Supra- and Infralapsarianism: Understanding God's Eternal Plan
1. Two Methods: Some theologians start with human experience and trace it back to election (a posteriori), while others start with God's decree and see it as the source of all saving benefits
(a priori).
2. Reformed Perspective: The Reformed tradition prioritizes God's glory in all things, emphasizing that salvation flows from God's eternal purpose, not human effort or merit.
3. Theological Sobriety:
Reformed theologians handle predestination with caution, avoiding speculation while affirming its central role in glorifying God.
Supraand Infralapsarianism:
Understanding God's Eternal Plan A significant debate among Reformed theologians centered on the order of God's decrees in salvation, particularly concerning predestination. This disagreement, known as supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism, examines whether God's decisions about election and reprobation (choosing some for salvation and passing over others) came before or after the fall into sin.
The Pelagian View vs. Augustine's Perspective The Pelagian view, rejected by Augustine and the Reformed, proposed the following order:
1. God decreed to create humanity.
2. Based on foreseeing humanity's fall, God decreed to send Christ to provide salvation for all people and offer sufficient grace for salvation to everyone.
3. Based on foreseen faith or unbelief, God chose some for eternal life and condemned others to eternal punishment.
Augustine's view was fundamentally different. He taught that:
1. God's will is the ultimate cause of all things. Nothing happens apart from his will, even when he permits sin.
2. God permits the fall, not passively but actively, in line with his sovereign will.
3. Election (God choosing some for salvation) and reprobation (passing over others) are acts of God's justice and mercy, not based on foreseen actions but on his sovereign good pleasure.
For Augustine, reprobation is rooted in humanity's sinfulness. All people belong to a "corrupt mass" because of original sin, which is sufficient grounds for reprobation.
God's justice demands punishment for sin, but his mercy saves some, though none deserve it.
Infralapsarianism and Augustine's Order of Decrees Augustine typically followed an infralapsarian perspective, meaning that election and reprobation presuppose humanity's fallen state. He saw reprobation as an act of divine justice, where God passes over some sinners while saving others. Reprobation is not based on specific sins but on humanity's inherited guilt from original sin. However, actual sins contribute to the degree of punishment.
At the same time, Augustine emphasized God's sovereign will as the ultimate explanation for election and reprobation. God's choice to save one person and not another is rooted in his divine good pleasure: "He has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills" (Romans 9:18).
The Means of Salvation For Augustine, predestination includes not just the ultimate goal
(eternal glory) but also the means to that goal, such as calling, faith, baptism, and perseverance. Those whom God elects are guaranteed to receive the grace necessary for salvation. Election is entirely unmerited—it is not based on foreseen faith or good works, nor even for Christ's sake. Instead, Christ himself was predestined as part of God's eternal plan to bring grace to the elect.
A Balanced View of Reprobation Augustine treated reprobation primarily as God's decision to pass by or abandon some sinners, allowing them to remain in their sin. He rarely connected reprobation directly to God's active predestination, focusing instead on election as God's work of grace. For Augustine, election always leads to glory and includes everything necessary for salvation, while reprobation reflects God's justice in leaving some in their fallen state.
Many theologians following Augustine eventually developed a view called double predestination, which includes both election (God's choice to save some) and reprobation (God's decision to pass over others). However, these two aspects are not identical. Election is an act of God's mercy, while reprobation involves both a negative and a positive aspect:
Negative Reprobation: This refers to God's decision not to elect certain individuals. It is an act of sovereignty, made before the fall, and is not based on any foreseen sins.
Positive Reprobation: This follows the fall and involves God's just decision to condemn sinners for their guilt.
This distinction was common among theologians like Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, as well as others in the Reformed tradition.
While critics, particularly Roman Catholics, have accused the Reformers of teaching that God predestines people to sin, this accusation was largely an attempt to defend their own semi-Pelagian views, which emphasize human cooperation in salvation.
The Reformed Understanding of Predestination The Reformers built on Augustine's teaching, making some adjustments while remaining true to its central ideas:
1. Election as the Source of Faith and Good Works:
Election is not based on foreseen merits but is the very foundation of faith and good works.
2. Reprobation as Sovereignty, Not Justice: Negative reprobation is not an act of divine justice but an act of sovereignty, occurring before any consideration of sin. It involves God allowing some to remain in their fallen state.
