Editing Predestination (section)

===Supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism===
[[Supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism|Infralapsarianism]] (also called sublapsarianism) holds that predestination logically coincides with the preordination of Man's fall into sin. That is, God predestined sinful men for salvation. Therefore, according to this view, God is the [[proximate and ultimate causation|ultimate cause]], but not the proximate source or "author" of sin. Infralapsarians often emphasize a difference between God's decree (which is inviolable and inscrutable), and his revealed will (against which man is disobedient). Proponents also typically emphasize the grace and mercy of God toward all men, although teaching also that only some are predestined for salvation.

In common English parlance, the doctrine of predestination often has particular reference to the doctrines of [[Calvinism]]. The version of predestination espoused by [[John Calvin]], after whom Calvinism is named, is sometimes referred to as "double predestination" because in it God predestines some people for salvation (i.e. [[unconditional election]]) and some for condemnation (i.e. [[Reprobation]]) which results by allowing the individual's own sins to condemn them. Calvin himself defines predestination as "the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. Not all are created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or to death."<ref name=Calvin>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iv.iii.xxii.html |title=Calvin, John. ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', (Henry Beveridge, trans.), III.21.5 |access-date=21 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060829234225/http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iv.iii.xxii.html |archive-date=29 August 2006 }}</ref>

On the spectrum of beliefs concerning predestination, Calvinism is the strongest form among Christians. It teaches that God's predestining decision is based on the knowledge of his own will rather than foreknowledge, concerning every particular person and event; and, God continually acts with entire freedom, in order to bring about his will in completeness, but in such a way that the freedom of the creature is not violated, "but rather, established".<ref name="WCF3">[[s:Westminster Confession of Faith#CHAPTER III. Of God's Eternal Decree.|Westminster Confession of faith, Ch 3]]</ref>

Calvinists who hold the infralapsarian view of predestination usually prefer that term to "sublapsarianism," perhaps with the intent of blocking the inference that they believe predestination is on the basis of foreknowledge (''sublapsarian'' meaning, assuming the fall into sin).<ref>Here, sub- is opposed to super- or supra- in a sense related to volition and/or necessity. Cf., for relapse of same origin, http://freedictionary.org/index.php?Query=relapse&database=%2A&strategy=exact : L. relapsus, p. p. of relabi to slip back, to relapse.</ref> The different terminology has the benefit of distinguishing the Calvinist double predestination version of infralapsarianism from Lutheranism's view that predestination is a mystery, which forbids the unprofitable intrusion of prying minds since God only reveals partial knowledge to the human race.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Comparison and Evaluation of the Theology of Luther with That of Calvin |date=19 March 2015 |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/comparison-and-evaluation-theology-luther-calvin |access-date=19 October 2022 |archive-date=1 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601152021/https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/comparison-and-evaluation-theology-luther-calvin |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[Supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism|Supralapsarianism]] is the doctrine that God's decree of predestination for salvation and reprobation logically precedes his preordination of the human race's fall into sin. That is, God decided to save, and to damn; he then determined the means by which that would be made possible. It is a matter of controversy whether or not Calvin himself held this view, but most scholars link him with the infralapsarian position. It is known, however, that Calvin's successor in Geneva, [[Theodore Beza]], held to the supralapsarian view.