Chapter Eleven
Sovereign Grace and God’s Election
When we examined the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, we discussed a number of very difficult questions that one cannot help but ask when considering the logical implications of sovereignty. We looked at issues like man’s free will, the cause of evil in the world, God’s goodness and holiness, man’s responsibility for sin, and the efficacy of prayer. These questions are what Bible teachers often call “hard” questions. The asking--and the answering--of these questions is often disturbing, particularly for those who do not have a full understanding of the complete system of Christian thought. People often have a visceral, emotional response to these questions, which is why it is so crucially important for us to let the only completely reliable source of truth available to us--the Scriptures--guide us to the truth. Our instincts and emotions are contaminated by sin, even though we are Christian believers, and will always lead us astray, apart from the guidance of God’s Word.
In asking these “hard” questions, I deliberately avoided raising what is perhaps the most difficult question of all that relate to God’s complete sovereignty over the affairs of men. I stated earlier that God has sovereignly foreordained every thought and action of man and every event of history to be a glorious display of His eternal plan. You could say that history is His story for His glory! I cited a great many Scriptures which present overwhelming evidence that this statement is absolutely true. In the chapter on anthropology (the doctrine of man), I listed the verses which reveal the total depravity of sinful man. We saw that the heart of man is wicked beyond all human understanding; man is blind to the gospel of Jesus Christ; his mind is hostile to God; and that no unsaved man will ever turn to God of his own volition. In short, man loves sin, and hates God. Perhaps some of you have already considered the question that I did not raise at that time: If God is completely sovereign over all the affairs of men, as the Scriptures say, then what role does sinful man play in his salvation?
Most of us respond to that question automatically, without giving it any real thought. We say that a man hears the gospel message, believes it, and trusts in Christ as his Savior. The next chapter will provide you with a detailed discussion of what saving faith really is, so I am not going to examine the components of belief here. Besides, there is a giant question that must be answered before we can begin a discussion of faith: Did we trust in Christ by our own reasoning? Or were we directed to that trust according to the sovereign will of God?
Even after years of preaching and teaching the Word of God, I am still surprised at the hostility that this question produces in so many Christian believers. The emotional response seems very similar to the reaction that so many people display toward the abortion debate that rages in this country today. Perhaps you, Dear Reader, are experiencing just such a reaction this very minute. Please make this commitment, both to God and to yourself, to honestly weigh the testimony of the Scriptures about this question. I have been following a particular line of thought throughout this entire book: We must let the Word be the Word; we must let reason be reason; we must let God be God; and we must let man be man. If we do this, we find that what we had unquestioningly accepted as “true” when it comes to man’s salvation may not really be true at all.
Does Man “Choose” God? Or Does God Choose Man?
We have seen that God is sovereign over all creation. The books of Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, in particular, testify to God’s complete, sovereign control over the weather, over the plants and animals, and over everything that takes place in all creation. Similarly, God ordains the affairs of men, directing their thoughts and their actions, declaring the end from the beginning, and decreeing all of history to fulfill His purpose. There has never been, nor will there be, one instant of time when God looks down from heaven and exclaims, “Goodness, I wish that hadn’t happened! Oh well, now I’ll have to fix it.” God is never surprised or disappointed. He never has to come up with a “Plan B.” He never reacts to any event in the world of nature or humanity, hence He is never obligated or motivated to do anything because of some so-called “independent” force outside of himself. Job said of the Lord, “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.”
Those of you who have read through this book and honestly examined the Scriptures provided for your careful, prayerful study would readily agree that what I have just said is true. Yet we will often draw a line past which we do not wish to allow the sovereignty of God to pass: at the point of our own salvation. We insist that we freely chose God. We vigorously assert that He did not direct us to choose His gracious offer of salvation. Is this thinking consistent with the teaching of Scripture? Dear Reader, I must tell you, as gently as I can, that the answer to that question is “No.”
We have seen man’s complete, guilty inability to come to God. The Psalms tell us twice that “The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.” Paul reemphasized the teaching of the Psalms in Romans 3:10‑12 — “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who ... seeks after God ... No, not one.” The force of the Greek language here is even stronger. A literal translation of this passage is: “The man who seeks God does not exist.” Later in Romans, Paul, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, noted that “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.” Similarly, Jesus said twice that “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” In other words, man does not seek after God of his own volition. The man who seeks God, according to the God-breathed truth of Scripture, does not exist!
