Evidences For A Particular Atonement

EVIDENCES FOR A PARTICULAR ATONEMENT
It has been popular to speak of a “limited atonement” versus an “unlimited atonement.” But this is misleading. The atonement is not limited in its power to save men. It is more appropriate to refer to a “particular atonement” or an atonement that was designed to accomplish the salvation of a particular group of people. When we speak of a “limited” or “particular” atonement, we do not mean by this that the atonement was not sufficient to save all men, as though Christ would have had to do more upon the cross in order to save more people. The death of Jesus Christ upon the cross is sufficient to save all men everywhere. And yet, it does not accomplish this. Why? Is it because of some shortcoming in what Christ did upon the cross? There are two possibilities:

First, we could say that the death of Christ in itself does not guarantee the salvation of anyone, it merely makes salvation a possibility for all men (anyone who believes in Christ of his own volition is then saved). The result of such a view can be summed up like this...

Cross + Man's decision = Salvation| The alternative view would be to say that the death of Christ guaranteed the salvation of those whom God, in accordance with His own plan and purpose, had determined to save. It is on the basis of the cross that God actively draws some to Himself, making them spiritually alive so that they trust in Him as Lord and Savior. This view can be pictured like this...

Cross + God's inward call (which results in repentance and faith) = Salvation|

1. The Emphasis of Scripture.
A great many logical arguments have been presented for both the “limited” as well as for the “unlimited” views. Many of these are extremely convincing. However, the question is not which might be the most logical, but rather, what does the Bible teach on this issue? The Scriptures go out of their way to particularize who it is for whom Christ died.

He died for His people (Matthew 1:21).

He died for His friends (John 15:13).

He died for His sheep (John 10:11).

He died for His body - the church (Ephesians 5:23-26).

He died for the elect (Romans 8:32-34).

He died for Us (Titus 2:14).

How does this particularization take place? Jesus used the image of a shepherd and His sheep to deal with this question.

I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. (John 10:11).

Many people today seem to think that the reason people are or are not sheep is based upon whether they will believe or not believe. They would say, “You are my sheep because you believe,” or, “You are not my sheep because you do not believe.” But Jesus said it differently. He said...

“But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.” (John 10:26).

Jesus made the basis of whether or not they believe dependent upon whether or not they had been chosen by God to be His sheep. This is just the opposite of the Arminian teaching.

Arminian|Jesus|
“You are not my sheep because you have not believed.”|“You do not believe because you are not my sheep.”|

Another example of this type of language is seen in Ephesians 5:25 where Paul tells husbands to love their wives “just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” The command loses much of its impact if Christ loved everyone with an equal love and gave Himself equally for all. Is a husband to love all women with an equal love? Not at all! He is to show a special love for his own wife.

2. Only a Limited Number Actually Hear the Gospel.
Although the Lord commanded His church to preach the gospel to all the nations, it is also true that throughout the past He has “permitted all the nations to go their own ways” (Acts 14:16). Indeed, Jesus praised His Father for having hidden the mysteries of the Gospel from certain men. At that time Jesus answered and said, “I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. 27 Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.” (Matthew 11:26-27).

Jesus had just denounced Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum for their unbelief. Now He turns to the Father and thanks Him that things are still going according to plan.

Sometimes we get the idea that when people hear the gospel and do not accept it, God's plan has somehow failed. This is not the case. God has hidden His kingdom truths from certain people and He has revealed them to others. The Intercessory Work of Christ was restricted to the Elect.
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to the Father. In that prayer, Jesus is seen interceding on behalf of the elect.

“I ask on their behalf; I do NOT ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.” (John 17:9).

Jesus made it a point to differentiate the elect from the non-elect in His prayers. He specifically says that He does not ask on behalf of the world. It is unlikely that He would refuse to pray for those for whom He was about to die. The Evidence of Faith.
Faith is one of the evidences that the atonement has been effected. The following Scriptures indicate that faith is initiated by God. And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48). And a certain woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purpose fabrics, a worshipper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. (Acts 16:14). For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake. (Php_1:29).

If we have received the gift of faith from the Lord, dare we assume that any of the spiritual gifts which we have received is not obtained as a result of the work of Christ on the cross? If Christ died for each and every person, then the gift of faith would have been given to all. The Goal of the Atonement.
In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul makes the point that men do not come to God on the basis of their intellectual reasonings. It is not the intelligent who are chosen. In fact, it is often just the opposite. Not the wise, but the foolish. Not the mighty, but the weak. Not the noble, but the base and the despised.

I think it very likely that Paul sat back for a moment and thought over the status of the membership of the church at Corinth as he wrote these words. He asks the Corinthians to do the same thing. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble (1 Corinthians 1:26).

Paul is speaking to believers. He exhorts them to consider their calling. They have been called to Jesus Christ. They are among those whom the Father has drawn. There were very few among the Corinthian believers who were rich or powerful or famous or influential. To be sure, Paul does not say that there were not any wise, or that there were not any mighty, or that there were not any noble. But the majority of the members of the church did not fit into those categories.

Why? Why do most Christians come from the ranks of the foolish and the weak and the base and the despised? Karl Marx suggested that it was because the oppressed classes and the weak turned to religion as a crutch to hold them up and to stabilize them. But this is not a Biblical answer. Paul says the reason Christianity is filled with the foolish and the weak and the base and the despised is because God has chosen those kinds of people to be in His kingdom. Notice the emphasis on God's election. Again and again, Paul repeats that it is God who has chosen.

26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, 29 that no man should boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus... (1 Corinthians 1:26-30). The phrase “God has chosen” is repeated three times in this passage. It emphasizes the fact that our calling and our salvation is God's choice. God has not left these things to blind chance. Rather, He has chosen to follow a special plan as to who should be called. This brings us to a question. Why hasn't God chosen the wise? Why have the mighty and the noble been left out? The answer is given in 1 Corinthians 1:29. It is so that no man should boast before God. The reason God has chosen the foolish and the weak and the base and the despised is so that no man will be able to boast on his own account. No man can ever say, “I found God as a result of my great intellect.” No man has ever been accepted by God because he was of noble birth. No man has ever performed deeds mighty enough to merit his entrance into God's kingdom. You cannot even boast that you were saved because you had the good sense to choose God and to exercise faith in Him. He chose you. The result of understanding this teaching is that God is glorified. If a man were saved on the basis of his own decision, then he might boast that he had the good sense to come to Christ and to place his faith in Christ. Instead, we are taught that we have been chosen apart from any merit that is within us that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). The result of a proper understanding of the particular nature of the atonement will be that God is glorified as the One who has brought about your salvation. The Death of Christ either did away with...
All the sins of all men. If this is the case, then it is impossible to deny that all men would be saved. If all my sins were settled on the cross, then there is nothing left for me to do to obtain my salvation. It is guaranteed. If all the sins of all men are forgiven, then all men shall be saved and none shall come into condemnation. The problem with this sort of universalism is that it goes directly against the clear teaching of the Scriptures (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 13:41-42; Matthew 25:31-46).

None of the sins of all men. If Christ only made it possible for men to be forgiven but did not actually atone for sins upon the cross, then we are all still in our sins and no one can ever be saved. By contrast, the Bible teaches that He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24).

Some of the sins of all men. If Christ only died for some of the sins of all men—for example, if He did not die for the sin of unbelief—then we are still in our sins, for it is impossible for us to atone for any of our own sins.

All the sins of some men. This is a Biblical position. The death of Christ accomplished the salvation of those whom God has chosen.