Limited Atonement

Tom Shrader presents the third of five Calvinist doctrines, arguing that Christ's atoning death was definite in design and accomplishment, securing the actual salvation of God's chosen people rather than theoretically opening salvation to all. Drawing on John 10, Matthew 1:21, John 17, and key theological terms like propitiation and redemption, he explains that the Father elects, the Son redeems, and the Spirit regenerates a specific group of people in a unified plan of salvation. He also addresses commonly cited passages using the words 'world' and 'all,' arguing that context prevents them from meaning every person who has ever lived.

“Every Christian believes in limited atonement — either God limits it by His design or man limits it by his choice.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: God's Plan for Salvation (2004)

Recorded: 2004 at East Valley Bible Church

Duration: 54 min

Themes: salvation, atonement, election, redemption, God's plan, grace, chosen, the cross, questioning Calvinism, new believer, struggling with doctrine, long-time churchgoer, seeker, adult learner, wrestling with God's sovereignty, small group member

Scripture: Matthew 1:18-21, John 10:11, John 10:14-15, John 17:9, Romans 3:23-25, Romans 5, Titus 2:14, Galatians 3:13, Isaiah 53:8, Luke 1:68, Acts 2, 1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 2:9, Ephesians 1, John 3:16, John 4:39-42, John 12:19, 1 John 2:2, 1 John 4:14, 1 Corinthians 4:9, Mark 1:5, Ecclesiastes 10:19, Job 34, Psalm 24, Psalm 90

Theological Themes: limited atonement, definite atonement, propitiation, Calvinism, TULIP, substitutionary atonement, divine election, soteriology

Handout Link

Full Transcript

God's Plan for Salvation

If I were to talk to some of you and say, "Tell me about how you were converted," you would give me a story. It may have different circumstances. It may be that you were a child and somehow God opened your eyes and you understood the truth of your sin and that you needed a Savior. It may have been a little later as a teenager, or it may have been as an adult. But the testimony would go something like this: I knew that I was lost. I was a sinner — that's almost self-evident — and I needed a Savior. Someone came along, a mom or a dad or a friend or a teacher or maybe even just a total stranger, and shared with me the gospel: that we are all dead in our sins and trespasses, that all of us have sinned and we are separated from God by that sin, but that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. And you would say, "It was at that point that I repented, I believed, I asked Jesus into my heart." That would be your testimony.

I want to go just a little bit deeper. I am not that concerned with what you think or what you experienced, but rather: what did God do in the midst of that? What is truly behind those circumstances? What was God's plan? That word *plan* is an important word. God, before the foundations of the earth, had a plan — a design that was accomplished on the cross — when Jesus came and died so that His people not might, but *would*, have eternal life.

Proceeding Through This Study

We have said we will follow these ground rules through this study: the Bible is our final authority. You have been so patient, and I thank you for that, as we have proceeded logically, painstakingly, and slowly in some cases through this material. But along the way, you have gotten questions answered. Several of you have stopped me and said, "I had these questions, they arose in the second week, and they got cleared up in the third week." So I ask you to hang in there. You have legitimate questions, and they deserve legitimate answers. Many of those answers will be discovered through the course of the seven weeks as we examine this topic.

For some of you, I want you to know that I really do understand how agonizing this is. A gentleman and his wife came up after the second hour today and said they were here two years ago when we went through this, and they fought it tooth and nail. They were at every one of the open forums asking questions, not accepting it, rejecting it — "Who are you? This is so dogmatic. How can you answer these questions? These are questions that great minds have argued about for centuries. This is contrary to everything we have learned." He went on and on. He said that when we were done, he had not been satisfied at all, but his curiosity had certainly been piqued.

So what he and his wife did was independently study both sides of the issue. They still could not seem to settle it, and they decided that a good thing to do would be to simply read through the New Testament — put all the commentaries away, everything away, and just read through the New Testament. He said that all of a sudden they saw this idea of election, of God choosing and God redeeming, on every page. It started popping out over and over again. It was just a great conversation. You may be somewhere along that same timeline, so hang in there.

You are all doing a pretty good job of keeping up your end of the bargain. My end is to speak as clearly as I possibly can. Your end is to study and to prepare — and if you miss a week, to go back and listen to it. Everything is provided for you on the website. You can get the video or the audio there free of charge, so go ahead and listen to those.

