JESUS
CHRIST-DEATH-ATONEMENT
The
complete atonement which Jesus Christ has made for our sins, by the sacrifice
of Himself, is the life and center of the evangelical system, and that which
endears it so much to the hearts of those who believe. Here we see pardon
procured, and the sinner saved, while sin is condemned and punished. Here we
see the most solemn display of justice and holiness, in conjunction with the
freest exercise of mercy. Here we see sinful rebels delivered from deserved
punishment, and advanced to a state of dignity and honor; and at the same time,
the rights of that divine government against which they had rebelled inviolably
preserved and maintained. Through what Jesus Christ has done and suffered for
us – we behold the righteous law of God magnified, in justifying those who had
violated its precepts, and brought themselves under its curse. In the death of
that Lamb of God, we perceive at once – the Almighty’s eternal abhorrence of
that which is evil and His infinite love to His offending creatures.
John Fawcett
Christ
Precious.
Christ’s
atoning work does not change God’s wrath to love, for God’s love is itself the
source of the atonement.
George Eldon Ladd
A Theology of the New Testament, Eerdmans,
1993, p. 466
If indeed
Christ provided a propitiation and expiation for all human beings and for all
their sins, then, clearly, all persons would be saved. Universal atonement, if
it is actual, and not merely potential, means universal salvation. However, the
overwhelming majority of Christians who reject limited atonement also reject
universal salvation. They are particularists, not universalists.
R.C. Sproul
Biblical Scholasticism, Tabletalk, Oct. 2004,
p. 6, Used by Permission.
(People often
say), “Christ’s atonement was sufficient for all, but efficient only for some.”
What does this mean? The Calvinist would interpret this axiom to mean that the
value of Christ’s sacrifice is so high, His merit so extensive, that its worth
is equal to cover all the sins of the human race. But the atonement’s benefits
are only effective for believer’s, the elect. The
non-Calvinistic interprets this axiom in slightly different terms: Christ’s
atonement was good enough to save everyone – and was intended to make salvation
possible for everyone. But that intent is realized only by believers. The
atonement is efficient (or “works”) only for those who receive its benefits by
faith.
R.C. Sproul
Biblical Scholasticism, Tabletalk, Oct. 2004,
p. 7, Used by Permission.
The real
issue was the design, or purpose, of God’s plan in laying upon His Son the
burden of the Cross. Was it God’s purpose simply to make salvation possible for
all but certain for none? Did God have to wait to see if any would respond to
Christ to make His atonement efficient? Was it theoretically possible that
Jesus would die “for all” yet never see the fruit of His travail and be
satisfied? Or was it God’s eternal purpose and design of the Cross to make
salvation certain for His elect? Was there a special sense in which Christ died
for His own, for the sheep the Father had given Him?
R.C. Sproul
Biblical Scholasticism, Tabletalk, Oct. 2004,
p. 7, Used by Permission.
By atonement,
we mean that Christ lived and died as the substitute for His people, putting
away their sin and turning away God’s wrath from them, that is, all those whom
God chose, in Christ, from eternity out of pure grace.
R. Scott Clark
For God So Loved the World, Tabletalk,
Nov. 2004, p. 12, Used by Permission.
When He died,
Jesus actually accomplished expiation and propitiation for sins, but for whom?
If Jesus propitiated God for the sins of all, then all are saved. Clearly,
however, not all are saved. This is because it was never our Savior’s intention
to propitiate God’s wrath for everyone who ever lived. Rather, it was His
intention to redeem all of His people completely.
R. Scott Clark
For God So Loved the World, Tabletalk,
Nov. 2004, p. 14, Used by Permission.
If Christ’s
death fully paid the penalty for everyone’s sins – irrespective of faith or
unbelief – it is impossible that these sins could be punished again in the
court of a just God. That the Bible so clearly promises God’s vengeful judgment
on the sins of unbelievers proves that Christ did not die for their sins.
Richard
D. Phillips
Assured by God, ed. Burk Parsons, P&R, 2006, p. 75. Used by Permission.
God is
faithful and just to forgive every sin and cleanse from all unrighteousness
because of Christ's atonement alone. In other words, the believer does not
confess in order to get something. What he seeks he already has.
Jim Elliff
Confessionism: The Misuse of 1 John 1:9, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org.
Used by Permission.
I would
rather believe a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it
was intended, than a universal atonement that is not efficacious for anybody,
except the will of men be added to it.
C.H. Spurgeon
If Christ on
His cross intended to save every man, then He intended to save those who were
lost before He died. If the doctrine be true, that He died for all men, then He
died for some who were in hell before He came into this world, for doubtless
there were even myriads there who had been cast away
because of their sins. Once again, if it was Christ’s intention to save all
men, how deplorably has He been disappointed, for we have His own testimony
that there is a lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone, and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons
who, according to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His
blood.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermon, A Defense of
Calvinism.
