Our questions include, how did we arrive at our doctrines? Does the Bible really teach what we think it teaches? Why do churches do what they do? What is the biblical basis of church leadership structure? Why do certain traditions get entrenched?
It's easy to be spoon fed the conventional wisdom, but it's an entirely separate thing to search these things out for one's self. In the past we have read the Bible with these unexamined understandings and interpreted what we read through those lenses. We were lazy about our Bible study, assuming that pastors and theologians were telling us the truth, but we rarely checked it out for ourselves.
Therefore, these Rethinks are our attempt to remedy the situation.
We should note that we are not Bible scholars, but we believe that one doesn't need to be in order to understand the Word of God.
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Introduction
Limited Atonement is the "L" from the Calvinistic acronym TULIP. These are collectively known as the "doctrines of grace," and to a large degree depend on each other to explain each other. Generally speaking, then, each individual doctrine really can't stand on its own.
The five "doctrines of grace" are
(T)otal Depravity
(U)nconditional Election
(L)imited Atonement
(I)rresistible Grace
(P)erseverance of the Saints
The question is fundamentally, for whom did Christ die? Limited Atonement is the idea that Jesus did not die for everybody since not everybody gets saved. Thus the Calvinist concludes that atonement only effectually applies to those whom God predestined to be saved. The atonement does not apply to those who are not atoned for, because those people are predestined to hell. So the idea of predestination is a required premise for Limited Atonement.
A preliminary question that must be asked is, why does Limited Atonement matter? How will it change our lives, how will it change our obligations, how will it change Jesus' call to holiness, generosity, evangelism, loving the brethren, etc, etc?
Well, it won't.
The World
A key to understanding the nature of salvation is to understand what the Bible means by "world." "World" is kosmos,
the world, universe; worldly affairs; the inhabitants of the world; adornment.
The kosmos, then, is the world arrangement, the order of creation, all that was made.
The kosmos was corrupted by Adam's sin and awaits the final redemption at the end of the age:
Ro. 8:19-21 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Jesus died for the love of the kosmos:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
To take away the sin of the kosmos:
Jn. 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
1Jn. 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
to save the kosmos:
Jn. 4:42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Jn. 12:47 “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.
His disciples are commanded to go out into the kosmos:
Mk. 16:15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.
His kingdom is not of this kosmos [Jn. 18:36], so His life, crucifixion, resurrection, and the poured out Holy Spirit are interventions of His Kingdom into the kosmos. It's this intervention that advances [Mt. 11:12] in this physical place, the earth, and this intervention is for (on behalf of, for the benefit of) the salvation of all men [Jn. 1:7])
Calvinist View
However, "the world" is something different for the Calvinist. Daniel R. Hyde writes:
Look at John 3:16–17. Notice that the purpose of God’s sending His Son is explained with two purposes clauses: “that whoever believes in him should . . . have eternal life” and “in order that the world might be saved through him” (emphasis added). If the “world” in verse 16 is every human being, then every human will be saved, because verse 17 says He saves the world. We know that cannot be the case because not everyone is saved. So, the “world” must refer not to all people but to something else. What is the “world?” It’s the “world” of darkness and unbelief (see John 1:10). God loved this world of fallen and rebellious sinners despite its hatred of Him.
So the basic logic is that since not everyone gets saved, the world cannot mean every human, rather, it means the "world of darkness." This objection seems to be a distinction without a difference, since a world of darkness is no different than a world populated by sinful man.
For the Calvinist, if Jesus died for everyone that would necessarily mean everyone gets saved. We should note that this line of thought is only required because of the problems created by Calvinism. However, a plain reading of John 3:16–17 tells us God's action (He sent His son), that resulted from His motivation (He loved), which anticipates a result (the world might be saved). The statement is not a assertion of specific salvations, but rather the condition of salvation offered to the world. Who might be saved by that offer is not under discussion.
We should note also that the "saved" is a specific people as distinguished from those who are "not saved." Thus, there is no way to talk about the "saved" apart from the fact that they are different than the "not saved. Doing so in no way limits the category who is or would be saved.
Therefore, this does not imply that the atonement is limited to the saved. No selective or limitation process is implied by talking about the "saved" vs. the "not saved." Everyone by definition is one or the other.
By way of example, if a promoter is offering tickets to a concert, we as observers cannot infer from the simple offer who is going to get a ticket. We don't know how many tickets will be sold. We certainly cannot say that the tickets are being offered only to a selected group of people We can only say there will be a concert, it takes a ticket to see the concert, and everyone who has a ticket will have entry to the concert.
By the same token, atonement is not limited because it is not predicated on results. There is no Scripture that says Jesus' sacrifice was scaled, limited, or allocated.
Conclusion
So, when Jesus said He gave His life for many, not all (The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” [Matt. 20:28]), does the use of the word "many" mean "not all?"
Actually, "many" is polus, which means simply means a great number. It does not imply a limit.
The basic problem is that Calvinists confuse action and intent with result. The action of God through Jesus does not imply a specific result:
The basic problem is that Calvinists confuse action and intent with result. The action of God through Jesus does not imply a specific result:
1Ti. 2:5-6 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time.
"All" is pás ("each, every") means "all" in the sense of "each (every) part that applies." The emphasis of the total picture then is on "one piece at a time." 365 (ananeóō) then focuses on the part(s) making up the whole – viewing the whole in terms of the individual parts.
Therefore, we find the idea of "Limited Atonement" to be unbiblical.
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