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LIMITED ATONEMENT Introduction
Without a doubt, one of the Reformed doctrines which
evangelical and fundamentalist Christians find most scandalous
is the doctrine of definite, personal or limited atonement.1
This rejection happens, in part, because the Reformed teaching
is not always well understood. Sometimes the misunderstandings
have been our fault for not explaining and presenting this
teaching well.2
Reasons for Rejecting Definite Atonement
The doctrine of definite atonement is also rejected, however,
by those who understand exactly what we are teaching. In this
class of rejections, there are two kinds, first those who
believe that it is unbiblical and narrow to think that Christ
should only have died only for a certain number of sinners.
This view assumes that it would be unjust of God to redeem
intentionally only a certain number of people. In other words,
for God to be just, it must be that everyone who ever lived has
an equal opportunity to be saved. As it has come to expression
in our time, this assumption is largely driven by the Modernist,
non-biblical belief in (some version of) the universal
fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.3
Others consider the doctrine of definite atonement narrow
because they assume that we believe that only a few will be
saved. This is it not so. The doctrine of definite atonement
holds that Christ has saved a great multitude. This is the
teaching of several places in Scripture (Heb 12:22–23; Jude
1:14; Rev 7:9–10). It is not that we expect only a few to be
redeemed, but rather we simply reject the teaching that Jesus
has either redeemed everyone who ever lived or that he has only
made it possible for everyone to be saved. In fact, the doctrine
of definite atonement is not narrow at all since we hold that
Scripture teaches that every single person whom Jesus intended
to redeem he has redeemed.
Second, others reject the doctrine of definite atonement
because they reject its foundation, that Christ died for
sinners, i.e., they reject the doctrine of a substitutionary
atonement. In its place, these critics offer some version of the
exemplarist doctrine of the atonement, e.g., the moral
government theory of the atonement, whereby Christ is said
to have died as an example, to show the exceeding sinfulness of
sin.
Responses
We respond by rejecting the premises of these criticisms.
Though it may be "narrow" by Modernist standards to hold that
Christ died for a certain number of sinners, this criticism
proves too much. If God did not intend to redeem any in
particular, then it means that the atonement was indefinite.
If it was indefinite, then Christ died for no one particularly.
Is such a view consonant with Scripture? It would seem not, as
will be demonstrated below.
It is very difficult to come to this question without certain
assumptions. Many of us simply assume that God must love
everyone in exactly the same way and that to suggest otherwise
is bigoted. This assumption fuels another which is that God sent
his Son out of this same universal love and to these two
assumptions a third is added, that humans, in order to be
morally responsible must have the ability to freely choose or
reject the offer of salvation. From these premises many have
read the Scriptures to teach precisely these doctrines. They
cannot imagine that things could be otherwise.
Well, all of the assumptions listed in the previous paragraph
are, in fact, unbiblical. This is not to say that there is not,
in Scripture, a certain universal grace; certainly there is, but
that grace is not saving grace. It has been described most
frequently as "common grace." Both Arminian and Reformed
theologians have used this term. Arminians mean by it that God
has willed (antecedently) to make salvation actually possible
for all, if sinners will make use of this innate grace or power.
Reformed theologians reject this definition of common grace and
distinguish between special (saving) grace and common grace. 4
When Reformed theologians say "common grace" they mean that God
reveals himself in Scripture to:
1) Have a favorable attitude toward all mankind, and not
toward the elect only;
1) Have promised (to Noah) to restrain evil until the
final judgment;
3) Bless humanity with gifts (civic righteousness) which
benefit all humans without distinction.
We make this distinction because we understand Scripture to
teach that the "moving cause" (to use Louis Berkhof's language)
of the atonement was not first of all love, but his good
pleasure. Jesus taught this in Matt 11:26. After denouncing the
unbelief of the cities where he had performed miracles, he began
to pray and in that prayer he declared that his message was
hidden from the "wise" and revealed to "children" because this
was his Father's "good pleasure" (eudokia) or his
sovereign will. Paul taught the same thing, using the same term
in Eph 1:5, 9. There is no doubt that God acted in love, by
sending his Son (John 3:16), but we understand Scripture to
teach that his love is the instrument of his will.
We also reject the Modernist premise of the universal
fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. Though God is
certainly benevolent to the just and the unjust (Matt 5:48)
restraining evil and his final judgment (Gen 9:8–11; Matt
13:29–30) this benevolence is not the same as universal
fatherhood and brotherhood. In fact, Scripture is clear that
since the Fall the human race has divided into two great
families, those who are the children of faithful Abel and those
who are the children of Cain (Heb 11:4; Romans 9) and at the end
of history there will two great races, those resurrected to life
and those resurrected to "everlasting contempt" (Dan 12:1–3).
We also reject the moral government theory of the atonement
that Jesus died primarily as an example. To be sure Jesus did
set an example (1 Pet 2:21) but Scripture makes clear that the
work of Christ was much more than that. He was our substitute,
as 1 Peter 3:18 says explicitly, "For Christ died for sins once
for all, the righteous for the unrighteous".
If our Lord Jesus died only or even primarily to set an
example, a great number of things in Scripture go unexplained.
Why did God institute a system of ritual sacrifices for 1500
years before Christ's incarnation? What do we make of the
Biblical doctrine of sin? Surely, we are to think that sin is
much more than simply following Adam's bad example.
In fact, our relations to Adam are much more intimate than
that of prototype to type. Scripture teaches that "in Adam all
die" (1 Cor 15:22) and "by the trespass of the one man, death
reigned through that one man" (Rom 5:17) and " just as the
result of one trespass was condemnation for all men" (Rom 5:18).
These passages do not suggest that Adam was primarily a bad
example. Further, to make Adam primarily an example tends toward
the heresy of Pelagianism, i.e., the denial of the catholic
(universal) Christian doctrine of original sin. 5
A robust doctrine of sin is essential to understanding the
doctrine of the atonement. To the degree one tends to downplay
the nature or effects of sin (original or actual) then to that
degree one also tends to downplay the need for a substitutionary
Savior.
Personal or
Impersonal; Finished or Unfinished?
