One Question at Every Door
Every Christian believes that Christ died for sinners. The question is how far that word for reaches. Did Christ bear the sins of every person, or did He die to save only those God had chosen? The answer reaches your front door. When you meet a stranger, may you tell him, “Christ died for your sins”?
The Reformed teaching, also called limited or definite atonement, that God designed Christ's death to redeem effectually the elect alone, though its worth is sufficient for the whole world.
This is the L in TULIP. Its friends seldom like the word limited. They prefer particular redemption or definite atonement, because they mean that Christ's death was aimed at a particular people and truly saves them.
Much is not in dispute. Calvinists, Arminians, and non-Calvinistic Baptists agree that Christ's death is of infinite worth, because the One who died is God the Son. Calvinists and Baptists agree that He bore the penalty of sin as our Substitute (see The Substitutionary Atonement). And all of us agree that not everyone will be saved. Universalism is a heresy, and no one in this debate teaches it.
Christ was offered for all mankind as a substitute for sin. His payment is provided for all, offered to all, and applied to all who believe (1 Timothy 4:10). No one perishes because no payment was made.
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For Deeper Study
- The Extent of the Atonement: A Historical and Critical ReviewAmazon David L. AllenA non-Calvinistic Southern Baptist scholar makes the biblical and historical case that Christ died for all. Long and detailed.
- Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point CalvinismAmazon David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke, eds.Non-Calvinistic Southern Baptist scholars, with a chapter on the extent of the atonement.
- The Death of Death in the Death of ChristAmazon John OwenReformed. The classic defense of particular redemption. Read it to meet the argument at full strength.
- Chosen by GodAmazon R. C. SproulReformed. A popular statement of the doctrines of grace.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Substitutionary Atonement
Christ died in the place of sinners, bearing the penalty of sin so that whosoever believes may be forgiven and declared righteous.
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