– 10 Min Read
The order starts from the foreknowledge of God, which results in the decree of God. This decree is summed up in one but encompasses the many decrees God would make. Before God exercises His decrees of creation, He first exercises His decrees of predestination. This was done before the creation of the world (Eph 1:4-5, Rev 13:8). And so we see on Perkins’s graph, that the decree of ‘Predestination‘ takes place before the decree of ‘Creation‘. We also see a space between ‘Predestination‘ and ‘Creation‘, enough so that Perkins jets a line out to the left side for the start of a golden chain – ‘The Decree of Election‘. And if we look on the right side, we see another line, but colored black, that starts with ‘The Decree of Reprobation‘.
What this tells us is that predestination has two decrees that coincide in it. A decree for the elect and a decree for the reprobate. This is how Perkins formulates it. This is logically deduced from scripture, for if God elected some for eternal life, He, therefore, elected others to damnation. The doctrine of Double-Predestination is debated even amongst Reformed evangelicals, but for the sake of this essay, we will not get into that today. What is clear is that Perkins affirms the doctrine of Double-Predestination.
In chapter 51, Perkins picks up the popular arguments against Double-Predestination and gives answers to their objections to the doctrine. Some of his contemporaries were arguing that every single person is foreknown by God, but some of them were not predestined – implying that by God’s foresight, He determined not to predestine them because of their lack of faith and works, therefore, allowing them to simply remain in their sin and let them run their course to hell. Another way to say it is that God does love everyone because He foreknows everyone but can only “predestine” them to salvation based on their response to the gospel. Either way, foreknowledge has now been compromised. Perkins answers;
“…the decree of God concerning both every man’s eternal salvation and damnation is from all eternity set down and immutable… Election and reprobation are in God, not in man. Now there can be nothing in God which is not immutable (Mal 3:6; Isa 64:10). If this popish conclusion should be granted, then would it follow of necessity that the foreknowledge of God must be made void, His power weakened, and His will changed, each of which is ominous once to dream of.”
– William Perkins [1]
Perkins is saying that this view is not only wrong about predestination, but it is also wrong about the doctrine of foreknowledge. For when God foreknows someone, He knows them intimately. That is the meaning of the Greek word προγινώσκω (proginōskō). Therefore if God intimately knows someone he then predestines them to eternal life. The ones whom He does not know intimately will go to eternal hell, for they were not known by God.
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
– Matthew 7:21-23
After the ‘Decree of Election‘ and the ‘Decree of Reprobation‘ take place, God exercises His decree of ‘Creation‘. Next, we have ‘The Fall of Adam‘ and then ‘The Rise of Unbelief‘. Then something fascinating happens in the graph! As we expect, the black line goes over to the start of ‘God’s Hating of the Reprobate’ but the blue line does not go straight to ‘The Love of God to the Elect‘. It first goes to ‘CHRIST the Mediator of the Elect‘. And notice that it is ‘The Love of God to the Elect IN CHRIST‘. Perkins is completely fixated on the idea that Christians can only be loved by God because of their union with Christ. Union has to be true first.
So our union with Christ comes first, then the love of God upon us, and then the ‘Effectual Calling‘. From here, we then see our first sets of lines, the “A” lines, that trace back to Christ. We trace from ‘Effectual Calling‘ to ‘Faith‘ and from ‘Faith‘ to Christ. While Perkins maintains sola fide, “faith alone”, he shows that before we can apprehend Christ by faith we first must be united in Him. For as we have discussed, this faith has to be an alien faith and given to us, which is given to us in Christ Jesus. According to Calvin, imputation happens in our union with Christ. This is because by our being united together with Him, our sin is imputed to Christ at the cross and His righteousness is imputed to us. Therefore, we were united to Him at the cross. Romans 6:1-7 is speaking of how we are united to Christ spiritually at the cross, in the grave, and in His resurrection.
We see this more developed in the next link of the chain, ‘Justification‘. The lines that are drawn from our justification go to ‘Remission of Sin‘ and ‘Imputation of Righteousness‘. Both of these things are traced back to Christ and our union with Him. Perkins is so detailed in pointing out specific places in Christ’s life where they connect and are accomplished. For example, our imputation is because of ‘Christ’s Holiness of Manhood‘ and ‘His Fulfilling of the Law‘. We, therefore, are declared righteous because when we are united to Christ. We receive His holiness as a man and His righteousness as a man who fulfilled the law by our union with Him.
