Infralapsarians

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Adherents of a Calvinist view holding that God chose some people for salvation after considering the fall of humanity into sin
2. Those who believe God decided who would be saved only after foreseeing that humankind had already fallen into sin
3. People subscribing to a theological position that predestination followed the Fall in God's ordering of decrees about salvation

Etymology: Infralapsarians are Calvinist theologians who held that God decided to save some humans and damn others only after the Fall of Adam, which the word's parts spell out: "infra" meaning "below" or "after" and "lapsus" meaning "fall" or "lapse," the Latin root that gives English "lapse." The sense is one of sequence: God's decree came "below" the fall in logical order. The term's partner, "supralapsarian," names the opposing view that the decree came before the Fall. The suffix "-arian" marks a person who holds a belief or belongs to a group, as in "unitarian" or "antiquarian," so the noun is simply "one who holds the infralapsarian position." The adjective uses the same form to describe that doctrine or the people who hold it.

Antonyms: supralapsarian