Isn’t Unlimited Atonement More Glorious Than Limited Atonement?

00:00:00.000 | Welcome back. Today we're going to talk about the contentious debate over

00:00:04.600 | limited atonement by asking the question, "For whom did Christ die for? What is

00:00:10.140 | the extent of his atoning work? Did he die for the elect only or did he die for

00:00:15.480 | every human who would ever live? In other words, was the atoning death of Christ

00:00:19.440 | limited or was it unlimited?" So we have this question from Vincent in Japan.

00:00:25.240 | Hello Pastor John. As you know, Calvinists/Reformed theologians major on

00:00:30.400 | the theme of God's glory. So my question is, "How does limited atonement make much

00:00:35.320 | of the majesty of Jesus when it is called limited? I understand that we

00:00:39.920 | sinned against an infinitely holy God and therefore need an infinite atoning

00:00:44.360 | sacrifice. How is this reconciled with the doctrine of limited atonement? Isn't

00:00:49.360 | an unlimited atonement more profoundly glorious?" Well let's start with a

00:00:55.280 | celebration of an amazing book published three years ago called "From Heaven He

00:01:04.320 | Came and Sought Her, Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and

00:01:10.480 | Pastoral Perspective." 23 essays all answering that question. So I would hope

00:01:19.400 | that our questioner would go and find the book. So Vincent, look it up.

00:01:27.560 | It is really worth the effort. So you can see what the editors of that book did.

00:01:34.040 | They did not use the word "limited atonement." They used the word, the phrase,

00:01:38.680 | "definite atonement," not "limited," because Vincent is right that on the face of it,

00:01:46.200 | limited atonement sounds like God is held back, limited in some way from doing

00:01:51.520 | the really great thing. But in fact, both sides in this debate limit the atonement

00:01:59.760 | only in different ways. And the question is, when they're both said and done, is

00:02:05.640 | the definite atonement a more glorious act than the one supported by unlimited

00:02:14.960 | atonement? So let's start with a definition of atonement. I don't assume

00:02:18.960 | that everybody knows even that word. The atonement is the work of God in Christ

00:02:25.480 | through Christ's obedience and death and resurrection by which he canceled the

00:02:33.080 | debt of our sin, removed or absorbed the holy wrath of God against us, and secured

00:02:42.240 | for us all the benefits of salvation, even eternal life. That's the atonement,

00:02:46.360 | the work of God in Christ to achieve all of that. So the atonement is the work of

00:02:52.640 | God to deal with our sin, to deal with his wrath through the work of Christ so

00:02:59.640 | that we could have eternal life. Now, both sides limit this action. Let me see if I

00:03:07.320 | can explain. Those who espouse definite atonement affirm all of this, namely that

00:03:14.960 | the death of Christ did effectively secure the complete eternal salvation of

00:03:21.840 | God's elect, the bride of Christ, including the fulfillment of the

00:03:27.480 | promises of the new covenant to take out of his chosen people, each one of them,

00:03:33.160 | the heart of stone, and put in a new believing heart and cause us to walk in

00:03:40.280 | his statutes. The blood of Jesus, the atonement, secured that absolutely,

00:03:45.760 | effectively, perfectly for all of God's elect. Now let me try to explain this

00:03:51.400 | with some texts. Luke 22 20, it says that Christ took the cup, this is at the Lord's

00:04:00.360 | Supper, after they had eaten, saying, "This cup poured out for you is the new

00:04:06.600 | covenant in my blood." Matthew 26 28 says, "This is my blood of the covenant which

00:04:15.600 | is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." In other words,

00:04:22.800 | right at the heart of the atonement, the shedding of the blood of Jesus, is God's

00:04:31.160 | design to purchase, secure, obtain what was promised in the new covenant. That's

00:04:38.840 | what it means when it says, "This blood of mine is the new covenant." Jeremiah 31

00:04:46.240 | and 32, Ezekiel 19, Ezekiel 36, Deuteronomy 6, he's purchasing and

00:04:51.240 | obtaining and securing absolutely, infallibly, the promises of the new

00:04:56.360 | covenant for his people. Well, what was promised in the new covenant? It was not

00:05:02.680 | just an offer of salvation for those who would produce faith on their own, but

00:05:09.960 | rather, the very gift of faith was purchased. The transformation that made

00:05:16.880 | faith a reality was secured in the atonement for the beneficiaries of the

00:05:23.000 | new covenant. In other words, a new heart was purchased for God's people in the

00:05:29.200 | atonement. This is more than the purchase of a possibility. This is more than the

00:05:35.320 | purchase of an offer of salvation. This is the real purchase for God's people of

00:05:41.680 | God's sovereign work to take out the heart of stone and put in the new

00:05:47.640 | believing heart of flesh. Nobody would believe if that hadn't been bought for

00:05:53.720 | them. Here's the way it's said in Ezekiel 36, 26, "I will give you a new heart, a new

00:06:02.880 | spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your

00:06:07.400 | flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause

00:06:13.240 | you to walk in my statutes and you will be careful to observe my ordinances." This

