point made in article seven is that God’s plan of redemption (i.e, the covenant of grace) was initially revealed “to a small number.” The Bible begins with the promise of a redeemer made to Adam immediately after the Fall of our race in Genesis 3:15, running through the elect line of Abel, Seth, Noah, and so on, until we get to Abraham. Slowly and over time God reveals the gospel in more detail to each of the successive generations. Jeremiah, one of the later prophets, prophesied the coming of a “new covenant.” Jeremiah certainly knew more about the coming redeemer than did Adam simply because much had been revealed to God’s people post-Eden. The Bible is the record of this progressive unfolding of the one gospel of Jesus Christ described in article six.

The second point made in article seven is that this progressive revelation in the Old Testament culminates in the coming of Jesus Christ, when, in the fullness of time, the one mediator between God and man (Jesus), formerly hidden deep within type and shadow, now enters center-stage of human history to accomplish those things necessary for our redemption (Galatians 4:4-6). Since Jesus Christ has stepped out of eternity past into human history, “in the New Testament (now without any distinction between peoples”), such as Jew and Gentile, God discloses the gospel to a large number of people, namely to all the nations and peoples of the earth.

The mission of Israel, which Calvin called the church in its infancy, was very narrowly focused. Israel was that nation chosen to provide God’s people with a savior and to preserve God’s word. But once the Savior has been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the gospel is to go out to all the nations of the earth—the evangelistic and missionary enterprise of Christ’s church.

In the Old Testament, the primary focus of redemption was limited to national Israel, but in the New, the focus is universal. It was our Lord Jesus who gave the great commission to his church in Matthew 28:18-20 . . .

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

It is the mission of Christ’s church to take the message of reconciliation to all the earth. The preached gospel is God the Holy Spirit’s means to call all of God’s elect to faith in Jesus Christ.

As the Canons go on to point out, God is perfectly free to decree whatsoever comes to pass according to his own pleasure and purpose. He is equally free to execute that decree in ordinary history as he sees fit. It is God’s will that he chose Israel to be the apple of his eye—it was certainly not because he foresaw Israel’s faithfulness and desire to do his will (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). Indeed, the Old Testament is in many ways the story of God’s faithfulness despite Israel’s repeated unbelief and unfaithfulness. God chose Israel not because of anything good he foresaw in his people. Rather, he chose Israel because it was his purpose to do so.

When we turn to the New Testament it is clear that it is God’s will that he chose a people in Christ from before the foundation of the world. In fact, he chooses a multitude so vast that no one can number them (Revelation 7:9). This is why the authors go on to state “the reason for this difference must not be ascribed to the greater worth of one nation over another, or to a better use of the light of nature, but to the free good pleasure and undeserved love of God.” God will certainly bring to pass what he has decreed and will accomplish his purposes. History itself is God’s decree being executed in time and in space.

By now it should be clear that God does not simply set things in motion—as deists (and some Arminians contend)—and then steps back and watches things play out, and only then does he elect some unto salvation based upon his foreknowledge of what his creatures will do when the gospel is preached to them. This is nothing but a practical deism, in which God is bound to respond based upon what his creatures do in exercising their freedom. For many Arminians, humans have “free will,” but God’s will is supposedly bound by the responses of his creatures.

There is no ground for human boasting. In the Old Testament, God chose Israel because of His sovereign pleasure and purpose, while in the New Testament, we are told that God has chosen a multitude so vast that no one can count them, also based upon his pleasure and purpose. The Canons rightly conclude, “therefore, those who receive so much grace, beyond and in spite of all they deserve, ought to acknowledge it with humble and thankful hearts; on the other hand, with the apostle they ought to adore (but certainly not inquisitively search into) the severity and justice of God's judgments on the others, who do not receive this grace."