Doctrines of Grace: Limited Atonement (L4)

Preliminary Statement

For time sake, let’s hold questions and comments to the end.

If we have time at the end we’ll take questions.

If we don’t have time at the end, I will always stick around for you to come up and ask me after class.

Also, let me ask you to write down your questions and get them to me for the last lesson in which I will handle difficulties and objections to these doctrines.

I really do want to hear your questions.

Introduction

Last week we looked at the biblical doctrine of Unconditional Election.

Unconditional meaning there is no condition met by man in order for God to elect or predestine them unto salvation.

Election saves no one.

Election marks out particular sinners for salvation.

Christ has to redeem the elect.

The Son of God incarnated for the following reasons:

To identify with His people.

To act as His people’s representative or substitute.

In Christ’s representation of His people:

Christ kept God’s Law perfectly.

He obtained, for His people, a perfect righteous standing before God.

He freed His people from the guilt and condemnation associated with their sin.

In order to secure such a redemption, Christ became a substitute sacrifice on behalf of the elect of God.

So, when we are joined to Christ by faith we are credited with His life, which is our righteousness.

And we are freed from all the guilt associated with our sins because of Christ’s substitutionary atonement.

The Arminian viewpoint of the atonement is that it is unlimited.

The Big Question!

Was it God’s intent to make salvation possible for everyone, allowing for the possibility that it would be effective for no one (unlimited atonement), or did God, from all eternity, have a plan of salvation by which He designed the atonement to insure the salvation of His people?

The Reformed view of the atonement holds that Christ did not die simply to make it possible for God to pardon sinners.

Neither does God leave it up to sinners as to whether or not Christ’s work will be effective.

On the contrary, all for whom Christ sacrificed Himself will be saved infallibly.

The Reformed view of the atonement holds that it was designed to bring to pass God’s purpose of election.

Limited Atonement

What we do not mean by limited atonement?

We do not mean that Christ’s atonement is limited in it’s power.

The power of Christ’s death is potent enough that all of mankind could be rescued by it.

In other words, Christ’s death would be sufficient for the whole world to be saved.

We do not mean that Christ’s atonement is limited in it’s value.

The value of Christ’s death is infinite in value.

What we do mean by limited atonement?

We do mean that Christ’s atonement is limited in it’s scope.

Christ died for the elect and no one else.

Christ’s saving work was limited in it’s design to save some and not others.

Christ’s death was a substitutionary death in which He actually paid for the sins of the elect.

The doctrine of limited atonement is concerned with the original purpose and design of God in sending Christ to die on the cross.

A better term is particular atonement or definite redemption.

This communicates that God designed the work of redemption specifically with a view to providing salvation for the elect.

The Necessity of the Atonement

Four Basic Questions:

1. Was Christ’s atonement necessary?

Answer: The atonement is a consequent, absolute necessity.

The term ‘consequent’ means that the atonement is necessary only on the condition that God freely chooses to save.

The term ‘absolute’ means that once God has chosen to save, the atonement becomes absolutely necessary in order to achieve this freely chosen end.

The term ‘necessity’ means that God’s character would not allow men to be saved in any other way.

Remember, there are some things that God cannot do – lie, sin, be unholy, unjust, etc.

The bible teaches there are some things God cannot do:

Titus 1:2 (ESV)

2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

2 Timothy 2:13 (ESV)

13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

God cannot act against His nature.

Scriptures on the Necessity of the Atonement:

Matthew 1:21 (ESV)

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

Christ came to redeem His people.

Hebrews 2:17 (ESV)

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Christ took upon our nature in order to represent us before the judgment seat of God.

Hebrews 2:10 (ESV)

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

The word fitting means proper or right.

It was fitting that God made Christ prove perfection so that He could die for our sins so that we might have our sins atoned.

John 3:14–16 (ESV)

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 3:23–26 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Our sin and God’s sovereign desire to save His elect made the atoning work of Christ necessary.

Christ propitiated God’s justice by His blood.

Therefore God can justify those who place their faith in the blood of Christ being sufficient for them.

2. What is it about God’s character that made the atonement of Christ necessary?

Answer: His JUSTICE!

Galatians 4:4 (ESV)

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

Christ was born under the Law so He could keep the Law and meet the requirements of God’s Law on behalf of His people.

1 Corinthians 15:56 (ESV)

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

The transgression of God’s law is what brings condemnation upon us.

The justice of God will not allow sin to go unpunished.

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

Sin brings the curse of God upon us.

The curse must be removed in order for blessings to be given.

Paul says Christ became a curse for His people.

He is our substitue.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul is speaking explicitly of Christ being our substitute.

Sin must be atoned for in order for anyone to be saved.

