LIMITED ATONEMENT

 

LIMITED ATONEMENT

This doctrine teaches that Jesus died only for those who had been elected to salvation before the foundation of the world. Once the idea of unconditional election has been established in the minds of people, it would be foolish to then say that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and this really means everyone. According to this heresy, the Apostle John evidently did not mean Jesus died for the whole world when he wrote that this is what our Savior did. According to Calvinists, the whole world means “all those who were unconditionally elected in the whole world”. (Do you get the feeling that someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes and darken your mind?)

This is what the letter that the Apostle John wrote, states:

My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. One who says, “I know him,” and doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him.  But whoever keeps his word, God’s love has most certainly been perfected in him. This is how we know that we are in him:  he who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk just like he walked (1 John 2:1-6)

Let us consider what the Apostle John wrote. We are told that in the event we happen to sin—that is break one of the commandments—we have an advocate with the Father. Now this presents Jesus as a lawyer representing a client before a judge. If there is a need for a lawyer, then this suggests that there has to be a prosecutor. A prosecutor accuses someone of a crime before a judge and insists that the person should be punished accordingly. The lawyer advocates that this is unnecessary because of mitigating circumstances. This occurs if the lawyer’s client is guilty or pleads not guilty because of ignorance, or is actually innocent and has been declared guilty due to the circumstantial evidence. When it comes to appearing before the throne of God, innocence is not something that can be pleaded. The Devil (Satan) only prosecutes those he can lay some charge against. Jesus, on the other hand, pleads the case for the guilty, whether this is because the sins were committed in ignorance or because the person has truly felt remorse for knowingly, or having with intent, willfully, committed sin against other individuals and the Lord God.

There are two types of sin that need to be dealt with in the Bible. These are the sins that involve our own actions and the sin that Adam committed which handed over control of the world to Satan.

As a Christian, if we have committed a sin, Satan has the right to persecute us and cause us to suffer. However, after having sinned as a Christian, if we have repented of our sin, by calling upon the name of the Lord and having asked forgiveness, Satan now has to prosecute his case to obtain permission to harm us or take away our blessings in respect to that particular sin. Depending on the circumstances of the situation, justice will be done.

For instance, if we have committed a sin of omission and failed to have done something that we should have done because of forgetfulness, confusion, uncertainty or doubt, or find ourselves in a situation seemingly beyond our control and do not want to sin, but call out to God in the sin, Jesus acts as our advocate and pleads our case. However, if we knowingly fail in a certain area of our commitment to the Lord or actively sin (sins of commission), Satan has the right to persecute us. This often occurs in situations where we are presumptuous, and rather than seek the will of the Lord in a matter, we think we know better, and then inadvertently stumble. When we realize our error, we go back to the Lord, but Satan is still demanding his pound of flesh in the courts of Heaven; fortunately, we are now seeking the Lord to cover us once more, and plead our circumstances. While this idea of Satan appearing in Heaven as our accuser might sound absurd to some, this is actually what happens, and the story of Job brings this home (Job 1:6-2:10), as does King David’s sin (1 Chronicles 21:1-30), and we must not forget Satan desiring to possess Peter, the disciple of Jesus (Luke 22:31-32).

The second sin issue concerns what Adam committed and this affects the whole world. The Apostle John says that Jesus is also the atoning sacrifice; that is, the ransom price, for the sins of the whole world. This covers the sin that Adam committed, which gave Satan control over the whole world. However, Jesus redeemed the right to rule over the whole world when he paid the ransom price.  This is what Jesus said:

For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

Calvinists claim that this means Jesus only died for some and not all. They overlook the truth about what “many” might mean. In the book of Romans we find this:

“For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many” (Romans 5:15 KJV).

The “many” here actually means “all”, otherwise if “many” means “not all” then many did not die. Yet the text is not saying that only some people died and the rest did not die. The text is saying that because Adam sinned, all who came after him died (exceptions being Enoch and Elijah). When we understand that Jesus did not die just to redeem the world from the sin of one man, Adam, but the sins of his descendants then there is no limited atonement. Not only did Jesus redeem the world—and wrest it from Satan—this redemption includes also the many descendants who would seek God and be acceptable to Him because they, through faith, believe their sins have been forgiven.

If we were to pluck a Scripture out of context, like Calvinists and other tricksters doing the work of the deceiver do, we would say that Jesus’ death means that all men are saved because all men are justified in God’s sight through His death. For this is what the Apostle Paul wrote:

“So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life” (Romans 5:18).

Just because all are justified, this does not mean all accept the justification that has been provided for them. For many will be saved but not all. For only those who, through faith, seek God and find Him, because they put their trust in Jesus to justify their salvation will be saved. Even so, Jesus has paid the price for everyone, so that all could be saved. This is conditional upon each one desiring to be saved from sin and death and seeking to know the truth.