It is of utmost importance that one ask the right question in
this matter. The right question is, what does Scripture mean
when it, in Romans 5:8, says that "Christ died for us"? What is
the connection between his death and us? Was his death on the
same order as Socrates death? Do we benefit from it by thinking
about what a good man he was? No, Christ objectively
accomplished redemption by his death and we benefit from
Christ's death by trusting and appropriating the benefits his
death for ourselves. Hence Scripture says that we are justified
by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. Thus when
Scripture says Christ died "for us" it certainly teaches that he
died for persons, individuals, not for abstractions. If he died
for persons, then the only other question is whether he died for
everyone who ever lived or not. When Paul said "us" did he mean
everyone who ever lived? This seems highly unlikely. 6
Thus choice which the Christian faces then is not between a
"limited" and "unlimited" atonement, but between a "definite" or
"indefinite" or between a "person" or an "impersonal" atonement.
It is the Reformed contention that God's Word teaches that
Christ died for persons, his sheep, those whom he loved, from
all eternity.7 It is our view that Jesus did not die to make
salvation available or merely possible, but that when he said
"It is finished" (John 19:30) he was declaring that, as the once
for all sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 7:27), he had completed the
work which his Father gave him to do (John 6:57; 10:17–18).
The History of the
Doctrine of the Atonement
The doctrine of definite atonement is not a Calvinist
peculiarity. It is a mainstream doctrine which has been held by
some of the greatest teachers in the Christian tradition, among
them Augustine, Prosper of Aquitaine, Gottschalk, Peter the
Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Bradwardine, Gregory of Rimini as well as Calvin and the entire
Reformed tradition. One should also remember that
the nature of the controversy over the extent of the atonement
has changed somewhat since the rise of Arminianism, the
Remonstrants and the response by the Synod of Dort (1618–19). In
the discussions before Dort, one often finds the elements of the
doctrine of definite atonement, but because the question is not
as sharply focused as it became in the early 17th century, the
answers are not as detailed as they later were. This is the
nature of the development of Christian doctrine, controversy
often produces theological precision.
Augustine of Hippo, the greatest of all the church fathers,
taught most of the elements of definite atonement and was the
"first great defender of the efficacy and particularism of God's
grace."8 In his controversy with Pelagius and later the
semi-Pelagians Augustine, of course, rejected the doctrine of
free will (liberum arbitrium) in favor of absolute
predestination and with his doctrine of predestination he also
taught that Jesus had not died for everyone who ever lived. 9
Augustine had a cadre of supporters, among them was a
French theologian, who was living in Marseilles at the time of
the outbreak of the semi-Pelagian controversy in 426. From
431–34 he wrote a number of books against the semi-Pelagians.
Prosper was explicit that, in one sense, with respect to his
incarnation and the fall of all humans, Christ can be said to
have died for the entire world. Yet, it can also be said that
Christ "was crucified only for those who were to profit by his
death."10
Some think that he softened somewhat in the years following
432, that he could not reconcile those passages in Scripture in
which God reveals himself as desiring the salvation of all, with
his earlier notions of double predestination.11 He did teach
(450) that sinners have the power to reject divine grace, and
they are the same who are passed over. Those who believe,
however, are those who are elect. 12 Only those who are elect
come to faith.13
It appears that they misunderstand his inchoate argument
about what would later come to be called "The Free Offer of the
Gospel."14 God reveals himself as willing what we know he has
not decreed, the salvation of all.15 Some he passes by and
some he elects to faith. Proof that he was teaching a seminal
version the free offer is that in several of the same passages
where he affirms the universal divine will to save, he
immediately moves to a discussion of preaching.16 Likewise,
when he says that Christ died for all men, he made it clear that
the all equals "sinners" so that he was not necessarily teaching
universal atonement.17
In the midst of controversy over the nature of God's
sovereignty, Godescalc of Orbais defended Augustine vigorously
and suffered for it. He taught that there are two "worlds," that
which Christ has purchased with his blood and that which he has
not. Thus when Scripture says that Christ died for the "world"
(e.g., John 3:16) it is extensive of all those Christ has
actually redeemed, but it does not include everyone who has ever
lived. 18 In the same way, those passages which seem to say
that Christ died for all, in all times and places must but
understood to refer to all the elect. Thus he saw 1 John 2:2 not
as a problem passage, but a proof-text for definite
atonement.19
The Lombard's teaching on the atonement is most famous for
his use of the distinction between the sufficiency of
Christ's death and its efficiency. Though they are not
familiar to many of us today, from their publication in the late
12th century until the late 16th century, Peter's Sentences
were the most important theological text in the Latin-speaking
world. Theological students even earned Bachelor's and Master's
degrees in the Sentences.
In Book 3, distinction 20 he taught that Christ's death was
"sufficient" to redeem all (quantum ad pretii) but it is
"efficient" only "for the elect" (pro electis).20 This
distinction, though not followed by all Western theologians
after Lombard, was adopted by most until the nominalist movement
(e.g., William of Ockham, d. 1347) overturned the "Old School" (via
antiqua).21
In his great work, Summa Theologiae, Thomas
distinguished between God's will considered as his antecedent
will, by which he could be said to have willed the salvation of
all; and his will considered as consequent, i.e., what he
actually decreed to exist, i.e., that only the elect would be
saved and that some will be reprobated (damned).22 Later,
Protestant theologians would revise this distinction to refer to
his revealed and hidden will. With respect to his revealed will,
God is said to desire certain things (i.e., that none should
perish). It is his revealed will that we should know the
existence of a hidden decree (who will be saved and who will
perish) but the content of that decree is part of his hidden
will.
Thomas also made it very clear that he adopted Lombard's
sufficient/efficient distinction but also taught unambiguously
that Christ died effectively only for the elect.23
It is not our claim that everyone everywhere has held this
doctrine, but the doctrine of definite atonement has been widely
held and taught by some of the most important Christian
theologians in the history of the church. We do not think that
this is conclusive, but this fact does help to put the
discussion of the doctrine in context.
THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF THE ATONEMENT
One of the reasons some have difficulty with the doctrine of
a definite, personal atonement is because they fail to evaluate
properly the gravity of the human condition after the fall.
I have written elsewhere in more detail about the Biblical
doctrine of sin and its consequences,24 it must suffice here
to say that Scripture teaches (Romans 5:12-21) that, as the old
Puritans had it, "In Adam's fall, sinned we all." The
consequences of sin were death.
