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For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints. 1Co 14:33
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The Order of Salvation - Ordo Salutis
Introduction
Rom 8 29 ¶ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
It is helpful to distinguish the various elements in the Ordo Salutis into DISTINCT and LOGICAL facets
a. Salvation purposed/decreed by God... in eternity, before time.
b. Salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ… at the cross.
c. Salvation applied by the Holy Spirit... to each elect personally.
d. Salvation experienced... through faith in Jesus Christ.
e. Salvation consummated… at resurrection and glorification at Christ return.
2. In the salvation purposed/decreed by God, there are:
- Election by the Father...
- Foreknowledge (setting His eternal love upon the elect)
- Predestination by the Father...
- Appointment of Christ as their Mediator in the covenant of redemption.
- etc etc. See Mt 25:34; John 17:24; Eph 1:4,5,11; 1Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8, 17:8; Acts 2:23
3. In the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ:
a. Incarnation, the eternal Word made flesh, Son of God was born. John 1:1,13;
- The Son of God was born first, then sent officially at water baptism. Gal 4:4, Mt 3:17.
- The perfect sinless life of obedience to all the laws of God secured the righteousness needed for the justification of His people under the condemnation of sin and death. No righteousness, no justification!
- Substitutionary death to bear away the righteous wrath of God secured forgiveness of sins. Rm 5:18.
- Christ lived the life we must live, and died the death we deserved to die. He is a perfect substitute for both, in securing our righteousness which we do not have, and the forgiveness that we need.
- Christ resurrection unto power and glory… vindication of all that He claimed and taught.
b. LEGAL justification: all the sins of all the elect that God the Father has given to Christ, were imputed to Christ, and Christ suffered for them fully; Christ righteousness was imputed to each and every one of them – all whose names had been written in the Book of Life before the foundation of the world. All the names of those that are given to Christ by the Father had been written in the Book of Life. Phi 4:3, Rev 13:8, 17:8.
- (I know many will jump and rave at this... let me just remind you that the condemnation of sin in Adam's sin was EVEN SO imputed to all represented by him at the fall.) Rom 5:18.
c. Justification by the faith/righteousness/blood of Christ is different from Justification by grace and is different from Justification by believing in Jesus Christ. Take note of the distinction, and the context.
- There is vast difference between the faith OF Christ (the faithfulness of Christ which secured our redemption, Rom 3:22-24) and a man’s faith IN Christ (a man’s act of believing and resting in Christ)
- By faith of Christ: Rm 3:22, Gal 2:16,17, 3:22. Ph 3:9…. By God’s free grace: Rm 3:24, Eph 2:8-9, Rm 8:30, Tit 3:7. By faith in Christ: Gal 3:26, Col 1:4, 2:5, John 3:15,16, Jam 2:24.
- Both the faith in Christ, and works of righteousness are EVIDENCE of salvation, they evidence salvation.
- Justification by the righteousness/blood/faith of speaks of the legal basis of justification.
- Justification by God’s free grace declares the manner the righteousness of Christ is applied to us.
- Justification by faith in Jesus Christ declares the means to experience the blessings of justification.
4. In the salvation applied to individual by the Holy Spirit:
a. It is HERE that sinners become PERSONALLY and VITALLY affected. What was LEGAL for the whole elect is APPLIED to each individual elect personally. How is it applied to spiritually dead sinners?
- Before salvation is applied to an elect personally, he is dead in trespasses and sins. He is in enmity against God. He is ungodly. He is a child of wrath. He is a rebel, etc. Eph 2:ff.
- In such condition, the sinners are absolutely passive when acted upon by God's gracious and powerful act of applying eternal salvation to them. They are utterly unable to aid or cooperate or assist in the application of the accomplished salvation to them personally.
- In fact, in their native state of sin and death, they are in an active enmity and rebellion against God.
b. When salvation is applied, God freely and effectually calls a sinner who is by nature in the state of SIN and DEATH to that state of GRACE and SALVATION… Rom 5:18. Eph 2:8-9
- The application of salvation to an elect personally brings a sinner OUT OF the state of condemnation of death INTO that the of justification of life, Rom 5:18.
- It must be applied FREELY, without man meeting any condition – if there were any condition imposed that sinners must meet, it would be disastrous, for none could ever be met. None would ever be saved.
- In the OT, the application is based prospectively (looking forward) on the work Christ will do; in the NT it is based retrospectively (looking back) on the work Christ has done. There is ONLY ONE SAME basis.
c. In the effectual calling of a sinner out of the state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation, God by His free and sovereign grace and power must execute these gracious acts - in these exact NUMBER and LOGICAL ORDER – justification, regeneration, adoption, Spirit of adoption.
