The Judgment of Three Belgian Professors Concerning the First Article which is on Election and Reprobation [Part 2 on Reprobation]

[Johannes Polyander; Antonius Thysius; Antonius Walaeus]

Propositions of the Remonstrants concerning the second component of the First Article, namely concerning Reprobation.

First Thesis of the Remonstrants:

The decree or will by which God has determined to leave under wrath and condemn those unbelievers who stubbornly persist in their unbelief and disobedience constitutes the entire decree of reprobation.

First Orthodox Antithesis:

Reprobation is God’s most free and most just decree, by which he determined not to elect in Christ certain people from the fallen human race, nor to call them from their state of perdition with the same efficacy of his Spirit as the elect, so as to justify and glorify them, but rather he allows them to walk in their own ways, and [to allow] those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness or who reject the Gospel preached to them in various ways and degrees, and following his great patience to finally condemn to deserved destruction those who are justly hardened in their sins.

Proof of the First Antithesis:

I. That God determined not to elect certain men, nor to effectively call them from their state of perdition, etc., is demonstrated by:

Romans 9:6: “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, ….”

And verse 13: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Verse 18: “He hardens whom he wishes.”

Verse 21: “Does not the potter have power over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”

Matthew 11:25: “I praise you, Father, … , because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children, …. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

And verse 27: “No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Romans 11:7: “The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.”

John 6:43: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” And verse 65: “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”

Acts 16:6–7: “Having traveled through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they came to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not allow them, (namely, to preach the Gospel).”

II. That God allows the reprobate, although not entirely devoid of the knowledge of God, to walk in their own ways, is expressly affirmed:

Romans 1:24: “God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts, ….”

And verse 28: “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”

Acts 14:16: “In past generations God allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways, though he did not leave himself without a witness, ….”

Acts 17:30: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ….”

Psalm 147:19: “He declares his word to Jacob, …. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules.” Parallel passages to these are Ephesians 2:1–3 and verse 12, and chapter 4:17–18, 1 Corinthians 1:8.

III. That the reprobate reject the gospel preached to them in various ways and degrees is proven from the parable of the sower:

Matthew 13:19 and following, from Acts 28:24–25: “Some did not believe, …. Therefore the Holy Spirit rightly said, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will indeed hear but never understand.”’”

Hebrews 6:5–6: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the good word of God, …, if they fall away, to restore them again to repentance.” To which Hebrews 10:26 is parallel.

IV. Finally, that God justly condemns to destruction those who are deservedly hardened in their sins can be gathered from:

Romans 9:18: “He hardens whom he wills” and what follows.

Chapter 11:7–8: “The rest were hardened: for God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, ….”

2 Thessalonians 2:11–12: “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

1 Peter 2:8: “Christ is a stone of stumbling, namely to those who stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which they were also appointed.”

Jude verse 4: “Long ago marked out for this condemnation.”

2 Thessalonians 1:8: “He will inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Thesis 2 of the Remonstrants:

The meritorious cause of reprobation is impenitence and unbelief against the Gospel and perseverance in it.

Orthodox Antithesis 2:

Although God passes over no one unless they are worthy of such a fate, and only for just causes, nevertheless since even the elect were in the same state of misery before him prior to their election, we can offer no reason why he rejected these rather than those, except the free will of God who is obligated to no one, and his power to do what he wishes with what is his own. The cause, however, for which God condemns the reprobate to certain degrees of punishment is rightly grounded upon their impenitence and unbelief.

This thesis has been abundantly proven by the preceding passages.

Thesis 3 of the Remonstrants:

There is neither election nor reprobation of infants.

Orthodox Antithesis 3:

The condition of those infants who are born from parents in the covenant, and of others who are born from parents not in the covenant, is far different, since Scripture pronounces the latter to be unclean and alienated from Christ and the covenant of grace.

1 Corinthians 7:14: “Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”

Galatians 2:15: “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners from the Gentiles.”

Ephesians 2:1[1]: “You Gentiles were without Christ, foreigners of the commonwealth of Israel, strangers of the covenants of promise, ….”

But conversely, it affirms that the promise and eternal life belong to the former [i.e., children of the covenant].

Genesis 17:7: “I establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you, that it may be an everlasting covenant, that I will be your God and the God of your seed after you.”

Matthew 19:14: “Allow the children and do not forbid them to come to me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Acts 2:39: “The promise is made to you and to your children.” From these passages we conclude that the children of believers dying in their infancy are to be counted among the elect, since they are graciously taken from this life by God before they have violated the conditions of that covenant. But we consider that the children of unbelievers placed outside the Church of God should be left to God’s judgment. For “God will judge those who are outside.” 1 Corinthians 5:13.

And this is our judgment on the First Article:

Johannes Polyander

Antonius Thysius

Antonius Walaeus

Which was approved and signed by Sibrandus Lubbertus.