Definition
Ordo salutis (Latin: order of salvation) is the classical systematic-theological term for the logical and/or temporal sequence of the saving acts that God performs on the individual believer, from foreknowledge to glorification. The Reformed tradition bases the canonical chain on Rom. 8:29-30: foreknowledge → predestination → calling → justification → glorification.
Usage in the Corpus
Cees Noordzij
Noordzij uses the ordo salutis as the structural framework of his doctrine of salvation. He follows the Pauline chain of Rom. 8:29-30 — foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, glorification — but fills in the intermediate steps differently than classical Reformed theology: sanctification (as self-emptying and crucifixion of the flesh) and glorification (as eschatological sonship) are for him not merely future facts but experiential trajectories. The ordo salutis is not only a logical order but a life-path. [Noordzij, Moses and the Way to Sonship, §4]
Origin
The term ordo salutis was canonicalized in Lutheran and Reformed scholasticism of the 17th and 18th centuries (e.g., Francke, Turretin). Roman Catholic theology and Eastern Orthodoxy employ different structures. In 20th-century systematic theology the term is widely used as an ordering category.