Article 5: The Sources of Unbelief and of Faith

The cause or blame for this unbelief, as well as for all other sins, is not at all in God, but in man. Faith in Jesus Christ, however, and salvation through him is a free gift of God. As Scripture says, It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Likewise: It has been freely given to you to believe in Christ (Phil. 1:29).

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In light of the previous articles (One-Four), the Canons here deal with the difficult question as to why some people believe the gospel when it is preached to them, while others reject that same gospel. The authors of the Canons are very careful to follow the biblical testimony about this matter when they assign all blame for eternal loss to humanity (cf. Article One), while giving all glory to God for the salvation of any of Adam's fallen children (Article Two).

The objection is often raised to this; “if salvation depends entirely upon the grace of God, and not all are saved, then God is somehow unfair in his dealings with his creatures.” More questions follow and you have undoubtedly heard them, asked them, or thought them. “Why didn’t God chose everyone?” If what the Canons are teaching is true, then “it seems as though God is somehow preventing people from believing by choosing some but not everyone.” But the most common objection is, “Why did God choose one and not the other?” a question which will be answered in subsequent articles.

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