Sublapsarianism

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A theological doctrine concerning the order of God's decrees about predestination and salvation, in which the divine decision to elect some to salvation is made after the decision to permit the Fall of man but before the actual Fall occurs
2. A belief system within Christian theology that posits God's election of certain individuals to salvation happens consequent to the decree allowing humanity's fall into sin, yet prior to the event itself; dealing with the logical sequence of divine plans regarding grace and condemnation
3. An interpretive framework in religious doctrine that explains the sequence of God's eternal decisions, where the choice to save particular people is logically placed following the determination to let human sinfulness occur but preceding its historical manifestation

Etymology: Sublapsarianism is a doctrine within Reformed theology, and its name is built from a Latin prefix and a Latin noun. The base is "sublapsarian," which combines "sub-," meaning "under" or "after," with "lapsus," the Latin word for a fall or lapse, referring to the Fall of man in Genesis. The suffix "-ism" marks it as a system of belief. Put together, the name points to a position that places God's election of some people to salvation somewhere after the decree to permit the Fall, though still before the Fall actually occurs. The word's shape is easy to decode once you know the sequence of decrees it describes. Its opposite number, "supralapsarianism," uses "supra-" (above), placing election before the decree to permit the Fall at all. The two terms therefore act as a matched pair, differing only in where the prefix places the decision in the logical order of God's will. Debate over that ordering has long occupied Calvinist thinkers, and the names simply record which side of the Fall each view puts election on.

Synonyms: preterism, calvinism

Antonyms: supralapsarianism