Greetings everyone, I recently saw Rev. Buchanan post on Jonathan's paedobaptist thread that many who consider themselves predestinarians or Reformed have never even read the Canons of Dort. The Reverend was inadvertently speaking to me. I have studied and affirmed the doctrines of TULIP for almost 8 months or so (I am still amazed at how quickly the Lord has progressed me, although I still have much a Christian life to live, I went from knowing next to nothing about Christianity to affirming the WCF) and I had never read the Canons of Dort. As of today I have read the first head and half of the second head. I am incredibly impressed by how well they articulate the doctrines, and present them in a very easy to understand way. The version I am reading is not modernized in any way (as far as I know), just translated from the original Dutch, and whoever actually crafted the words in the document was an excellent writer. It is very easy to comprehend, while still very rich. I would call it plain, in a good way. Nothing is presented that even seems extra-biblical. It seems like everything written comes exclusively from the passages cited. All that said, I have some questions so far about the first head, of Divine Predestination.
Head 1, Article 7
Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, He hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault from their primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction...
My question is about the choice of words. The article elaborates that God chose the elect out of the fallen mass of humans, and it also states (with Ephesians 1:4) that he did so before the foundation of the world. Is this espousing a lapsarian view? Is it a contradiction? Obviously the last question is hyperbole, but in my initial reading it seems to be somewhat contradictory. "Before humans existed or sinned he chose the elect out of those who had fallen." Is this the infralapsarian view? That God in eternity past chose the elect out of the fallen mass of those who had not yet fallen? I haven't studied the lapsarian views very extensively at all but with a quick glance at the two beliefs, I consider myself a supralapsarian. Could some of you point to resources to read or listen to about this subject? Thank you.
Head 1, Article 7
Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, He hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of His own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault from their primitive state of rectitude into sin and destruction...
My question is about the choice of words. The article elaborates that God chose the elect out of the fallen mass of humans, and it also states (with Ephesians 1:4) that he did so before the foundation of the world. Is this espousing a lapsarian view? Is it a contradiction? Obviously the last question is hyperbole, but in my initial reading it seems to be somewhat contradictory. "Before humans existed or sinned he chose the elect out of those who had fallen." Is this the infralapsarian view? That God in eternity past chose the elect out of the fallen mass of those who had not yet fallen? I haven't studied the lapsarian views very extensively at all but with a quick glance at the two beliefs, I consider myself a supralapsarian. Could some of you point to resources to read or listen to about this subject? Thank you.