The basics - The order of salvation - The Riddleblog

Found here. Our comments in bold.

------------------

Kim Riddlebarger has been writing a series called "the basics." We have commented on these several times in our blog, and our complaint has been that his explanations are not basic. Sometimes the topics themselves are not basic.

The latter is the case today. The ordo salutis does not involve any aspect of Christian living, holiness, worship, or maturity of faith. We think things that are "basic" to our faith ought to come to bear on how we conduct our lives. The ordo salutis does not.

We should note that the author approaches his topics from the perspective of Calvinism, which means that the things he writes often have another meaning. For example, when he writes that we are "unable to do anything to save ourselves," he means that a person is totally depraved and cannot make a decision and be saved. God has predestined the ones He has selected to be saved, and His sovereign choice cannot be resisted.

This means that the biblical idea that "works cannot save us" actually means that a person making the decision would itself be a work. Thus salvation is only the work of God from beginning to end, and so we are predestined. 

So the Calvinist tries to explain the detailed process by which God saves a man, and from that arises the ordo salutis.

Lastly, the author never provides us with a plain list of the full ordo, so we shall:

1) election/predestination 

2) Atonement 

3) gospel call 

4) inward call 

5) regeneration, 

6) conversion (faith & repentance), 

7) justification, 

8) sanctification, and 

9) glorification. 

------------------

When Christians speak of the “ordo salutis” we are referring to the “order of salvation.” (Christians do not speak of the ordo salutis. Theologians do. People who are preoccupied with arcane details do. But generic Christians are probably not even aware of the ordo salutis, and dare we say, are probably better off not knowing.)

While we should qualify any discussion of such an “order” by affirming that an omniscient God does not need to do things in sequential order as we do, (The author has just negated the need to continue his explanation. If it's not a sequential order, it's not an ordo salutis.)

nevertheless there is a logical order to the way in which God saves us from sin and its consequences. Since we are described as “dead in sin” (Ephesians 2:1-5) and unable to do anything to save ourselves from our dire predicament (John 6:44), God must act upon us while we are still “dead” in order to save us from our sins. The ordo salutis is simply an attempt to understand what actions God takes to save us, and in what logical order he accomplishes them.

This is not an abstract concept because Scripture itself speaks of our salvation as being accomplished for us according to a divinely-ordained progression. The first of these passages is the so called “golden chain” of salvation found in Romans 8:28-30. In that passage Paul writes,

and we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The passage has been described as the golden chain because Paul not only speaks of an unbreakable order to the plan by which God saves us (the chain), but the apostle is clear that our salvation from beginning to end is the work of a gracious and sovereign God, who having begun the process of our salvation, sees it through to the end (the gold). (Let's examine the context of this passage carefully. A few verses before the author's citation we find this: 

Ro. 8:23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Paul used the word "firstfruits." The firstfruits is the initial harvest, the crop that is taken first from the field. We think the use of the word is very particular. Paul referred to the Thessalonian church as the firstfruits:

2 Th. 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

John wrote about the 144,000 Jews:

Re. 14:4 These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

It seems clear that firstfruits cannot refer to the entire crop. So who are the firstfruits? Who received the firstfruits of the Spirit? We think it's simple. The firstfruits were the first to be saved, i.e., the apostles and the first Jewish believers: 

Je. 2:3: "Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them," declares the Lord.

Ro. 11:16-17 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap...

James directly referred to "us" [he was writing to the twelve tribes, verse 1] as the firstfruits: 

Ja. 1:18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

And Paul wrote:

1Co. 15:22-23 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ; the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

Jesus, the first to rise from the dead, is followed by the firstfruits, then all those who belong to Him [the rest of us]. Now we have arrived at the verse quoted by the author:

Ro. 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

"Brothers" frequently refers to fellow Jews [Ac. 7:2, 26, Ac. 11:1, Ro. 7:1 Ro. 9:3, 1Th. 1:4], though not always [He. 2:11]. These brothers had the firstfruits of the Spirit [Ro. 8:23], which makes them Jews [Je. 2:3: "Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest...]. 

Since the author likes logic, the inescapable logic is that the early Jewish believers, being the firstfruits, were the ones who were predestined. Which of course means that the passage is not the "golden chain" for anyone except the first Jewish believers.)

There is no sense that some of those chosen by God are eventually rejected, or that there is something good within the sinner which moves God to have pity on them and then act on their behalf.

Although Paul reminds his reader that God has the power to turn all things to good (v. 28), he quickly goes on to qualify that this applies to only those who are called according to God’s purpose. Therefore, when the gospel is preached to us, God effectually calls his elect to faith in Jesus Christ. God’s call involves several important elements (i.e., the ordo salutis).

Paul speaks of those foreknown by God as being predestined. Some have erroneously taken this to mean that God looks down the corridors of time and then chooses to save those whom he knows in advance will believe the gospel when it is preached to them. This is not the case, because Paul has already told us that calling of particular individuals unto salvation is not based upon foreseen faith, but upon the purposes of God (v. 28). (A distinction that makes absolutely no difference.)

Furthermore, foreknowledge does not merely mean that God knows what we will do in advance, but rather that God knows us as individuals in the full sense depicted in Psalm 139–where God is said to know our thoughts before we even think them, and our words before we speak them, because it is he who has formed us in our mother’s womb.

According to Paul, all those whom God foreknows, he also predestines. Predestination refers to the particular end for which his elect are chosen–to be conformed to the image of Christ (as spelled out in the final link in the golden chain, glorification–verse 30). Those foreknown are predestined, and those predestined are called. Calling occurs when the gospel is preached, and God’s elect respond to that message with faith. Those called through the preaching of the gospel are said to be justified (more on this in a future article). Justification occurs because the merits of Christ are imputed to those called through the means of faith, and because of Christ’s merits, we are reckoned righteous before God.

The final link in the chain is that those foreknown, predestined, called, and justified, are at last said to be glorified. That is, we are fully restored from the effects of sin on the day when the dead in Christ are raised. Paul’s point is that God begins our salvation and ensures that it is completed.

In yet another passage, Paul lays out a similar “order” of salvation (1 Corinthians 6:11), when the apostle writes, “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Although some of the particular elements appear in a different order than in Romans 8:28-30, the general idea is the same. (Another concession that the ordo salutis is not really an order.)

For one thing, all the verbs (aorist) used here by Paul indicate that each of these elements is already a completed act. And just as in Romans 8:28-30, God accomplishes these things for us. His saving work on our behalf is already finished. All those in Christ are washed, are sanctified, and are justified.

Washing refers to regeneration, that divine act whereby we are given new life and are cleansed from the guilt of sin, and when sin’s power over us is broken. All those “washed” are also said to be sanctified. That is, those regenerated by God’s Spirit are now set apart for God’s holy purposes and begin the life-long process of dying to sin and rising to newness of life (sanctification). Those set apart by God for his own holy purposes are also said to be justified–that is when we are regenerated, we come to life and place our trust in Jesus Christ. When we place our trust (faith) in Christ, Christ’s merits are reckoned or credited to us, so we are declared righteous before God. Paul ends this particular list of benefits by informing us that all of this was accomplished by the Holy Spirit, who applies to us the saving work of Jesus Christ.

The ordo salutis is one very useful way to keep before our eyes the fact that Scripture very clearly teaches that from beginning to end, our salvation is God’s work, accomplished for us by Jesus Christ. We also see that God doesn’t begin the process, only to quit in the middle of it. All those foreknown (in Romans 8:28-30) are glorified, and all those washed (in 1 Corinthians 6:11), are justified. Our salvation is truly of the Lord, from beginning to end.