The Perseverance of the Saints - Rejection of the Errors I

The Canons of Dordrecht

The Fifth Main Point of Doctrine: The Perseverance of the Saints 

Rejection of the Errors: Concerning the Teaching of the Perseverance of the Saints Having set forth the orthodox teaching, the Synod rejects the errors of those 

I. Who teach that the perseverance of true believers is not an effect of election or a gift of God produced by Christ’s death, but a condition of the new covenant which man, before what they call his “peremptory” election and justification, must fulfill by his free will. 

For Holy Scripture testifies that perseverance follows from election and is granted to the chosen by virtue of Christ’s death, resurrection, and intercession: The chosen obtained it; the others were hardened (Rom. 11:7); likewise, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not, along with him, grant us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised–who also sits at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom. 8:32-35).