Since in Adam we have all sinned we must make satisfaction to
that justice either by ourselves or by another. We, however,
cannot make satisfaction by ourselves since we sin daily and
thus daily increase our guilt.25
Consistently in Scripture sin results in death. It has been
an all too frequent mistake in the history of Christian theology
to confess original sin but to deny the extent of its damage or
its consequences. The Bible nowhere allows us to think that sin
produces anything but death. This was God's warning to Adam,
"The day you eat thereof, you shall surely die" (Gen 2:17). For
this reason Paul says that the "wages of sin is death" (Rom
6:23) and that, outside of Christ, we are "dead in sins and
trespasses" (Eph 2:1).
Romans 5.12–21 also makes it clear that Adam's sin is also
our sin, that is it has been imputed (credited) to everyone who
has ever lived.26 We are biologically connected to Adam, but
Scripture is much more concerned about our legal union
with him and its consequences, chiefly, death. This legal union
(imputation) will become even more important when we consider
how it is that sinners come to benefit from Christ's work.
It is important that we see the foundation for that Biblical
teaching in a prior teaching. In our age it is perhaps more
difficult than in others to appreciate the notion of justice.
On one hand, we have become amazingly casual about right and
wrong. We cannot read this sort of thinking back into Scripture.
The great evangelical scholar Leon Morris remarks that for the
men of the Old Testament,
...God is angry with the wicked every day' (Ps 7:11).
They had no doubt that sin inevitably arouses the strongest
reaction from God. God is not to be accused of moral
flabbiness. 27
On the other hand, it is not as if we are bereft of any
notion of justice, rather seems that everyone has his own
concept of justice and we are often told that each idea of
justice is equally valid.
This is not the Biblical view. According to Scripture, God is
just and justice (Dan 9:16; Ezr 9:15; Ps 7:11; Isa 5:16; 2 Tim
4:8; Rom 1:17; Rom 3:21; 4 [all]). His law is no mere convention
or raw exercise of power. It is rather an expression of his
justice and therefore it is the righteous standard by which we
are judged.28
Ezra 9:15 captures the correct human posture before God's
justice:
O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous! We are left
this day as a remnant. Here we are before you in our guilt,
though because of it not one of us can stand in your
presence.
Scripture consistently makes God the moral standard against
which all moral acts and claims are measured. The law is an
expression of God's nature and so sin is an offense against God
personally. God does not clear the guilty.
We were made, in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
Q. 6, "in righteousness and true holiness." In Adam's sin we all
died. Hence Paul says that, outside of Christ, we were all "dead
in sins and transgressions" (Ephesians 2:1). According to
Deut 27:26, ""Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of
this law by carrying them out." Likewise, Gal 3:10 repeats this
same teaching,
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for
it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to
do everything written in the Book of the Law."
We are "cursed" of course, because we are Adam's children and
as such we are unable to do what is required of us. For this
reason, the Apostle Paul (Rom 3:20) is explicit that it is
impossible for anyone to be justified by law-keeping.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight
by observing the law; rather, through the law we become
conscious of sin.
It is in the light of these passages and many others that the
Heidelberg Catechism teaches that God's "justice requires sin
which is committed against the most high majesty of God be
punished with extreme that is eternal punishment of both body
and soul. 29
Because the Modern world (since the early 18th century at
least) has largely denied the fall, indeed it has assumed that
we are basically, naturally good and that God must accept
us, in our day we have some trouble with the notion that God is
angry with sin. Yet it is the clear and persistent teaching of
Scripture that God is angry with sin and sinners. The wrath of
God is everywhere to be found in Scripture. In Nahum 1:2,3 in a
warning to Israel, God's Word announces a general principle
which is universally true:
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes
vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance
on his foes and maintains his wrath against his
enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the
LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is
in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of
his feet.
According to Scripture it is an attribute of God that he is
jealous for his honor that he does not take sin lying down, as
it were. His justice is relentless and must be satisfied. Some
think of God as if he were a genial grandfather, alternately
strict and indulgent. This is not how he reveals himself in this
passage and others. Yes, he is "slow to anger" but it is also
true that "he will not leave the guilty unpunished." In the
nature of things, God being who and what he is and we being who
and what we are (sinners), we are in a dire predicament.
Similarly, in Isaiah 13:13 God's Word says,
I Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the
earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD
Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
Such passages could be easily multiplied. Nor should it be
thought that, "well, that was the Old Testament, but God is
different today." This sort of thinking about God is very
dangerous. There are not two gods in Scripture, a mean Old
Testament deity and a friendly New Testament deity. Deuteronomy
6:4 teaches a fundamental truth: "Hear O Israel, the Lord our
God, the Lord is one." The New Testament teaches exactly the
same thing in 1 Tim 2:5 and James 2:19.
For example think of Jesus' words in John 3:36:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever
rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains
on him."
It is most significant that it was our Lord who taught this,
since it should dispel the notion that Jesus held or taught a
religion than different from Moses.
The Apostle Paul agrees with the Lord Jesus. In Rom 1:18 he
said,
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against
all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the
truth by their wickedness.
Notice that he says that God's wrath "is being revealed". The
is a present, ongoing condition of human life. In this regard,
the temporal punishments which occur now are mere shadows of
things to come:
They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us
and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and
from the wrath of the Lamb! (Rev 6:16)
One might not expect this sort of language from the Apostle
John, sometimes called "the Apostle of love.
That God is continually angry with sin makes salvation
continually relevant because since God is not only angry with
sin, but will punish unrepentant sinners eternally in hell.
The writer to the Hebrews makes this abundantly clear when he
says that "man is destined to die once, and after that to face
judgment" (Heb 9:27). Of course the entire Revelation given to
John contains the same doctrine. For example, here is an
extended quotation from Revelation 20:11–15:
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I
saw the dead, great
and small, standing before the throne, and books were
opened. Another book
was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged
according to what they
had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead
that were in it, and
death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each
person was judged
according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were
thrown into the lake of
fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name
was not found written
in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Despite the symbolic language (or perhaps because of it) and
regardless of one's precise eschatology, the finality and force
of this passage is evident.
Thus there must be a satisfaction for that sin. Since the
earliest recorded moments of human history after the fall, man
has known that there must be a substitute, a just representative
to take the place of sinners. Righteous Abel (Gen 4:4; Matt
23:35) brought a living offering, a blood offering. Hebrews 12:4
teaches that Abel brought a better sacrifice than Cain. Why was
Abel's better? Is there something inherently better in a blood
offering than in a grain offering? One would think not, but
Hebrews goes on to say that "God spoke well of his offerings."