You may read this and, much like the original disciples, feel “greatly astonished, saying, ‘Who then can be saved?’” If we are under the imputed legal condemnation of Adam’s sin in the garden; if we are not spiritually sick (as the semi-Pelagianists teach), but are, indeed, as dead as was Lazarus in his tomb--stinking, sightless, with no thought or volition of our own; if there is nothing within our sinful nature that desires to turn to God to seek a remedy for our plight, how can we possibly ever be saved? Jesus’ answer to the disciples was elegant in its simplicity: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Dear Reader, man cannot save himself! We have seen that man’s will is free only in a downward, sinful sense. He quite willingly chooses to move further and further away from God. The first three chapters of the book of Romans inexorably spell out man’s complete inability to turn toward God. We saw in chapter nine of this book all the verses that point to man’s total depravity--his complete separation from God because of the acts and inclinations of his sinful nature. Man not only cannot save himself, he has no desire to save himself!
It is only by God’s loving, merciful, sovereign grace that man will turn toward God. Paul’s question to the Corinthians applies to salvation as equally as to any other gift of God: “What do you have that you did not receive?” Paul’s question to the Corinthians was a rhetorical one. He had already answered it in the same epistle, saying, “It is because of (God) that you are in Christ Jesus.” James wrote that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.” Dear Reader, is your salvation anything less than a good and perfect gift?
Ask yourself this question: If God is truly sovereign over every single event throughout history, if not even a bird falls to the ground apart from His will, would He leave something as precious as the salvation of men and women made in His image to chance? Did God become a man, a plan He had formulated before the creation of the world, die a death so agonizing and horrific that the human mind cannot even conceive it, and rise again, only to ascend to heaven and hope that His creatures would accept His gracious offer of salvation?
This is not the testimony of Scripture. “Blessed is the man You choose,” David wrote, “and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts.” If a man is dead, how can he get up and walk? Did Lazarus hear the voice of Jesus and decide to stagger out of the tomb, that he might be healed of his sickness? No, Lazarus had been physically dead for four days! It was only when the voice of God called him forth that he was able to arise and walk toward God! Notice that Jesus was careful to specify to whom He was speaking. He said, “Lazarus, come forth!” If the Lord had not qualified His statement, every person who had ever died would have come forth! Such is the power of the living God. Nothing can restrain His hand.
How can a totally depraved, spiritually dead man become righteous before God? The answer is that God is sovereign over justification. We have already seen that we are justified freely, i.e., we are justified without cost to us, without cause in us, and for no reason other than the sovereign pleasure of our Creator. We give God countless reasons to damn us, but we cannot give God one reason to love us or to save us. There is absolutely nothing about us that earns the legal crediting of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now we will see that there is nothing about us which causes us to look to God for that salvation, other than the sovereign election of God!
Sovereign Election
There are far too many verses throughout the Scriptures that proclaim the reality of sovereign election to write them all out here, but let us examine some of them together, and I will provide you with a complete list at the end of this section. Again, I am aware that the idea of a particular election--or predestination, as some prefer to call it--is a difficult one for many of you to absorb. I would urge you not to believe or disbelieve this doctrine based upon the weight of what I, Pastor Lannom, write here. Read the Scriptures for yourself, and pray about what you have read. Ask God to reveal the truth of His living and active Word to you. If we agree that the Scriptures are the pure, inspired, God-breathed truth for all of life and practice, then we must not reject the truth of those Scriptures, even when they reveal truth that we are not particularly comfortable with, or that disproves our own theological preferences.
We have already seen that God’s perfect plan of salvation was formulated before the beginning of time. Jesus Christ was the sacrificial Lamb “slain from the foundation of the world.” Ask yourself these questions: Did God only establish half the plan? Did He sovereignly foreordain the method of salvation, and leave the identity of those who would be saved up to blind chance? Is the Lord Jesus Christ anxiously looking down from heaven at this very moment, hoping and praying that men and women who hate God and love sin, men and women who are blind to the gospel and hostile to the things of God, will suddenly regain their sanity all on their own, and choose to turn to Him, so that His agony on the cross will not have been in vain? There are more than three dozen passages of Scripture which indicate that this is not the case! Here is a sampling of those verses. Keep in mind that these are the very words of God.
Verses Which Establish the Doctrine of a Particular Election
“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me.” (Isaiah 65:1, NIV.)
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13.)
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” (John 5:21.)
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out ... No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day... And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” (John 6:37, 44, 65.)
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.” (John 15:16.)
Jesus ... lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, ... Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him ... I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and ... I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours ... Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.” (John 17:1-2, 6, 9, 11.)
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48.)
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30.)
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy ... God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden ... What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory ...? (Romans 9:16, 18, 23, NIV.)
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will ... In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. (Ephesians 1:4-5, 11.)
God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2;13.)
... God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. (2 Timothy 1:8-9.)
(The Father) chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:18, NIV.)
You are a chosen generation ... His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9.)
The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast. (Revelation 17:8, NIV.)
Below is the complete list of the verses which indicate that God chose, foreordained, and elected those who would be His adopted children through Christ Jesus, and called them to a saving belief in Jesus Christ. You will see that several of the verses on this list were written out on the preceding pages (I have italicized these on the list below), but there are several more listed here for you to examine.
