Limited atonement - is it biblical?

The Lord Jesus had to die, and He ‘became obedient unto (that is, as far as) death, even the death of the cross' (Phil. 2:8). The obedience of Christ took Him to Calvary where He went under the judgment and wrath of God on account of sins and undertook the work of atonement, laying down His life, with all the value of the atonement in His blood. There is provision for all in the blood of Christ. He ‘gave himself a ransom for all' (1 Tim. 2:6); ‘he died for all' (2 Cor. 5:15). There is no such thing as a limited atonement only for ‘the elect' in Scripture, although it is true that the only persons who get the benefit are believers.

It is clear, then, we cannot speak of the world in this connection. A substitute for the world the Lord could not be, or universalism would be the simple necessity, and there could be no judgment for a single soul. But this is terrible error, and not the truth in any wise; and error which is now deceiving thousands. What have we on the other hand? "Substitution," is the thought of many, "for the elect." This is, of course, limited atonement. It is not possible to make it unite really with propitiation in any real sense for the world. You may say it is sufficient for the whole world. In itself it may be of value enough, but available it is not. Could one coming upon this warrant plead the value of that which in its design was absolutely for a limited number, of which he was not one, — Christ being really the Representative of so many millions and no others? If you say they will not come, it may be very true they will not; but you cannot say the work is done for all, if it be not so; and the blood of propitiation is the blood of substitution — of an offering offered for so many.

This is admittedly a paradox: it seems to be contradictory, but is not. Believers have often had great difficulty with this matter. Some have seen one side so clearly that they deny the other side, or take away its real significance in an effort to make the two fit to their satisfaction. But both are fully true, and not to be tampered with. Some will say that only God's divine choice is to be considered, and therefore that God gave His Son only for the elect. Thus they preach a limited atonement, available to the elect alone and to no others. On the other hand, some insist that salvation depends entirely on the choice of individuals, saying that Christ bore the sins of all, and the one determining factor in their salvation is their own will in either accepting or rejecting the salvation of God. They insist that God leaves this choice entirely to the "free will" of the individual.

And if our sins brought Him to this, as they did, why should we not be able to say that "Himself bare our sins in His own body," as the sacrificial victim? or looking at the whole multitude of the redeemed, that, "Jehovah laid upon Him the iniquity of us all"? The sacrifice is truly, fully efficacious for all His people, and that not merely for a certain defined number, but limitless save by the unbelief that can "neglect so great salvation."}

Christ died the just for the unjust; but the un-godly are justified by faith in a Person, not by the mental acknowledgment of a fact. And for the unsophisticated heart of faith, no statement can be simpler or more precious in the hour of our need than the doctrine of this verse. The propitiatory death of Christ involves, by a necessary imputation, the death also of those whom the divine Sufferer represented, and for whom He died. Such, therefore, is the unhesitating conclusion of the renewed understanding, and the heart which accepts this decision believes on and loves the gracious One who did thus die, acknowledging henceforth the sweet constraint and mastery of truth in its new and unchanging form of finished love. Christ's love has wrought in its dying energy a work which, by freeing the believer from his natural responsibilities, has brought him past the bitterness of death into the joyful and eternal participation of his Saviour's life.*

Verse 15. "And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." The effective limitation of the atonement to the predestinated heirs of grace is plainly involved in this statement. It is nowhere said that because Christ died for all, all are alive, though it is a positive declaration of the gospel that as in Adam, all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive; the last Adam has his offspring like the first. But the last Adam is also the Great Shepherd of the sheep, who holds His flock not by the title which belongs to Him as the Creator of mankind, but as the Father's special gift, and in the bond of the everlasting covenant of life (John 10:26-29; Heb. 13:20) and peace which He has sealed with His own blood. Who then are the living that are contemplated in this verse? They only who believe unto life everlasting on their crucified Redeemer (1 Tim. 1:16), and because they so believe are taught to reckon themselves already dead to sin, and alive to God in Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:11). The just lives by his faith. The words now before us show the special aim and purpose of the death-seeking love of Jesus. The dying Lord beheld the prospect of His spoil (Titus 2:14; Heb. 12:2). To be loved by the living He first set His love upon the dead, even to the voluntary taking of their place. Jesus would have the love of His own as His especial joy, and to win it He so wrought and suffered for their sakes, as to tie them in a willing and eternal bondage to Himself.

Yes. The death of Christ is sufficient that everyone can come. But only those who do come will benefit from it (see question 26). The offer is there for everybody:

Again, in this view, the evangelist can proclaim the gospel without any reserve. He can boldly tell men — all men — Christ died concerning your sins. He can unhesitatingly say, God has been so glorified about your sins by Christ's death, that on the ground of it He is now offering you salvation and is beseeching you to come and take it. You cannot refuse on the plea that the provision for salvation is only sufficient for a limited number. Every man can be told that the provision is for him, and that if he refuses it he can never say he perished because salvation was not provided for him. It is a misrepresentation of the gospel of God to say God has provided salvation only for those who actually believe. God has put no limit to the number who can be saved. He has made provision for all. While all thus can be saved, none are saved except they repent and believe the gospel.

The sufficiency of atonement for the whole world we must absolutely receive, or give up Scripture. It will not suffer us to say that this is an elect world, for the "whole world" is not elect; and here, the "ours" distinguishes believers from this world, not includes them in it. Propitiation, then, (or atonement — it is the same word,) is for all; and it is the same thing for all: not as actually availing, of course, but as fully available. It has no limit to its value within the limits of the human race.

The latter has in view a propitiatory work, i.e. the meeting of the divine claims apart from the question of its application to individual cases. The death of Christ being of infinite value meets God's claims in regard to the question of sin regarded as one whole. It stands good therefore for all, as far as its intention is concerned.

In connection with this care is needed, for it is very easy here to speak unscripturally. Nowhere are we authorized by Scripture to speak of Christ dying for the sins of everybody in the sense that He was everybody's substitute. On the other hand, we are nowhere authorised to limit the bearing of His sacrifice viewed as propitiation. In this connection its scope is nothing less than the whole world.