I believe
that if I should preach to you the atonement of our Lord Jesus, and nothing
else, twice every Sabbath day, my ministry would not be unprofitable. Perhaps
it might be more profitable than it is.
C.H. Spurgeon
We are often
told that we limit the atonement of Christ, because we say that Christ has not made
satisfaction for all men, or all men would be saved. Now, our reply to this is, that, on the other hand, our opponents limit it: we do
not. The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask
them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all
men? They say, “No, certainly not.” We ask them the next question: Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular?
They answer “No.” They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They
say, “No. Christ has died that any man may be saved if” – and then follow
certain conditions of salvation. Now, who is it that limits the death of
Christ? Why, you. You say that Christ did not die so as infallibly to secure
the salvation of anybody. We beg your pardon, when you say we limit Christ’s
death; we say, “No, my dear sir, it is you that do it.” We say Christ so died
that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number,
who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved
and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. You
are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce ours for
the sake of it.
C.H. Spurgeon
To think that
my Savior died for men who were or are in hell, seems a supposition too
horrible for me to entertain. To imagine for a moment that He was the
Substitute for all the sons of men, and that God, having first punished the
Substitute, afterwards punished the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with
all my ideas of Divine justice. That Christ should offer an atonement and
satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards some of those very
men should be punished for the sins for which Christ had already atoned,
appears to me to be the most monstrous inequity… God forbid that we should ever
think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good!
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermon, A Defense of
Calvinism.
We say that
Christ so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no
man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are
saved, must be saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being
anything but saved.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Father
imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either: 1.
All the sins of all men. 2. All the sins of some men. 3. Some of the sins of
some men. In which case it may be said: a. That if the
last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved. b. That
if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of
all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth. c. But if the first be
the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? You
answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a
sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it,
or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins
for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!
John Owen
This, then,
is how Jesus made atonement – how He paid it all. The punishment which was due
to us He voluntarily received. The death which was the wages of our sin He
underwent. The stripes with which we deserved to be beaten fell upon His
willing back. The chastisement which was owing us was
borne by Him. The price we would have paid by endless suffering He paid by an
infinite sacrifice. It should have been I who cried out, “My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?” It should have been He who said: “I am persuaded that
nothing shall separate me from the love of God.” Because Jesus paid it all, it
was He who was forsaken and we who never shall be. Because He drank the full
cup of divine wrath, we shall never taste it. “There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”
John Gerstner
Theology for Everyman, Moody, 1965, Chapter 5.
[Jesus
Christ] did not ransom everybody. He gave his life a ransom for many (Mark
10:45). He did not propitiate the wrath of God against everybody. But He laid
down His life for the sheep. They are scattered throughout the world in every
tongue and tribe and people and nation.
John
Piper
Jesus Christ is an Advocate for Sinners,
Sermon, February 10, 1985, www.DesiringGod.org,
Used by Permission.
We can never
attach too much importance to the atoning death of Christ. It is the leading
fact in the word of God, on which the eyes of our soul ought to be ever fixed.
Without the shedding of his blood, there is no remission of sin. It is the
cardinal truth on which the whole system of Christianity hinges. Without it the
Gospel is an arch without a key-stone, a fair building without a foundation, a solar system without a sun... This, after all, is the master-truth
of Scripture, that “Christ died for our sins.” To this
let us daily return. On this let us daily feed our souls. Some, like the Greeks
of old, may sneer at the doctrine, and call it “foolishness.” But let us never
be ashamed to say with Paul, “Be it far from me to boast, except in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Gal. 6:14.)
J.C.
Ryle
Commentary, Matthew 26.
Nobody has
the right to dismiss the doctrine of the limitedness of the atonement as a
monstrosity of Calvinistic logic until he has refuted Owen’s
proof that it is part of the uniform biblical presentation of redemption,
clearly taught in plain text after plain text.
J.I. Packer
Quoted in: The Death of Death in the
Death of Christ by John Owen, Introduction, by permission Banner of Truth,
Carlisle, PA.
Calvary not
merely made possible the salvation of those for whom Christ died; it ensured
that they would be brought to faith and their salvation made actual.
J.I. Packer
This death of
God’s Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for
sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the
sins of the whole world.
The Canons of Dort
The Second Main Point of Doctrine: Christ’s
Death and Human Redemption Through It. Article 3- The
Infinite Value of Christ’s Death.
There is
often confusion regarding the intended objects of Jesus' saving work. Was it
His mission to try to save as many people as possible? Or was He sent to
actually save many specific people? Another way to ask these two
questions is like this: Was Jesus trying to save all people so that many
would become His? Or was He saving the many because they were already
His? Passages like Matthew 1:21, Matthew 11:25-27, John 5:21, John 6:37-39, John
10:14-16, John 17:1-3, 2 Thessalonians 2:13 and many others, strongly affirm
the latter.
Daryl Wingerd
Understanding God's Purpose in Sending His Son -
"Basic Truth" series, #7, Christian Communicators Worldwide, www.CCWtoday.org. Used by Permission.