“The Saving Effectiveness of Christ’s Death” -- Article Eight, Second Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort

Article 8: The Saving Effectiveness of Christ’s Death

For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son’s costly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones, in order that he might grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without fail to salvation. In other words, it was God’s will that Christ through the blood of the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father; that he should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit’s other saving gifts, he acquired for them by his death); that he should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle.

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The authors of the Canons note that the death of Christ is designed by God to satisfy the demands of his holy justice on behalf of his elect. The Canons also point out that sinners cannot believe the proclamation of Christ crucified unless they are given the gift of faith through the preaching of the gospel. At this point, the Canons tie these two things together.

In article 8, the authors state that the cross was ordained by God for the express purpose of actually and effectually redeeming the elect, i.e., those chosen by God in Christ from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). There is not a hint anywhere in Scripture that it was God's intention to make people savable, if only they use their free will and natural ability to come to Christ.

As the Canons put it, “For it was the entirely free plan and very gracious will and intention of God the Father that the enlivening and saving effectiveness of his Son's costly death should work itself out in all his chosen ones, in order that he might grant justifying faith to them only and thereby lead them without fail to salvation.”

According to the Reformed understanding of the plan of redemption, God has decreed to save his elect in Christ, then in the fullness of time God sent our Lord to accomplish what was necessary for his elect to be saved. Jesus came to die for our sins, thereby satisfying God’s justice which requires payment for our guilt. Through his personal obedience, Jesus fulfilled the demands of God’s law during his messianic mission, so that the elect can be provided with the perfect righteousness of Christ. And then Scripture teaches that God sent the Holy Spirit to call all those whom God has chosen and for whom Christ has died, to come to faith and repent of their sins through the proclamation of the gospel.

From the Reformed perspective, the Father graciously elects in Christ, the son redeems those whom the Father has chosen, and the Holy Spirit calls those to faith whom the Father has chosen, and for whom the son has died. There is a wonderful and perfect biblical symmetry here. The inter-Trinitarian covenant of redemption made in ages past, in which the Father elects Christ to be the mediator of the covenant of grace comes to fruition in time and space with Christ dying for God’s elect, and the Spirit calling all those whom God has chosen to faith in Christ without fail.

This inter-Trinitarian covenant is seen in John 17, where Jesus repeatedly speaks of those given him by the Father before the world began, and the Trinitarian nature of redemption is clearly spelled out by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-14 (and cited in the previous article).

Again, far from being an invention of the Reformed, this wonderful biblical symmetry is spelled out by Paul in the first chapter of Ephesians. Election is said to be “in Christ,” thereby accomplished before the foundation of the world. According to Paul it is through Christ’s work for us during his earthly ministry that we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins, and through the shedding of his blood God’s justice is fully satisfied. Then, at a particular point in time, believers are called to faith through the Holy Spirit, they believe the gospel, and they are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption.

It is from this biblical theme of redemption decreed, accomplished and applied that the Reformed tradition develops the idea of “irresistible grace,” which simply means that all of God’s elect will eventually come to faith. The term “irresistible” grace is, unfortunately, a bit misleading. The term is intended to convey the idea that the elect cannot resist the call of God, but the elect often resist the call of God before regeneration. Many of us “resisted” the call of God for a time. This is why it is better to exchange the term “irresistible grace” with "effectual calling."

While we resist the call of God because we are sinful, nevertheless, through the gospel, the Holy Spirit sovereignly changes us from people who are dead in sin, into people who are alive in Christ. Once made alive, we then believe and embrace the Savior through faith, receiving the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. But until we do come to faith, we often resist the call of God.

This, then, is why the authors can state without equivocation that “it was God's will that Christ through the blood of the cross (by which he confirmed the new covenant) should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation and given to him by the Father; that he should grant them faith (which, like the Holy Spirit's other saving gifts, he acquired for them by his death); that he should cleanse them by his blood from all their sins, both original and actual, whether committed before or after their coming to faith; that he should faithfully preserve them to the very end; and that he should finally present them to himself, a glorious people, without spot or wrinkle.”

God elects sinners in Jesus Christ. Jesus dies for God’s elect. The Holy Spirit then applies the merits of Christ to all those, but only those, whom God has chosen, and for whom the son has died. Not only do we have the Trinitarian symmetry, we also have the so-called “five points” of Calvinism.

Total depravity refers to the effects of the fall and is manifest in our inability to come to faith, apart from a prior work of God on our behalf.

We have unconditional election—God choosing to save a multitude so vast that no man can count them.

Then there’s limited atonement—or better "particular redemption," as Christ comes to die for those for who the Father has chosen by satisfying God’s anger toward their sins.

Irresistible grace (effectual calling) is simply the idea that those whom the Father has chosen, and for whom the Son has died, will be called by the Holy Spirit through the gospel to faith in Christ.

Finally, there’s the doctrine of perseverance. Those whom God has chosen, for whom the Son has died, and who the Spirit has called to faith, will be kept [or preserved] by the Spirit until the day of redemption.

Therefore, our salvation is clearly Trinitarian in its design and execution.

This leads the authors to conclude the following in Article Nine which follows . . .