Lambeth Articles

The Lambeth Articles were a series of nine doctrinal statements drawn up by Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift in 1595, in order to define Calvinist doctrine with regard to predestination and justification.

The Articles were designed to settle a controversy that had arisen at Cambridge University regarding whether God predestines men to eternal life and eternal damnation. To clarify the situation, Whitgift drew up a list to define clearly the doctrines of Calvinism, which adhered to a predestinarian view.

The Lambeth Articles (also known as the Nine Articles) were drafted by Dr. William Whitaker, Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, who, along with Humphrey Tyndal, Dean of Ely, had been sent to Whitgift by the heads of Cambridge University to settle the controversy. Originally drafted by Whitaker and modified later by Bishops to make them more acceptable to anti-Calvinists, the Articles were signed by: Archbishop Whitgift, Dr. Richard Fletcher, Bishop of London, Dr. Richard Vaughan, Bishop elect of Bangor, and others.

The Articles

1. Some are elected to eternal life whereas others are reprobated to death
2. The cause resulting in predestination to eternal life is only the pleasure of God, not the foreknowledge of faith and good works.
3. The number of elect (those predestined to eternal life) is unalterably fixed.
4. Those not predestined to life shall be damned for their sins necessarily.
5. The elect never fail finally in their true faith.
6. A true believer - one that has......
...

Read More