Theological Term of the Week: Redemptive History

redemptive history
God’s plan for history, which is unfolding with the ultimate purpose of uniting all things in Christ; the unified story of the Bible; also called history of salvation.

• From scripture:

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 ESV)

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things….” (Luke 24:44-48 ESV)

• From Overview of the Bible: A Survey of the History of Salvation by Vern Poythress:

The Bible also makes it clear that God has a unified plan for all of history. His ultimate purpose, “a plan for the fullness of time,” is “to unite all things in him [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth” (Eph. 1:10), “to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:12). God had this plan even from the beginning: “remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient  times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isa. 46:9–10). “When the fullness of time had come,” when the moment was appropriate in God’s plan, “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4–5).

The work of Christ on earth, and especially his crucifixion and resurrection, is the climax of history; it is the great turning point at which God actually accomplished the salvation toward which history had been moving throughout the OT. The present era looks back on Christ’s completed work but also looks forward to the consummation of his work when Christ will come again and when there will appear “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13; see Rev. 21:1–22:5).

Learn more:

1. ESV Global Study Bible: Overview of the Bible
2. Vern Poythress: Overview of the Bible: A Survey of the History of Salvation
3. Justin Taylor: Goldsworthy: The Main Chapters of the Biblical Storyline
4. Nick Batzig: The Blessed Repetition of Redemptive History

Related terms:

• biblical hermeneutics
• covenant
• decree(s) of God
• typology

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Theological Term of the Week: Order of God's Decrees

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; sometimes called the plan of salvation.

• From Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, page 82:

Reformed Theologians have often argued about the order in which God decreed certain things to happen. The debate is not over the temporal order of the decrees. After all, we are talking about what God has determined in eternity. Time is not the issue. Instead, the debate is about the logical order of the decrees. In the mind of God, which decisions did God make first, second, third, and so on?

Specifically, which is logically prior: the decree of election and reprobation or the decree to create the world and permit the fall?

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham:

The lapsarian debate concerns the order of decrees in the mind of God. It is not a question of the relation of election to its historical outworking. Both sides—supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism—agree that the decree of election is prior to creation and the fall. The question relates to whether, in election, God contemplated humans as already falled, which was the infralapsarian claim (the decree of election being below—infra—the decree relating to the fall) or whether he considered them as not yet created and fallen (the decree of election being above—supra—the decree relating to the fall). 

Learn more:

1. Richard Phillips: Lapsarian Views
2. Robert Letham: Predestination and the Divine Decree
3. Phillip R. Johnson: Notes on Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
4. C. Michael Patton: Calvinism and the Divine Decrees
5. B. B. Warfield: Chart of the Plan of Salvation

Related terms:

• infralapsarianism
• supralapsarianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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

Theological Term of the Week: Infralapsarianism

infralapsarianism
The view that in the plan God made in eternity for the salvation of humankind, 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:

…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).

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy … .” (Romans 9:15 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. 

Learn more:

1. Kevin DeYoung: Theological Primer: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
2. Simply Put: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
3. Richard Phillips: Lapsarian Views
4. John Frame: Infralapsarianism
5. Phillip R. Johnson: Notes on Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism

Related terms:

• order of God’s decrees
• supralapsarianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

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