Abel's offering was superior because it was a blood offering,
because the blood testified our need of a Savior, of the
principle of justice, "eye for eye" (Ex 21:24) hence Hebrews
12:24 teaches that Abel's bloody sacrifice was a pointed
picture, shadow or type of the better, perfect blood offering to
come, that of the Lamb of God himself, Jesus.
The entire ceremonial system beginning with circumcision, the
Passover (and all the feasts) and including animal sacrifices
were nothing more than "types and shadows" pictures of Jesus,
the final sacrifice for sinners (Heb 10:1–2; Col 2:16–17). They
were never intended to be permanent. Their entire function was
to teach us our sin and our need for a perfect substitute.
This was the basic principle in operation since the fall: sin
offends the justice of God and the justice of God requires
satisfaction, but the sacrifice must be holy and righteous.31
According to Hebrews 2:14–18, this was the reason for the
incarnation (taking on of true human flesh) by God the Son, for
his obedient life, his sufferings and death.
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in
their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who
holds the power of death-- that is, the devil-- and free
those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear
of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but
Abraham's descendants. For this reason he had to be made
like his brothers in every way, in order that he might
become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to
God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of
the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted,
he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Notice that the writer to the Hebrews teaches that Jesus, the
God-Man, came to be a "faithful high priest" in order to "make
atonement" for the sins of "the people." This language is rooted
deeply in the Hebrew Scriptures. This is the language of
sacrifice. Its and elaboration of the declaration of John the
Baptist, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world" (John 1:29, 36). The "Lamb" is also the "priest" and this
Lamb-Priest has made "atonement." According to Hebrews, he has
not simply made our salvation possible.
CHRIST'S WORK: EXPIATION AND PROPITIATION
One of the reasons that there is confusion about the extent
of the atonement is that Christians do not always understand
well what it is that Christ came to do. What follows is an
explanation of the Biblical teaching regarding "atonement."
There are two parts to the doctrine of atonement, the first is
expiation, the second is propitiation.
In general English usage, this term is sometimes used
interchangeably for "atonement" or even for "propitiation."
Though closely related, "to expiate" really means to cover sins.
There senses sometimes overlap as in Hebrews 2:17, where Jesus
is said to be a merciful and faithful high priest, "in order
that he might propitiate the sins of the people." Here the same
word (hilaskomai) which often means "to turn away God's
wrath" has "sins" as its object. The difference between the two
senses is that the object of expiation is sin, not God. Christ's
death was, however, both an expiation and a propitiation.
This is a term which has been largely lost from contemporary
English, in part because it has been omitted from many otherwise
excellent Bible translations in favor of the broader term
"atonement." We contend that Christ's death was propitiatory,
the object of which was God's justice and wrath against sin.
Our English word "propitiate" comes from a Latin word
Propitio which means "to render someone favorable" or "to
appease." (Lewis and Short) This was Jerome's rendering
of two different words in the Latin Vulgate translation
of the Bible.
Exodus 32 recounts the story of the Israelite idolatry
committed at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Moses, having come down and
upon seeing their sins says (v.29):
The next day Moses said to the people, "You have
committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD;
perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
Moses returns up the mountain to "propitiate" for the sin of
Israel. The word which the is often translated "atonement" (NIV,
NASB, KJV) is the Hebrew noun Kaphar here really means
"to propitiate." This word is used frequently in the Hebrew
Scriptures and is often rightly translated "to atone." You know
this word from Yom Kippur "Day of Atonement."
Indeed the word often means "to atone" generally, i.e., "to
pay for" or "to ransom" in the sense of satisfying God's
justice. Sometimes, however, as in this passage the word takes
on this very specific sense of turning away God's wrath against
sin.
Such usage should not surprise us, since, in Scripture uses
it to describe human relations. For example, in Gen 32:16–20:
Jacob is said to "propitiate" Esau. In the same way, in Prov
16.14: a wise man will "propitiate" an angry king! If humans can
and must propitiate other humans, how much more must we
propitiate God's wrath.
This sense of turning away God's wrath from his people
becomes even clearer a verses later (14–16) when Moses prays and
Yahweh "changes His purpose "his wrath is turned away, that is
He is "appeased" and becomes "propitious" or favorable towards
his people.
The word occurs here in the context of God's wrath. The
direct object implied in Moses' "propitiation" is God, it is the
sin of Israel with is the indirect object. If God did not need
to be propitiated, then Moses would not need to make an atoning
sacrifice. This is allowed by Hebrew grammar and demanded by the
context.
Thus there is a close association between atonement and
propitiation. Atonement is one of the results of propitiation
being made.
In Number 16:46,47 we find a similar usage of Kaphar.
In the episode of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and the grumbling of
God's people afterwards, the Lord comes to Moses and announces
(v.45), "Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them
at once." Clearly God's people are in jeopardy.
Immediately, Moses sent Aaron to propitiate (Kaphar)
God's wrath. In the context of God's wrath. With the very real
possibility that God will consume them.
This teaching is reinforced in Leviticus 16. In this case,
two of Aaron's sons had died because they approached God
improperly. Aaron was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies (the
inner sanctuary of the tabernacle) only on certain conditions.
Behind the curtain, within the Holy of Holies was the (vs.2)
"propitiatory" or "propitiation place" (Kapporet), the
place over the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat was the place
where the priest makes "propitiation" on the Day of Atonement,
Yom Kippur. Because he was a sinful human, God required
Aaron (and all high priests) to "make propitiation" to God for
his own sins before he can making propitiation for the sins of
Israel.
This consistent OT teaching forms the background for much NT
teaching about the work of Christ on behalf of his people.
The NT, of course, was written in Greek, and much of its
vocabulary was drawn from the Greek translation of the OT known
as the Septuagint, which is abbreviated, LXX.
The LXX translated Kaphar family of words with the
Hilaskomai family of words. In the NT as in the OT it means
"to propitiate."
Some assume (somehow) that even though God is a holy and just
God in the O.T., he is different in the N.T. and able and
willing to tolerate sin. The following passages will make clear
that this is not the case.
In the story of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:9–14),
the Pharisee congratulates himself for his righteousness. The
tax-collector, however (v. 13) cries out to God saying, "God be
propitious to me, I am a sinner."
In 1 John 2:2 the Apostle John writes for the purpose of
helping the Christians of Asia Minor not to sin, particularly
that they should not deny that Jesus came in true humanity (1
John 4:2) and that they should love one another (1 John
4:11–12). These moral requirements are closely connected to the
doctrine of the atonement.
