Table of Contents
- Title Page
- Introduction
- Article 1 As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse
- Article 2 But in this the love of God was manifested
- Article 3 And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these
- Article 4 The wrath of God abides upon those who believe not this gospel.
- Article 5 The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as of all other sins is
- Article 6 That some receive the gift of faith from God
- Article 7 Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world
- Article 8 There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same decree respecting all
- Article 9 This election was not founded upon foreseen faith and the obedience of faith
- Article 10 The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious election
- Article 11 And as God Himself is most wise, unchangeable, omniscient
- Article 12 The elect in due time, though in various degrees and in different measures
- Article 13 The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter
- Article 14 As the doctrine of divine election by the most wise counsel of God was declared
- Article 15 What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us the eternal and unmerited grace of
- Article 16 Those in whom a living faith in Christ, an assured confidence of soul
- Article 17 Since we are to judge of the will of God from His Word
- Article 18 To those who murmur at the free grace of election and the just severity of
- Rejection of Errors
- Paragraph 1 Who teach: That the will of God to save those who would believe and would
- Paragraph 2 Who teach: That there are various kinds of election of God unto eternal life
- Paragraph 3 Who teach: That the good pleasure and purpose of God
- Paragraph 4 Who teach: That in the election unto faith this condition is beforehand demanded that man
- Paragraph 5 Who teach: That the incomplete and non-decisive election of particular persons to salvation occurred because
- Paragraph 6 Who teach: That not every election unto salvation is unchangeable
- Paragraph 7 Who teach: That there is in this life no fruit and no consciousness of the
- Paragraph 8 Who teach: That God, simply by virtue of His righteous will
- Paragraph 9 Who teach: That the reason why God sends the gospel to one people rather than
- Second Head of Doctrine
- Article 1 God is not only supremely merciful, but also supremely just.
- Article 2 Since, therefore, we are unable to make that satisfaction in our own persons
- Article 3 The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and
- Article 4 This death is of such infinite value and dignity because the person who submitted to
- Article 5 Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believes in Christ crucified shall not
- Article 6 And, whereas many who are called by the gospel do not repent nor believe in
- Article 7 But as many as truly believe, and are delivered and saved from sin and destruction
- Article 8 For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the
- Article 9 This purpose, proceeding from everlasting love towards the elect
- Rejection of Errors
- Paragraph 1 Who teach: That God the Father has ordained His Son to the death of the
- Paragraph 2 Who teach: That it was not the purpose of the death of Christ that He
- Paragraph 3 Who teach: That Christ by His satisfaction merited neither salvation itself for anyone
- Paragraph 4 Who teach: That the new covenant of grace, which God the Father
- Paragraph 5 Who teach: That all men have been accepted unto the state of reconciliation and unto
- Paragraph 6 Who use the difference between meriting and appropriating, to the end that they may instil
- Paragraph 7 Who teach: That Christ neither could die, nor needed to die
- Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine
- Article 1 Man was originally formed after the image of God.
- Article 2 Man after the fall begat children in his own likeness.
- Article 3 Therefore all men are conceived in sin, and are by nature children of wrath
- Article 4 There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural understanding
- Article 5 Neither can the decalogue delivered by God to His peculiar people
- Article 6 What, therefore, neither the innate understanding nor the law could do
- Article 7 This mystery of His will God revealed to but a small number under the Old
- Article 8 As many as are called by the gospel are unfeignedly called.
- Article 9 It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ offered therein
- Article 10 But that others who are called by the gospel obey the call and are converted
- Article 11 But when God accomplishes His good pleasure in the elect
- Article 12 And this is that regeneration so highly extolled in Scripture
- Article 13 The manner of this operation cannot be fully comprehended by believers in this life.
- Article 14 Faith is therefore to be considered as the gift of God
- Article 15 God is under no obligation to confer this grace upon any
- Article 16 But as man by the fall did not cease to be a creature endowed with
- Article 17 As the almighty operation of God whereby He brings forth and supports this our natural
- Rejection of Errors
- Paragraph 1 Who teach: That it cannot properly be said that original sin in itself suffices to
- Paragraph 2 Who teach: That the spiritual gifts or the good qualities and virtues
- Paragraph 3 Who teach: That in spiritual death the spiritual gifts are not separate from the will
- Paragraph 4 Who teach: That the unregenerate man is not really nor utterly dead in sin
- Paragraph 5 Who teach: That the corrupt and natural man can so well use the common grace
- Paragraph 6 Who teach: That in the TRUE conversion of man no new qualities
- Paragraph 7 Who teach: That the grace whereby we are converted to God is only a gentle
- Paragraph 8 Who teach: That God in the regeneration of man does not use such powers of
- Paragraph 9 Who teach: That grace and free will are partial causes which together work the beginning
- Fifth Head of Doctrine
- Article 1 Those whom God, according to His purpose, calls to the communion of His Son
- Article 2 Hence spring forth the daily sins of infirmity, and blemishes cleave even to the best
- Article 3 By reason of these remains of indwelling sin, and also because of the temptations of
- Article 4 Although the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the power of God
- Article 5 By such enormous sins, however, they very highly offend God
- Article 6 But God, who is rich in mercy, according to His unchangeable purpose of election
- Article 7 For in the first place, in these falls He preserves in them the incorruptible seed
- Article 8 Thus it is not in consequence of their own merits or strength
- Article 9 Of this preservation of the elect to salvation and of their perseverance in the faith
- Article 10 This assurance, however, is not produced by any peculiar revelation contrary to or independent of
- Article 11 The Scripture moreover testifies that believers in this life have to struggle with various carnal
- Article 12 This certainty of perseverance, however, is so far from exciting in believers a spirit of
- Article 13 Neither does renewed confidence of persevering produce licentiousness or a disregard of piety in those
- Article 14 And as it has pleased God, by the preaching of the gospel
- Article 15 The carnal mind is unable to comprehend this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints
- Rejection of Errors
- Paragraph 1 Who teach: That the perseverance of the TRUE believers is not a fruit of election
- Paragraph 2 Who teach: That God does indeed provide the believer with sufficient powers to persevere
- Paragraph 3 Who teach: That the TRUE believers and regenerate not only can fall from justifying faith
- Paragraph 4 Who teach: That TRUE believers and regenerate can sin the sin unto death or against
- Paragraph 5 Who teach: That without a special revelation we can have no certainty of future perseverance
- Paragraph 6 Who teach: That the doctrine of the certainty of perseverance and of salvation from its
- Paragraph 7 Who teach: That the faith of those who believe for a time does not differ
- Paragraph 8 Who teach: That it is not absurd that one having lost his first regeneration is
- Paragraph 9 Who teach: That Christ has in no place prayed that believers should infallibly continue in
- Conclusion And this is the perspicuous, simple, and ingenuous declaration of the orthodox doctrine respecting the