The Five Points of Calvinism

We have subtitled this series *Understanding the Five Points of Calvinism*. Let me remind you of those five points. They are based on the conclusions of the Synod of Dort as they examined the teaching of Jacob Arminius in 1619. They said, "We want to respond to these five issues that Arminius has raised in his teaching." What they did was look at Scripture and see what Scripture says — setting aside what any authors themselves say, not being primarily concerned with what man says. That was a noble and worthy undertaking. As they did that, they concluded that Arminius was teaching a false gospel, false doctrine, and false teaching. They identified these five areas of concern.

Many of you know, as painful as it may be to study these things, how deeply your faith has been strengthened, how much it has driven you into the Word, and how it has raised your worship and praise to a new level and a new depth. We have talked about God being the One who is involved in salvation, and we highlighted those middle three points: that God does the electing, that Jesus dies and atones for our sin, and that God's grace is extended to us in a way that is irresistible. His election is unconditional, meaning that before the foundations of the earth, God chose those He would save — not based on anything they had done, would do, or were doing, but based entirely on His good pleasure. And the Holy Spirit, at the appropriate time, comes along and applies that truth to our hearts in a way that we cannot resist and will not resist.

Last week we looked at election. Next week we look at irresistible grace. Today we look at limited atonement.

God Saves Sinners

Let me remind you of the very simple three-word sentence we looked at last week: God saves sinners. That is His plan. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working together. When we look at God's plan for salvation, we are looking at a magnificently orchestrated, preordained plan — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working in harmony, bringing together the accomplishment of their desire, which is to save a remnant.

The Triune God Works Together for Salvation

Here we are, as we break it down: the Father elects, the Son redeems, the Spirit regenerates. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working together to do what? To do everything related to our salvation, from beginning to end, to bring us to glory, to work in the life of a group of men and women who are dead and powerless, helpless in our sin and trespasses, with nothing we can do.

We want to do something. We want to do works. We love religion. We love the idea that we can do this or not do this, and somehow that is pleasing to God with merit towards salvation. But the Bible teaches so clearly that salvation is not a result of works. Salvation is a gift of God. Salvation is by grace, through faith.

The Most Contested of the Five Points

As we look at these five points, we come to the L: limited atonement. If you talked to many people who would identify themselves as Christians, many of them would say the idea of total depravity and the idea of the perseverance or preservation of the saints — they buy that. Another group would say unconditional election and irresistible grace are things they struggle with, that these run so contrary to human understanding, though they can see them in Scripture.

But when you get to the idea of limited atonement, the agreement among so many of the saints begins to pull apart. You may have experienced this when talking to people about Calvinism, and they say, "Well, I embrace some of that." I have met people who are two-point Calvinists, two-and-a-half-point Calvinists, and some that I think are eight-point Calvinists — a little carried away.

By far the majority that I run into would say, "I am a four-pointer. I believe in total depravity, unconditional election, irresistible grace, and the perseverance or preservation of the saints. But this idea of limited atonement — no, I do not buy that at all." And so that is the topic for today.

Resources for Further Study

Now, let me tell you what we are trying to do. We are not trying to answer all of these questions. We cannot possibly do that. My task is to raise these issues, pique your curiosity, and motivate you to study.

I want to point you to two books in particular. *The Five Points of Calvinism* by Steele and Thomas is a great primer, a great introductory tool, and we will quote from it today. *Chosen by God* by R.C. Sproul was, for me, such a defining book. There are others by James Boyce and others as well, and these are available out in the information center.

Beyond those books, watch for the Doctrines of Grace classes — Doctrines of Grace 101 and the second level. Those classes are offered regularly and allow you to go deep into this material. You can also do a great deal of this study on your own by working through the issues and searching the Five Points of Calvinism online, where you will find a range of teaching, some of it less helpful and some of it quite good.

Defining Limited Atonement

When we look at limited atonement, perhaps another term would be useful. Rather than limited atonement, we might use the term *definite atonement* or *particular redemption*. When we talk about atonement or redemption, we are talking about what Christ did — He made payment for our sin.