Hebrews 9:15 (ESV)

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

This mediation by the Messiah is specifically, and exclusively for those in the New Covenant.

3. How does the atonement deal with the demands of God’s justice?

Answer: It PROPITIATES God!

Definition: To propitiate means to satisfy.

God is angry at sin and sinners. His righteous law has been transgressed.

Christ satisfies His anger, by satisfying God’s justice.

Christ satisfies the justice of God by being the propitiation for the sins of the elect.

1689 LBC states

The Lord Jesus has fully satisfied the justice of God, obtained reconciliation, and purchased an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven for all those given to him by the Father.  He has accomplished these things by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, which he once for all offered up to God through the eternal Spirit.

Hopefully, you notice the reformed wording in the confession.

Jesus fully satisfied the justice of God on behalf of all those given to Him by the Father.

Everything we need to be right with God is found exclusively in Jesus Christ. 1 John 2:2 (ESV)

2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:10 (ESV)

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Hebrews 2:17 (ESV)

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

4. How is God’s anger propitiated, God’s justice satisfied by Christ’s death?

Answer: Christ satisfied God’s justice by actually suffering in our place, representatively and as a substitute bearing the penalty or punishment which God in His justice demands of sinners.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The death of Christ made satisfaction to the justice of God and made possible reconciliation with God and eternal life for all of the elect of God.

Ephesians 5:2 (ESV)

2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

God is pleased (or satisfied) with the sacrifice of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17–21 (ESV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

All of this is speaking in terms of New Covenant language.

We see the promises of the new covenant:

Being made new, by being given a new heart.

Being reconciled to God.

Having your sins forgiven.

Having a righteous standing before God.

Christ has accomplished all of these promises and more in His life, death, and resurrection.

The Extent of the Atonement

For whom did Christ die?

Three possibilities:

1. For no one.

2. For everyone.

3. For those who believe (the elect).

Clarification as to what the question is not:

It is not, “For whose benefit did Christ die?”

Many benefits of common grace flow out of Christ’s death.

Many temporal benefits come to the non-elect as a result of Christ’s death.

Matthew 5:45 (ESV)

45 …For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

It is not, “is the atonement limited?”

All evangelical Christians who believe that only some men will ultimately be saved by Christ’s death have a limited atonement.

The Arminian View Places Limitations on the Atonement of Christ

The Arminian view of Limited Atonement holds that Christ’s saving work was designed to make possible the salvation of all men on the condition that they believe.

However, they teach that Christ’s death in itself did not actually secure or guarantee salvation for anyone.

In the Arminian’s view, since all men will not be saved as the result of Christ’s redeeming work, a limitation of His atonement must be admitted.

Either the atonement was limited in it’s extent, meaning it was not intended for all or it is limited in it’s effectiveness, meaning it did not secure salvation for any.

The Arminian would say that Christ paid for all, but it is secured by those who accept Christ.

If that is true, that Christ paid for the sins of all on the Cross, then what is left to be paid for in hell?

So, if the Arminian is right, then to punish someone for what Christ already paid for would be unjust by God.

It would be what the law calls double jeopardy.

Loraine Boettner puts it like this…

For the Calvinist, the atonement is like a narrow bridge that goes all the way across the stream; for the Arminian it is like a great wide bridge that goes only half-way across.

For the Arminian to get to the other side, he will have to build the rest of the bridge himself by a work of acceptance in faith.

This makes the work of Christ useless unless man adds his acceptance to it.

This type of cooperative effort is foreign to the Scriptures.

Man does not cooperate in the matter of his salvation, but he does respond to the working of God’s Holy Spirit in his heart.

Samuel E. Waldron stated the following…

Arminians limit the efficacy of Christ’s atonement by saying that man by his free will can limit the effects of the atonement. Calvinists limit its extent. The question is not, therefore, whether the atonement is limited, but whether it is limited in its extent or its efficacy. The question is this: “In whose place did Christ substitute Himself?”

The atonement of Christ is a doctrine that strikes at the very heart of the work of Christ.

Arminianism reduces the cross to a mere wish – a gift laid before all men with only a wish that somebody will avail themselves of it.

Where is the power of the cross?

It is in the hands of man, and not in the hands of a sovereign God.

If the Corridor of Time Theory Was True…

Wouldn’t Christ still only atone for those whom God knew in His omniscience would accept Christ and not those whom God knew would reject Christ?

What is the purpose of Christ atoning for the sins of those whom He already knows will reject Him?

If He already knows who will reject and accept Him, why would He atone for anyone other than those who would accept Him?

Why would the Father pour out His wrath upon the Son for the sins of people who He knew would reject His Son?

This is two punishments for the same crime – double jeopardy.

This is certainly not consistent with God’s perfect justice.

