What is the order of Salvation?
Image via WikipediaThis phrase (Lat. ordo salutis) appears to have been brought into theological usage in 1737 by Jakob Karpov, a Lutheran.
But the doctrine is of much greater antiquity.
Necessarily, there is a wide divergence between the Roman Catholic and the Reformed view in this connection, for although they both agree that there can be no salvation apart from the work of Jesus Christ, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that it is the divinely appointed dispenser of saving grace through the sacraments, which, of themselves, convey grace to the recipients.
The stages of Rome’s order of salvation may be taken as marked by its sacraments of
(1) baptism, in which the soul is regenerated;
(2) confirmation, in which baptized persons receive the gift of the Holy Ghost; (3) the Eucharist, in which they partake of the very body and blood of Christ in the transubstantiated wafer;
(4) penance, by which the benefit of Christ’s death is applied to those who have fallen after baptism; and
(5) extreme unction, which prepares the recipient for death and cleanses him from the remains of sin.
Luther’s order of salvation consisted simply in repentance, faith, and good works; but the Lutheran order was elaborated by later theologians into something closely resembling the Reformed order. It rests, however, upon the assumption that Christ’s death on the cross was intended to save all men and that grace is resistible.
The Reformed order of salvation may be found in outline in Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, vol. 3; but again, this order has been further elaborated by later Reformed theologians.
In the Reformed view the application of the redemption wrought by Christ on the cross is an activity of the Holy Spirit and is to be traced in a series of acts and processes until perfect blessedness is reached.
The Reformed order may be taken as
(1) effectual calling, issuing in
(2) regeneration,
(3) faith, leading to
(4) justification, and
(5) sanctification, ultimately resulting in
(6) glorification.
Some of these experiences are synchronous, however, and the stages in such cases must be regarded as of logical rather than of chronological sequence.
Elwell, W. A. (2001). Evangelical dictionary of theology: Second Edition (869–870). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