What we are saying is this: in no way are we limiting God. We have no desire to do that at all. What we are saying is that God limits the atonement Himself. God is the one who puts the restriction on the atonement, so that when Christ died on the cross, He achieved the purpose for which He came into this world, which is to save His people from their sins.

The Central Questions

Here are the three or four questions we will wrestle with today. First, for whom did Christ die? Second, what did Jesus accomplish by His death? Did Jesus' death merely make salvation possible for everyone — because He died for all — without actually saving anyone? Or did His death actually save someone?

This may sound like playing with words, but we have to get our arms around it. Did the death of Jesus Christ on the cross save anybody? Did it really save anyone, or did it just make salvation theoretically possible? Was it actually accomplishing a specific purpose, or was it merely opening the door to possibilities, leaving the rest up to you and me?

If you ask most Christians today for whom Christ died, they would say, "For the whole world — Jesus died for everybody." We will look a little later at why so many believe that, but it certainly represents the majority report among many Christians. So if you were sitting at Starbucks sharing your faith with someone, you might say something like, "Christ died for you. God loves you and sent His Son to die for you." But can you really say that?

I do not think so. You are talking to somebody who has rejected the gospel, and they may indeed believe at some point in the future, but as you sit there at that moment in time, you do not know. You cannot see. You cannot tell for sure.

What the Bible Teaches

This is what we are saying. We believe the Bible teaches that Christ died for the elect, that He atones for the elect. We believe the Bible teaches that Jesus died for His people, that Jesus satisfied the wrath of God toward His people, that Jesus reconciles His people.

The Significance of Calling God "Father"

When we gather as a group of Christians and someone is asked to open in prayer, almost always the first word they say is "Father." We say that so much, and it is such a natural response. We probably say it a dozen times through the day as we pray at different times and different levels of intensity. We use it so often that we may miss the significance of it.

Here is what we are saying when we call God Father: the Creator God of the universe and I are in relationship. We are in that relationship because Jesus has reconciled us to the Father. We are by nature children of wrath and sons of disobedience, as Paul says in Ephesians 1. There is a great myth circulating in the world we live in — especially in this culture and this place — that somehow we are all children of God. We love that kumbaya moment when we stand around with people of all sorts of different faiths, sing together, and pretend that we worship the same God, when we do not at all.

Yesterday, while reading and wanting some background music, the decision was made to turn on the music channels on the television. The dial moved through blues, classic rock, party favorites, and reggae before landing on Sounds of the Season. There was Christmas music. The reflex to that is strong — Christmas should not get mentioned until the day after Thanksgiving. It seems odd to walk into a store and see a back-to-school sale and Christmas decorations at the same time. But there they were.

The plan was to leave the music on because Susan would come home before the return, and she would walk in to Christmas music already playing. Heading out the door, with something of a Christmas feeling in the air, this phrase came over and over again from the song: "God and sinner reconciled." That phrase is worth loving, because what it says is that you and I were at enmity with God — at war with God — but Jesus Christ came and saved His people from their sin and put us in right relationship with the Father.

What the Atonement Accomplishes

We believe Jesus redeemed His people from the bondage of sin and from the consequence of sin. We believe that Jesus' death covers the guilt and the wickedness of His people. This brings us to a key point — an absolutely important one — as we talk and think about the atonement and use the term "limited atonement."

Every Christian believes in limited atonement. We believe either that God limits it, which is the Calvinist view, or that man limits it, which is the Arminian view. That conclusion is based on the fact that we are not universalists. If you are a universalist, then obviously you will not accept any sort of limited atonement. But if we say that there are people who have died and are in heaven, and people who have died and are in hell, then what we are saying is that the atonement was limited either by God and His intent or by man and his decision.

Unless we say everyone is in heaven, we understand that the atonement is limited in some way. Here is what we believe the Bible teaches. When Jesus says, "It is finished," He means it is done — complete. Everything necessary to pay the price to the Father has been accomplished. At the appropriate time, the Holy Spirit will place that truth into your heart and open your eyes to see it. When Jesus says, "It is finished," He means it is finished.

Without intending this in a flippant way, the Arminian view is, in a sense, saying this: when Christ is on the cross, "I have done all my work. I have done everything there is to do. We as the Godhead are through here, and now it is up to you." So again, all of us — unless we are universalists — believe that the atonement is limited. When we talk about the atonement, we are talking about the price that Jesus Christ paid when He died on the cross for the sin of His people.

