Theological Term of the Week
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 10:22PM
rebecca in theological terms


historia salutis
The unfolding in history of God’s plan for the salvation of the world; the events in space and time by which God brings salvation.  

  • From Pactum SalutisHistoria Salutis, Ordo Salutis and the Ministry:
  • Creation, the fall, the flood, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the captivity, the life and death of Christ, Pentecost, all of these are events of the historia salutis. On the one hand, they are true events of cosmic history.They actually happened in space and time.  But in another sense, they bear theological significance, because they come in order to fulfill—accomplish—the eternal decrees of God. We do not simply speak of abstract decrees of God, but of genuine historical events bearing a great theological significance. We believe that the Scriptures record the actual historical events of redemption, occurring over several millennia, from creation to consummation. The events recorded in Scripture, while real events in human history, bring into human history the decrees of God. They give substance and historical reality to these decrees. 

Learn more:
  1. The Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies: Pactum SalutisHistoria Salutis, Ordo Salutis and the Ministry
  2. From me: Historia Salutis
  3. Dr. Lane Tipton: The Meaning of Historia Salutis and Ordo Salutis (video)
  4. Bruce Waltke: Summaries of the Stages of Redemptive History (pdf) 

Related terms:

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

Do you have a 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, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

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

Article originally appeared on Rebecca Writes (http://rebecca-writes.com/).
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