Limited Atonement: A Doctrine of Dis-Grace

I. Introduction

In this article we will examine the Calvinist doctrine of Limited Atonement. By definition, limited atonement states that Christ died as a sacrifice only for the elect and salvation is not potentially available to all who believe on Christ.

Like all Reformed theology, limited atonement is based on the two pillars of Calvinism. Firstly, total depravity, that is, that human beings are so dead in sin that they cannot desire God, seek God or reach out and find Him, unless He first regenerates them. In other words, you have to be born again before you can exercise faith in any way. This doctrine is refuted in verses such as Acts 17:27 which state the purpose and plan of God. Regeneration comes through faith in Christ and is discussed here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Hza2L8mdY

The second foundation is the Reformed understanding of the sovereignty of God that no creature can ever act outside of God’s ordained will. For the Calvinist, this would mean the creature was more powerful that God. Therefore, Calvinists, at least in general, teach that human beings have no libertarian free-will and every action is determined by God, but by some mystery, God is not responsible for our sinful actions.

The obvious conclusion to this framework is that if God desired all people to be saved they would be, and since most are not saved, He has not willed it. Such is the logic behind the doctrine of limited atonement, a doctrine which is absolutely refuted by the clear teaching of Scripture.

II. Defining John’s Use of ‘the World’ 

Let’s begin by examining the clearest verses which use the term ‘whole world’ or ‘world’ and see how Calvinists try to force the exact opposite meaning to these verses.

In 1 John 2:1 the apostle is speaking to Christians about sin and tells us we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous one. In the next verse he states;

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

In this verse John specifically mentions two groups, Christians as in ‘our sins’, and ‘the sins of the whole world’. To make his point clear he adds the words ‘and not for ours only’. Calvinists claim the term ‘whole world, or as in the Greek ‘all the world’ applies to only the elect from among people of the whole world. In other words, a few people from the various nations of the whole world.

The question is this; what does John mean by ‘world’ translated from the Greek ‘kosmos’? Is the apostle speaking of exclusively born again Christians, the ‘elect’, or all the people of the world in which the majority are in open rebellion to God? Let’s examine how John uses the word ‘world’ in his letter.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (John 2:15-17) 

Is John speaking of the elect here, or the system of the world which is in rebellion to God? Imagine if we replaced the word ‘world’ with ‘God’s elect’, as Calvinists do in 2:2.  We would have the following. 

Do not love the elect or anything of the elect. If anyone loves the elect the love of the Father is not in them…for everything about the elect, lust of the flesh…etc.

Notice also the final words of verse 17; ‘the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever’. John is comparing the rebellion of the world, those who refuse to submit to God’s will, with those who do God’s will. 

In chapter three John continues his distinction between God’s children and the world.  

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God. And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him’. (John 3:1-2)

Again, John is comparing the children of God with children of the world, those who do not know God. In chapter four John speaks of false prophets who embody the spirit of the antichrist (v1-3). Then he states:

4 You, dear children are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. 1 John 4:4-6)

And in the last chapter John tells us that ‘we know we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one’ (5:19).

It should be obvious to those who desire to know the clear teaching of John that he uses the term ‘world’ to be a system in which people are totally opposed to the will of God, the absolute opposite of born again Christians. 

The word ‘world’ is used in two specific ways. Firstly to speak of all the people of the world (2:2), including Christians, and the world system of rebellion against God which is under the control of Satan. Does this mean that Satan has more power than God, or that Satan is sovereign? No, it simply means that God has allowed people to follow Satan’s rebellion against Him as part of His sovereign plan for humanity.

With our brief study of John’s letter in mind, let’s examine other clear passages of Scripture in light of 1 John 2:2 that ‘Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not ours only, but the sins of all of the world’.

John 3:16-17 are among the best known verses in the NT. 

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. (John 3:16-17)

What does ‘world’ mean in this passage? Obviously it is not speaking specifically of the world system which is in rebellion to God, but rather those who willfully follow that system. We could translate this correctly in this way. ‘For God so loved the people He created that He sent His only Son, that whoever believes by faith on the sacrifice of His Son, will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son to condemn the people of the world, but to save them through Christ’. These verses utterly refute three fundamental heresies. 

1. That people have no freedom to believe, as this is the stated condition for salvation. ‘Believe’ here means to trust in Christ by faith, placing our lives in His hands.

2.  Universalism, that everyone will be saved. Those who refuse to believe will perish, literally, be ‘destroyed’ from the Greek ‘apoletai’ (ἀπόληται). 

3. That these verses apply only to the elect, for the ‘everyone who believes’ are the people of the world, any person in the world.

Do we have other clear passages?

John 1:29 John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus came to ‘take away the sins of the world’.

John 4:42 Jesus is the ‘Savior of the world’.

John 12:47 Jesus says He did not come to judge but to ‘save the world’.

And what of other NT writers?

III. God Desires That All people are Saved

One of the most common errors of Calvinist mentality is the idea that if God desires or wants something, then it must come to pass. The truth is that God cannot have all that He desires as His primary desire is encapsulated in the commandment that the creatures made in His image love Him with all their hearts, minds and souls. Real love can never just be programmed, can never be coerced or it would simply be a form of obedience without a free response. Such a response could never meet God’s desire to be in a real, existential, loving relationship with individuals.

God has chosen His desire for true relationship over His desire that all are saved. He does not beg to be loved, indeed, He is the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great value, not to be found by those who do not seek with all their hearts or are unwilling to lose everything to have Him. He will not be found by those who treat Him with mediocrity, but He will never coerce any human being to love Him. 

