The age-old Post-Reformation debate between infralapsarianism and supralapsarianism is useful at times, and, personally, I have flip-flopped between both. At this time, though, I have developed what I think is somewhere between the two of them. You internet theologians let me know what you think:
Works of God with Respect to Himself and Creatures
I. Immanent/Internal (ad intra)
A. Intrinsic (Remain within God)
i. of His Being
ii. of His Persons
B. Extrinsic (Go outside of God)
i. Decrees, “the counsel of His will” (in older theology providence is the purposing of how the decrees will be carried out)
a. To be glorified by vessels of glory & wrath
b. To Create
c. To Permit the Fall
d. To Redeem the Elect [ie covenant of redemption & the tertium quid]
II. Transient/External (ad extra) [execution of the decree]
A. Creation
B. Providence (in later theology) or Governance (early)
C. Redemption
Sources:
A compilation of Heinrich Heppe, Herman Bavinck, Wilhelmus á Brakel, and Petrus van Mastricht
Footnotes:
i. The decrees. As Bavinck says, “The means are all subordinate to the ultimate goal, but they are not for that reason subordinate to each other. Creation is not just a means for the attainment of the fall, nor is the fall only a means for the attainment of grace and perseverance…Twisse already noted: ‘These elements are not just subordinated to each other, but are also related coordinately.'” -Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2, p. 390.