Verses Which Proclaim God’s Sovereign Election and Calling of Believers
Psalms 33:12; 65:4; Isaiah 65:1 (also cited in Romans 10:20); Matthew 11:25-27; 22:14; 24:22, 24, 31; Mark 13:20; Luke 18:7; John 1:13; 5:21; 6:37, 44-45, 64-65; 15:16; 17:1-2, 6, 9, 11; Acts 13:48; 18:10; Romans 8:28-30, 33; 9:10-24 (selected verses are written out above); 11:4, 6, 7-8, 28, 36; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:4-5, 11; Philippians 1:29; Colossians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:11-14 (verse 13 is written out above); 1 Timothy 5:21; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:1; Hebrews 2:10; James 1:18; 2:5; 1 Peter 1:1-3; 2:8-9; 5:13; 2 Peter 1:1; 1 John 5:4; Revelation 13:8; 17:8.
I’m sure you have noticed that the vast majority of these verses are taken from the New Testament. This is hardly surprising, since the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, although clearly pointed to throughout the Old Testament, is not fully revealed until the New Testament. However, you do see God’s sovereign election of His servants all throughout the Old Testament. God chose Noah and his family to be the remnant of the human race after the flood. God chose Abram to be the father of the nation of Israel, and the spiritual father of all who trust in Jesus Christ. God chose Joseph, as we have already seen, to be responsible for the saving of many lives in Egypt. God chose Moses to lead His people back out of Egypt. God chose Samuel to be a great high priest and prophet to the people of Israel. God chose Saul, and then David, to be the first kings of Israel.
I could go on and on. The point is, as you study the lives of these men, you will see that none of them was actively seeking after God. They were all tapped by God for the works He had prepared in advance for them to do, in the very same way that the book of Ephesians says that we believers were chosen by God! “For by grace you have been saved through faith,” Paul wrote, “and that [faith is] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” There is not one occasion in Scripture where God reacted to the activities of man, and chose a man for leadership because of what that man was already doing. In every case, God sovereignly called His leaders, without cause in them, appointed them for service, and equipped them to do His work in precisely the way that Paul described to the Ephesians.
In addition, think of God’s special care and affection for the people of Israel. “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth,” the Lord said. However, God made it clear that He sovereignly chose Israel to be His people. He was not motivated to choose them because of some “special” quality within them. If that were true, He would not be free and independent in His will. He would not be the Sovereign Lord. “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples, but because the Lord [sovereignly] loves you.” Moses told the Israelites. Indeed, Israel would prove time and time again that they were not worthy of the Lord’s affection. Yet “The Lord delighted only in your fathers [only in Israel], to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.” Israel did nothing to earn or deserve their special status with God; nor did we believers. The cause is not in us. Our standing with Him is solely because of His sovereign grace in election.
Total Depravity Prepares Us for Sovereign Election
Everything that we have discussed thus far in this book prepares us for the doctrine of sovereign election. We must first work unflinchingly from the axiom: The Bible is the Word of God. We accept what we read in Scripture as pure truth--God’s truth. We must not accept only the parts of the Bible which we like and reject the rest. A good friend of mind recently stated during a meeting at his church that the Bible teaches that we are predestined for salvation. He was unprepared for the reaction. As he was leaving the church, another member of the congregation shouted at him from across the street. As my friend approached this other man, he could see the man was quite angry.
“Do you believe in predestination?” the man demanded. My friend hesitated, wondering what he might say that would not irritate the man further. The man found the delay irritating. “Yes or no?” he insisted.
“Yes, I do,” my friend said. Without a word, the other man turned his back and started to stride away. “I’m sorry if that makes you angry,” my friend called to his rapidly retreating back.
The man turned to confront him. “It just isn’t biblical,” he fairly spat.
“I’d like to show you some verses that I believe prove that predestination is a fact,” my friend said gently.
“I know what those verses say,” the man retorted. “It’s just your interpretation of the Bible. It isn’t true.” And he stalked off.
Dear Reader, we must not allow our emotions to interfere with our pursuit of God’s truth. Instead, we must search the Scriptures, and pray, and ask God to reveal his truth to us. When it comes to the matter of God’s sovereign election, even a cursory examination of the verses I have listed in this chapter will reveal that the fact that God chose us in Him before the creation of the world is God’s opinion, not my friend’s. The doctrine is, indeed, quite biblical!
We must use our reason, utilizing the rules of logical thinking that God has given us, to deduce from the Scriptures why God has chosen us. (More on that shortly.) We must understand and believe the truth of God’s sovereignty, trusting that God is not motivated by anything or anyone outside of Himself, but rather that God has freely foreordained every single thought and event throughout all of history. And we must understand the true nature of fallen man. As I have already said, the scriptural teaching of the total depravity of man clearly reveals that unsaved man does not seek God; he has no desire to obey God’s law; and he has no desire to turn to God or to know Him. The mind of man is in total opposition to God! He is a rebel. He is dead to God and to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Unsaved man is spiritually bankrupt. He has nothing to offer to God. If man is dead, then how can he stand righteous before God? If the evangelist is going to the graveyard to preach the gospel, who will respond?
