Sin & Election, The Canons of The Synod of Dort 1618 and 1619

Article 1

As all men have sinned in Adam, lie under the curse,
and are deserving of eternal death,

God would have done no injustice by leaving them all to perish,
and delivering them over to condemnation on account of sin,
according to the words of the apostle,

“that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world may become guilty before God”
(Rom. 3:19).

And verse 23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

And Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death.”

Article 2

But in this the love of God was manifested,
that He sent His only begotten Son into the world,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world,
that we might live through Him”
(1 John 4:9).

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Article 3

And that men may be brought to believe,
God mercifully sends the messengers of these most joyful tidings
to whom He will and at what time He pleaseth;

by whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith in Christ crucified.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?

and how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent?”
(Rom. 10:14–15).

Article 4

The wrath of God abideth upon those who believe not this gospel.
But such as receive it, and embrace Jesus the Savior by a true and living faith,
are by Him delivered from the wrath of God and from destruction,
and have the gift of eternal life conferred upon them.

Article 5

The cause or guilt of this unbelief, as well as of all other sins,
is no wise in God, but in man himself;

whereas faith in Jesus Christ and salvation through Him
is the free gift of God, as it is written:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”
(Eph. 2:8).

“For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on Him,” etc.
(Phil. 1:29).

Article 6

That some receive the gift of faith from God
and others do not receive it proceeds from God's eternal decree, for
“known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world”
(Acts 15:18).

“Who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will”
(Eph. 1:11).

According to which decree, He graciously softens the hearts of the elect,
however obstinate, and inclines them to believe,
while He leaves the non-elect in His just judgment
to their own wickedness and obduracy.

And herein is especially displayed the profound, the merciful,
and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men,
equally involved in ruin;

or that decree of election and reprobation revealed in the Word of God,
which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds
wrest to their own destruction, yet
to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.

Article 7; see https://prts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Canons-of-Dort-with-Intro.pdf

Great Stuff.

 

"the counsel of His own will"
is what I am interested in, from The Bible.

 

You give Calvin credit for writing The Bible
and say that I am quoting Calvin, when I am quoting God.

Did Calvin or God say,

Man by his fall into a state of sin

hath wholly lost (d) all ability of Will,
to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;

so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, (e)
and dead in Sin, is not able, by his own strength,
to (f) convert himself; or to prepare himself thereunto.

d Rom. 5.6. ch. 8.7.

• e Eph. 2.1.5.
  
  f Tit. 3 3,4,5. Joh. 6.44.

 

Your answer is, "Calvin".

 

↑
"the counsel of His own will"
is what I am interested in, from The Bible.


Yet you keep quoting Calvin.