The Works of Samuel Rutherford, Volume 1 — Arminianism: A Systematic and Theological Response

In this landmark volume, Samuel Rutherford appears as Scotland’s foremost professor of elenctic theology. Presented in English for the first time, Arminianism: A Systematic and Theological Response offers a comprehensive examination of the theological roots of one of the most consequential errors in the Christian church.

Rutherford does not confine himself to a handful of theses about salvation. Beginning with Scripture and the knowledge of God, he advances through the divine decrees, the fall, original sin, the accomplishment and application of redemption, covenant theology, justification, perseverance, the church, the sacraments, the magistrate, and the resurrection. The result is a vast theological architecture. Arminianism is exposed not as an isolated doctrinal misstep but as a rival account of God, grace, and the moral order.

Throughout, Rutherford writes as a convinced Augustinian. For him, the debate is nothing less than the perennial contest between divine grace and Pelagian self-reliance. His arguments are exegetical, scholastic, and rigorously ordered, yet never detached from pastoral consequence. Assurance, perseverance, the honor of Christ’s merit, and the immutability of God stand at the center of the controversy.

This volume inaugurates the first complete edition of Rutherford’s works. Based on seventeenth-century manuscripts and early printed editions, and supported by substantial introductions and full scholarly apparatus, it restores to scholars and pastors a major voice of Reformed orthodoxy whose theology has long remained inaccessible.

For pastors seeking to shepherd well, for anyone wanting to understand the doctrinal foundations of the Reformed tradition, for theologians of grace, and for historians of the post-Reformation period, this release is a significant event.

Contents

General Preface
Editorial Conventions
List of Abbreviations
Translator's Preface
Introduction: The Cause of God Against the Arminians

Arminianism: A Systematic and Theological Response

Dedicatory Epistle
Epistle to Matthias Nethen
Preface to the Reader
Endorsement

1. The Sacred Scriptures and Their Content
2. God
3. Election
4. Reprobation
5. The State of the First Man
6. Original Sin
7. The State of Fallen Man
8. The State of Grace
9. Universal Redemption
10. The Covenant of Grace
11. The Process of Conversion
12. The Sinner’s Justification
13. The Perseverance of the Saint
14. Certainty of Salvation
15. The Church and Her Mark
16. Ministers of the Word
17. Synods
18. Sacraments and Church Discipline
19. The Magistrate
20. The Soul and the Resurrection of the Body

Acknowledgements
Appendix 1: Original Index of Chapters and Questions
Appendix 2: Manuscript Comparison
Appendix 3: Manuscript Supplement
Biographical Register of Persons and Names
Works Cited
Scripture Index
Subject Index

About the Author

Samuel Rutherford was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and theologian who wrote prolifically and served as a ministerial commissioner to the Westminster Assembly.

David C. Noe is a scholar in residence at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary and pastor of Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the translator of numerous works from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including writings by Franciscus Junius, Theodore Beza, William Perkins, John Calvin, and many others.

Chad Van Dixhoorn is professor of church history and theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte, North Carolina. His published works include God’s Ambassadors: The Westminster Assembly and the Reformation of the English Pulpit, 1643–1653.