The Error that Faith Is Merely a Human Act — The Rejection of Errors, Third and Fourth Head of Doctrine, Canons of Dort (6)

Synod rejects the errors of those . . .

Who teach that in the true conversion of man new qualities, dispositions, or gifts cannot be infused or poured into his will by God, and indeed that the faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion and from which we receive the name “believers” is not a quality or gift infused by God, but only an act of man, and that it cannot be called a gift except in respect to the power of attaining faith.

For these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that God does infuse or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, and the experiencing of his love: “I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts” (Jer. 31:33); “I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring” (Isa. 44:3); “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuous practice of the church, which prays with the prophet: “Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted” (Jer. 31:18).

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The Dutch Arminians (the Remonstrants) were seeking to establish several points in opposition to the Reformed. The first was to affirm that salvation is a gift from God, and is freely available to all who will choose it. But in order to establish the first point, the Arminians sought to deny the Reformed distinctive that people are dead in sin and inclined toward unbelief and self-interest—the manifestation of the “flesh” or fallen human nature. Therefore, the Arminians must contend that Adam’s Fall did indeed impact the entire human race, but God’s grace was universally available to all, and sufficient to save any willing to believe, provided they exercise their willingness to do so. According to Arminians, the Fall left Adam and his progeny wounded and sickened by sin, but nevertheless still able to seek grace, and once having done so, would find more grace available until such time as they are able and now willing to exercise faith in Christ (see the prior refutation of errors, number five). This is often framed as truism which is agreeable to many Americans, “God helps those who help themselves.” To put the matter in theological terms, Arminians speak of sin as act (not condition), so they also understand coming to faith as a human act.

But as the authors of the Canons have been pointing out from the opening article (and responding with appropriate biblical passages), such an optimistic and rosy view of human nature is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture. We are dead in sin, we cannot come to faith in Christ unless and until we are given the new birth and called to trust in Christ through the preaching of the gospel. Human nature is thoroughly corrupt and Adam’s children are all sinful from head to toe. As dead in sin, we retain no natural ability nor desire to come to faith in Christ if left to ourselves. This ability and desire was lost in Adam’s Fall. For anyone to exercise faith in Jesus Christ (i.e., trust in him to save us from the guilt and power of sin) they must be born again through the power of the Holy Spirit, regenerated, and effectually called to faith through the Gospel. Regeneration (the new birth) precedes faith.

Understanding both sin and coming to faith in Christ essentially as acts of the human will (the latter coming after seeking grace), the Dutch Arminians reacted negatively to the Reformed teaching that faith was necessarily tied to prior supernatural changes made to sinful human nature (regeneration) leading to conversion (faith and repentance). No new infused qualities, powers, abilities, supernatural gifts, were possible, say the Arminians, so that coming to faith must be understood solely as an act of the human will, which was strengthened through the process of seeking grace. Therefore, faith itself could be seen as a gift from God only in terms of fallen humans retaining the power (or natural ability) to do so, and not as the result of any sort of prior and effectual grace.

The authors of the Canons respond effectively by simply reciting a litany of biblical passages (Jeremiah 31:18, 33; Isaiah 44:3; and Romans 5:5) which teach the very things the Dutch Arminians claimed were not biblical.