READING TIME: 4-8 MINUTES
January 21, 2020
Limited or unlimited atonement, Part 2
The following are passages that at first glance, appear to teach limited atonement. After carefully studying these passages, we can accurately conclude that they don’t teach limited atonement.
The passages below are used by Calvinists to support “limited atonement.” In actuality, they don’t support this doctrine.
Matthew 1:21 – Jesus will save His people from their sins. Calvinists see “His people” as an exclusion of other people, but the text doesn’t say that.
Matthew 20:28; 26:28; Mark 10:45; Romans 5:15, 19 — Christ died for “the many,” not everybody. “Many” doesn’t mean that Christ didn’t die for everybody; that’s a great example of importing personal theology into the text. The NT clearly teaches in a number of places that Christ died for the entire world (Is 53:6; Lk 19:10; Jn 1:29; 3:16-17; 4:42; 6:51; 8:12; 12:32, 47; Acts 17:30; Rom 5:6, 18; 2 Cor 5:19; 1 Tim 2:4, 6; 4:10; Heb 2:9; Titus 2:11; 2 Pet 2:1; 1 Jn 2:2).
John 10:1, 15, 26 — Christ did die for the elect (the sheep), but please notice that the verse doesn’t say that He died only for the sheep. Mention of sheep does not exclude non-sheep, however.
John 17:9 – Many Calvinists make a parallel between Christ’s refusal to pray for the world and their teaching that Christ did not die for the world. This prayer is not a prayer for the salvation of the disciples – they had already been saved. He was praying for the Father to keep them, protect them from Satan, sanctify them, unify them, and glorify them. This would not have been an appropriate prayer for those who did not believe in Him.
Acts 20:28 — Jesus did purchase the church with His blood, but the verse doesn’t say He only purchased the church. This verse doesn’t teach that Christ didn’t shed His blood and make it available to all. You can see what a huge difference just one word (“only”) can make!
Romans 1:7 – Saints are loved by God, but you don’t see the word “only” here. John 3:16 and many other passages teach that God loves the entire world.
Romans 5:1, 8 — we, us, those justified by faith are the ones who were the recipients of Christ’s death. Only believers appreciate being declared righteous by God because only they are! But the inclusion of believers as former sinners does not exclude other sinners from the pool of those for whom Christ died. It simply doesn’t follow.
Romans 8:32 – “us all” in this verse refers to believers who are the recipients of all things, but this doesn’t suggest that Christ died only for us all (believers). The passage doesn’t say that. As an aside: Would a Calvinist way that “all things” in this passage means something less than all things since that’s what they do in verses that contradict their theology (for example, verses that teach Christ died for the entire world)?
Galatians 3:13 – Paul focused upon believers here, and the context limits his meaning to believers, since unbelievers are never said to have been freed from the Mosaic Law, as believers have been (Rom 7:6; 2 Cor 3:6-11).
Ephesians 5:25-27 — Christ died for the church, but this doesn’t exclude all other humans. The verse doesn’t say that Christ only died for the church. Christ’s death was intended to prepare the sanctification of the church, but this doesn’t argue for the idea that His death wasn’t meant to propitiate the sins of the entire world as per 1 John 2:2. In the context, it was appropriate in discussing marriage for Paul to focus on that unique love of Christ for His bride, the church. As Norman Geiser wrote, “the fact that I love my wife does not logically mean that I lack love for other persons. It simply puts special focus on my love for someone special in my life” (Geiser, Chosen but Free, 76).
2 Peter 2:1 – this is an argument for unlimited atonement because the false teachers that Peter is rebuking here in chapter 2 are unbelievers (see 2 Peter 2:17). So, according to this verse, Christ’s death also bought these unbelievers!
1 John 3:1-2 — Again, that the Father has generously showered His love on “us” doesn’t limit the extent of Christ’s death to just us. John is writing to believers so he would naturally use “us” or “we.” The language doesn’t exclude others from being bought by Christ’s blood.
Calvinists also refer to such passages as Matthew 18:11; Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; 3:13, Ephesians 1:7; and 1 John 4:10-11 for support in a similar fashion.
The meaning of “world” in the Gospel of John. Calvinists typically say the “world” in John 3:16 doesn’t mean “world” but it means “the elect.” The word “world” is used eighty times in John’s Gospel in fifty-nine verses. And though it is used in different senses it never refers to the “elect.” Here are some examples:
• The world knew not Christ (John 1:10).
• The world hates Christ (John 7:7).
• The world’s works are evil (John 7:7).
• Unsaved Jews were of this world (John 8:23).
• Satan is the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
• Christ’s own are distinguished from the world (John 13:1; 14:19, 22).
• The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit (John 14:17).
• The world hates the disciples (John 15:18; 17:14).
• The disciples were not of the world (John 15:19; 17:16).
• The world brings tribulation (John 16:33).
• The disciples were out of the world (John 17:6).
• Christ prayed not for the world (John 17:9).
• Christ is not of the world (John 17:16).
• The disciples were sent into the world (John 17:18).
• The world did not know God (John 17:25).
• Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) (Vance 435).
Serious implications of a limited view of the atonement.
• LIMITING GOD’S LOVE. Any attempt to limit God’s love is a major distortion of His infinite character. This view denies that God loves the non-elect since it was by His choice that they are non-elect. They have been excluded from His love since Christ did not die for them. Christ commanded us in Matt 5:44 to love our enemies. Does God ask us to do something He is unwilling to do? If we communicate to sinners a picture of an unloving God, we are placing unnecessary obstacles to their faith in Christ. It’s a cruel mockery to offer salvation to those whom God had no intention of saving and would not help to respond to the offer.
• THE UNIVERSAL OFFER OF THE GOSPEL. It’s clear from the NT that the offer of the gospel is universal (Acts 17:30; Matt 28:18-20). Why would God invite all people to believe in Him if Christ didn’t die for everybody?
• THE PERSONALIZATION OF THE GOSPEL. It’s the tendency of those who believe in limited atonement to present the gospel only in general terms. We must personalize the Gospel. Somebody who believes in limited atonement can’t honestly tell a non-elect sinner that if one will only trust Christ he will be surely be saved, because that person might be part of the non-elect so therefore cannot trust Christ anyway.
• CHRIST’S MINISTRY TO THE NON-ELECT. If Christ didn’t die for the non-elect, why would He bother dealing personally with them? Calvinists say since we don’t know who the elect are, we must deal with everybody, but we don’t see such limits when we look at Christ’s life in the Gospels. He wasn’t successful in getting the rich young ruler to see his sinfulness. He went away full of sorrow, and there is no hint that he ever came to faith in Christ. Wasn’t Christ aware that he was non-elect? Why did He patiently deal with him step by step? Of course, the answer to these questions is the NT doesn’t teach limited atonement.
Please read the next post for the conclusion of this discussion of limited or unlimited atonement.