The Value and the Intent of Christ's Death

We are not, and this may be an important point, limiting the value of His death. It is of infinite value. If Christ had wanted to save everyone, He would not have had to shed one more drop of His blood. It was the perfect sacrifice. But His intention was to limit its effect to His people — those who were chosen before the foundations of the earth by the Father.

In the book by Steele and Thomas, they write this: "Christ's redeeming work was definite in design and accomplishment. It was purposeful. It was intended to render complete satisfaction for certain specific sinners, and it actually secured their salvation." Notice that word — not "made it possible," not "theoretical," but it actually saved these people. All whom Christ sacrificed Himself for will be saved. Redemption, therefore, was designed to bring to pass God's purpose in election.

What we are saying is that no human being is limiting God in this process in any way. That would be the Arminian view — that God wants to save everybody, but man rejects it, and God's plan is thwarted. What we are saying instead is that no human being is limiting God. God is sovereign, and His plan will be done.

The Purpose of Christ's Coming

What was His plan? That brings us to Matthew chapter 1, where we will be spending time in the coming weeks. Matthew chapter 1 is the Christmas story, and it is a great reminder of why Jesus Christ came to this earth. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18...

The Betrothal of Mary and Joseph

Matthew writes this: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." There is the background. Mary and Joseph are engaged, betrothed. Now when we say in our culture that we are engaged, I have discovered that means all sorts of different things. I have had couples come and say they are engaged, and I will say, let me see your ring — well, there is no ring. Give me a date — well, there is no date. Girls, he is working you. Get the ring and get the date. Now you are engaged.

In that day and age, when they were engaged or betrothed, it was the equivalent of being married, minus of course living together and certainly the sexual relationship. So serious was it that dissolving the relationship required a formal decree — in essence, a divorce. That is what we see in verse 19, where Joseph is referred to as her husband. So strong was this relationship that he is called her husband, though we understand they are not husband and wife at this point.

Being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, Joseph desired to put her away secretly. Mary has somehow revealed to Joseph that she is pregnant. Joseph understands they have never been together physically — he has taken biology, he understands where babies come from — and he is saying something is wrong here. And yet he was a good man, and he said, I do not want to hurt you. There is embarrassment attached to this, so we will dissolve this relationship quietly.

Why Jesus Came

Verse 20 continues: "And when he considered this, behold, an angel appeared to him in a dream saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.'"

Why did Jesus come to this earth? We hear all sorts of answers — answers about being a role model, about demonstrating love, and all that goes with it. Clearly He is a great role model and a great teacher. But the reason Jesus came to this earth is spelled out right there in Matthew chapter 1 verse 21: to save His people from their sins.

He came to live a perfect life and die on the cross, and in dying on the cross, to do for you and me — for us as Christians — what we could not do for ourselves. The wage, the result, what we have earned from our sin is death. We are separated from God. We needed atonement, a sacrifice to be made. Jesus came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He came to die. He came to atone. He came to pay the price. He came to satisfy the wrath of God.

For Whom Did He Atone?

For whom? Verse 21 tells us: for His people. Steele and Thomas write that Christ's obedience and suffering was of infinite value, and if God had so willed, the satisfaction rendered by Christ would have saved every member of the human race. But He came into the world to represent and save only those given to Him by the Father.

There it is again. The sacrifice is of infinite value. The sacrifice is perfect. No more sacrifice, no more blood, no more obedience is required to save one more person. But the design — the design of the sacrifice — is to save a specific group of people. Who are they? Those who had been given to Him by the Father. Those whom the Father had chosen before the foundations of the earth.

Let me make this point again: every Christian believes in limited atonement. In Acts chapter 2, when Peter is teaching the men of Israel, he says this, speaking of Jesus: "This man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." Jesus came to this earth with a specific mission in mind — to save His people from their sin — and He accomplished that mission.

Who Limits the Atonement?

If you want to flip this around and say Jesus paid the price for the sin of every person who has ever lived, then you have to conclude that all people go to heaven. Or — and here is where we get into it — or Jesus made salvation theoretically possible. He paid a price, He did His part, but in theory perhaps no one will come, because it is all up to you. So the question is: who limits this atonement? Either God by His design, or man by his choice.

