The Plan of Salvation
by Benjamin B. Warfield
THE
SUBJECT to which our attention is to be directed in this series of lectures
is ordinarily spoken of as "The Plan of Salvation." Its more technical
designation is, "The Order of Decrees." And this technical designation
has the advantage over the more popular one, of more accurately defining the
scope of the subject matter. This is not commonly confined to the process of
salvation itself but is generally made to include the entire course of the divine
dealing with man which ends in his salvation. Creation is not uncommonly comprehended
in it, and of course the fall, and the condition of man brought about by the
fall. This portion of the subject matter may, however, certainly with some propriety,
be looked upon as rather of the nature of a presupposition, than as a substantive
part of the subject matter itself; and no great harm will be done if we abide
by the more popular designation. Its greater concreteness gives it an advantage
which should not be accounted small; and above all it has the merit of throwing
into emphasis the main matter, salvation. The series of the divine activities
which are brought into consideration are in any event supposed to circle around
as their center, and to have as their proximate goal, the salvation of sinful
man. When the implications of this are fairly considered it may not seem to
require much argument to justify the designation of the whole by the term, "The
Plan of Salvation."