Jesus Christ as the “Sum of God’s Decrees”: Christological Supralapsarianism in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards

Abstract

The traditional lapsarian debate among the Reformed orthodox, particularly in the 17th century, centers (roughly) on the question of whether the object of election and reprobation is the human being not-yet created and not-yet fallen (supralapsarian), or whether the object of election and reprobation is the human being created and fallen (infralapsarian). Although the debate most often focuses on the individual objects of predestination, the purpose of election and the incarnation also falls within the overall theological purview. In this sense, the incarnation is
considered by a majority of Reformed theologians to follow as a result of the Fall (infra lapsus) and as a subsequent movement toward the redemption of sinful beings. The thrust of this essay then is to present Jonathan Edwards’s position regarding election and the incarnation as they relate to the divine decrees. In contrast to the majority opinion though, Edwards depicts the architectonic of election as a form of
Christological supralapsarianism, which logically parses out the divine decrees as follows: (1) the triune God decrees to communicate the fullness of the Godhead through the second person of the Trinity; (2) the decree to communicate God’s fullness in the Son is creative; and (3) the creative decree also entails God’s desire to draw the creature into fellowship
through the Son’s taking on creaturely existence, in particular the existence of a human being.