You do not need to turn there, but I want to draw our attention to two words in Romans chapter 3. Verse 23 reads: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood." I want to look at those two words: redemption and propitiation.

Redemption and Propitiation

Redemption means to loose, to loosen, to buy back, to free, to redeem. We use the word in a variety of ways. If I take a ring to a pawn shop and give it to the man, he gives me a ticket and tells me that if I return by the 30th of January and give him a certain amount of money and present the ticket, I get the ring back. When I get the ring back, I have redeemed the ring — bought it out of hock, gotten it back.

I love this illustration, and indulge me because you have heard it before, but we use it every time in this context. When I was a young boy, my mother collected S&H Green Stamps. In fact, I was in some kind of antique trinket store not long ago, and there was a large S&H Green Stamp sign. I wanted it — I said I would love to get that — and it was priced at $350. I said, I do not need that. What I wanted to say was, I have got five books of stamps I will give you.

Here is how the stamps worked. You go to the grocery store, buy groceries, and for every dollar you spend you get a stamp. Accumulate enough stamps, and you could get a catalog filled with all sorts of great

Redemption and What It Means

Christ redeems us. He loosens us from the bondage of sin. The other word is propitiation. It means to satisfy, or satisfaction. It means quenching God's wrath.

To illustrate redemption, consider S&H Green Stamps. You would receive stamps at the grocery store, collect them in books, and then bring those books to a redemption center. There you would find a catalog listing items available for a certain number of stamp books — a plasma screen for 15 books, for example. You would hand over the books, and they would give you the item.

My mom would come home with sheets and sheets of these stamps. At first it was kind of cool to lick them and put them in the book, but they were wicked tasting stamps. My theory — and this is just my theory — is that it was the same glue they used on George Costanza's wedding invitations.

Then some genius came up with the idea that instead of 30 individual stamps on a page, you could get one big stamp that represented all 30. That is actually a great illustration of imputation, but we are not talking about that right now. As we started collecting books piled up, my mom would bring home a catalog and go through it looking for things she wanted — this was her equivalent of mad money.

I remember in my mind a can opener and a toaster, but I know one item for sure that she wanted: a Sunbeam hairdryer. It was a round unit that sat on a surface, connected by a tube to a bag that you put on your head. Whenever she put it on she couldn't hear a thing, and we four boys would tear the house apart while she sat in there with her bag, drying her hair. I remember the day we walked into the S&H Green Stamp Redemption Center on Rockingham Road with our books of stamps and loosened from the bondage of that major corporation the hairdryer that was waiting there. Redeemed.

The Wrath of God and Propitiation

Unfortunately, we need to spend a moment on this. God is angry. God is a God of love, and much of the world we live in has edited God to such a point that all they talk about is His love. Is God a God of love? Absolutely — that is not a trick question. But that is not all that God is.

If you describe me only as a father, you have limited all the other things I am engaged in. In the same way, if all we talk about is God's love, we do an injustice to God because we have edited out all His other attributes, or we begin to pit those attributes against one another. God is also a God of justice, righteousness, and holiness, and because He is a God of love, He must hate. He hates sin, wickedness, and evil, and God will judge those things.

That is exactly the principle. The wage of sin is death. Something has to die; something has to pay a price for your sin and mine, and it is going to be one of two things. Your sin is either going to be paid for by Christ and the cross — paid in full, once and for all — or it is going to be paid for eternally by you in hell, and never paid in full. That is what we are talking about. When Christ died, He satisfied — He propitiated — the wrath of God.

The Triangle of Salvation

Here is the triangle we have used many times. In fact, it was encouraging today because Michelle mentioned she has it written in her Bible and uses it all the time. From Jesus Christ to us, the Christian, is redemption — He redeems us, He loosens us. From Jesus Christ to the Father, Jesus is the propitiation — He satisfies God's wrath. And from God the Father to the Christian is justification. So look at each term: we are redeemed, we are loosened; there is propitiation, satisfying God's wrath; and there is justification.