The Apostle knows that the Christians of Asia Minor will sin
and because that is so, they need a propitiatory sacrifice for
that sin. Jesus is that propitiation. John says that Jesus is
our hilasmos, i.e., he is our Kaphar. John purposely
calls to mind the OT narratives concerning Aaron's annual
sacrifices for himself and God's people. That Jesus accomplished
this once-for-all sacrifice is, in fact, the basis of our
confidence before God. "If we confess our sins he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9). Why is God "faithful" and
"just" when he forgives us? Because Jesus Christ the righteous
has paid the penalty for his people, he has turned away God's
wrath for his people and therefore they may enter boldly into
the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 10:19). We are not able to stand
before God because he averts his eyes or overlooks our sins, but
rather, because Jesus Christ has paid the debt in full and
satisfied God's righteousness.
The Apostle Paul teaches precisely the same thing in Romans
3:25,26:
God presented Him (Jesus) as the place of propitiation,
through faith in His blood, for of a demonstration of His
Righteousness, because of the passing over of the sins
committed beforehand in the forbearance of God, for a
demonstration of His righteousness now in this season in
order that He might be just—righteous, and the
one--declaring righteous—the one (having) faith in Jesus
(my translation).
In this passage, Paul is explaining how we are declared
righteous by God. (vss. 21, 22). In the past, he reminds the Roman
Christians, God can be said to have "overlooked" the sins of the
Israelites, not because he is morally sloppy, but in view of the
promised (Gen 3:14–16) coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As part of this argument he says that, now, in Christ's
death, God's justice is demonstrated and satisfied by Christ's
work in becoming our place of propitiation (hilasterion).
This is the same word used in the LXX and in Hebrews 9:5 for the
place of propitiation (Kapporet)--the "mercy seat." In his
death, as our sin-bearer (2 Cor 5:21) Jesus has become our
propitiation and the place and means of propitiation, that we
might become "the righteousness of God."
Underlying much of our discussion thus far has been the
assumption that Jesus came intentionally to redeem his people.
That is, it was never his intention to propitiate the wrath of
God for everyone who ever lived. Rather it was his intention to
redeem all of his people completely.
It must be remembered the life and death of our Savior is
presented in the NT against the background of God's covenant
promise to Abraham to his make him the father of many nations,
to be the God and the God of his children (Gen 15:5; 17:1–10).
Thus Biblical religion has always been both universal and
particular. It is particular in that God promises to administer
his promise through Abraham and thus Abraham's people are
distinguished increasingly from "the nations."(31) The question
becomes, particularly in the NT, who are Abraham's children?
The Lord Jesus answers by teaching that everyone who believes
in him is Abraham's son (John 8:39, 56) The Apostle Paul answers
by saying that Abraham is the father of those who believe,
whether circumcised or not (Romans 4:9–12; 9:7–8), for Jesus
Christ is "the seed" promised to Abraham in Gen 15 and 17
(Galatians 3:16) and all who are united to him by grace alone,
through faith alone are his children. Therefore, in Christ, the
dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been destroyed, he has
made the two one (Eph 2:14–15). This does not mean, however,
that he atoned for the sins of everyone who ever lived, but
rather for the sins of all those are Abraham's children.
The work of Christ must also be interpreted against the
background of more than 2000 years of sacrifices pointing to his
advent, life and death. These sacrifices were offered by
Israelites for themselves and their families. They were offered
by the high priests for all Israel. They were not offered for
everyone who ever lived, certainly not to make salvation
available. Indeed, the Israelite commission was to conduct a
holy war against the surrounding nations (Deut 7 [all]). Thus
there is no trajectory of Biblical thought leading to the NT
which would cause Christians to think that Jesus came as the
Lamb of God to satisfy God's wrath for everyone who ever lived.
This Biblical particularism is perhaps no where so powerfully
evident as in the Servant Song in Isa 52:13–53:12. Beginning in
52:13 God presents his "servant" (Ebed). His work benefit
"many nations (52:15)." As the prophecy is progressively
disclosed, the servant is "despised" and "we esteemed him not."
The relations are now considered between "us" and the servant.
Thus in 53:4 he took up "our" infirmities" and in v.5 he was
"pierced for our transgressions." Thus the expression "the Lord
has laid on him the iniquity of us all" has a definite context.
The "all" here refers to those for whom the servant will suffer
and die, but this is not everyone who ever lived. This is clear
in v. 11 where the Servant is said to "justify many." Again in
v. 12 the Servant "bore the sin of many." We know of course from
the Gospels and from Acts 8:26–35 that the Suffering Servant of
Isaiah 8 is none other than Jesus Christ. Thus the Servant Jesus
is said to have suffered and died the "many", i.e., his people,
not for everyone who ever lived.
The NT makes clearer the fact that Jesus was given a people
by the Father. In John 6:37–39 Jesus gives us some insight into
His eternal relationship with His Father.
Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and
the one coming to me, I will not cast out...this is the will
of the One who sent me, that I shall lose none of everyone
whom he has given me, but (instead), I will raise him up on
the last day.
The Father has given a people to Jesus to save and resurrect.
These people are a gift from the Father to the Son. A gift does
not give itself! The Son has come (v.38) to do the Father's
will. The Father's will is that none should be lost. Verse 65
intensifies the particularist theme.
...For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them
did not believe and who would betray Him...This is why
I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has
enabled him. 32
Jesus knew those who would apostatize and betray him. Only
those given to him by the Father come. The Lord is repeating
what he has already said in vs.44, "No one can come to me unless
the Father who sent me draws him."
People are the objects of the Father's drawing work. The
people drawn are those whom God has chosen before the
foundations of the world. Those whom God has drawn to Christ
come to faith. They believe in Jesus. According to vs.65, it is
only when we are drawn by God, led by the hand as it were, that
we come to faith. It is the work of the Spirit of God to lead
blinded sinners to sight and faith, as Jesus made the blind man
to see.33
This closely knit chain of God's grace is absolutely
necessary to our salvation. Jesus came to accomplish the
Father's will, to seek and save the lost, to save those whom the
Father has drawn. Should Jesus fail to accomplish the Father's
will, we are all lost! Every believer affirms that Jesus did not
fail. Jesus said, "It is finished!" (34).
