Supralapsarian Calvinists Criticize Infralapsarian Calvinist C. Michael Patton

Calvinist C. Michael Patton recently did a post entitled Calvinism and the Divine Decrees – Correcting a Misunderstanding. In the post Patton argues for the Infralapsarian view of Calvinism. The infralapsarian view is a less extreme form of Calvinism. It states that in the logical order of God’s decrees, God first decreed the creation of man and then allowed for the fall.

Patton’s post has been criticized by Supralapsarian Calvinist “Tur8infan” of Alpha and Omega Ministries (James White’s organization). That post can be found here: Response to C. Michael Patton on the Divine Decrees and Hyper-Calvinism. The Supralapsairan view is the most extreme form of Calvinism. It states that God decreed the fall of man before the creation of Adam was decreed.

While we as Arminians disagree with both forms of Calvinism, we appreciate Patton’s attempt to deal with the implications of Calvinism and the harm that it imputes to the character of God. For an explanation of Arminius’ position on the “order of decrees”, see William Birch’s article: Arminius on the Doctrine of Election (An Introduction)

Patton also did an interview a while back with Arminian (and SEA member) Roger Olson. It can be found here: Converse with Scholars (select one entitled “Arminian Theology”)