- Justification to remove the condemnation... by APPLYING the righteousness of Christ to the individual elect personally. This JUSTIFICATION BY GOD'S GRACE gives divine warrant/basis for the Holy Spirit to regenerate an elect dead in trespasses and sins. Rm 5:18
- Regeneration to remove spiritual deadness, and bring the justified to eternal life, communion with God.
- Adoption of the regenerated to remove the alienation, and bring him into the family of God...
- And the giving of the Spirit of adoption to dwell in the child of God, who works all the saving graces in them. John 1:12-13, Rm 8:15, Gal 4:6
d. All these, i.e. the justification by grace, regeneration, adoption, and the bestowal of the Holy Spirit to dwell in the child of God happen in that LOGICAL ORDER, but chronologically, they are simultaneous.
- Effectual calling out of the state of sin and death to that of grace and salvation is an instantaneous and gracious act by God’s free grace FREE, and involves all the above distinct divine acts.
- One who is effectually called by God to grace and salvation is fully and perfectly FITTED for eternal glory... Nothing more is needed for eternal glory. Eternal salvation is by grace ALONE… plus nothing!
- God the Spirit sovereignly applies eternal salvation to each and every one whom He gave to His Son, and for whom Christ died to redeem. Eternal salvation is by grace ALONE… plus nothing!
- This is ETERNAL SALVATION... by God's free grace PLUS nothing. Grace alone means grace alone, and not grace alone plus something. Eternal salvation is by grace ALONE… plus nothing!
5. In salvation experienced and evidenced by the gospel ministry:
a. One who is effectually called is enabled/capacitated by the Holy Spirit working in him the manifold graces of salvation, including the grace of faith and repentance, works of righteousness, fear of God. Behold Cornelius, the Ethiopian eunuch, the devout Jews on the day of Pentecost, etc. etc. who were converted.
- The effectual call to grace and salvation makes the conversion possible! Gal 5:22, Eph 5:9
b. When such a one is reached with the gospel ministry, he is able to respond to the gospel call to repentance and faith. The gospel truth is ALREADY true of him... God has freely applied salvation to him. When he believes, his faith evidences the salvation that has been applied to him by God's free and sovereign grace.
- The gospel ministry is the means appointed by God to gather His children He has begotten into the churches of Jesus Christ. They are sheep, they needed to be gathered into the sheepfold, and be nourished, and taught to live godly, soberly and righteously. They are the harvest of the Lord. Feed them, gather them in.
- When he believes, his experiences in a most personal way the love of God in Christ for him...
c. The gospel ministry is absolutely important for his well-being as a child of God. The gospel ministry plays absolutely no role in his being as a child of God. The gospel ministry instructs and informs and edifies and nourishes a child of God. It brings temporal salvations. Phi 2:12 – work out your own salvation.
- The gospel ministry does not play any role in giving eternal life to a sinner... But it is absolutely needful for their well-being, for their temporal salvation here and now in this life on earth.
- Each of God's children, by His free and sovereign grace, experiences and evidences a VASTLY different degree of benefits from the gospel ministry. Some have none... others have little... still, others have husk feed to them... some are well-nourished under faithful gospel ministry.
- More or less, each and every one of them is fitted for eternal glory by God's free and sovereign grace.
6. In salvation consummated/glorified at Christ’s return...
a. You fill in the blank... if you can... it is too wonderful for me to express it in words.
- The Scriptures about out glorification… Read 1Cor 15… 1Jn 3:1…
This is the only order of salvation taught in the Scriptures. It declares eternal salvation by God’s free grace.
Romans 8:29 ¶ For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
These two verses of the Holy Scriptures are probably the most tortured and abused passages of the Bible. Even the Calvinistic folks messed it up big time!
A few obvious facts about the passage:
1. The object acted upon by the divine activities are co-extensive throughout, an EXACTLY SAME number of, and EXACTLY SAME people are involved in each activity of God, not one more and not one less, that is, every action spoken of applies to EVERY elect, without any exception. That's pretty obvious... "whom he did... he also... whom he did... he also..."
2. The divine activities here - foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification and glorification - are all the sole activities of God. All these activities are by the free and sovereign grace of God, i.e. not conditioned upon anything in, by or of the objects. Those acted upon in these divine activities are completely passive, absolutely incapable of helping or even cooperating. In fact, they, by nature, were actively in ENMITY and REBELLION against God.
