Limited Atonement: 'I Know My Own and My Own Know Me'
By now, we have looked at the first two doctrines of grace, starting with Total Depravity—all men are born dead in their sins, a slave to their own desires, without the ability to seek God and make themselves alive. We have also looked at Unconditional Election—God in His love and sovereignty predestined some to be saved from their sins and be reconciled to Him. We saw that this is not based on anything they do, but is based on the mercy, grace, and the love of God. This brings us to what is often the most disputed and debated of the five doctrines: Limited Atonement.
Limited atonement, sometimes referred to as particular redemption or definitive atonement, is the biblical doctrine that states that on the cross, Christ died in the place of, and atoned exclusively for, the sins of all the elect (those whom God predestined to save), securing their salvation in His finished work on the cross. The emphasis on this view, is that Jesus died in the place of elect believers, and not every individual in the world. This is in contrast to the doctrine of Unlimited or Universal Atonement, which states that Jesus died in the place of every person, believer or unbeliever, taking the wrath for their sins.
One aspect of why this is known as the most controversial or most debated of the five doctrines of grace, I believe, is because it is one of the most misunderstood. I believe this starts with the term “limited.” The term limited can, at first, seem to place a limit on God’s ability to reach all people, or refusing to allow others to benefit from the cross. However, I think R.C. Sproul best explains the doctrine when he asked the question, “Did God intend when He sent into the world His son to die; did he intend that death would actually save people, or did He just hope it would?” Dr. Sproul went on to say that God “knew that the death of Christ had a definite purpose, that would definitely be accomplished, and definitely was accomplished.” Those who hold to limited atonement believe that Christ’s atonement was limited only in that it did not atone for the sins of everyone in the world, but for those who would believe.
I believe semantics and the defining of terms are very important to this conversation because one side may hear that Christ died for His elect alone and think it means the gospel is not offered to all people. However, the meaning and consistency changes between the two views. Limited atonement has always affirmed that the death of Jesus on the cross and the offer of salvation through the gospel is offered to all people, however, it is efficacious (successful) only for the elect. Furthermore, limited atonement would also say that eternally, Jesus came to die for those whom the Father gave Him. That is, He went to the cross for a specific people—the church of God.
Conversely, the opposing side would say the offer of salvation is for the whole world and that Jesus took the sins of everyone, believer and non-believer to the cross. I will discuss why the distinction between these points are so vital, but first we must do a quick survey of Scripture to see where we find the teaching of limited atonement.
It is helpful to first start with the teachings and prayers of Jesus Christ. We see Jesus Himself talk about who He came to save in John 10:11, where he taught, “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,'' he continues in verses 14-15, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” Jesus specifies a people he calls his sheep, as the ones he lays his life down for, whom he knows, and who know him.
Furthermore, I believe that the high priestly prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is one of the clearest passages that points to those for whom Christ came to die. We see Jesus pray for those whom He will save in John 17, starting in verse 6,
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word…I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them…I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ” (John 17:6, 9-10, 20-21).
I find this passage to be one of the most comforting and beautiful displays of God’s love in Scripture, for Jesus not only prayed for his disciples, but for all Christians, that we would be kept, made secure, and be one with Christ. Here, Jesus specifies and distinguishes between those who believe in Him, and the world, and he says he is not praying for the world, but for those whom the Father has given Him (the elect).
For the sake of space, I will list Scriptural references where we see limited atonement taught. I will suggest additional resources to read at the end as well.
Ephesians 5:25 “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,”
John 11:52 “[Jesus died] ...to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad,”
Acts 20:28 “Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his blood,”
Romans 8:32-33 “He who did not spare his son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”
Romans 5:8, 10 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
John 6:37-39 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
Eph. 1:4-6 “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
I believe we see the consistency of all these inspired texts demonstrate that Christ’s death on the cross exclusively atoned for His chosen people. While I believe this to be the case, I think it is important to address the common objections that some of our brothers and sisters in Christ have towards this doctrine.
The Gospel Cannot Be Offered to All People
One of the most common objections given is that if only the elect’s sins were paid for on the cross, then the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be offered to all people. I myself had this same objection when I first came to search the Scriptures because of passages that show God’s heart in desiring “all” to be saved. 2 Peter 3:9 states that God desires all to be saved and come to repentance. Matthew 23:37 shows Jesus lamenting to Jerusalem who turned against God and expresses how He would have gathered them together. We see in Ezekiel 33:11 that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and desires for them to turn from their ways.
How do we reconcile these two revelations of God that He has specifically chosen a certain people to save from eternity past, and that He desires all people to be saved? How we answer this question is one of the core differences between the Calvinist or Reformed view, and Non-Calvinist view (Arminian, Molinist, Open Theist, and others). The answer which I have come to accept is that whenever there is an apparent mystery in Scripture of clear revelations that do not contradict but seem hard to reconcile, we must accept what Scripture says and build our theology on that truth to be consistent with God’s revelation. Here I see consistent and clear teachings of God’s word of an elect, chosen people, and His desire to save all people. This is not a contradiction, but points us to the mystery and glory of God’s will expressed on the cross. The Non-Calvinist view here, I would add, does bring contradiction to all the Scripture listed before, revealing that Christ specifically died for the Church, whom the Father gave Him.