In John 10 Jesus begins a long discourse explaining his
relations with his people for whom he was to give his life.
Jesus, the good shepherd, has a people, a flock as it were. They
"listen to his voice" and he "calls his own sheep by name"
(vv.3, 4). He becomes ever clearer. The good shepherd lays down
his life for "the sheep" (v.11). This is particularist language.
Shepherd's care for particular flocks, not all flocks
everywhere. Jesus has a flock, for whom he will die, whom he
will save. Again, in v.16, there are "other sheep" who will also
listen to the shepherd's voice (v.16). This is the same sort of
particularism and universalism which we saw in Romans 4, but
there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The clear implication
is that there are some who are not in the flock (vv.25–26)
therefore they do not listen.
Again (v.27), Jesus' sheep listen to his voice and follow
him. In Reformed theology we describe this as the efficacious
call or irresistible sovereign grace. Jesus not only calls his
people, but he gives them eternal life (v.28) and "they shall
never perish and
no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who
has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch
them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one."
According to Jesus, eternal life is neither earned nor
deserved. It is a gift from the shepherd to the sheep, just as
the sheep are a gift from the Father to the Son. Our salvation
is as certain and safe as the Father's hand is secure. Jesus'
promise is certain because he is one in his divinity with the
Father.
In His High Priestly prayer, in John 17:2, Jesus again says
that he has been granted all authority so that he can give
eternal life.35 He does not say that he has been granted all
authority with a view to waiting around to see who is clever
enough to believe. Instead it is the Father who has given him
believers, and to these same believers Jesus will give eternal
life.36
This is a most important teaching. One of the great
weaknesses with the Arminian version of universalism (i.e., that
Jesus makes salvation available for those who will chose it) is
that those who chose it, can also lose it. This is a recipe for
uncertainty, doubt and fear. These are hardly fruit of the
gospel.
The theme of the certain salvation of Jesus' people theme
runs through John's writings in the NT. It culminates in the
Revelation where Christ gives this promise to believers,
They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will
overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of
kings--and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful
followers (Revelation 17:14).
Notice well that it is Jesus the conquering Lamb and that he
has with him those for whom he died, "his called, chosen and ."
By this Scripture teaches the perfection of Christ's work.
This is why Rom 8:1 declares that there "is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus." Why? Because Christ made
salvation available and I was wise enough to cooperate with
God's grace? No, rather because "what the law was powerless to
do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin
offering" (Rom 8:3). In the death of Christ, God has actually
saved his people. Hence Heb 1:3 says, "After he had provided
purification for sins...". Scripture throughout considers Jesus'
work on the cross to be finished, accomplished such that it
wants no additions by us. Christ came not to make salvation
possible, but to achieve it and this he did.
The Gospel of John opens with a certain universality. John
1:9 says that Jesus is the "true light" who "gives light to
every man." Should we understand John to be saying that every
human being who has ever lived has been enlightened by Jesus? Of
course not. In v.10 Scripture says that the light (Jesus) was
"in the world (kosmos)" but the "world did not know him."
John the Baptist's declaration, that Jesus is the Lamb of God
who "takes away the sin of the kosmos" (John 1:29) can
hardly mean "everyone who ever lived," since that would mean
that he actually redeemed everyone. If so, it would not accord
well with John's usage of kosmos before and after this
passage.
As one can see, a problem arises in the interpretation of
"world" in John's writings. What if neither Jesus, the speaker,
John the writer nor the Holy Spirit who caused John to write
meant to communicate "everyone who ever lived" but, something
else? In fact, he did mean to communicate something else. Just
as the opening clause is not about the quantity (if one can
speak of such things) of God's love, so kosmos does not
speak of the quantity of those for whom Jesus died, but the
quality. Even though he used it 78 times in his writings, the
Apostle John used the word kosmos consistently in this
qualitative sense.
In 3:16 the Lord Jesus said,
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, so that who ever believes in him shall not
perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
First of all, read the passage slowly and carefully. Note the
emphasis in the first clause, "For God so loved
". Jesus was
teaching Nicodemus, first of all, about the greatness of God's
love. How great was his love? So great "that he gave his only
begotten Son." The intention of this passage is not, therefore,
primarily to teach about the extent of the atonement, but to
teach about the quality of God's love for sinners.
What was God's intention (so that) in sending his only
begotten Son? His intention was that "who ever believes" in
Jesus should have eternal life. To all of this every Calvinist
says "Amen."
Whom did God love so much as to send his Son? The "world." As
you might know the term there is kosmos. It is translated
fairly as "world." Many assume that kosmos must mean
"everyone who ever lived" and thus, when they read this passage
they effectively substitute that interpretation for "world."
The verse immediately following John 3:16 sheds more light on
kosmos. It says that God sent his Son to the kosmos
not to condemn it, but "to save" it through him. This use is
better described as qualitative than quantitative. So also in v.
19. The light has come to the kosmos but "men" loved
darkness rather than light. The parallelism between kosmos
and "men" is instructive. Jesus came to redeem persons, not to
make salvation available. By kosmos John is describing
the kind or quality of people for whom Jesus died.
If there are some who are enlightened, then there are some
who are not enlightened. If there are some who loved darkness
rather than light, then they are "in the world." Another way of
saying the same thing every human has not been enlightened. If
so, then "every man" in 1:9 or "world" in 1:29 or 3:16 cannot
mean "everyone who ever lived." If not, then universalism is not
the most obvious way to read this sort of language in John's
writings.
There are places where kosmos has other senses, e.g.,
in John 4:42 and 6:33, 51 it seems to mean "needy creatures"
(e.g., 17:5,6,9,11) Still the accent is on quality rather
than quantity. Sometimes it simply means "humans" as in
John 6:51, but the most consistent usage is that of John 7:7 (or
John 15:18-19; 17:5, 13-14), "The world cannot hate you, but it
hates me because I testify that what it does is evil." Here
kosmos has a strongly ethical, qualitative sense. It is not
that no one ever hates the disciples, but rather, Jesus is
thinking of "sinners" and here, of a particularly violent
opposition to the Lord and his Christ. This same sort of usage
carries over into John 8:2 where Jesus is the "light of the
kosmos." He is not the light of everyone who ever lived, but
he is the light of "sinners." Sometimes, as in Jesus discourse
about the "light" and "bread" or in 10:36 or in 12:31 the
kosmos has the sense of "this world" or the earthy, fallen
realm as opposed to heaven (e.g., 16:8, 33; 17:11).
