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Every year, a number of brand new words and phrases are added to the dictionary. Some recent ones include reaction, gif, hard pass, flex, and performative. If the aim is to make most people over the age of 25 feel old and out of touch, then congratulations, mission accomplished. And yes, before I get lots of performative emails taking a hard pass on my pronunciation of jif, it is pronounced jif and not if Gif. No it isn't, Barry. GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. You don't say drafix, do you? Yeah, yeah, I know, but it's an acronym like scuba, where the U stands for underwater, which is a short U sound. And if you're walking around saying scubba, you may be in need of more help than this podcast can give you. I mention this because I'm about to say two different words. I know it'll sound like I've just made them up to make you feel angry, but no, they actually exist. And they have done, apparently, since the middle of the 18th century at least. The two words are supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism. The lapse bit in each of those words may help you to remember what they mean, because lapsus is from the Latin meaning fall. So these two words address a question related to the fall. And the question is when did God decide to elect people to salvation? Was it before God made the decision to create the world and permit the fall? Or was it after his decision to create the world and permit the fall? Those who think it was before are supralapsarians, and those who think it was after are infralapsarians. Just to be clear, this isn't a question about the order that things happened in time. It's a question of what order these things were logically decided upon in God's mind. And while there might be a hint of frostiness between supralapsarians and infralaps Arians when they bump into each other at parties, great parties they must be. People holding those two positions have a great deal in common and and both fall within the parameters of Reformed theology. After all, they both accept the biblical truth that God decreed all his redemptive acts before he ever created the world and before the fall ever happened. But logically, what came first in God's mind? The decree of election and reprobation, or the decree to create the world and permit the fall? If you take the supralapsarian position literally, meaning before the fall, chances are you have God's sovereignty uppermost in your mind before thinking of creating the universe and ordaining a fall. God had first thought to ordain some for life and some for death. The reason he then thought to create the world and ordain a fall was so that the wisdom and glory of his decision to elect Son some and not others would be displayed. But if you take the infra lapsarian position literally, meaning after the fall, chances are you have God's mercy uppermost in your mind. It was after God thought of creating the universe and ordaining a fall that he purposed to show his mercy by electing some to salvation. Infralapsarians would argue if they cornered you at that party I was talking about, that it makes more logical sense for God to think of election after there are hypothetical people to elect. After he decreed that there would be a fall without first decreeing a fall. Why would God think to save anyone from that fall? For what it's worth, it's this latter position, the infra lapsarian one, that has been held by most Reformed theologians across history. But there are notable exceptions. For example, the Puritan Thomas Goodwin, who held to what has been called Christological supralapsarianism. The end of all God's decrees is the union of the elect with Christ, which is consummated in heaven, the last thing that will happen in time. The consummation with Christ in heaven, was the first thing that God intended in his mind, the final union of the elect with him. Or to put it another way, God's supreme motive, which lies behind the ordering of all his decrees, is simply the glory of Jesus Christ. I know, heady stuff. And again, both positions are consistent with Scripture. You can make a reasonable case for both, so it's not something to fall out over, unlike the very important matter of whether we should say GIF or jif. By the way, in real life, I do actually pronounce it gif. I was just flexing. You've been listening to Simply Put with me, Barry Cooper. If you like this podcast from Ligonier Ministries, here's another one I think you might enjoy.
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If you could ask some of the most trusted theological minds any question you liked, what would it be? Ask Ligonier is a new podcast that allows you to do just that. Each week we take questions from you, our listeners, and put them in front of people like Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, W. Robert Godfrey, Stephen Nichols, Burke Parsons, Derek Thomas, and many other special guests. If you'd like to ask Ligonier a theological question for inclusion on the podcast, leave us a voicemail by calling 1-800-607-9386 or record your question on a smartphone and email it to askligoniervmigonier.org I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and I hope you'll join me for Ask Ligonier.
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Sam.