Introduction: What is an Order of Salvation?

In theology the technical term for order of salvation is "ordo salutis." I'll simply refer to it from here on out as "ordo".

An ordo is an attempt to put into logical, not chronological, order the events that lead up to and take place in and follow a person’s initial salvation.

Those are chronological terms, of course, and there isn’t any way to separate an ordo without using chronological language at least some of the time. Many theologians, however, would argue that, like the decrees of God, these ordo events are not necessarily chronologically sequential - especially from God’s point of view.

The Bible and Christian tradition use many terms to identify things God does and things the person being saved does in relation to turning from being “lost” to being “found” (to use evangelical language) or from being "damned" to being "redeemed."

The Bible nowhere lays out a single, clear ordo, so a major task of systematic theology has been to bring together all the biblical concepts of personal salvation and put them in logical order.

Why? Because inquiring minds want to know what God does and what we do in our becoming saved persons.

The included "ordos" included in this book are mere summaries given to the best of my knowledge. Please be aware I am not expert in these various disciplines and more precise explanations of these ordos would require further research.