There are many examples of doctrines we take this approach on as well. The doctrine of the Trinity (three persons, one being), the incarnation of Jesus Christ (fully God and fully man), the eternality of God (God has always existed, before time, and interacts with is in time), the infinitude of God’s nature (all of God’s attributes are infinite, they have no beginning or end). We believe these doctrines, as hard as they may be to fully comprehend, because God’s ways are higher than our ways and He reveals Himself to us. (Isaiah 55:8-9). God has told us that the secret things belong to the Lord (Deut. 29:29). Reformed theologians have seen two different categories of God’s will, His decretive will (What God ordains to take place in His sovereign love and goodness) and His revealed will (God revealing His desires for mankind).
Just as God desires mankind to be perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48), yet no one on earth has ever been perfect except for Christ. This is God’s revealed will, yet no matter which view you take, God created a world in which His revealed will is not obeyed because of sin. I see the consistent way of reconciling these two revelations of God in the doctrine of limited atonement, that Christ died for the elect, whom the Father gave Him, and at the same time God offers the gift of salvation to all, and even commands all people to repent (Acts 17:30).
Limited Atonement is an Obstacle to Evangelism
A second objection is that Christians are unable to evangelize effectively if the doctrine of limited atonement is true. One may ask, how can we go to every person and tell them the good news that Christ died for them if Christ only died for the elect? I would begin by saying nowhere in the New Testament do we see the Apostles teach or display this kind of evangelism. The statement “Christ died for you”, though very common in modern evangelicalism, is unbiblical in that we do not actually know, in a crowd of unbelievers, if they will ever repent, place their faith in Christ, and that Christ actually atoned for their sins.
Instead, the biblical model is to state that Christ died for sins, and the way to partake in his atoning death is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, which involves repentance and faith. This is why we never see many of the great evangelists throughout church history (Charles Spurgeon, George Whitefield, William Carey, Jonathan Edwards, etc.) use that phrase, yet they preached the gospel—sin, repentance, and reconciliation—to all! The fruits of their ministries show that effective and biblical evangelism does not require the need to tell all people Jesus died for them specifically, but that they can be reconciled to God through repentance and faith.
Jesus Died for All
Finally, another common objection to limited atonement is the citation of Bible verses that seem to imply Jesus died in the place of all people on the cross. One of the most quoted verses in the Bible, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This verse, isolated alone, may seem to suggest that “world” refers to every individual. However when we look at the full context of this passage, we can see that “world” here is not referring to every single individual if we look at v. 18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Pastor and author Edward Palmer points out that this limited definition of “world” and “all” is a common use of the term throughout scripture: Jesus “died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14-15), he takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), Jesus is the Savior of the world (John 4:42), the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2), and a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:6). Looking at the context of each of these passages, it becomes clear that “all” and “world” is referring to the church, those elect believers of every tribe, tongue, and nation, and not to every individual whether believer or unbeliever. It does not make sense to believe that Christ died for the sins of everyone, and some still go to hell to pay for their sins a second time. We can consistently see these passages correlate with the passages like in John 6, 10, 17, Rom. 8, Eph. 1 and more, that show a specific people set apart by God and given to the Son.
Implications of Limited Atonement
The implications of limited atonement for our lives are profound and comforting. Unlike some of the concerns and objections raised by our brothers and sisters who may disagree with this view, limited atonement guarantees our salvation. It is assuring to know that not one drop of blood from Christ on the cross was ineffective; he fully finished the work on the cross and satisfied the full wrath of God for our sins.
If you are in Christ, all of your sins, past, present, and future have been paid for in full and you are no longer an enemy of God.
The perfectly finished work of Christ shows us our salvation is secure, and we can never lose it. We will look at this more closely in the last doctrine of grace in the series, “Perseverance of the Saints.”
With regard to evangelism, limited atonement doesn’t make evangelism more difficult, it increases our confidence, hope, and zeal for evangelism. We know that for those who are God’s sheep, they will respond to the gospel call. Every time the gospel is proclaimed and shared, God is planting seeds and doing work in His people. The word of God will never come back void (Is. 55:11). This truth is what spurred William Carrey, the father of modern missions, to go to India to advance the gospel and the Kingdom of God. The modern mission’s movement was spurred on by these truths of God’s grace and electing power. We can rest in the fact that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16).
Instead of being a doctrine that limits or diminishes the atonement and the gospel of Jesus Christ, limited atonement reveals the revelation of God that Jesus accomplished perfectly that which he came to do—to purchase for his own a people of God, and redeem and reconcile them to Himself!
For additional resources on Limited atonement, please see:
“From Heaven He Came and Sought Her: Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective” - Edited by David Gibson, Jonathan Gibson
“Introduction to Systematic Theology” - Wayne Grudem
“The Five Points of Calvinism” - Edwin H Palmer