Martin Luther in his book, The Bondage of the Will, wrote: "if any man would ascribe even the smallest part of his salvation to his free will, he knows nothing of grace and has not learned Jesus Christ." In our last program we discussed God's comprehensive, pre-creation, immutable decree or plan that encompasses all that comes to pass for the purpose of His own glory. In today's program we move on to the next points in chapter 3 of the Westminster Confession, Of God's Eternal Decree, wherein we will discuss the heart of biblical grace - the blessed doctrine of God's unconditional election of His Beloved church. In the debates that take place today in local churches and on-line, one will often hear people say "oh, you're a Calvinist," or "oh, you're an Arminian." But what do these words really mean? Are the issues that divided these two groups really that important or is it just theologians splitting hairs. After the Reformation took hold in the Netherlands, a theologian named Jacob Arminius (1559-1609) was facing allegations from the Reformed church in that region. In response, Arminius delivered orally before the States at Holland at the Hague which was the place of the Dutch government his famous "Declaration of Sentiments." In it, Arminius left no doubt what he believed regarding the biblical teaching on predestination and the salvation of sinners. Arminius said: This decree [to save or condemn certain persons] has its foundation in divine foreknowledge, through which God has known from all eternity those individuals who through the established means of his prevenient grace would come to faith and believe, and through his subsequent sustaining grace would persevere in the faith. Likewise, in divine foreknowledge, God knew those who would not believe and persevere (Gunter, Arminius and His Declaration of Sentiments, 135). This position was a comprehensive departure from the teachings of all the Reformed Confessions at that time - particularly the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. About 10 years after Arminius' death, the controversy had escalated to such a level that an international synod was called to address it - known today at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619). The Arminian Remonstrance presented 5 points of doctrine which they wanted to use to revise the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. The Synod responded with what became later known as the Five Points of Calvinism. While the famous acrostic, TULIP, is how people normally refer to those five responses to the five errors of the Arminians, the actual order of the points in the Canons of Dort is: ULTIP. The first point is unconditional election. That was in direct response to Arminius' teaching that God's election of individuals to salvation was based entirely upon what He foresaw they would do as God looked down the corridors of time and learned it. In effect, sinners elect themselves to salvation and God's predestination is in response to what sinners do independently of Him. The Synod of Dort's canons refer repeatedly to the errors of Pelagius, saying again and again of the Arminian doctrine: "This savors of Pelagius," "These... bring out of hell the Pelagian error," "these... seek to instill into the people the destructive poison of the Pelagian errors," "As the Pelagians of old asserted," "the proud heresy of Pelagius," and at least three more references in the Canons. What was this gross error of Pelagianism? One needs to go back over 1000 years prior to the rise of Arminianism to see this. It was the great church father, Augustine (AD 354-430), who took up the cause of defending biblical teaching against the British monk, Pelagius, whose teaching denied Original Sin. When one looks at Augustine's anti-Pelagian writings from that time period, it is nearly identical to the Arminian Calvinist debate of the early 17th century, and also to the debate between Luther and Erasmus in the 16th century where Erasmus, the Roman Catholic priest and humanist scholar wrote on the Freedom of the Will, and Luther's volcanic blast in response The Bondage of the Will. What is Original Sin? What is grace? Why must grace be free and unconditional in order to be grace at all? Who saves who? These issues will be what we discuss today!