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The Five
Articles of the Remonstrants, 1610
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That God, by an eternal and
unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ his Son, before
the foundations of the world were laid, determined
to save, out of the human race which had fallen into
sin, in Christ, for Christ's sake and through
Christ, those who through the grace of the Holy
Spirit shall believe on the same his Son and shall
through the same grace persevere in this same faith
and obedience of faith even to the end; and on the
other hand to leave under sin and wrath the
contumacious and unbelieving and to condemn them as
aliens from Christ, according to the word of the
Gospel in
John 3:36, and
other passages of Scripture.
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That, accordingly, Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every
man, so that he has obtained for all, by his death
on the cross, reconciliation and remission of sins;
yet so that no one is partaker of this remission
except the believers [John
3:16; 1 John 2:2].
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That man has not saving grace of
himself, nor of the working of his own free-will,
inasmuch as in his state of apostasy and sin he can
for himself and by himself think nothing that is
good-- nothing, that is, truly good, such as saving
faith is, above all else. But that it is necessary
that by God, in Christ and through his Holy Spirit
he be born again and renewed in understanding,
affections and will and in all his faculties, that
he may be able to understand, think, will, and
perform what is truly good, according to the Word of
God [
John 15:5].
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That this grace of God is the
beginning, the progress and the end of all good; so
that even the regenerate man can neither think, will
nor effect any good, nor withstand any temptation to
evil, without grace precedent (or prevenient),
awakening, following and co-operating. So that all
good deeds and all movements towards good that can
be conceived in through must be ascribed to the
grace of God in Christ.
But with respect to the mode of
operation, grace is not irresistible; for it is
written of many that they resisted the Holy Spirit [
Acts 7 and
elsewhere].
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That those who are grafted into
Christ by a true faith, and have thereby been made
partakers of his life-giving Spirit, are abundantly
endowed with power to strive against Satan, sin, the
world and their own flesh, and to win the victory;
always, be it understood, with the help of the grace
of the Holy Spirit, with Jesus Christ assisting them
in all temptations, through his Spirit; stretching
out his hand to them and (providing only that they
are themselves prepared for the fight, that they
entreat his aid and do not fail to help themselves)
propping and upbuilding them so that by no guile or
violence of Satan can they be led astray or plucked
from Christ's hands [
John
10:28]. But for the question whether they are not
able through sloth or negligence to forsake the
beginning of their life in Christ, to embrace again
this present world, to depart from the holy doctrine
once delivered to them, to lose their good
conscience and to neglect grace--this must be the
subject of more exact inquiry in the Holy
Scriptures, before we can teach it with full
confidence of our mind.
These Articles are thus set out and
delivered by the Remonstrants which we deem agreeable to
the word of God, suitable for edification. On this
subject, we feel that what is said above are sufficient
for salvation. It is not in any way necessary, and will
not help to edify, to go beyond what is stated or to
descend lower than what is given.
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