The doctrine of ‘ordo saluatis,’ or, 
at more length, “the order of the 
causes of salvation,” i.e., 
sequentially ordered, as taken up by 
(and implicitly argued by) the 
post-Calvin reformers, seems to be 
ultimately founded on readings of 
Romans 8:28f., and is found in the 
translation of Theodore Beza:  A 
Briefe Declaration of the Chiefe 
Poyntes of Christian Religion, Set 
Forth in a Table. London: n.p., 1575, 
 “The fourth Chapter.  By what order 
God proceedeth to declare and after a 
sorte to execute his Election.”  (f. 
B.i.)  The relevant words on that 
page:  “When God had determined with 
him selfe the things before mentioned, 
he, by a more manifest order of 
causes, … disposed orderly all the 
degrees, whereby he would bring his 
elect unto his kingdome. … by the free 
mercy & grace which doth appeare in 
the salvation of his elect.”  See 
Beza, Tabula praedestinationis or 
Summa totius christianismi (1555). 
 Beza has an actual table (though not 
in this edition, it seems), on which a 
quite memorable one, at the bottom of 
which it says: "By John Bunyan, Author 
of the Pilgrims Progress") is 
ultimately based. (Bunyan's very 
complex version/elaboration is 
suggestively titled “A Map Shewing the 
Order & Causes of Salvation & 
Damnation.”) ("Map" = Wm. Perkins' 
"Chain.")   The 1613 edn. of the 
translation (printed for Tho. Man.) 
has Beza’s diagram, right after the 
title page.  A key issue is the 
placement of predestination in the 
order of causes, that is, in the 
narrative-like construction of cause & 
effect in the divine decrees; and, in 
the Tridentine response, the place of 
Baptism and also Penance (on the way 
to sanctification).  Beza could have 
inspired the 17th Article, I would 
suppose (?).  ((I don't have 
Melanchthon to consult, and he is 
obviously Lutheran, not Calvinist, but 
his systematic theology in the Loci 
Communes (1521, 1559) depends heavily 
on Romans, and indeed the order of 
Romans (and and there is also his 
Commentary on Romans to look at 
(1532... .))  See  Calvin, Institutes, 
Bk. III, The Way We Receive the Grace 
of Christ, on the sequence 
justification --> regeneration: 
another debated "place" in the order 
of salvation (vs. regeneration --> 
justification).  And Inst., Bk. II, 
ch. xii, sec. 5 ("Would Christ have 
also become man if Adam had not 
sinned?"  Despite the mystery, Calvin 
is a "supralapsarian"--"the gospel was 
given to us 'in Christ...before time 
began [II Tim. 1:9].'").  -- Jim N.



On Sun, 5 Jun 2011 11:46:35 -0400
  James Broaddus 
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> Did anyone use the phrase, "order of 
>salvation," before  William
> Perkins' _Order of Salvation and 
>Damnation_, published in 1591?
> 
> The concept appears quite clearly in 
>1563 in Article 17 of the
> _Thirty-Nine Articles_, but not the 
>phrase.
> 
> My thanks in advance.
> 
> Jim Broaddus
> -- 
> Retired, Ind. State.Univ.
> 2487 KY 3245
> Brodhead, KY 40409

[log in to unmask]
James Nohrnberg
Dept. of English, Bryan Hall 219
Univ. of Virginia
P.O Box 400121
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4121