The answer is that it is only through the ministry of the Holy Spirit that man can come to God. All the doctrines we have examined throughout this book systematically strip any and all credit and glory away from man for his salvation, and place that glory squarely with its only rightful claimant: the Lord God Almighty. The testimony of Jesus Christ--God in the flesh--is clear and compelling: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” We are chosen by God and we are drawn by God. The only question that is open for any kind of debate is not if God predestined us for salvation, but why He did so.
The Real Question is: Why Did God Choose Us?
There is a debate that exists among men of good faith about why God chose His people to be saved. There are two schools of thought. The more prevalent view is that God, in His divine omniscience, looked into the future before He created the world and foresaw who would believe and who would not. Based on that knowledge, God then predestined those souls for eternal life. Theologians call this the theory of foreseen faith or foreseen works. They point to verses like 1 Peter 1:1, John 6:64, or Romans 8:29, which reads, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren,” and say that words like foreknew indicate that God merely knew before He made man who would believe and who would not. Unfortunately, this view flies in the face of the direct testimony of Scripture.
As I have said before, a logical consideration of the sovereignty of God will not allow us to accept the theory of foreseen faith. If God were simply reacting to His foreknowledge of future events, then He would no longer be sovereign. He would be “sovereign-over-everything-except-man’s-salvation.” “Sort of sovereign” or “Mostly sovereign” quite clearly equals not sovereign!
Furthermore we read the testimony of Scripture that faith, like every other good and perfect gift, comes from God. We have already read Ephesians 2:8, which unequivocally states that faith did not originate within us; rather, “It is the gift of God.” Paul also wrote to the believers at Philippi that “It has been granted on behalf of Christ ... to believe in Him.” Peter greeted Christian believers, “who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours.”
Paul asked the Corinthians, “What do you have that you did not receive?” He certainly did not expect them to answer, “Everything is a gift from God--except my faith. I worked that up all on my own!” No, faith is a gift. Salvation is a gift. We are justified by means of faith, and we contribute nothing to God’s sovereign, eternal declaration of righteousness. God has chosen us and called us to receive His free, sovereign gift of eternal life. The only logical, necessary inference that can be drawn from the scriptural facts of God’s sovereignty and man’s depravity is the doctrine of an unconditional election. If God did not predestine us for salvation from before the creation of the world, and merely responded to our foreseen faith or our foreseen good works, then God is not truly sovereign, and man is not truly sinful, because he had enough good sense to turn to God. In either of these cases, the Bible is not the pure truth of God, because the Scriptures teach that God is sovereign, and that sinful man never seeks after God of his own volition! Dear Reader, what will you place your trust in? The truthful testimony of the Scriptures? Or the testimony of your own feelings about the matter?
Please don’t think that I do not sympathize with the emotional and intellectual struggle that you may well be experiencing at this very moment. I have, as they say, “Been there, done that!” I taught against these concepts for years! I resisted the truth that stood before my very eyes in the Scriptures. I clung to the more popular, mainstream teaching of foreseen faith that is increasingly prevalent in Bible colleges and seminaries throughout the world. I was angry with those who disputed the more comfortable notion that unsaved man chooses God, rather than the other way around. You may be tempted to slam this book shut, in the hopes of shutting the ideas that I have introduced to you here out of your mind. But before you do that, Dear Reader, let me urge you once again: Don’t take my word for anything that you have read here. Look up the Scriptures for yourselves. Pray. Accept the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Then, and only then, will you be able to make an unimpassioned decision that is based on truth, and not on feelings.
An Atonement that Really Atones
Can there be a definite election and an indefinite atonement? We have seen that God sovereignly chose to love a certain group of men and women, actually predetermining their salvation, from before the end of the world. Yet there is a sizeable group of Protestant teachers, as well as the entire Roman state church, which believes that Christ’s death on the cross, in the primary sense, did not secure the salvation for that special group. These theologians would have us believe that when Christ screamed out, “It is finished,” He meant only that His work was finished, but that the salvation of every single man, woman, and child was still very much in doubt! In other words, although Jesus Christ had paid the penalty for the sins of all who will believe, and propitiated (satisfied) the wrath of the Father toward sin, it will still take some effort on the part of each individual believer in order to activate their salvation: they each must turn to Christ and make a decision to take hold of the salvation that is offered. Does this teaching sound familiar to you? It should, because it is what is taught from the pulpit of every Roman Catholic church and the vast majority of Protestant churches throughout the world today! I cannot help but think that the pastors who present this form of teaching must feel the need to ignore John 6:37 altogether, or to add their own special addendum to it: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me ... [I hope!]”
