God at the Center Vis-a-Vis Ordo Salutis

In 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus enunciated an astronomical principle which revolutionized the study of science. Copernicus discovered that this earth was not the center of the universe, nor did the sun revolve around the earth. It would be hard to overestimate the revolutionary impact of this single discovery, which completely reversed the order of scientific thinking.

In  De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, the theologian and astronomer said, 

"In the center rests the sun. For who would place this lamp of a very beautiful temple in another or better place than this wherefrom it can illuminate everything at the same time."

About the same time of Copernicus, there lived a monk who enunciated a biblical principle, which swept the consciousness of Western man with a fury and changed the course of history. The monk was Martin Luther, and his theological principle was "the Copernicus revolution in theology." For in the thinking of the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, not only was the earth the center of the universe, but man was the center, the starting point of theology.

While it was Copernicus who changed the scientific order and put the sun at the center, it was Luther and other reformers who revolutionized the whole order of salvation by putting God at the center and by making God the starting point. This ordo salutis (order of salvation), as it was called, was the supreme and vital heartthrob of the Reformation.*

The logical order of salvation (ordo salutis) observed in the application of redemption in the theology of the Reformers are as follows:

1. Divine Election (God’s choice of people to be saved)

2. The Gospel Call (Proclaiming the message of the Gospel)

3. Regeneration (Being Born again)

4. Conversion (Saving Faith and Repentance)

5. Justification (Right legal standing before God)

6. Adoption (Membership in God’s family)

7. Sanctification (Right conduct of life)

8. Perseverance of the Saints (Remaining a Christian)

9. Death (Going to be with the Lord)

10. Glorification ( Being with the Lord)

Supporting Scriptures:

• Rom. 8:29-30 - "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."

• 1 John 5:1 - "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him." 

Note that the verb "believes" is a present tense verb but the verb "is born" is a perfect (or past) tense verb showing order. Those who believe have already been born in the past by God.

Take John Bunyan’s  “A Map Shewing The Order and Causes of Salvation and Damnation” : here!

*(An excerpt from the transcribed sermon titled,  Ordo Salutis,  by  David B. Curtis)