WORD OF THE DAY From The Pastor's Study

Infralapsarianism

[in’-fruh-lap-sair‘-ee-uh-niz’-um]

(Latin infra, “after” + Latin lapsus, “fall” = “After the fall”)
Also, “sublapsarianism.”
A system of belief among certain Calvinists believing in a theoretical plan of God that occurred before creation concerning his decree to save mankind. In the “infra” scheme, God first decreed creation, second he decreed to allow the fall, third he decreed to elect some to salvation while passing over others, and fourth he decreed the atonement as a means of salvation for the elect. In this order one can surmise that the damnation of the reprobate came as a result of the self-determined fall of mankind, not God’s active reprobation (double predestination).