Theological Term of the Week

infralapsarianism
The view that in the plan made by God in eternity, his decree to permit the fall logically preceded his decree of election, so that when God chose some people to receive eternal life, he was choosing them from the whole mass of humanity, all regarded as fallen creatures.

• Scripture used to support infralapsarianism:

  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (John 15:19 ESV)
  

  …he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-6 ESV)

• From The Westminster Shorter Catechism:

  Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
  A. All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

  Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
  A. God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer. 

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

  …[W]e cannot speak of salvation any more than of reprobation without positing sin. Sin is necessarily precedent in thought, not indeed to the abstract idea of discrimination, but to the concrete instance of discrimination which is in question, a discrimination with regard to a destiny which involves either salvation or punishment. There must be sin in contemplation to ground a decree of salvation, as truly as a decree of punishment. We cannot speak of a decree discriminating between men with reference to salvation and punishment, therefore, without positing the contemplation of men as sinners as its logical prius.

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. John Frame: 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 God’s decrees
• supralapsarianism

Filed under Reformed Theology.

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.

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.

Theological Term of the Week

order of God’s decrees
The logical (not chronological) order of the plan made by God in eternity for his dealings with humankind, a plan that culminates in human salvation; the logical ordering of “the soteriological elements of God’s eternal decree”1; also sometimes called the plan of salvation.

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

  If we believe in a personal God, then, and much more if, being Theists, we believe in the immediate control by this personal God of the world he has made, we must believe in a plan underlying all that God does, and therefore also in a plan of salvation. The only question that can arise concerns not the reality but the nature of this plan. As to its nature, however, it must be admitted that a great many differing opinions have been held. Indeed pretty nearly every possible opinion has been announced at one time or another, in one quarter or another. Even if we leave all extra-Christian opinions to one side, we need scarcely modify this statement. Lines of division have been drawn through the Church; parties have been set over against parties; and different types of belief have been developed which amount to nothing less than different systems of religion, which are at one in little more than the mere common name of Christian, claimed by them all.

• From Introducing the Reformed Faith by Donald K. McKim:

  While the “order of the decrees” refers to the logical relationship of the “parts” of the decrees, and not their “chronology,” the discussions nevertheless use “chronological language.” Yet theologians recognize that there is no “sequence” in the mind of God, since God is outside time and is eternal. All is the “eternal now” in God’s sight.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Order of God’s Decrees (The article is not particularly helpful, but the included chart is.)
2. Turretinfan: The Order of Decrees - Which Came First?
3. B. B Warfield: The Plan of Salvation
4. Curt Daniel: The Order of the Decrees (mp3) from The History and Theology of Calvinism

Related terms:

• supralapsarianism
• infralapsarianism

1From Notes on Supralapsarianism and 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.