decree.

Most simply, any command or order given by a human ruler for the sake of carrying out the task of governing or leading. From a theological perspective God’s decrees are God’s eternal, all-encompassing plans for creation. After the Reformation certain Calvinist theologians engaged in debates over the logical order of God’s eternal decrees. The four decrees usually discussed included the decree to create, the decree to allow the Fall into sin, the decree to elect those who would receive salvation and the decree to damn the nonelect (PDTT, 35-36).