Limited Atonement

It is the sticking point when discussing Calvinism. It is the point folks get so hung up on, and so distressed over, but the Atonement is truly limited. I think the argument is not so much over it being limited, but rather over who limits it; us or God. For if the Atonement were unlimited, then it would have to be universalism. And if that is the case...well then we all owe Rob Bell a big fat apology.

"Atonement" has been the center of my study and a few discussions this week. We know that Christ died for the sins of the World, Christ died as a ransom for many, that ALL are commanded to come to repentance and faith, and that NO ONE may come to repentance and faith unless the Father who sent the Son through the work of the Holy Spirit draws us to Himself (regeneration/transformati​on/etc.).

Yet when we talk of Atonement (the act of making right or peace with God, or biblically rendered Christ's act which made right and peace with God the Church), the struggle becomes for whom and how.

Some argue passionately that the Atonement is for ALL mankind. If this were true, then universalism is true and all roads do in fact lead to God. Yet we know by the Word of God that universalism is not true. So while Jesus died for the sins of the world, He did not do so as to save ALL people.

Some argue passionately that the Atonement is for ALL who accept the gift. It is limited by us. It makes Christ a potential Savior, and the Atonement is applicable to only those who choose to believe. This would seem to indicated, then, that Christ died for all sin EXCEPT unbelief. And apparently that sin is made right by us through our act of belief. If this were true then not all of the righteousness which we bring before God is as filthy rags; there is something we could bring that is acceptable. The Bible contradicts this therefore it cannot be true.

Some, and I am of this party, say instead that the Atonement is for ALL for whom God intended it. Truly Christ is a complete and sufficient Savior completing the work of Salvation at the Cross. Christ died for the sins of the world, but also true, He died as a ransom for many. We cannot have faith unless it is given to us by God as a gift (Eph. 2), and we are unable to even approach Christ unless we are drawn by God (John 6). And we know this to be very true because Scripture is clear not only in this, but also in proclaiming that our wills are enslaved; enslaved either to sin and death or to God.

So before God shatters our chains and calls us by name out of death, our wills are tuned, ensared, and enslaved to our hearts which are incredibly deceitful and desperately sick. In this state we, like all unbelieving, not only do we love our sin, but also HATE God. We are uninterested in repenting and submitting to Christ.

And if, as Scripture proclaims, we have turned away and none seek God, then God seeks us. He calls those whom He has foreknown from the foundation of the world having predestined us to be conformed into the image of His Son.

So then if the Atonement is limited, and it is, then it is either we or God who limits the Atonement. Scripture not only indicates, but proclaims that Salvation is based upon God's will and not our own. Therefore it must be God who limits the Atonement, and truly He has completely and sufficiently completed what He has intended from the foundation of the world.