Logical order of God's decrees

Supernaturalism must first be validated as against naturalism, then evangelicalism as against sacerdotalism, then particularism as against universalism, and thus we shall arrive at length at the conception of the plan of salvation which does full justice to its specific character.

it is to this survey that attention will be addressed in the succeeding lectures the accompanying diagram will exhibit in a synoptical view the several conceptions which have been enumerated in this lecture and may facilitate the apprehension of their mutual relations diagram the order of decrees naturalistic pelagian gift of free will by virtue of which each may do all that is required of him, gift of the law and gospel to illuminate the way and persuade to walk in it, gift of Christ to expiate past sin and to set good example, acceptance of all who walk in right way, continuance in right doing by voluntary effort.

naturalistic, remonstrant, permission of fall, that is physical deterioration followed by moral, gift of Christ to render gift of sufficient grace possible, gift of sufficient suasive grace to all, salvation of all who freely cooperate with this grace, sanctification by cooperation with this grace.

supernaturalistic, sacerdotal, Orthodox Greek, permission of fall, that is, loss of original righteousness involving loss of knowledge of God and proneness to evil, gift of Christ to reconcile sinful mankind with God, establishment of the Church for the continual supply of the benefits of the cross, instruction, justification, and edification through the ordinances of the Church, building up in grace through the seven sacraments, sacerdotal roman permission of fall that is loss of supernatural righteousness gift of christ to offer satisfaction for all human sins institution of the church and the sacraments to apply satisfaction of christ application of satisfaction of christ through the sacraments under operation of second causes building up in holy life of all to whom the sacraments are continued sacerdotal anglican permission of sin gift of christ to make satisfaction for the sins of all men establishment of church as living agent for communicating god's sufficient grace communication of this grace through the sacraments as indispensable channels salvation through the sacrament of baptism imparting life and of the eucharist nourishing it supernaturalistic evangelical universalistic pure universalistic permission of fall predestination of all to life gift of christ to expiate the sin of all gift of the spirit to apply the expiation of christ to all salvation of all

As they are distinguished from one another by the place they give to particularism in the operations of God, that is as much as to say they are distinguished from one another by the place they give to the decree of election in the order of the divine decrees.

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.

Did God establish salvation on the basis of faith because of Adam and Eve's lack of faith? No, I don't think so.

Now you're into a very difficult area of theology which is known as lapsarianism, right? Sub-lapsarianism, supra-lapsarianism, or infra-lapsarianism.

Doesn't that bless your heart? And what it basically means is, you're really asking the question, did God establish salvation because of what Adam and Eve did? Or did God establish salvation before Adam and Eve did anything? And what did God establish first? And what is the sequence and what is the order? And the answer to all of that is, I don't know.

But some people are sub-lapsarian, some people are infra-lapsarian, some people are supra-lapsarian, and then there are Labrador retrievers.