So, the attempt by the Arminian to make God appear more just results in making Him very unjust.

By the way, universalism embraces unlimited atonement.

In the Old Testament the Day of Atonement was for those who were in the Old Covenant.

What about the New Testament?

Hebrews 9:13–15 (ESV)

13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

So, what is Christ the mediator of?

—> The new covenant.

His mediation is for those within the new covenant.

Ephesians 2:12–13 (ESV)

12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 13:20 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,

Luke 22:20 (ESV)

20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

Matthew 26:28 (ESV)

28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Both of these passages are teaching us that the blood of Christ, symbolically represented by the wine, will be poured out for those who are in the New Covenant.

The new covenant is not an all inclusive covenant.

The new covenant is made up of those people who have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. (Eph. 1:4)

Those same people respond to the gospel in faith and repentance because the gospel is the means that God has ordained to show His power in the salvation of the sinner.

The gospel preached is the calling out of the elect of God.

This is why the church gathered and edified through the regular worship of God through the preaching of God’s word on the Lord’s Day and the church going through evangelism and missions is so important.

Romans 10:14 (ESV)

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Scripture that Deals with the Atonement in Different Terms

Some passages speak of Christ dying for the world or all men.

Some passages speak of His death being definite and exclusively for a particular people.

Let’s look at the passages that use the word “world”:

John 1:29 (ESV)

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 4:42 (ESV)

42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

2 Corinthians 5:19 (ESV)

19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

1 John 2:1–2 (ESV)

1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:14 (ESV)

14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

One thing that has to be taken into consideration is that the common belief of the nation of Israel was that salvation was for the Jews alone.

So, when addressing the Jews, Jesus and the Apostles would teach that the Messiah came to save, not just the Jews but Gentiles, as well.

Which Gentiles? Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Spaniards, Cretans.

The answer: Christ came to save people from all nations, tribes, and tongues.

So, when we read the genealogy of Matthew, who wrote to Jews he is taking them back to Abraham.

The purpose in Matthew doing this is to teach that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.

He is the Son-King who brings a new covenant to bless the nations.

However, when Luke lays out his genealogy, he takes us back to Adam.

The purpose of this is to teach us that Jesus is not only the Savior of the Jews and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, Jesus is the Savior of people out from among every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Jesus is the promised seed of Eve that would conquer death and crush the serpent.

Based on this understanding, we also see passages that use the word “all”:

Romans 5:18 (ESV)

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Paul is saying here that the act of Adam brought condemnation to all and God has made it so that by the righteousness of One, Jesus, justification is offered to all.

1 Timothy 2:4–6 (ESV)

4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

It’s important to note that Paul is not speaking of all individual people, but all types and ranks of people.

There is no partiality with God. He doesn’t save people based on their economic or social status.

There is not condition that we should look for to exclude people from the gospel.

Therefore, we should not evangelize based on outward appearances or outward behavior.

We are to sow the seed indiscriminately.

As we sow, we trust that Christ has become a ransom for all types and classes of persons.

For this very reason Paul says, I was appointed an Apostle to the Gentiles.

Hebrews 2:9 (ESV)

9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

The context of Hebrews is the superiority of Jesus to all things: Moses, Angels, the Priesthood, & the Old Covenant.

So, Jesus as the Great High Priest and Mediator of the New Covenant represents everyone within the New Covenant.

Just as the High Priest in the Old Covenant represented the people of Israel and no one else, Jesus as the Great High Priest and fulfillment of the priesthood represents only those who are in the New Covenant with Him.

2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

The “all” here is represents the elect of God.

The question: “What is keeping the Lord from coming back again?”

The answer: “Not all of the elect have been saved.”

There are elect from every generation and until the last name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world is saved the world will continue.

John 17:20 (ESV)

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

Revelation 5:9 (ESV)

9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

Christ died for His sheep, His bride, His covenant people.

Christ accomplished all that the Father sent Him to accomplish.

John 4:34 (ESV)

34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

John 17:4 (ESV)

4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.

John 6:37 (ESV)

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

That number is guaranteed by the finished work of Christ.

However, that number is not complete, yet.

And, we get the wonderful privilege of telling people about Christ and His gospel.

Properly preaching the gospel is not proclaiming who Christ died for, but proclaiming Christ Himself as the sufficient Savior of all who repent and believe upon Him for salvation.

END OF LESSON

Homework:

Read through the Lesson’s Scripture references and John 6, 10, 17.

Read over the Lesson Notes again.

In the next class, we will begin looking at the Doctrine of Irresistible Grace.

Books used for this Lesson:

* ESV Bible

* “The Five Points of Calvinism,” Steele, Thomas, & Quinn

* “Calvin’s Commentary,” John Calvin

* Gill’s Commentary on the Bible,” John Gill