John Bunyan on the Order of Salvation

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 9; p. 85
• Main Author: Davies, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.1999
• Subjects: British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Bunyan, John (1628-88); English literature
• ISSN: 0954-0970

By taking as his starting point Bunyan's doctrine of the order of salvation (that is, the sequence of spiritual experiences which lead the convert through justification and sanctification to faith and assurance), de Vries effectively redefines the purpose of Bunyan's theology as a whole. In this way, the book's subsequent chapters (each addressing in turn matters of covenant and election, calling, justification, sanctification, faith and repentance, and assurance) lead the reader through Bunyan's 'order of salvation' in a clear, informative and doctrinally eye-opening way. What emerges in de Vries' s account, for instance, is a reminder that critical questions (such as assurance of one's election) rest for Bunyan not in the realm of any anxiety of double predestination but rather in the more comforting framework of imputed righteousness and assurance by faith: we are elected in Christ, 'predestined in him, and not in ourselves' (p. 117).