One observation that strikes me as I look at that triangle is that all the arrows point to us eventually, and we do nothing. This is entirely a work of God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I thought it would be helpful someday to develop a part two to that triangle, because it can look as though everything simply comes to us and just sits there, but that is not the case at all.

Because we have been redeemed, because we have been justified, because all of those things are true, we can live a life that is transformed. The mission statement of East Valley Bible Church is to glorify God by helping one another learn God's truths and live biblically changed lives. We cannot do anything toward our salvation — there is no work we can do or perform that would achieve it. But as a result of our salvation, our life changes. Our desire is now to please Him. Our life is transformed.

Coming out of us now is praise and worship. We present our bodies to God as an act of spiritual service — it is the reasonable thing to do. We are not conformed to this world, but we are transformed. How? By the renewing of our mind. We start to think differently, see things differently, and what we believe must affect how we behave. So we begin to behave differently.

The Actual, Not Merely Potential, Atonement

Did Christ's death actually atone for the sins of anyone? Yes, it did. Did Christ's death actually propitiate the wrath of God? Yes, it did. Did Christ's death actually reconcile God with any sinner? Yes. Did Christ's death actually redeem anyone? Yes. There it is again — it did not merely make salvation possible or potential; it made it actual.

If Jesus' death on the cross merely made salvation possible, if in broad terms we say Jesus died for everyone, then in reality He died for no one. Because if we say He died for everyone, we have to conclude that that plan did not work, since not everyone is saved. If we say Jesus died for everybody, what we have to say is —

The Specific Scope of Christ's Atonement

If what we are saying is that Jesus died so that you and I might have eternal life, we have a problem if that is all we have. The condition of man is that I am lost and cannot believe. Something must happen to me — some external force has to work within me. The Father chooses me, the Son dies for me, and the Spirit applies that truth.

Let me take you through a few passages of Scripture to give you a sense of for whom Christ died. He gave Himself for us to redeem us (Titus 2:14). Christ reconciled us to Himself. Husbands, you are to love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her. Christ redeemed us (Galatians 3:13). Prophetically speaking, Isaiah 53:8 says, "For the transgressions of my people He was stricken." Matthew 1:21 tells us, "He will save His people from their sin." And Luke 1:68 declares, "He has come and redeemed His people."

Christ the Good Shepherd Dying for His Sheep

Turn, if you would, to John chapter 10. Jesus is teaching, using the picture — a parable, really — of the Good Shepherd. We are going to look at verses 11, 14, and 15. Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and I am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep."

When Jesus died on the cross, He died for a specific group of people. He did not make salvation theoretically possible — He made it a reality. He cried out and said, "It is finished." He had done everything necessary for this group of people to be saved. It was merely a matter of time for the Holy Spirit to apply that truth.

Consider also Romans chapter 5: "God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

The High Priestly Prayer of John 17

Turn a little to the right to John chapter 17. If you are looking for a great study, study John chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17. These are Jesus' final moments with His disciples the night before He dies, and they contain some magnificent teaching with great application for us. In John chapter 17, we see the true Lord's Prayer. We often speak of praying the Lord's Prayer — "Our Father who art in heaven" — but the real Lord's Prayer is what Jesus prays here in John 17. Some of your Bibles may designate it as the High Priestly Prayer.

Jesus there acknowledges that His hour has come, that He had been given authority, that He had completed His work, and that He had glorified the Father on earth. Then in verse 9, He says, "I pray for them. I am not praying for the whole world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours."

As Jesus offers this prayer — and by extension, as He offers this sacrifice — He is not offering it for the world, not for every person who has ever lived. He is offering it for God's people: those given to Him, those chosen, those who are elect.

The Triune God Working Together in Salvation

God saves sinners — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the triune God working together. The Father chose before the foundations of the earth those whom He would save. The Son died for that specific group of people. And the Holy Spirit, at the appointed time, irresistibly draws these people to salvation and then preserves them in that state.

Man sinned and separated himself from God, and at that moment God chose to save some. The predetermined plan was that God would come to this earth in the person of Christ — the Incarnation. Jesus would live the perfect life and be the perfect sacrifice. When He died on the cross, this atoning death did not make salvation possible; it actually achieved the salvation of a specific group of people — His people, the redeemed, the elect. And at the resurrection, we see that His sacrifice was indeed acceptable to God the Father.