Charles Spurgeon, who was one of the most articulate defenders of historical, biblical Christianity who ever lived, wrote: “Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ’s death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved.”
Three Views of Christ’s Atonement
It is important for all of us to realize that there are men and women who love the Lord Jesus Christ every bit as much as we do, but who hold radically different understandings of just what Christ accomplished on Calvary’s cross. There are three views that assign different degrees of efficacy to Christ’s atoning work on the cross. These are the particularistview, the hypothetical redemptionist view, and the universalist view. Some of the great words of the Christian faith, such as propitiation, redemption, and the forgiveness of sins convey a different meaning to different Christian believers.
The hypothetical redemptionist view looks at John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and understands that verse to mean that Christ died for the sins of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived. They cite John the Baptist’s words, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” as proof of their theory. The hypothetical redemptionist uses verses like these to say that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, He paid for the sins of the whole world, i.e., every human being throughout history--past, present, and future, even those unbelievers who are now in hell and have been paying for their own sins for thousands of years.
It is at this point that the hypothetical redemptionist parts company with the universalist, because the universalist believes that Christ’s atoning death in and of itself secured the salvation of all human beings throughout human history. In other words, the universalist believes that, thanks to Christ’s sacrificial death, no one will suffer eternal punishment--hell. The universalist view is easily discarded by all who proclaim the truth of the entire body of Scripture, due to the many verses which indicate that there will be a judgment, and that those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will suffer eternal damnation. Those who hold the universalist viewpoint deny the inerrancy of Scripture, and I do not intend to spend any more time on such a view.
The hypothetical redemptionist view, on the other hand, is not so easily dismissed. In many cases, those who hold this view are sincere in their desire to uphold the truth of Scripture. They do not say that everyone who has ever lived definitely will be saved. What they do say is that all men, women and children throughout human history have an equal likelihood of being saved. They believe that Christ died for the sins of the whole world --past, present, and future --and that if anyone will just look to His atoning work on the cross, salvation is theirs. This theory was one of the main tenets of a theologian named Jacob Arminius, and is often referred to as Arminian theology. Arminius believed in universal grace (Christ died for the sins of all) and in free will (all unsaved men can freely choose to accept or reject God’s gracious offer of salvation). Again, this is the teaching that pervades all of Catholicism and most Protestant churches, as well. It is highly likely that you have, consciously or unconsciously, subscribed to the hypothetical redemptionist theory yourself.
A great many hypothetical redemptionist pastors love to quote Charles Spurgeon. They call him, quite rightly, “the Prince of Preachers.” Yet it is rare indeed to hear these pastors discuss Mr. Spurgeon’s views of Christ’s atonement. This is because he completely rejected the hypothetical redemptionist view. J.I. Packer quoted a portion of Spurgeon’s brilliant rebuttal of Arminian theology:
The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men [universalism]? They say, “No, certainly not.” We ask them the next question — Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer “No.” They are obliged to admit this, if they are consistent. They say “No. Christ has died that any man may be saved if” — and then follow certain conditions of salvation. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ?
Mr. Spurgeon’s point was that, according to the Arminian (or hypothetical redemptionist) view, the death of Christ on the cross, in the primary sense, did nothing to propitiate God! As Mr. Spurgeon so accurately noted, the Arminian must admit, if he is consistent in his belief system, that when Jesus cried out “It is finished!” and gave up His spirit, that not one man, woman, or child was effectively saved from eternal damnation at that point in time. God’s wrath remains unsatisfied, the Arminian believes. The redemption is hypothetical, because while all can be saved in theory, in practice no one is saved by the death of Christ. There still follow, according to this view, certain conditions for salvation that must be met by the believer. These conditions vary from church to church, but may include any or all of the following: repentance, belief in Christ’s saving work on the cross, submission to the lordship of Christ, commitment to a life of Christian obedience, the infusion of the Holy Spirt (which may be accompanied by unusual behavior, such as speaking in tongues), baptism, regular participation in the Lord’s Supper and various other sacraments of the church, the confession of sins, and/or a lifelong perseverance in good works and clean living. This comprises quite a formidable list! For the sake of simplicity, let us use Acts 16:31 for our guide. When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” they replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” The condition which is necessary for salvation is belief. We are saved by means of faith, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians in the original Greek. Again, I intend to devote the entire chapter which follows to an explanation of saving faith, and it is there that we will discuss the myriad other conditions that far too many theologians--both Catholic and Protestant--add to simple saving faith.
