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's 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, namely, 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 fiv
