Post 94 - Limited Atonement: What Sayeth the Scriptures?

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. --Luke 2:10

Good news of great joy for all people was coming. That's the message that was conveyed by the angel to the shepherds in the field at the birth of Jesus. That's the hope on which Christianity stands. That's the gospel.

Although it's likely that at the time, the shepherds didn't fully understand what was entailed in the "good news of great joy", and maybe they weren't quite sure to whom "all the people" was referring, but we, 21st C. Christians, have no such excuse. The writers of the New Testament lay it out for us with crystal clarity.

The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)

The good news of great joy? Simply that Jesus' death on the cross would take away the "sin of the world."

With his prophecy, John the Baptist provided both the nature of the good news and the application/extent of the good news. He tells us what was covered by the atonement ("sin"-singular/collective=all sin), and who was covered by the atonement ("the world"=the entire mass of sinful humanity).

Limited Atonement?

Contrary to John's clear exposition of the gospel, Calvinism’s doctrine of limited atonement  (the "L" of the T-U-L-I-P acrostic--see Post 90 - Calvinism: a Primer) maintains that Jesus' death on the cross, while sufficient for everyone, was effectual only for a relatively small group of pre-selected people--"the elect" (see Post 93 - Unconditional Election: What Sayeth the Scriptures?).

J.I. Packer, a well-known and oft-cited Calvinist, confirms the Calvinists' misunderstanding of the atonement when he says that Jesus suffered as a "sin-bearer for the elect" only--not for all sin and not for everyone. Most Calvinists actually promote the unbiblical notion that Christ's death actually saved the elect.

While we're told that Jesus' death "put away sin" once for all (Heb 9:26), contrary to the Calvinist's misunderstanding, Jesus' death on the cross was certainly for everyone, but didn't actually save anyone. The atonement on the cross was for everyone but didn't actually redeem anyone.

So, let's look at what the scriptures actually say.

"The Whole World"

John the Baptist was only the first in the New Testament to provide a clear understanding of the nature and extent of the atonement. In what might be the most difficult verse for the Calvinist to justify with regard to the extent of the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, the apostle John makes clear that the atonement extends beyond the elect when he writes,

[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1John 2:2).

If we rightly assume that John and his target audience--people he refers to as "beloved" and "anointed"--are the "our/ours" in his statement, then "the whole world" must refer to everyone else. John is clearly saying that Jesus made atonement not only for the sins of those chosen (beloved and anointed) by God--the elect, but also for the sins of the non-elect world.

Note that John uses the exact same phrase, "the whole world"(Gr. ho cosmos holos) when he states that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" (1 John 5:19), and in the Book of Revelation where he refers to Satan as “the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev 12:9).

It is implausible to interpret “the whole world” to exclude anyone in any of those three verses by the apostle John. If Satan is the deceiver of everyone (the whole world) without exception, then Jesus has also made propitiation/atonement for everyone (the whole world) without exception.

The only way a Calvinist can justify his doctrine of limited atonement--that Jesus died only for the elect--is by capriciously redefining "the whole world" to mean "only the elect". In effect, a Calvinist must propose that what John really meant to say was something completely different from what he actually wrote. That's a slippery slope.

The Power of Faith

So, here's the obvious question posed by many proponents of limited atonement: "If Jesus' death made atonement for all sin for all people for all time, why isn't everyone saved?"

God's message to the world is clear; the atonement must be personally actuated by belief/faith. Here's what Scripture says:

Jesus died so that...

whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, (Mark 16:16)

whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:15)

whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

whoever believes in him is not condemned, (John 3:18)

whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (John 3:36)

whoever... believes him who sent me has eternal life (John 5:24).

whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35)

whoever believes has eternal life. (John 6:47)

whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, (John 11:25)

There's a pattern here. It is faith that saves, not Jesus' death, per se, and certainly not divine election.

If the atonement only becomes effective upon faith. this leaves the Calvinist with the unenviable task of trying to convince us that, for mysterious reasons, the God who "desires that all be saved" (1 Tim 2:4) has rendered the majority of the world completely incapable of obtaining saving faith, unable to believe the gospel. (See Post 92 - Total Depravity: What Sayeth the Scriptures?)

Final Thoughts

"One has died for all" - 2 Cor 5:14

The doctrine of limited atonement, sometimes referred to as "particular redemption" is so radically unbiblical that many professing Calvinists want to distance themselves from it by claiming to be "four-point" Calvinists, that is, a Calvinist who denies the "L" or T-U-L-I-P, acknowledging the obvious biblical truth that Jesus' death made atonement for all sin for everyone.

Sadly, the Calvinists who adhere to this unbiblical doctrine unwisely (and perplexingly) disagree with John the Baptist, the apostle Paul, the apostle John, and with the angel sent from God to bring "good news of great joy for all the people" (Luke 2:10).

It seems like a fool's errand to disagree with so much of scripture, yet many Calvinists insist on "kicking against the goads", proposing that the cross offers no good news, no joy, and no hope for the majority of people in the world.

Next Post: Irresistible Grace - What Sayeth the Scriptures?