To Those Who Murmur at the Grace of Free Election and Severity of Just Reprobation

To those who murmur at the free grace of election and just severity of reprobation, we answer with the apostle: Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? (Rom. 9:20), and quote the language of our Savior: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? (Matt. 20:15). And therefore, with holy adoration of these mysteries, we exclaim in the words of the apostle: O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen (Rom. 11:33-36). -Canons of Dordtrecht, I.18


IN THIS TRANSLATION the adjectives "free" and "just" are misplaced. The translation should be "To those who murmur at the grace of free election and severity of just reprobation." 

In this article the fathers deal with two subjects: their answer to those who murmur against the doctrine of sovereign predestination and their attitude toward this doctrine in contrast with the attitude of those who murmur against it.

The first head of the Canons is closed with a fitting and scriptural doxology, a hymn of praise to the predestinating God of salvation. At the conclusion of the fifth head of doctrine is also a doxology, but already here it is as though the fathers could restrain themselves no longer, but in contemplation of the doctrine they had formulated and defended, they must break forth into the well-known words of the closing verses of Romans 11. IT is exactly a doctrine such as they have expounded that can and does occasion the adoring worship expressed in these words.

The article speaks of those who murmur against this doctrine. There have always been and still are those who murmur against both the grace of gratuitous election and the severity of just reprobation. So common is such murmuring that one may well judge the orthodoxy of his doctrine of predestination by the criterion of this murmuring. You may be certain that if you preach, teach, and maintain the pure, scriptural doctrine of sovereign predestination, men will murmur against you and your doctrine. The apostle Paul knew such murmuring. Augustine knew it. Gottschalk had to suffer on account of it. John Calvin had to hear it and answer it. The father of Dordrecht had to do battle against these murmurers. Those who will be Reformed today and will adhere strictly to this same doctrine will also have to face such murmurers. That such murmuring can be a criterion of orthodoxy is because being the object of such murmuring is the exclusive prerogative of the true doctrine of predestination. Change that doctrine, compromise its sovereignty, soften it by adopting a double-track theology, and you will not hear any murmurings.

The fathers indicate the nature of these murmurings. The objections are against the "grace" of free election and the "severity" of just reprobation- carefully and wisely chosen words that point out clearly the gross wickedness of those who object to the doctrine.

Exactly against the grace of God they murmur. Especially they object to the grace of free election. If you insist that only the other blessings of salvation are gifts of God's grace and are all free, they might let your doctrine pass. The moment you insist that election is free, gratuitous, unmerited, and therefore a matter of grace and not works, they will murmur against your doctrine, for election is the anchor end of the chain of salvation. To use the figure of the Canons: "Election is the fountain and cause of all saving good" (Canons 1.8). If election is free, unmerited, and gracious, there is absolutely no room for man and free will. Hence they murmur against the grace of free election. This murmuring assumes more than one form. Usually men object that this doctrine makes men careless and profane or that this doctrine makes passive Christians.

Much more frequently men murmur against the severity of just reprobation. A doctrine of election they claim to be able to endure; but they cannot stand the severity of reprobation, saying that it is a horrible doctrine. When the murmurers object to the severity of reprobation, they also oppose and mean to oppose the grace of free election. Remember, the Canons means by "just reprobation" not reprobation on the basis of foreseen sin and unbelief or on account of sin. If such is your doctrine of reprobation, you will never hear these murmurers, because that is the doctrine they want and which they claim does justice to human responsibility. But the just reprobation the Canons describe is not reprobation on account of sin, but reprobation unto condemnation in the way of man's own sin (Canons I.15). While it is just and unblamable, its severity nevertheless remains. This severity does not lie in the condemnation, but in the source of the decree in God's "sovereign, most just, irreprehensible, and unchangeable good pleasure" (Canons I.15). Even if you make it clear that the decree of reprobation is just, that it does not violate man's nature as a responsible moral and rational creature, and that the decree of reprobation is realized in history in the way of perfect justice, when you insist on the decree's absolute sovereignty, wicked men will murmur against you doctrine. What is the occasion for these murmurings? The goodness and severity of God, who is really God,  is what is assailed by these murmurers, which is the same as saying that the stumblingblock for these murmurers is God's sovereignty.

To murmur is different from acknowledging that we cannot comprehend God's works and ways. Contemplating God's work of sovereign predestination, the believer will confess, "How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Rom. 11:33). To murmur is to contradict and to rebel. It is the work of pride. He who murmurs presumes to know better than God, against whose work he murmurs. Murmuring is unbelief.

Notice how the fathers, with the Scriptures in hand, teach believers to answer these complainers. The fathers refer in both passages that they quote to instances of murmuring. In Romans 9, the apostle answers an objector against the doctrine that God has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens: "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted  His will?" The article quotes only the first part of the apostle's answer: "Nay, but, O man, who are thou that repliest against God?" (vv. 19-20).

By quoting this answer and instructing believers to answer and instructing believers to answer the complainers in this language, the Canons point to the real nature of their objections. The trouble is not that they misunderstand. The trouble is not intellectual at all. It is ethical; it is a matter of the will and the heart. Their murmurings partake of the sin of answering against God.

The Canons, with the Scriptures, tacitly assume that the major premise of these objectors is correct, namely, that the free election is indeed sovereign severity. 

The fathers, with the apostle Paul, insist that man, an infinitesimally small speck of dust, a priori has no right to contradict and to rebel against the infinite and sovereign God. When God speaks, there is only one attitude for man to assume: let him lay his hand upon his mouth, maintain utter silence, and simply listen! Anything else is nothing short of blasphemous rebellion.

The article might well have quoted the rest of the apostle's reply in Romans 9, but it turns to the parable of the laborers in the vineyard and quotes from it (Matt. 20:15). In the context Jesus tells of the laborer who objects when all who are hired by the lord of the vineyard receive a penny as wages, whether they have labored one hour or whether they have borne the burden and the heat of the day.

Without going into an explanation of the parable, we notice that apparently there is an element of justice in the objection.  This fact serves to emphasize the Lord's point more strongly. The lord of the vineyard answers in the parable, "Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with with me for a penny?" Then he insists on granting unto the last servants even as unto the first. The reason that overrules all objection and that cannot be answered is, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" Although there is in this instance not an objection against predestination, the principle of the reply is certainly applicable. If the lord of the vineyard may do as he pleases with his money, it is certainly true that the Lord of heaven and earth is not beholden to account for his actions to mere men, but is sovereignly free to do as he pleases with his own- his own creatures, his own salvation, his own damnation, his own heaven, and his own hell.

Let the church never flinch in the face of the complainers. Furnish them with a reply in harmony with Scripture.

Let our own attitude be that of adoration, expressed in the words of Romans 11:33-36. This is neither the time nor the place to give an exposition of these words. Suffice it to say that in the light of the context, both in the epistle to the Romans and in the Canons, no more fitting words could have been chosen. Although this doxology speaks of "all things," the context is that of truth of eternal predestination with a view to Israel and the Gentiles. In these words is truly expressed the attitude of holy adoration of these mysteries, for this doxology is preeminently theological: "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen." This doxology is also a humble confession that when we contemplate the truths of election and reprobation, as they are mysteries revealed to us by God, we come face-to-face with the incomprehensible, unsearchable, and unfathomable God of our salvation.

Ever let the church confess the truth in such a way that its confession may end in holy adoration with the language of this doxology.


Homer C. Hoeksema
The Voice of our Fathers, pp. 140-144
http://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-homer-hoeksema/products/voice-of-our-fathers-the-ebook