Synod of Dordrecht

The synod of Dordrecht or synod of Dordt is a national Synode of the reformed Church Dutchwoman who was held with Dordrecht: the first meeting took place the November 13rd 1618, and the final session, the 154e, took place the May 9th 1619. Representatives of the reformed Churches of eight foreign countries were also invited and took part in the votes.

Objective

The objective of the synod was to regulate a theological quarrel which had appeared following the appearance of the Arminianisme.

After the death of Jacobus Arminius, its partisans emitted objections with the Confessio Belgica and with the teaching of Jean Calvin, Theodore de Bèze and their disciples. These objections were published in a document called the Remonstrance of 1610 : so the partisans of the arminianism were also known under the name of remonstrants. Their opponents calvinists, carried out by the professor Franciscus Gomarus of the University of Leyde, as for them were called against-remonstrants.

In the Remonstrance and some posterior writings, the arminiens published an alternative to the doctrines calvinist such as she is formulated in the Confessio Belgica : their divergences related to five points.

They taught: the election on the basis of faith envisaged - universal forgiveness - partial human depravity - resistibility of the grace - the possibility of a relapse in spite of the grace.

Simon Bischop was the spokesperson of the thirteen representatives of the remonstrants convened in front of the synod.

Decision and Guns of Dordrecht

The synod was concluded on the rejection from the positions arminiennes. The doctrines reformed on each of the five points under discussion were presented, namely: total depravity, the election without condition, limited forgiveness, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints. Those are sometimes called the Five points of the Calvinism.

The Decision of the synod of Dordt concerning the five principal points of the doctrines in debate in the Netherlands , generally known under the name of Guns of Dordrecht , is the explanation of the legal decision of the synod. In his original foreword, one calls the Décision a judgment in which the two sights, the true one (in agreement with the divine word concerning the five above-mentioned points of doctrines) is explained and the false sight (in opposition to the divine word) is rejected.

The guns were not designed to be a complete explanation of the reformed doctrines, but only one exposed of the five points of doctrines in debate.

Political impact

The acts of the synod were related to the political intrigues which occurred during the Trève twelve years during the Guerre Eighty Year old.

The decision of the synod leads to the judgment of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, statesman very respected and influential which had been the guard of the remonstrants. He was decapitated the May 13rd 1619, only four days after the final session of the synod, for the crime of general disorder of the state of the nation, as well in the Church as in the State (treason). Nowadays, he is considered, even by the calvinists, like one of the more great men of the history of the Netherlands.

Another consequence of the failure of the arminiens was the loss for the country of the lawyer Hugo Grotius, who supported the rights of the remonstrants. Grotius was condemned to the life imprisonment, but it is escaped with the assistance of his wife of the Château of Loevestein. As well Olden-Barnevelt as Grotius had been imprisoned as of on August 29th, 1618.

Theology arminienne was tolerated later officially by the State and since continued to exist in various forms within Protestantism.

Translation of the Bible

The synod also decided to translate the Bible into Dutch, directly since the Hebraic original texts and Greek. The translators were named and one asked the General states of the United Provinces to finance the project. The translation was published in 1637 and is known since then like the Statenvertaling or “Translation of State”.

Foreign representatives

England: George Carleton (1559-1628), Joseph Hall (1574-1657), Thomas Goad (1576-1638), John Davenant (1576-1641), Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626).
Scotland: Walter Balcanqual (1586-1645), Samuel Ward (death in 1643), William Hearts (Guilielmus Amesius) (1576-1633).
Heidelberg: Abraham Scultetus (1566-1624), Paul Tossanus (1572-1634), Hendrik Alting (1583-1644).
Hesse: Georg Cruciger (1575-1637), Paul Stein (1585-1643), Rudolph Goclenius (1547-1628), Daniel Anglocrator (1569-1635).
Swiss: Johann Jakob Breitinger (1575-1645), Wolfgang Mayer (1577-1653), Sebastian Beck (1583-1654), Mark Rütimeyer (1580-1647), Hans Conrad Koch (1564-1643).
Geneva: Giovanni Diodati (1576-1649), Theodore Trochin (1582-1657)
Bremen: Ludwig Crocius (1586-1653), Matthiuas Martinius (1572-1630), Heinrich Isselburg (1577-1628).
Nassau-Wetteravië: Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638), John Bisterfeld (death in 1619), Georg Fabricius.
Emden: Ritzius Lucas Grimersheim (1568-1631), Daniel Bernard Eilshemius (1555-1622).
France: no because the French authorities prohibited their presence. Several empty chairs were installed in the room where the synod in the honor was held of the Huguenot S absent.

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