00:06:21.280 | is one of the ways that the new covenant is greater than the old covenant. God

00:06:27.400 | works decisively and sovereignly to fulfill the promises of the new heart,

00:06:34.640 | new obedience in the lives of his people. He doesn't leave it to so-called free

00:06:40.840 | will. He overcomes the bondage of the will to sin, gives us the gift of faith,

00:06:48.200 | puts in a new heart, grants repentance, causes us to walk in his ways. This is

00:06:55.000 | therefore a definite, decisive, particular achievement of the cross for the people

00:07:03.880 | of God, the elect, the bride of Christ. If this were done for everybody, everybody

00:07:11.760 | would be saved because it's effectual. But we know from Scripture everyone is

00:07:17.680 | not saved. So if you ask me, "Well, did Christ die for everyone?" The answer is

00:07:27.040 | Christ died for everyone but not everyone in the same way. He died for

00:07:34.760 | everyone without distinction in John 3.16. In that sense, "For God so loved the

00:07:43.920 | world that he gave his only Son." Well, in what sense? "For the world so that

00:07:50.440 | whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." It's

00:07:57.000 | because of the atonement that that's possible. You can say that to everybody.

00:08:01.400 | In other words, God gave his Son for the world in such a way that whoever believes

00:08:08.960 | in him would have eternal life. That is, in such a way that the offer can be made

00:08:15.080 | to everybody in every people group, in every family, in every neighborhood can

00:08:20.400 | be made without any distinction or without any hesitation. If you believe on

00:08:26.080 | Jesus you will have eternal life. And the reason this is so is that Christ

00:08:34.000 | purchased a full and complete and effective and eternal infallible

00:08:41.240 | salvation for the Bride of Christ and everyone who believes is part of that

00:08:48.320 | Bride. This is what we offer people when we do evangelism, which we should do

00:08:55.600 | every day. We say, "There is a complete and full and effective redemption for the

00:09:04.800 | people of God. It is already secured, already full, already complete. We invite

00:09:10.360 | you to receive Christ and with him you receive everything that he bought for

00:09:17.720 | his people." So we're offering Christ to people and the full complete salvation

00:09:23.920 | that he bought for his people, for those who are in him. But this means that

00:09:29.520 | Christ died for his Bride and he loves his people in a particular and definite

00:09:36.760 | way that's different from all the world, just like I love my wife different from

00:09:41.960 | all the women that I love in another way. So in answer to Vincent's question, "Isn't

00:09:49.760 | an unlimited atonement more profoundly glorious?" The answer is no, because that

00:09:56.560 | so-called unlimited atonement, if it existed, which it doesn't, would leave

00:10:02.800 | everybody in bondage to sin because no triumphant grace that takes out the

00:10:09.240 | heart of sin and stone and purchases redemption and a new heart, none of that

00:10:15.160 | would be provided. And the decisive act of faith that saves us wouldn't be a

00:10:21.460 | gift bought by the blood of Jesus. Nobody would be grafted into the vine because

00:10:28.960 | that only happens because they were purchased by the blood according to the

00:10:34.220 | new covenant. On the other hand, definite atonement is glorious because it

00:10:42.100 | accomplishes more, not less, which is why the claim that unlimited is more than

00:10:49.840 | limited. No, definite atonement is more glorious because it accomplishes more,

00:10:58.480 | not less, than the so-called unlimited atonement. It not only purchases a

00:11:06.040 | genuine offer to the whole world in terms of John 3:16, but goes beyond the

00:11:14.080 | offer and actually accomplishes the triumph over unbelief and hardness of

00:11:20.840 | heart and brings to pass salvation and all the purposes of God that depend on

00:11:27.560 | it. Yeah, these are huge realities at stake here, it's such an important

00:11:31.960 | conversation and it takes time to sink in. Pastor John, thank you for addressing

00:11:36.120 | it here. If this is the first time you've ever heard the phrases "definite atonement"

00:11:40.480 | or "unlimited atonement" and your head is swimming, most of this probably doesn't

00:11:44.000 | make a lot of sense yet. If that's you, I want to encourage you to stay with it.

00:11:47.360 | It's worth thinking through these things because it's not just some pointless

00:11:51.000 | debate between theological eggheads. We believe it is a means of seeing the

00:11:55.000 | magnificent glory of Jesus Christ with greater clarity. So re-listen to this

00:11:59.480 | episode two or three times and then consider getting the book. Again, it's

00:12:02.160 | called "From Heaven He Came and Sought Her." It's a thick, serious book, but go there

00:12:06.560 | and at least read Pastor John's chapter first, it's near the end of the book. You

00:12:10.600 | can get it from Amazon and from wherever quality books on the atonement are sold.

00:12:14.320 | I'm your host Tony Ranke, thanks for listening. We'll see you on Wednesday.

00:12:20.240 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Isn’t Unlimited Atonement More Glorious Than Limited Atonement?

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