1 Timothy 2:1-6 tells us of God’s desire, without contradiction or confusion. This passage begins with telling Christians to offer prayers, petitions and intercession for all people, including kings and those in authority so we may live peaceful, godly and holy lives. Paul then states;

3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one mediator between God and mankind, the man Jesus Christ, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. 7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I am telling the truth, I am not lying – and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.  (1 Timothy 2:3-7)

Please note the following points:

1. We are called to offer prayers, petitions and intercession, not just so we can live peaceful lives, but because God our Savior wants all people to be saved. If, as Calvinists claim, the elect are pre-determined to salvation prior to the creation of the world, and no person can seek, reach out for and find God (as His sovereign will is stated in Acts 17:27) then what is the point in praying, petitioning, and interceding for anyone? Calvinists will claim that we must preach the gospel because we don’t know who the elect are. However, have you ever heard an honest Calvinist stand up and preach to unbelievers, ‘God has predetermined the vast majority of you to hell because He hates you in the same way He hated Esau, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to change your eternal destiny’. I consider Calvinist/evangelist to be an oxymoron. They preach as if ‘anyone’ can come to Christ through faith, but believe the exact opposite. For me, this deceitful.

2. Paul states categorically that there is one mediator between mankind and God, the man Jesus Christ who gave Himself as a ransom for ALL people. ‘Mankind’ is all people, so Paul makes his point twice. Ransom means to pay the price for sin, another way of explaining atonement. This is why Paul reminded the Corinthians they have been ‘bought with a price’ (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

But was this price paid only for Christians, for the elect? In his second letter the apostle Peter is speaking about false prophets and their ultimate destruction in chapter 2. He states that,

They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them – bringing swift destruction on themselves. (2 Peter 2:1)

Peter uses the same root word for bought/ransom as Paul in 1 Corinthians 6. Christ paid for the sins of these false prophets but they refused to apply it to their lives. Peter is saying that in order for Christ’s atonement and ransom to be applied to our lives, we must surrender to Christ as our sovereign Lord.

John, Paul and Peter all teach that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ was for all people in the world. Some refer to this as the extent of the atonement. However, God has made faith in Christ as Lord and Savior the condition upon which Christ’s atonement must be applied to each person individually.

The Reformed doctrine of limited atonement dictates to God that He is not allowed to offer salvation to all of those created in His image. It denies the passages of Scripture we have examined, and also every passage of Scripture which calls on people everywhere to repent and believe and that ‘whosoever’ will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Furthermore, it defames the character of Christ in the extreme. In passages such as Matthew 8:14-16, Luke 4:38-41, and Matthew 4:23-25 we read of Christ healing and delivering every person who came to Him. Consider Matthew 4:23-25:

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News of Him spread all over Syria, and people brought to Him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordon followed him. (Matthew 4:23-25)

Please note the following:

1. Christ was ‘preaching the good news of the kingdom’. Was He preaching only to the elect? Did He know that many, if not most, of these people would later reject Him and call for Him to be crucified? We are told that large crowds followed Him, and also that throughout His ministry large crowds who were following Him turned away when they could not accept His teaching. Why would Jesus offer the gospel of the kingdom to everyone if He had already pre-determined that most were going to hell by the will of the Father? Such an action would be insincere at best and deceitful at worst.

2. Notice that He healed and delivered every person who was brought to Him - He rejected no one. Why was He doing this? In order to prove who He was and give people the grounds to act in faith, to believe in Him. Christ showed His love for people, without exception, and preached the gospel to all, without exception. He knew who would reject Him, yet His heart was to do everything He could to bring them to salvation, to give them every opportunity to repent and believe. 

God both dwells outside of time and foreknows everything, yet at the same time walks with us within time calling us to repent and believe. 

No human being can ever fully understand how God’s foreknowledge affects His call to salvation for we are mere creatures bound in time, and those who create doctrines based on human ignorance of God’s foreknowledge almost always end up with defaming God’s character through their arrogant assumptions. See a discussion on God’s foreknowledge here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KutOsAPoEgo

IV. In Conclusion

Is the atonement for every human being actual or only potential? Calvinists will argue that if it is actual, then everyone is saved, and if only potential, then it didn’t work for the non-elect. This answer denies the fact that the atonement is, as Colossians 1:20 states, God reconciling the world to Himself. God, in Christ has paid the debt of sinful rebellion owed only to Him as only He can. This is actual atonement, it is never potential atonement. However, contrary to Calvinists such as John Piper, God never forces His will on His creatures with regards to salvation.  

The unbeliever has been given the freedom by God to stand in rebellion and state to Him, ‘I don’t want your forgiveness, I choose my sinful life rather than to live in your will’. This is the point John is making when he stated that those who love the world and its desires, do not have or know the love of the Father.

God has paid the debt owed to Himself. He also reveals, calls, convicts, and persuades every human being to abandon their rebellion, to turn away from the sin which is destroying their present life, to reject the world system which demands its autonomy to set its own standards of morality and justice, and begin a relationship with Him grounded in holiness and love through new birth, a relationship which will last for eternity.

The creature must make a choice, must always make a choice. To either recognize and admit to their sin as revealed by God, to sincerely repent and submit to Christ as Lord and Savior by faith in His promises, or to refuse God’s gift of forgiveness through the atonement of Christ. 

The doctrine of Limited Atonement denies the character of God revealed in Christ, denies God’s sovereign will revealed in Scripture, denies that God can allow the creatures made in His image to make real choices, denies the possibility of any real synergistic relationship with God, and ultimately, denies the very purpose we were created. 

It is not a ‘doctrine of grace’, but a doctrine of disgrace as it brings disgrace on the very heart of the gospel.

Steve Copland