THE DECREES OF GOD

Part Three
Theology Proper: 21 THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD
A DISPENSATIONAL THEOLOGY
By Charles F Baker

Theologians usually break down the overall purpose of God into four or five major decrees: the decree to create, the decree to permit sin, the decree to provide salvation, the decree to elect, and some refer to a decree to reprobate. Since God is a timeless Being, it is inconceivable that these decrees were made in a chronological order. We must believe that God formulated His plan in its entirety in eternity past. He knew the end from the beginning and He knew it because He planned it. He did not decree to create and then later on decree to permit man to fall, and then decide to provide salvation. However, we may conceive of a logical order of the decrees. We may ask, which of the decrees logically came first? Was the primary consideration with God to have a creation, to have a redeemed people, or to have sinners upon whom He could vent His wrath? If the logical order of God’s decrees could be ascertained, much could be learned concerning God’s motives for having brought His plan into action. It should be pointed out that the order in which the decrees have been executed is not necessarily their logical order.

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