3. Positive Reprobation Accounts for Sin:
Positive reprobation considers the guilt of sin and leads to just punishment.
4. Permission and Foreknowledge:
The Reformers acknowledged the terms "permission" and "foreknowledge" but emphasized that these should not be understood as God passively allowing events to unfold. God actively wills to permit sin, and even this permission is part of his sovereign plan.
Despite these distinctions, the Reformers agreed that predestination ultimately reflects God's sovereign will. For them, election and reprobation are acts of divine sovereignty, made prior to considerations of the fall, sin, or Christ's work of redemption. This perspective is called supralapsarianism.
Calvin's Caution and Pastoral Emphasis While Calvin often argued from a supralapsarian perspective, he frequently adopted an infralapsarian tone when addressing the practical concerns of believers. Calvin emphasized that reprobates should not blame God's decree for their condemnation but instead look to their own sin as the cause. In his view:
All people are guilty because of sin, but God, in his mercy, chooses to save some while justly allowing others to face the punishment they deserve.
The fall of humanity in Adam is the immediate cause of reprobation. God only "hates" the sin in humanity, not humanity itself apart from sin.
Calvin believed that grounding election and reprobation in the fall was both theologically sound and spiritually beneficial. It fosters faith and humility, reminding believers of their dependence on God's grace. However, Calvin also acknowledged that sin is not the ultimate cause of reprobation. The deeper explanation lies in God's sovereign will. God's permission of the fall, for example, was not something forced upon him but an act he freely willed because it served his purposes.
The Sovereignty of God The Reformed view rejects the idea that God passively observes human actions and then decides whom to elect or reject based on foreseen choices. God's decrees of election and reprobation flow from his eternal and sovereign plan. He freely permitted the fall because it was part of his good and wise purposes, even though we may not fully understand why.
God's Sovereignty Over the Fall and Salvation The Reformed tradition teaches that Adam's fall, sin, and all evil in the world were not only foreseen by God but also, in some sense, willed and permitted by him as part of his greater plan. Though this plan remains mysterious to us, it must exist because God's purposes are never arbitrary. Calvin acknowledged this when responding to objections from Pighius, who argued that Calvin's view required God to have distinguished between the elect (those chosen for salvation) and the reprobate (those passed over) even before the fall. Calvin agreed in part, explaining that while sin is the immediate cause of reprobation, the ultimate cause lies in God's sovereign will.
Calvin's writings often alternate between two perspectives:
Supralapsarianism: The belief that God's decrees of election and reprobation logically precede his decrees to create and permit the fall.
Infralapsarianism: The belief that election and reprobation logically follow God's decree to permit the fall, focusing on humanity's fallen condition as the context for these decrees.
Both views are seen as valid within the Reformed tradition, and theologians have generally allowed both positions to coexist.
Supralapsarian theologians typically emphasize the glory of God's sovereignty but do not seek to impose their view on others.
The Supralapsarian Order of God's Decrees In supralapsarian thought, God's eternal plan follows a specific order:
1. The Ultimate Purpose: God first determined that the purpose of all creation and history would be to display his attributes, particularly his mercy and justice. This purpose would be fulfilled through the eternal joy of the elect and the just punishment of the reprobate.
2. The Creation of Humanity: To achieve this purpose, God decreed the creation of human beings, capable of falling into sin and in need of redemption.
3. The Fall of Humanity: God permitted Adam, the head of the human race, to fall into sin, bringing guilt and corruption to all his descendants.
4. Election and Reprobation: God decreed to save some (the elect) through his mercy and to demonstrate his justice by leaving others (the reprobate) in their sin.
This sequence places election and reprobation before the fall, making them part of God's sovereign plan from the very beginning. Both the salvation of the elect and the condemnation of the reprobate reveal
God's glory.
Union with Christ in Election A potential issue with supralapsarianism is how it accounts for Christ's role in salvation. Reformed theology emphasizes that Christ and the church are united in one eternal decree. However, in the supralapsarian framework, the decrees of creation and the fall could seem to separate the election of the church (God's people) from the election of Christ (their Savior).
The theologian Comrie addressed this concern by teaching that the election of the church and Christ cannot be separated. In God's eternal plan, the elect were chosen for union with Christ before the decrees of creation and the fall. When God decreed the fall, Christ—