Theological Term of the Week
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 9:10PM 
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:
- Monergism.com: What do the terms “supralapsarianism,” and “infralapsarianism” mean…?
- Phil Johnson: Notes on Supralapsarianism & Infralapsarianism
- Kevin DeYoung: Theological Primer: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
- Loraine Boettner: Infralapsarianism and Supralapsarianism
- Herman Bavinck: Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism
- Curt Daniel: The Order of the Decrees (mp3) from The History and Theology of Calvinism
- Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas: Differing Views on Election 01 and 02 (RTS on iTunes U)
Related terms:
1This definition is taken mainly from Notes on Supralapsarianism & Infralapsarianism by Phil Johnson.
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Reader Comments (1)
I just listened to the lecture by Derek Thomas last week sometime. I've been going through his series from iTunes U, and it has been excellent. I'm on the last three lectures now.