Even those passages where kosmos means a great number
of people, and thus has a quantitative sense, it does not mean
"everyone who ever lived", as in John 12:19, when the "whole
world" is said to have gone after Jesus or in John 21:25 where
kosmos has a geographic extent rather than a quantity.
Within the context of John's Gospel, it makes much more sense
of John 3:16 to substitute the word sinners in the place
of kosmos rather than to substitute, "everyone who ever
lived."
1 John 2:2 is often taken to require a doctrine of universal,
indefinite atonement. It says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for
our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the
whole world." There is no evidence that the Apostle changed his
doctrine between the time he wrote the Gospel and this Epistle.
In fact, understanding "kosmos" as "everyone who ever
lived" makes no sense here. If it has a universalist sense, then
John is teaching that Jesus turned away the divine wrath for
everyone, but even within 1 John itself, there is abundant
evidence that not everyone has been delivered from divine wrath,
e.g., the "antichrists" present then and now 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2
John 1:7).
As in John 3:16, there are other strong exegetical reasons
why kosmos in this passage should not be understood to
mean "everyone who ever lived." It is true that the qualitative
sense is not in the forefront, but rather, this passage is an
example of the sort of hyperbole which we saw in John 12:19 and
12:25. This verse must be taken in some relative sense. Indeed,
very few NT scholars have been willing to take this in an
absolutely universalistic sense. Further, if the sense is
absolutely universalistic, then why the contrast between "our
sins" and the sins of the "whole world" (NIV)? The contrast
itself limits the force of kosmos here to something like
"other sinners in other places." Given what we know about the
churches of Asia Minor to whom Paul, Peter and John wrote, such
an interpretation seems quite probable.
It also helps if we compare this passage with 1 John 4.10
which says,
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved
us, and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins (my
translation).
Notice that it is God who first loved us, not that we loved
Him. God's love always comes first, since we are conceived and
born in sin 37. John's connection of kosmos with
hilasmos, which we know means, "that which effectively turns
away God's wrath" also limits our exegetical options, unless one
is willing to say that Jesus turned away God's wrath from
everyone who ever lived.
These passages are examples of Biblical universalism.
Sometimes, because of the reasons given above, they are mistaken
for absolute absolute universalism. The same thing happens with
the word "all." Years ago a pastor said, "all means all and
thats all that all means." It is a memorable slogan, but is it
true? There are many places where all means "wholly" or
"completely" or "entirely" as in 2 Tim 3:16, "all Scripture"
must be taken to refer to everything which is Scripture. Did,
however, our Lord Jesus mean to say that he intended to die for
everyone who ever lived, to make salvation available to those
who would chose it? We think not.
In fact the word "all" is frequently used in a relative sense
to describe a certain class or kind of person. In Titus 2:11,
Paul says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has
appeared to all men." Has saving grace actually appeared to
everyone who ever lived? No. Therefore "all" (pas) here
must be taken in some restricted sense. Paul simply means, "has
become widely available." We could multiply examples. Does "all"
in Titus 1:15 mean that "everything possible" is "pure"? No,
rather "all things" (panta) means "everything of certain
already proscribed set of things." In Matt 10:22 Jesus says that
"all men shall hate you because of me." Did he mean to say,
"everyone who ever lived"? No, this is an example of the sort of
hyperbole which Jesus used frequently to make a point.
What of Hebrews 2:9, which clearly says that Jesus "suffered
death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for
everyone." How will the Calvinist/particularist wriggle out of
this noose? By reading v.9 in the context of v.10! The text
continues to say, "In bringing many sons to glory..." so that
the "everyone" of v.9 refers to the "many" of v.10, for whom
Jesus did not just make salvation possible, but whom he
"bringing" to glory.
The best illustration of this is perhaps a passage which some
have seen as proof positive that Jesus must have intended to die
as the substitute for everyone who ever lived, is a passage
which many have taken to contradict the doctrine of definite
atonement,1 Timothy 4:10. Scripture says in part, "we have put
our hope in the living God, who is the Savior (soter) of
all men, and especially of those who believe." At first blush it
would seem that, if Hebrews 2:9 did not put and end to definite
atonement, surely this passage must.
Recent research by Steve Baugh has shown, however, that, read
in context, this passage is not concerned with the extent of the
atonement. The key is Paul's use of Soter 38. Firstly,
he notes, what does it mean to juxtapose "Savior" (one who saves
eternally) of believers but especially of believers? Of course
believers are saved, but if "all men" means everyone who ever
lived, then, they are all saved and we should become absolute
universalists, in which case it is not just Calvinists who must
change their views, but also Arminians who must abandon their
half-way position and become absolute universalists.
The answer is that, in this passage, soter does not
mean "one who saves eternally" but rather means "benefactor." As
Steve Baugh notes, in "Paul's day, soter was a common
title or description of men, emperors and deities." In fact,
there was a statue in Ephesus, where Paul ministered for a
considerable period, dedicated to Julius Caesar, on which he was
hailed as "the universal benefactor of human life." Paul's
point, in the flow of his argument, is that, no, it is the
ascended King Jesus, who rules at the right hand of the Father,
who is the "benefactor of all men especially of those who
believe." Taken in the sense of common grace, this passage is
not about the extent of the atonement, universal or otherwise.
One of the problems which some have seen with the doctrine of
limited atonement is that it seems to limit God's love and it
might even tend to make Christians careless about the lost. They
reason that if one believes that Christ died only for the elect,
then why bother preaching Christ to all men, since all are not
saved.
The logic of our critics, at this point, is flawed. The
conclusion does not follow from the premise. The same God who
has elected and redeemed has also instituted the means by
which he will execute his will in history, chiefly the preaching
of the Gospel. Therefore historic Calvinism has always had a
deep concern for the lost. We have always held and taught the
free-offer of the gospel, i.e., that God has commanded us to
offer Christ to everyone so that "whosoever will may come" 39.
It is our view that whoever comes, does so because God has
known, loved and called him from all eternity. This is because,
while we understand that God has, from all eternity decreed the
election of many, for whom Christ willingly lived and died, it
is also and equally important, that he has not told anyone who
those people are.
We base this distinction in part, on Deut 29:29 which
distinguishes between those secret things which belong to the
Lord and the revealed things which belong to us, God's people
and to our children forever. We are not to inquire into God's
hidden (decretive) will, but we are obligated to obey his
preceptive will.
