The Canons of Dort A New Translation for the Reformed Church in America The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands is popularly known as the Canons of Dort. It consists of statements of doctrine adopted by the great Synod of Dort which met in the city of Dordrecht in 1618-19. Although this was a national synod of the Reformed churches of the Netherlands, it had an international character, since it was composed not only of Dutch delegates but also of twenty-six delegates from eight foreign countries. The Synod of Dort was held in order to settle a serious controversy in the Dutch churches initiated by the rise of Arminianism. Jacob Arminius, a theological professor at Leiden University, questioned the teaching of Calvin and his followers on a number of important points. After Arminius' death, his own followers presented their views on five of these points in the Remonstrance of 1610. In this document or in later, more explicit writings, the Arminians taught election based on foreseen faith, universal atonement, partial depravity, resistible grace, and the possibility of a lapse from grace. In the Canons the Synod of Dort rejected these views and set forth the Reformed doctrine on these points: unconditional election, limited atonement, total depravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of saints. The Canons have a special character because of their original purpose as a judicial decision on the doctrinal points in dispute during the Arminian controversy. The original preface called them a judgment, in which both the true view, agreeing with God's Word, concerning the aforesaid five points of doctrine is explained, and the false view, disagreeing with God's Word, is rejected. The Canons also have a limited character in that they do not cover the whole range of doctrine, but focus on the five points of doctrine in dispute. . . . Although in form there are only four points, we speak properly of five points, because the Canons were structured to correspond to the five articles of the 1610 Remonstrance. Main Points 3 and 4 were combined into one, always designated as Main Point III/IV.
The basis for the new translation for the Reformed Church in America is the 1986 translation of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), used with permission. The original Latin, the Dutch translation, the older RCA version, and the present CRC versions have been reviewed in order to ensure fidelity to the teachings of the Synod of Dort. As in the new RCA translations of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession, divine names and titles have been retained even when gender specific (e.g. Father, Son, Lord). Masculine pronouns (he, him, himself, his) have been retained in references to the historical Jesus and the risen Christ, but they have been eliminated in all references to God the Father, the pre-incarnate Word, the necessary (a priori) characteristics of the Mediator, and the Holy Spirit in order to avoid, as much as possible, language that suggests that God is limited by human gender. Unless noted otherwise, quotations generally follow the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Also, in some of the articles the following translation adds Scripture passages given in the Latin, Dutch, and the RCA versions, but omitted in the CRC version. Please select from the following:
Quoted from the Christian Reformed Church translation of the Canons of Dort adopted by the 1986 Synod of the CRC.
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