The third point in this passage from the second chapter of John that we will consider, speaks of knowing God because we keep His commandments. In the event that we desire to keep His commandments but we fall short because we are struggling in an area of sin that we have yet to overcome, we have an advocate. If we claim we know God but do not keep His commandments, we make ourselves to be liars. Those saying that they are Christians, but who do not desire to honor God and keep His commandments, are hypocrites. On the one hand, if we desire to walk with God, we will do our best to seek Him and keep His commandments, Jesus intercedes on our behalf. On the other hand, if we are hypocrites and deliberately sin, we have no advocate, and face the prospects of everlasting punishment. This is what we are told in the book of Hebrews:

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. (Hebrews 10:26-27)

The Calvinists actually create a description of our Heavenly Father that is more in keeping with the god of this world.  They fail to realize that Jesus gained the right to judge the world when He paid the price for sin. Not only is the ruler of the world judged, but Jesus will draw all people to Himself, not just some, as the Calvinists claim. We read:

When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment; about sin, because they don’t believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won’t see me any more; about judgment, because the prince of this world has been judged. (John 16:8-11)

Jesus answered, “This voice hasn’t come for my sake, but for your sakes.  Now is the judgment of this world. Now the prince of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12:30-32)

Because Jesus will draw all (not some, not many, but all) people to Himself, as we have already noted about those who love evil, this does not mean that they will accept His invitation. While we all have the opportunity to make choices and choose whether we want death or life, we can also refuse Jesus.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants. (Deuteronomy 30:19)

You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.  I don’t receive glory from men. (John 5:39-40)

We make our own decisions as to whether we are going to seek God and desire to keep His commandments, because we accept they are the way of blessing. If we do desire what God has for us, then we will find ourselves in the kingdom of God; however, if we are relying on our own understanding, then we will miss out. Many think by reading the Bible that they are saved and are part of those who have been predestined before the foundation of the world to be numbered among the elect. Yet the very Scriptures themselves inform us these people refuse to come to Jesus to be cleansed of their sin. This is why Calvinists are always moaning about possessing a wicked heart. They do not see the need to seek Jesus with all their heart and be cleansed; whereas those of us who have been saved though faith and understand the truth, desire to keep God’s commandments and walk in faith. We do not believe that our destiny was predetermined before the foundation of the world (notwithstanding that God had predestined good works for us—Ephesians 2:10), and therefore we are saved by grace alone. Having secured the assurance of our salvation through faith, we now rely upon Jesus’ unmerited favor to keep us from sin. We recognize that Jesus died so that we might be raised with Him in His resurrection (Romans 6:4) and tell the world about our wonderful Savior, so that others, who hear the Gospel message, might choose life, too, rather than death.

Nobody asked to be born into this world. And because nobody asked to be born into this world, the sin of the world needed dealing with, in order to prove that God is just. When Jesus died, He went into Hell and preached to the spirits that had disobeyed in the days of Noah, so that they might know why they are judged.

Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit; in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, while the ship was being built. In it, few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you—not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to him. (1 Peter 3:18-22)

Jesus died for the unrighteous. Who are the unrighteous? Everyone who has sinned is unrighteous before God. Jesus did not know sin, yet He became sin, so we might enter into His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17). This righteousness is conditional upon us believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus. For if we do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead, we are in our sins and our faith is in vain (1 Corinthians 15:14-17).  But this would not matter if we had been saved by unconditional election before the foundation of the world. This only matters if our salvation is conditional upon our faith in Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:15).

One of the reasons Jesus needed to die to redeem the world was that the righteousness of God, as revealed within the Law, did not bring about the redemption of humans. The Law only described the righteousness of God.  For God to be truly seen as righteous, He needed to pay the ransom price and redeem what had been taken from Him. The only just way God could recover ownership of what Satan had stolen was to provide a righteous life that would atone for sins and leave an inheritance for those who desired to be His children. This becomes evident when we consider the following two passages of Scripture:

But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;  to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without defect to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, that those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a last will and testament is, there must of necessity be the death of him who made it. For a will is in force where there has been death, for it is never in force while he who made it lives (Hebrews 9:14-17)

All have sinned and Jesus paid the price for all; there is no distinction. Jesus did not pay the price of sin for many while, at the same time, not pay the price for many more; or, to put this another way: Jesus did not pay the price for some and not others; that is, the price of sin for the elect, but not the condemned. Jesus paid the price of sin for all of humankind and—because of this—He has the right to judge those who refuse to accept the offer of forgiveness and participate in the inheritance that has been made available. To reject exercising faith in God and to rely upon His grace, because of unbelief, is the reason people do not receive the promise of eternal life—not to mention the promised guarantee of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30)

As for those who refused to accept the offer of salvation provided by Noah, they too were judged, but they did not understand the significance of the reason for their confinement in Hades (the holding prison until the Great White Throne Judgment, when the individuals who have had their name erased from the book of life are thrown into the Eternal Lake of Fire). When Jesus had paid the price of their salvation, as well as ours, they learned the reality of the truth they had rejected. This occurred when Jesus went into where they were kept to tell them that He was the Savior of the world that they had rejected when Noah was preaching. Now that they have been made alive by the Spirit, their worm will never die. Jesus paid the price for everyone so that He could judge all and show mercy to the merciful. The merciful are those who forgive others for the sins they commit against them.