3. Those acted upon in these divine activities are EQUALLY ACTED upon - they are ALL EQUALLY foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified - no one more, and no one less. Every free grace divine action applies to ABSOLUTELY EVERY ELECT, in absolutely equal and same extent. No exception. The activities here deal with, and secure ETERNAL salvation for the elect.
4. The divine activities stated here are all that are necessary for the ETERNAL salvation of every elect, without exception. There is no room to place other activities into the five-link chain. The five-link chain is complete and DOES NOT NEED other activities of God; it DOES NOT PERMIT any activities of man.
- Why is there no regeneration… sanctification… conversion… repentance, etc etc?
- Ask if you wish to know.
5. This passage says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, ZILCH about all those needful activities that involve human instrumentality (means) and are needful for the TEMPORAL salvation of God's children already made fit for eternal glory. If you imagine any such activities necessary for eternal salvation, then you have prostituted the pure gospel of grace, deny true monergism, and end up with a synergistic view of salvation - which is so common even among many Calvinists!
6. One more observation: all the divine activities are expressed in the simple past tense... even glorification of all the elect? The explanation is quite simple. Since all these are divine activities, and God has decreed to do them, they are considered as good as have been completed. Those activities are absolutely certain and assured of the execution and accomplishment and fulfillment.
When this passage is properly understood, then eternal salvation by God's free grace is adequately appreciated. I know many people have some objections.
The gospel of free grace declares Eternal Salvation, WITHOUT any human means! (You must not confuse this as saying that temporal salvation by the obedience of God's children is without means. The gospel ministry is vital for the temporal salvation of God's children. Your inability to distinguish the two is the source of your confusion!)
There is the ETERNAL salvation which God in Jesus Christ has completely and perfectly work out for His people, and applies to each elect by His Spirit, perfectly fitting each for eternal glory... no human instrumentality is involved the eternal salvation. God alone purposed it, Christ alone accomplished it, and the Spirit alone applies it.
- This is the true context/sphere of 'divine sovereignty' in salvation.
There is the TEMPORAL salvation which God's children (those already bestowed with eternal salvation by God's free grace) have to work out for themselves with fear and trembling for their well-being and usefulness in this present life.
The gospel ministry, administered through human instrumentality, is the divinely ordained means for this specific purpose of saints working out their own salvation: Titus 2 "12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Titus 2.
- This is the true context/sphere of 'human responsibility' in salvation. God's children are responsible to work out their own salvation through obedience to the Father's will.
The measure to which men cannot distinguish eternal salvation from temporal salvation is the same measure to which they are messed up in their understanding of salvation by grace alone! They give lip service to salvation by grace alone but in reality, are all work-based salvation to a different degree... EVEN the Calvinists!
1. The object acted upon by the divine activities are co-extensive throughout, an EXACTLY SAME number of, and people are involved in each activity of God, not one more and not one less, that is, every action applies to EVERY elect, withOUT any exception.
Necessary implications:
- The call is the effectual call because ONLY in the EFFECTUAL CALL is every elect called. This is God calling an elect out of his native state of sin and death to that of grace and eternal salvation.
There is absolutely no gospel call here because there are God's children (regenerated elect) that are incapable of being called by the gospel, either because of inability or not reached by the gospel call., therefore no opportunity to believe.
Gospel call has to do with the temporal salvation of God's children. And there are God's children who are not called by the gospel. The gospel call is NOT NECESSARY for the eternal salvation of God's elect. It is the eternal salvation by God's free and sovereign grace that enables a child of God to believe.
However, because the Calvinists being ignorant of the distinction between ETERNAL salvation and TEMPORAL salvation, insist that the gospel call is necessary for one's eternal salvation!
2. The justification here is the vital justification by God's free grace because this aspect of justification is true of every elect. This is God's act of justifying the condemned by applying the righteousness of Christ to him personally and forgiving him his sins... when he is utterly incapable of believing, being under the condemnation of sin and death.
- Justification of life, applying Christ’s righteousness give warrants to eternal life…
There is no justification by man's act of believing here because there are God's children who are INCAPABLE of believing... either because of their inability to hear or not called by the gospel.
However, because the Calvinists being ignorant of the distinct aspects of justification, confuse the VITAL justification by the free grace of God as the EXPERIENTIAL justification by their faith in Christ.
There is so much confusion on this most basic subject. I hope reading and thinking through this article has helped to dispel some confusion, outright lies and fables, blatant inconsistencies and fictions.