The point that I seek to make here is that, according to the Arminian view, no one is saved by the death of Christ on the cross. They must contribute something to activate their salvation, which is the act of believing. The logical inference is that God’s sovereignty does not extend to salvation. God has made it possible, through the death of Christ, for everyone to be saved. But, alas, not all will be saved. Arminians teach that God gave us free will to choose whether to accept the offer of salvation. And so, according to this view, at the moment of Christ’s death, God’s wrath against the sin of all believers has not, in the primary sense, been completely propitiated (satisfied)! Before Adam’s imputed sin and all their personal sin can be removed, believers must effectually activate the cross work of Christ by believing in it and trusting in it. Jesus’ death, in and of itself, does nothing for anyone.
Christ’s atonement, according to the Arminian view, is indefinite and potential, because although the potential exists for everyone to be saved, no one has definitely been saved. All still stand condemned at the moment that Jesus Christ gave up His spirit on the cross. The sword of God’s judgment still hangs perilously over the heads of all humanity. Christ waits anxiously in heaven, hoping that those for whom He suffered and died will turn to Him and believe. His atoning work on the cross is a paper tiger. No sins have been removed by His death. In the primary sense, Christ’s death has accomplished nothing, according to the hypothetical redemptionist (Arminian) view.
Dear Reader, this teaching does violence to the truth of Scripture! The great words of Scripture, such as propitiation (the immediate, eternal satisfaction of God’s wrath) and redemption (the immediate, eternal release from sin’s bondage) are robbed of all meaning by Arminian theology. Every word that relates to soteriology (salvation) is a misnomer if Christ’s atonement is indefinite and potential. Throughout this book, I have been contending for the verbal inerrancy of Scripture. The truths of Scripture have been breathed out by God, Himself. The words that the Holy Spirit selected for the human authors of Scripture to use have univocal meaning. When the Holy Spirit uses words like propitiate or redeem or atone, there is no equivocation. God was not “sort of satisfied” with Christ’s sacrificial death, we are not “partially purchased” out of slavery by Christ’s blood, and Christ did not “semi-atone” for our sins. Dear Reader, God uses words that have specific meaning. If Christ’s atonement is indefinite and potential, then God’s words have no clear meaning.
Let us take a closer look at one of these great words of Scripture. The Greek word for “redemption” is lutroo. We see the word used in Titus 2:14, which says that Jesus “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem [lutroo] us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Lutroo (“lute trah oh”) means “to release on receipt of ransom” or payment. Dr. Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, in his book The Person and Work of Christ, wrote, “The ultimate base to which this group of words goes back seems to be represented by the Sanscrit LU, which bears the meaning of ‘to cut,’ or ‘to clip’; hence it is inferred that the earliest implication of the general Indo-European root LU was to set free by cutting a bond ... In this usage, it means, ... in the middle voice, ‘to secure release by payment of ransom.” So literally, according to the pure Word of God, the cords of sin and death that once entangled believers have been severed by Christ who bought us, or ransomed us, out of bondage by His shed blood on the cross. Jesus’ death on the cross, in and of itself, immediately and eternally secured our release. Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would “proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” That liberty was proclaimed: Jesus read this verse from Isaiah and said, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” And the prisoners were set free, because Jesus Christ bore the wrath and outrage of Holy God, and gave His life as a ransom for those whom the Father had chosen from the beginning of time to be set free.
If man must contribute some action in order to activate his salvation, as Arminians and the Roman state church insist, then Christ’s death,in and of itself, did not fully satisfy God’s wrath; man must assist in doing that. Christ did not pay a sufficient ransom to release man from the cords of death; man must ante up, as well. According to this view, the efficacy of Christ’s work, a plan worked out by God before the creation of the world, stands or falls upon the response of a dead man! Man, who can’t hear the Word of God, who can’t see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, and who wouldn’t turn to God even if he could, becomes the crucial, determining factor in the effectiveness of God’s plan of salvation. Therefore, according to the teaching of Arminian Protestants and Roman Catholics, the prisoners have not been set free; instead, there exists only a mere possibility of freedom.
Christ’s death is the supreme example of a purchase, a transaction that involved the most glorious payment that was ever offered for an elect group of men, women, and children who had been held in slavery and bondage to Satan and sin. Yet there are theological “teachers” who insist that the biblical word for purchase no longer means what it says. These hypothetical redemptionists--masters of equivocation--say that although the purchase price was paid, it did not in itself secure an actual release. The captives were not actually purchased--rather, Christ’s death was only offered in order to make their freedom possible! Tetelestai [paid in full] loses its univocal meaning also, because the sin debt has not truly been paid. The Lord Jesus must wait anxiously for the response of dead people to make His cross work effective, i.e., propitious.