Answering the "Whole World" Objection

If that is true, why did I begin by saying the majority of Christians believe Jesus died for everybody? Let me ask the question directly. What about those verses that speak of Jesus dying for the whole world, or of all men being saved? There are verses that, on the surface, seem to indicate that Jesus died for the whole world.

Is that not what John the Baptist said when he saw Jesus? "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Then there is John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, and whoever believes in Him should not perish." First Timothy 2:6 says, "He gave Himself a ransom for all." Hebrews 2:9 says He desired "that God might taste death for everyone." What do we do with those verses?

The important thing is to take a hard look at them and to put them in context. If you are in the real estate business, the three most important things are location, location, location. If you are going to look at Scripture, it is equally important to put those passages in context — to look carefully at what they mean, who the author is, who he is speaking to, and whether other parts of Scripture come to bear on the passage.

For example, let me give you a great Bible verse. This is a great Bible verse: Ecclesiastes chapter 10, verse 19 — "Wine makes life merry, and money is the answer to everything."

meaning every person that's ever lived, then what is John saying when he says "not for ours only"? Who is the "ours"? John is writing to Jewish Christians. The "ours" refers to Jewish believers. The "whole world" then broadens the scope to include Gentiles as well. John is not making a statement about the extent of the atonement covering every individual who ever lived. He is making the same point the Samaritans made at the well — that Jesus is not merely the Savior of the Jews, but of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

Understanding the Word "World" in Scripture

This is why context matters so much when we read Scripture. When you pick up a verse, you have work to do. You have to understand the context, understand the words around it, and understand its full ramifications. You also have to understand who the author is, who he is speaking to, what he is saying, and how it compares to the balance of Scripture.

Consider Ecclesiastes. The book tells us that wine makes life merry and that money is the answer to everything. Do you believe the Bible teaches that money is the answer to everything? Of course not. You have to understand the author, the audience, and the literary context before drawing conclusions. The same discipline applies when we encounter the word "world" in the New Testament.

The word "world" is used in several distinct ways throughout Scripture. In Job 34 it refers to the entire universe. In Psalm 24 it refers to this planet. In Psalm 90 it refers only to the heavens. In John 12:19 it refers to a large group of people. It is also used specifically to broaden the horizons of Jewish readers by indicating that the world is comprised of both Jew and Gentile. We cannot simply encounter the word and assume it means every person, every place, every time.

Examining the Key Passages

Consider John 12:19. Jesus has entered Jerusalem in triumph. Lazarus has been raised from the dead. The crowds are crying, "Hosanna." Then the Pharisees say among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him." What do they mean? They do not mean the planets and stars. They certainly do not mean every person who has ever lived, because many people are not even near Jerusalem. They do not even mean every person in Jerusalem, because the Pharisees themselves have not gone after Jesus. What they mean is: look at the enormous crowd following Him. It is the same way we speak today — everyone was at the IKEA opening, everyone was at the game, everyone was at the party. A whole lot of people.

Look at 1 Corinthians 4:9, where Paul writes, "For I think that God has displayed us, the Apostles, last as men condemned to death, for we have been made a spectacle to the whole world." Does Paul mean every person who has ever lived or ever will live? No. Does he mean every person alive at that moment? No. He means a great many people have witnessed their suffering. The word functions the same way it does in John 12.

First John 4:14 says, "We have seen and testified that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world." Did He, in fact, save the entire world in the sense of every individual? No. The meaning must be determined by context, and we will return to that in a moment.

Now look at John 4. This is the account of the woman at the well. In verse 39 we read, "Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word the woman testified. He told me all that I ever did." Did Jesus literally recount every moment of her life from childhood? No. She means He opened her heart and revealed her sins to her. The word "all" there does not mean all people, all times, all places. It is the same kind of language.

Then in verse 42 the Samaritans say to the woman, "Now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him, and we know that indeed He is the Christ, the Savior of the world." The context here is the Samaritans — a people the Jews despised, a people they would travel around rather than pass through. They would have nothing to do with them. The dominant assumption of the day was that Jesus came as the Savior of the Jews. What the Samaritans are declaring is this: we now understand that Jesus came to save both Jew and Gentile. We know that because not everyone is in heaven. The word "world" here does not mean every individual who has ever lived.

