Theological Term of the Week: Supralapsarianism

supralapsarianism
The theological position that in the plan made by God in eternity, his decree of election was logically prior to his decree to create and permit the fall; or to put it another way, the position that in eternity past, when God chose some people to save, he contemplated them as not yet created and fallen.

• 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.”

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 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?” 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 Systematic Theology by Robert Letham:

The lapsarian debate concerns the order of decrees in the mind of God in eternity. It is not a question of the relation of election to its historical outworking… . The question relates to whether, in election, God contemplated humans as already fallen, which was the infralapsarian claim … or whether he considered them as not yet created and fallen.

In many ways, this is a highly abtruse question. The inner workings of the mind of God are beyond us. However, it indicates ultimate priorities in God’s plan and has quite extensive ramifications. 

• 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. Kevin DeYoung: Theological Primer: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
2. Monergism.com: What do the terms “supralapsarianism,” and “infralapsarianism” mean…? 
3. Loraine Boettner: Infralapsarianism and Supralapsarianism
4. Louis Berkhof: Supra- and Infralapsarianism 
5. Herman Bavinck: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
6. Curt Daniel: The Order of the Decrees (mp3) from The History and Theology of Calvinism

Related terms: 

• order of the decrees
• infralapsarianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Theological Term of the Week: Synergism

synergism
The view that salvation is attained through a cooperative process between God and human beings;1 any soteriology that employs an independent free will to “work together” with God’s activity of grace in regeneration.2

• From The Century Dictionary:

Synergism is “…the doctrine that there are two efficient agents in regeneration, namely the human will and the divine Spirit, which, in the strict sense of the term, cooperate. This theory accordingly holds that the soul has not lost in the fall all inclination toward holiness, nor all power to seek for it under the influence of ordinary motives. To put it simply, synergism is the belief that faith is produced by our unregenerated human nature.

• From the Five Articles of Remonstrance, Article 1 (This is a synergistic document.):

… God, by an eternal and unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ his Son, before the foundation of the world, hath determined, out of the fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ’s sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this his son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end… .

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: Monergism vs. synergism - which view is correct?
2. John Hendryx: Two Views on Regeneration
3. Charlie Martin: Salvation: Synergism or Sola Gratia? (pdf)
4. Ligonier.org: Sovereign Regeneration

Related terms: 

• monergism
• regeneration

1 From The Christian Faith by Michael Horton.

2 From Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition by Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt

Filed under Salvation

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Theological Term of the Week: Synoptic Gospels

synoptic gospels
The first three gospels in the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—which are quite similar in their accounts of Jesus’s life, and all very different from the gospel of John.

• From scripture, the three accounts of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law in the synoptic gospels. (There is no account of this incident in John’s gospel.):

And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. (Matthew 8:14-15 ESV)

And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. (Mark 1:29-31 ESV)

And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. (Luke 4:38-39 ESV)

• From the MacArthur Study Bible’s Introduction to the Gospels:

Although many spurious gospels were written, the church from earliest times has accepted only Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as inspired Scripture. While each Gospel has its unique perspective, … Matthew, Mark, and Luke, when compared to John, share a common point of view. Because of that, they are known as the synoptic (from a Greek word meaning “to see together,” or “to share a common point of view”) Gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, for example, focus on Christ’s Galilean ministry, while John focuses on his ministry in Judea. The synoptic Gospels contain numerous parables, while John records none. John and the synoptic Gospels record only two common events (Jesus’ walking on the water, and the feeding of the 5,000) prior to Passion Week. These differences between John and the synoptic Gospels, however, are not contradictory, but complementary.

Learn more:

1. Compelling Truth: The Synoptic Gospels — What are they?
2. Joe Botti & others: The Problem of Apparent Chronological Contradictions in the Synoptics
3. John Piper: How should you deal with the differences in the Synoptic Gospels? (video)
4. Bible Researcher: Table of Gospel Parallels

Related terms: 

• inerrancy of scripture
• synoptic problem

Filed under Scripture

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Clicking on the Theological Terms button will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.