Look at another great word from the original manuscripts of the New Testament--the Greek preposition anti. In Matthew 20:28 we read Christ’s words, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” The preposition “for” in this verse is the rendering of the Greek word anti, which means, literally, in place of. You could quite accurately render Matthew 20:28 as Jesus gave His life in place of many. He died, so that many others would not have to taste death! Dr. Richard Trench points out that another Greek preposition, huper (“who pair”) is often used with precisely the same meaning. Thus when we read in 1 Peter 2:21 that “Christ also suffered for us,” we are again seeing that Jesus suffered in the place of God’s elect. Similarly, in Romans 5:8, when we read that “Christ died for us,” the original Greek meant that Christ died in place of us. Dr. Trench points out “a truth, in itself most vital, namely that Christ suffered, not merely on our behalf and for our good [as Roman Catholicism insists] but also in our stead, and bearing that penalty of our sins which we otherwise must ourselves have borne.” Jesus really atoned for our sins, by taking the punishment for sin on Himself in our place.
Another word that the particularist uses as evidence for the efficacy of Christ’s atonement is propitiation, which simply means that God’s wrath against man’s sin is fully satisfied by Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross alone. We read in Romans 3:25 that “God set forth [Jesus] as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” In the Greek mind, one would propitiate the anger of the “gods” by doing something. Man had to do something to appease or placate the gods when they were angry because of man’s disobedience. This bears a striking resemblance to the teaching of the Roman state church at the time of the Reformation, which was teaching that sinners could purchase peace with God by buying indulgences. However, the teaching of Scripture, and of historical, biblical Christianity, is that God propitiated God when Christ died on the cross! God did all the work Himself, in order that He might demonstrate His righteousness and His mercy. Salvation is all about the righteousness and justice of God--not about the righteousness of man! God is glorified in the plan of salvation, not man. And so man can play no part in satisfying the wrath of God. If man could share in the role of propitiating God, then man would have to share in the glory for salvation.
The particularist sees salvation as guaranteed, by the atoning work of Christ alone. The debt is paid in full--100%--by His atoning work. Therefore, since God has fully satisfied His own wrath and man can contribute nothing to that plan of salvation, then the means of salvation, which is faith, must of necessity be a gift of God! Paul wrote to the Philippian Christians,“To you it has been granted on behalf of Christ ... to believe in Him.” Belief has been granted to us on behalf of Christ. The gift of faith is given to us as a guaranteed benefit of the work of Christ. Christ’s atoning death had an immediate effect on the wrath of God toward the sin of God’s elect. God has granted, through Christ, the means necessary to obtain eternal life. Man cannot contribute his belief to the work of salvation, because man, unaided by the Holy Spirit, is incapable of generating that supernatural belief!
Paul gave Timothy these instructions in how to deal with unbelievers: “Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.” Note that Paul did not say that those who oppose the gospel would “repent”; rather they need God to grant them repentance. It is God who opens the eyes of unbelievers on behalf of Christ. So in the primary sense, the death of Christ removes God’s wrath from the elect. Peter greeted fellow believers by saying, “To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours ...” Perhaps the most telling verse is Ephesians 2:8-9, which asserts, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Pastors will often speak as if “that” refers to salvation, but it clearly refers to the word that immediately precedes it, which is faith. Our faith is not something that we generate within ourselves. We have already seen in Psalm 14 and elsewhere that the unsaved man will never turn to God. He says in his heart that “There is no God.” He is incapable of changing his mind about God, unless it has been granted to him to believe.Our faith is a gift of God. It does not come about by our own effort or works, lest anyone should boast. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Because the debt is paid in full, we have peace with God, and He grants the gift of faith, which is the means to receive eternal life, to those whom He has chosen. The response of the elect, then, is guaranteed, “For who has resisted His will?”
The prophet Ezekiel was
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”’” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Could the prophet have brought the bones to life? Did Ezekiel have anything to do with the bones coming together, being covered with flesh and sinew, and being infused with the breath of life? The answer, of course, is no. Ezekiel had no more to do with it than Moses had to do with the parting of the Red Sea, or with bringing water from the rock. It is the power of God that causes miracles to occur. Spiritually, man is every bit as dead as the bones in Ezekiel’s valley; he is spiritually dead and dry and lifeless. But when the pneuma, (the breath or wind or Spirit) of God enters that dead man, he comes to life, just as Lazarus was raised from physical death by the Word of God. Notice that life was conferred on Lazarus; it was not offered to him. He played no part in the decision to be delivered from death. Christ came to the graveyard, and life was sovereignly given to that one man in particular.
