Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism versus Translapsarianism
Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism versus Translapsarianism




The problem with the lapsarian issue is that both supra and infra presupposes a point in time where a decision was made either prior the fall or after the fall. This presupposition, I believe, denies the unchanging nature of God.

God transcends time. Therefore, He is not held hostage to it like we are. Time is a variable. God is not variable. He is constant. One attribute of God is His omnipresence. He is in all places. God is in hell as well as heaven. God is in the past as He is in the present as He is in the future. He is in all places at once. He is not bound to time as infralapsarians have particularly imposed upon Him by placing the decision to elect after the fall. Supralapsarians are also guilty of imposing a time when the decision was made to elect the fallen. They have just moved the time where a decision was made somewhere before Creation took place. This, in fact, appears to be a period of time. Although, it could be argued that before Creation, there was no time as time is part of creation. This is a step in the right direction, but it still limits the omnipresence of God. Since, God is the same yesterday, today and forever, the plans He has made are therefore the same. There is no contingency. There is just His plan. Yahweh is. His plan is.

I call this view, based on transcendental presuppositionalism, translapsarianism. The plan is both supra and infra. There is no point in time when a decision is made. His plan was, is and is to come. The same God that commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son and who Lot bargained with was the same God as before creation as He is today and will be forever more. There is no turning or changing of plans as He goes along in time. He manipulates creation to suit His plan. There is no change in His plan. We see changes every day. That is the unfolding of the plan; day by day, all leading to His own glory.

A crude analogy would be like this: imagine time as a sponge emerged in an unlimited ocean of water. The water is the same ocean at all points and it completely soaks the sponge. The ocean envelops the sponge and runs through it simultaneously. Thus, God envelops time. He transcends it and He simultaneously is acting in it. There is no change in Him at any point. This, I believe, is key to understanding the nature of God.