He has thus, revealed his moral will to us, and that is that
we should "Go, make disciples of all the nations" (Matt 28:19).
The first part of "making disciples" is to "go" and to preach.
As Paul says, "how will they hear without a preacher?" (Rom
10:14). This is what we call, the verbal, external call. This is
the gospel call.
It is this sort of call of which Jesus speaks when he says,
"Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt 22:14). The same
idea is found in Acts 17:30 where Scripture says, "The times of
ignorance God overlooked, but now God commands men everywhere to
repent." Jesus issues such a call to faith in Matthew 11:28,
"Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give
you rest" and in John 3:16, "...whosoever believes in Him shall
not perish, but have everlasting life".
This is also the way to understand Jesus' words in Matthew
9:13, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." This
refers to his external, vocal, verbal, call to repentance and
faith. At the same time, it should be noted that those disciples
whom he calls in this passage actually do come! The verbal,
external gospel call is the instrument used by God to bring men
to saving faith. In 1 Corinthians 15:1 says that it is "by this
gospel you are saved" which gospel? The one he proclaimed to
them. Whatever one thinks of the doctrine of definite atonement,
no one should doubt the Reformed and Calvinist conviction that
we are to preach the gospel, as the Canons of Dort (2.5) say,
"promiscuously" because it is by this instrument that God
accomplishes his purpose of glorifying himself by saving his
people through the foolishness of the preaching of the cross (1
Cor 1:23).
CONCLUSION
If one accepts that Jesus died as a propitiatory substitute
for all his people, there are really only two alternatives,
definite atonement or absolute (total) universalism. Either he
saved everyone who ever lived, or he saved all those whom he
loved.
As R. B. Kuiper said, "From the viewpoint of Scripture it is
difficult to take unqualified universalism seriously."40 It
seems clear from the Gospel accounts and Acts that Judas the
Traitor is eternally condemned.(41) Our Lord Jesus himself
taught that there are some in eternal punishment (Luke 16:9–31).
This is the teaching of Revelation 20:15, that there will be
some in hell. Can anyone doubt that Hitler or those like him are
with Judas? One takes no pleasure in such things, but it is
important to think clearly about this issue. If there are any in
hell, then clearly not all are saved. If all are not saved, then
either Jesus failed in his mission or he succeeded.
Indeed, Calvinism and Arminianism agree that Christ did not
actually redeem everyone who ever lived, thus the question is
not even whether there is a "limit" to the extent of the
atonement, but rather, what is the nature of the limit? Is
limited by God's choice and design or by free human choices?
It is our contention that Scripture teaches that Jesus did
not fail. Rather where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. As the
Second Adam (Rom 5:14; 1 Cor 15:22, 44) Jesus actively obeyed
God's perfect Law perfectly, and suffered all the wrath which
was due to us, his people, for whom he died (Phil 2:5–11).
Endnotes
1. My colleague Robert Strimple, Professor Emeritus of Systematic
Theology at Westminster Seminary California has
long urged that "definite" atonement is a superior way to
describe our view. In itself, Christ's death is not limited in
its potential, rather it is definite in its intent and personal
in its application.
2. R. B. Kuiper made this same point. See For Whom Did
Christ Die: A Study of the Divine Design of the Atonement
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1959), 6.
3. Kuiper noted that there are two types of universalism, 1)
unrestricted, e.g., Unitarian Universalism; 2) Inconsistent
Universalists, including Arminians, Lutherans and Barthians. See
For Whom Did Christ Die, 5.
4. See C. Van Til, Common Grace (Philipsburg: P&R
Publishing, 1947); idem, Common Grace and the Gospel
(Philipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1977); idem, Particularism and
Common Grace (Philipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1951); H. Kuiper,
Calvin on Common Grace (Grand Rapids, 1928).
5. On this see this essay on Pelagianism
6. I am grateful to my good friend and colleague Steve Baugh
for making this point in conversation.
7. See John 10:1-18; Romans 8:28-30.
8. W. R. Godfrey, "Tensions Within International Calvinism"
(Ph.D. Diss. Stanford University, 1974), 72.
9. See W. R. Godfrey "Tensions," 72–4; J. Rainbow, The
Will of God and the Cross, 9-22.
10. Defense of St. Augustine, trans. P. DeLetter, in
Ancient Christian Writers vol.32 (London, 1963), 16. See also
Godfrey, "Tensions," 75.
11. De vocatione, 2.1–2.
12. De vocatione, 1.24
13. De voc, 2.12
14. De voc, 1.20; 2.3–4.
15. De voc, 2.25.
16. De voc, 2.2–4
17. De voc, 2.16.
18. See Rainbow, The Will of God, 26.
19. Rainbow, ibid, 27.
20. Godfrey, "Tensions," 76.
21. Though I have not listed him, Anselm of Canterbury
(c.1033–1109), whom all the Reformers followed in their
substitutionary doctrine ofatonement, seems to imply a definite
atonement throughout his work, Why the God-Man? (Cur
Deus Homo). See Cur Deus Homo, 2.19.
22. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae, 1a.19.6.
23. Thomas Aquinas, ST 3a.48.1,2,6; 3a.49.1. See also
Rainbow, Will, 34-46 where he shows that Wycliffe and Hus also
taught definite atonement.
24. See How Did We Come to Faith?
25. Heidelberg Catechism QQ.12-13; See Matt.6:12; Job 9.2,3.
26. See John Murray, The Imputation of Adam's Sin
(Philipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1959), 7–21, 64–95.
27. New Bible Dictionary, s.v., propitiation
28. See Exodus 34:6-7; Nu. 14.18.
29. Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 11.
30. Lev 17:11
31. Acts 3:14
32.John 6:64–65.
33. e.g., Ex 15:4.
34. John 6:65.
35. John 9 [all].
36. John 19.30.
37. Ps 51:5; Eph 2:1–4; Rom 1-3.
38. Baugh, S.M. "Savior of All People: 1 Timothy 4:10 in
Context," Westminster Theological Journal 54 (1992):
331-40.
39. http://public.csusm.edu/public/guests/rsclark/free_offer.htm.
40. Kuiper, For Whom, 15.
41. John 18:5; Acts 1:16-18. Luke is careful to note that
Judas received his just reward for his treachery. There is no
indication in Scripture that Judas repented and believed.
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