Then, when we look at ‘Sanctification‘ we see two lines that go to ‘Mortification‘ and ‘Vivification‘. Our mortification of the flesh is because of our union with Christ, for we receive the benefits of ‘His Accursed Death‘, ‘Burial‘, and ‘Bondage Under The Grave‘. Our vivification, which means our “spiritedness”, is accomplished for us by Christ at His resurrection, which we enjoy because of our union with Him. Perkins explains;
“Sanctification has two parts: mortification and vivification. The mortification of sin is the first part of sanctification, whereby the power of sin is abated and crucified in the faithful (Rom 6:2-4; Eccl 5:6-7, 11-13; Gal 5:24). The means of mortification is the death and burial of Christ, from which proceeds such virtue as at the first giving sin his deadly wound does bereave it of power to rage and reign in man and cause it to die and consume as it were in a grace.
– William Perkins [2]
Vivification is the second part of sanctification, whereby inherent holiness being begun is still augmented and enlarged. First, we receive the first fruits of the Spirit; then, a continual increase of them (Eph 4:23-24; Eph 2:1; Gal 2:20; Rom 8:23; 1 Cor 15:45). The means of vivification is a virtue derived from Christ’s resurrection to those that are quickened, which makes them to rise up to newness of life (Phil 3:10).”
After all of these steps, we finally see ‘Repentance‘, which you will notice is not a part of the golden chain. Why is it that repentance is just now popping up and of all places after sanctification? Is this right? According to Perkins, our repentance is derived from us being sanctified. The Holy Spirit has to bring the renewal of our minds and desires, which come from ‘Sanctification’ before we can ever begin to have a desire to repent. Without the Spirit coming and changing our hearts and minds, we will not see or think of a reason why we need to repent of our sins.
“From sanctification, repentance is derived, because no man can earnestly repent except he, denying himself, do hate sin even from his heart and embrace righteousness. This no man either will or can perform, but such a one as is in the sight of God regenerated and justified and endued with true faith. Therefore, albeit in such as are converted repentance does first manifest itself, yet regarding the order of nature, it follows both faith and sanctification.”
– William Perkins [3]
We then see ‘Glorification‘ after ‘Sanctification‘ which is as we would all expect. We also see the blue line take a quick detour to ‘The Temporary Death‘ and ‘The Last Judgment‘ before making it to ‘Glorification‘. And from ‘Glorification‘ we enter into the phase of ‘Eternal Life‘ for now we are made fit for it. It is important to note that we have eternal life now, so once again we are placing a logical order in the theorized process of salvation. Though it is currently true in our lives now, (for we possess it in Christ), we obviously are not yet enjoying the full experiential reality of eternal life.
From ‘Eternal Life‘, we see ‘The Declaration of God’s Justice & Mercy‘ over those who were foreknown in eternity past as they enter into an eternal pleasure of enjoying ‘God’s Glory‘. Here is what Perkins says about this blessed glory;
“Blessedness has two parts: eternal life and perfect glory. Eternal life is that fellowship with God whereby God Himself is through the Lamb, Christ, life to the elect. For in the kingdom of heaven, the elect shall not need meat, drink, sleep, air, heat, cold, physic, apparel, or the light of the sun and moon, but in a place of all these shall they have in them God’s Spirit, by which immediately they shall be quickened forever (John 14:23; 1 John 4:15; Rev 21:3, 23; Rev 22:2, 5; 1 Cor 15:45; Rom 8:11).
– William Perkins [4]
Perfect glory is that wonderful excellency of the elect whereby they shall be in a far better estate than any heart can wish. This glory consists in three points. (1) In that they shall still behold the face of God, which is His glory and majesty (Rev 22:4; Ps 17:15;). (2) In that they shall be most like to Christ–namely, just, holy, incorruptible, glorious, honorable, excellent, beautiful, strong, mighty, and nimble (1 John 3:2; Phil 3:21). (3) They shall inherit the kingdom of heaven; yea, the new heavens and the new earth shall be their inheritance (1 Peter 1:4; Matt 25:34; Rev 5:10; Rev 21:7). [And] the fruit that comes from both these parts of blessedness is of two sorts: eternal joy and the perfect service of God.”
The ordo salutis that William Perkins offers through his work, A Golden Chain, and his ocular catechism is of most help to the church. From start to finish it centers around God Himself, His glory, and the work of His perfect Son through whom all things were created. Christ is through whom we receive all the blessings and benefits of salvation. Every phase of the order of our salvation is traced to the Lamb, with whom we have an unbreakable union.
If the Lord is gracious to the church, which He indeed is, He will be giving the church brilliant men like William Perkins to serve us well. Perkins is a joy to read and I highly recommend him to you.
Next Read: William Perkins and The ‘Ordo Salutis’ Part 6: Conclusion
Works Cited
[1-4] William Perkins, The Works of William Perkins Volume 6: A Golden Chain. (Edited by Joel R. Beeke, vol. 6, Grand Rapids, MI, Reformation Heritage Books, 2014. 10 vols) 225, 186-187, 190, 217.