Mark 1:5 provides one more illustration. It tells us that "all the land of Judea and those in Jerusalem went out" and "all were baptized." We know without question that this does not mean each and every person in every place. It is the ordinary way the language works.

Responding to 1 John 2:2

Now, inevitably, within the next week or so, some of you will send an email raising 1 John 2:2. You will say: you stood up there and talked about propitiation, and you argued that Jesus died for a specific group of people — so what do you do with 1 John 2:2? That verse reads, "He Himself, speaking of Jesus, is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."

Before responding, consider the question that must be answered first. If you insist that "the whole world" means every individual who has ever lived, then what is John saying when he writes "not for ours only"? Who is the "ours"? John is writing to Jewish Christians. The "ours" refers to Jewish believers. The contrast he is drawing is between Jewish believers on one side and Gentile believers on the other. He is not making a statement that the atonement covers every individual without exception. He is making the very same point the Samaritans made at the well — that Jesus is not merely the Savior of the Jews, but the Savior of people drawn from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

The Meaning of Propitiation

The word *propitiation* means to quench, to satisfy the wrath of God. Are you willing to say that when Jesus died on the cross, He was the propitiation — that He satisfied the wrath of God toward each and every person who ever has lived, is living, or will live? You can see how quickly you are forced to the question of whether atonement is theoretical or actual. If you take the position that Christ died for every individual without exception, what you have to say is that in theory He died, that He paid a price and made salvation possible. But in reality, on that view, He in fact saved no one at all — He merely made salvation possible.

John's Argument in Context

The explanation of this verse is found in what we looked at when we examined John chapter 4. John is writing and dealing with a specific problem — the Gnostics, and the Jews who were saying to the Gentiles that they needed to become Jews before they could become Christians. That controversy was present throughout the early church. I think John is saying: listen, He is our propitiation, and not just ours, not just the Jews' or just this particular group's, but He is the propitiation for the whole world — meaning for all who would believe in Him. John is clear in his gospel that if one believes, that person has eternal life, and those who have eternal life are those whom the Father has chosen.

For whom, then, did Christ die? I think it is that specific group of people. There are verses here that present a challenge, and you are going to have to dig and work. But for most of them, there are pretty good answers that will come to you fairly quickly.

What We Believe

Here is what we believe. We believe the Bible teaches that Jesus died for His people, that Jesus satisfied the wrath of God toward His people, that Jesus reconciles us to the Father, that Jesus redeems us from the bondage of sin, and that Jesus' death covers our guilt and our wickedness. The atonement is limited not by you and me through our choice, not by human beings, but by God Himself — who took the sacrifice of infinite value and directed it toward a specific group of people.

Looking Ahead

This raises a series of questions we will look at next week. Can someone be chosen and not come to Christ? Did Christ die for everyone, or only for those who will believe? Is God calling everyone equally to saving faith? And if you are a Christian today, can you lose that salvation? Next week we will look at Irresistible Grace and the Perseverance of the Saints, and then we will summarize before moving into what it really means to be a Christian as we head toward Christmas.

Recommended Reading and Closing Announcements

I want to remind you of the books that are absolutely critical for your continued study. I understand that for some of you this series gave you answers, while for others it simply raised more questions. You need to do some work and take part in the open forum that will take place when the studies open covering the five books on Calvinism, including *Chosen by God*. I also want to remind you of the service this Wednesday night at 5:30 and at 7. It would be wonderful if you could come and worship with us for one hour and serve during the other. Please also make plans to be with us on either the 29th or the 30th, and if you need childcare, please get in touch with Neil so we can arrange that for you.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for this truth. I would ask that You would take this Word and apply it to our hearts. As I look at this, I see Your plan. I see how You are in control. I see that there is none of us who can limit You or thwart Your perfect will, and that Your will shall be done as it relates to salvation. Father, we thank You for choosing us for salvation, for sending Your Son to die on the cross, and for having Your Spirit apply that to our lives. We pray for this week, for the beginning of the holidays, for the Wednesday night service, and for next week's meetings. Father, so much is going on in the midst of this busyness — let us still remain focused on You, Your Son, and His death. Father, we pray to You tonight, in His name, Amen.