Two Dissertations · §373 · John Davenant

Cap. IV Arg. 5: Eph. 1:5–6 — destinavit εἰς υἱοθεσίαν; adoption only of the faithful

Arg. 5. Their syllogism: those destined unto adoption through Jesus Christ and accepted in Christ as the beloved count as faithful; but Eph. 1:5–6 shows that everyone God elects to salvation he so destines unto adoption through Christ and makes acceptable in the beloved; therefore everyone he elects he considered faithful. They prove the Major from John 1:12 and Gal. 3:26 — no adoption into sons except through faith; you are all sons of God through faith in Christ.

Latin

Arg. 5. Quos Deus destinavit εἰς υἱοθεσίαν per Jesum Christum, quosque in Christo tanquam dilecto acceptos, ii considerantur ut fideles: Sed omnes quos Deus elegit ad salutem, teste Eph. i. 5, 6, destinavit εἰς υἱοθεσίαν per Christum, eosque in Christo tanquam in dilecto gratos facit: Ergo omnes quos elegit ad salutem consideravit ut fideles. Major ex eo probatur, quod nulla est adoptio in filios nisi per fidem, Joh. i. 12, Quotquot eum acceperunt; et Gal. iii. 26, Omnes enim filii estis Dei per fidem in Christo.

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About this text

John Davenant argues from Scripture that Christ's death is a remedy offered to every person, so that anyone who hears the Gospel may be called to believe, and then opens a second dissertation on predestination.

John Davenant (1572–1641) was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, bishop of Salisbury from 1621, and England's leading delegate to the Synod of Dort. A Reformed theologian of the moderate school, he defended universal atonement language within a Calvinist frame.

The Two Dissertations (1650) press two theses: that Christ died sufficiently for all, and that God sincerely calls all who hear the gospel — against the novel claim that Christ died only for the elect in every sense. They are Davenant's mature statement of the hypothetical-universalist position that divided English Calvinists.

This volume covers the opening of the first dissertation through the close of chapter 3, with the theses on the extent of Christ's death.

Date1572–1641 AD (Bishop of Salisbury; 1650 Cambridge imprint)

The 1683 reprint was not used as base text. No modern English was copied.

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