Supralapsarian Christology and the Progressive Work of Christ

While supralapsarian Christology holds appeal for some, there is still widespread hesitation about the view. It is too speculative or it forces a wholescale reinterpretation of atonement. Doughty does the necessary work to dispel these reservations by providing a biblical theology of human vocation, co-dominion, and divine presence. The result is a robustly scriptural supralapsarian Christology--which is compatible with several objective accounts of atonement, including Penal Substitution--dubbed Christus Dominus.

The Nicene Creed rightly says that "for us men and for our salvation" Christ came down from heaven. But what if the mission of the incarnation was broader in its scope and intent? Thomas G. Doughty asks and answers this provocative question with a brilliant exploration of what it means for God to be made man and what it means for image-bearers to be made like God. Doughty makes the compelling argument that humanity cannot truly understand what God intended for it to be apart from the incarnation.

The key idea argued cogently here is that the primary purpose of the incarnation of God the Son was logically prior (supra) to the fall of humanity into sin, and that therefore God's original intent for his creation was that there would be within it a divine-human co-dominion shared between the Son and his people (Christus Dominus). For Thomas Doughty, this is the primary motivation for the work of Christ. In that it echoes the patristic idea of Christ as the recapitulation of the first Adam; and in that it upholds the kingpin of orthodox atonement theology--that atonement must be considered as transpiring within the person of Christ; in that it clarifies the ontological nature of the salvific purpose of God, placing in context the models of the atonement ("contingent motivations") without jeopardizing them; and in that it exalts God's benevolent purpose for creation, I heartily recommend this work.