Theological Term of the Week

supralapsarianism
The view that in the plan made by God in eternity, his decree of election logically preceded his decree to permit the fall, so that when God chose “some to receive eternal life and rejected all others,” he was contemplating them as unfallen.1

• Scripture used to support supralapsarianism:

  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

  19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? (Romans 9:17, 19-21 ESV)

• From The Plan of Salvation by B. B. Warfield:

  Some are so zealous for particularism that they place discrimination at the root of all God’s dealings with his creatures. That he has any creatures at all they suppose to be in the interest of discrimination, and all that he decrees concerning his creatures they suppose he decrees only that he may discriminate between them. They therefore place the decree of “election” by which men are made to differ, in the order of decrees, logically prior to the decree of creation itself, or at any rate prior to all that is decreed concerning man as man; that is to say, since man’s history begins with the fall, prior to the decree of the fall itself. They are therefore called Supralapsarians, that is, those who place the decree of election in the order of thought prior to the decree of the fall.

Learn more:

1. Monergism.com: What do the terms “supralapsarianism,” and “infralapsarianism” mean…?
2. Phil Johnson: Notes on Supralapsarianism & Infralapsarianism
3. Kevin DeYoung: Theological Primer: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
4. Loraine Boettner: Infralapsarianism and Supralapsarianism
5. Herman Bavinck: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
6. Curt Daniel: The Order of the Decrees (mp3) from The History and Theology of Calvinism
7. Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas: Differing Views on Election 01 and 02 (RTS on iTunes U)

Related terms:

• order of the decrees
• infralapsarianism

1This definition is taken mainly from Notes on Supralapsarianism & Infralapsarianism by Phil Johnson.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

Their Voice to All the Earth

I’m finally continuing my response to Aron Wall, who, you’ll remember, posted a comment on the theological term post on inclusivism. Aron is arguing against exclusivism, the stance I take, and he objected, in particular, to the use of Romans 10:9-14 as a text to disprove inclusivism, since, he argues, Paul is actually arguesing for inclusivism. You’ll find the first part of my response to his objections here.

Continuing on, Aron writes:

The trouble [with with interpreting Romans 10:14 to mean that people can’t be saved without hearing the gospel preached] is that Paul goes on to give a different answer in just a few verses.

“Consequently faith comes through hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask, did they not hear? Of course they did: `Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (10:17-18)

So in order to have faith it is necessary to believe the message. But who is the messenger in this passage? Whose ‘voice’ goes out into all the earth proclaiming the “word of Christ”. Paul tells us with his quotation from Psalm 19. Go back to Psalm 19 and you will find the answer: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands…there is no speach or language where there voice is not heard” (19:1,3).

Yes, in Psalm 19, this statement is refering to the general revelation of creation. But  here Paul takes it and applies it to special revelation. We know this because the subject, in context, is the proclaimed gospel: “…faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

The point Paul is making is that the Jews had heard the preached message of Christ and rejected it. (The point of the passage, you see, is Israel’s rejection of Christ.) At the time Paul wrote, the gospel had already been proclaimed widely enough (“the voice has gone out to all the earth”) that Israel, as a whole, had heard it, and they could not claim ignorance. Their unbelief, then, was a knowing rejection of the gospel, a rejection for which they were fully responsible.

In other words, in the very passage which exlcusivists use to justify their position, Paul talks about faith as coming about from *general revelation* of Christ.

First, can you explain how knowledge of Christ come from general revelation? Creation tells us some things about God—specifically, some of God’s attributes—but how does it tell us about the incarnation, death and resurrection of the son of God? When Paul talks about explicitly about general revelation in Romans 1, and he explains what people can know from it, he mentions God’s eternal power and divine attributes, but says nothing about knowledge of Christ. General revelation condemns—people know enough about God to know that the gods they are worshiping are not the God who created and deserves their worship—but it doesn’t save.

What’s more, if Paul is writing here of general revelation, how does that work with the argument Paul is making in this passage, that the Jews specifically are responsible for rejecting the gospel, so the gospel is now going out to the Gentiles? If what is being refered to is general revelation, shouldn’t the Gentiles understand and know as well as the Jews do? What’s left to go out to them?

Sunday's Hymn

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never,
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread’st a table in my sight;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And O what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

—Henry W. Baker

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• Grace, ‘Tis a Charming Sound at Whatever Things
• Holy God, We Praise Thy Name at Wordwise Hymns
• Come, Thou Almighty King at threegirldad
• As the Sun Doth Daily Rise at The Happy Wonderer
• Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us at Rosemary at Home
• O Word of God Incarnate at Field Stone Cottage
• The Lord Has Heard and Answered Prayer at Hiraeth
• Lord’s Day 38, 2010 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Heart Aflame - September 19, 2010 at The Upward Call
• Update: Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder at Jam and Books
• Update: Your Weekly Dose of Spurgeon at Pyromaniacs: On the Offense of the Cross

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.