Christ’s atonement is particular. It is definite. An atonement that doesn’t really atone is impossible, inconceivable, and irrational. When Christ commanded Lazarus to Come forth, there was no question whether Lazarus would respond; His response was guaranteed. “Salvation is of the Lord,” Jonah proclaimed from within the belly of the great fish. There is no mention of man playing even the slightest part in that salvation. If Jesus Christ purchased the church, He really purchased it! He didn’t merely make a down payment on an installment plan, which is essentially the teaching of the Roman state church. Christ didn’t give an offer of salvation, and then sit back and hope that some would respond! The response is guaranteed, because of the sovereign decree of the triune God. J. I. Packer wrote, “There is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners. God — the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing.” The Father guaranteed our response by choosing us in Christ before the creation of the world; Jesus guaranteed it by purchasing us by His blood; and the Spirit guaranteed it by giving us the gift of life. Our faith is not something we contribute to our salvation. That guaranteed salvation is obtained for us solely by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross (Solo Christo). The writer of the book of Hebrews said that when Jesus “had by Himself purged our sins, [He] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Later in the same letter we read that “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.” Jesus obtained our eternal redemption for us. Man does not assist Christ in obtaining forgiveness for his sins by contributing faith or obedience. Only God can propitiate God!
These great verses of Scripture, and many others, support the third view of the atonement, the particularist view. The particularist says that Christ’s atonement was definite and actual and effectual. When He cried out, “It is finished!” He meant that the work of salvation was complete. When He said that the debt is paid in full (“Tetelestai!”), He meant that those whom the Father had given Him out of the world had been redeemed, released from the cords of eternal death. Luke 1:68 says that “the Lord God of Israel ... has visited and redeemed His people.” The Greek word that is used for redeemed is lutrosin, which literally translates “wrought redemption,” meaning that the redemption has taken place in the past. Redemption is an act that was accomplished and completed at Calvary in an instant, at a fixed point of time in the past. It is done, it is finished, the debt is paid. Our salvation is not a process that we may be able to complete, and our salvation is not a potential event, which we may be able to attain if we will only turn our stubborn hearts away from sin and believe in Jesus. What did you have that you did not receive? Dear Reader, did God give us every good gift and every perfect gift, only to withhold the most precious gift of all, the gift of eternal life, and tell us that we must contribute our own efforts in order to obtain it? Did God go to all the planning and all the effort to construct the perfect plan of salvation, a plan which would give all the glory to Him, and then leave man to be the administrators of that salvation?
Particularists answer these questions with a grateful, “No!” They believe in the doctrine of particular election, which says that God foreordained that a particular group of men, women, and children will be granted the gift of eternal life. The book of Ephesians affirms that God “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Salvation occurs according to His will, not according to the will of blind, sinful man who hates God and loves evil. James wrote that God “chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” It is by God’s choice that we are reborn into eternal life with him. We know from Scripture that God created the heavens and the earth and the seas, and everything in them. Would God create all these things, only to leave the creation of those who will spend eternity in heaven with Him up to the actions and decisions of sinful man? No, salvation is of God! “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus.” Jesus said, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.” Notice that Jesus did not say that the Son would give life to those “who choose to believe.” No eternal life, as with all good and perfect gifts, is granted according to the sovereign will of the Lord God Almighty.
Did God Forelove THE Whole World? Or A Whole World?
All right, the Arminian will ask, how then do you explain a verse like John 3:16? If “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” how is it possible to say that only a certain group, a predetermined, elect group, will be saved? The Arminian might quickly flip toward the back of the New Testament, and point out 1 Timothy 2:3-4, which reads, “God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Surely, the Arminian argues, these verses indicate that everyone has an equal opportunity for salvation. The particularist answers that God’s love is a special, sovereign, love. God has said that He does not love everybody! His love is self-determined. The passage that most clearly reveals this is Romans 9.
This is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
You will remember that I had already provided some of the verses from this passage earlier in this chapter, in showing you a list of verses that establish the doctrine of a particular election. Of course, one could write an entire book on the passage quoted above, but let us examine it together briefly. Paul uses the example of Jacob and Esau to illustrate God’s sovereign plan of salvation, showing that the purpose of God according to election might stand. God determined to set His love on Jacob, but not on Esau. Please note carefully that God was not reacting to His foreknowledge of their actions. Paul points out that God made this determination when the children [were] not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil. Jacob had done nothing to earn God’s love, nor had Esau done anything to warrant God’s enmity. God chooses (or elects) those to whom He will show mercy and compassion. He also determines those whose hearts He will harden, in order that they will never turn to Him for mercy.
When you read the book of Exodus, don’t you wonder why Pharaoh refused, despite all the plagues and all the calamity that God brought onto Egypt, to acknowledge that God is sovereign over the affairs of men? The answer is that God would not allow Pharaoh to see the truth! Before Moses ever spoke to Pharaoh, God told Moses, “I will harden (Pharaoh’s) heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Paul quotes Exodus 9:16, reminding the reader of God’s purpose: That I may show My power in [Pharaoh], and that My name may be declared in all the earth. Pharaoh was a vessel of wrath prepared for destruction, in order that God might show His wrath and ... make His power known. It is impossible to read 1 Timothy 2:4 with Pharaoh’s name inserted in the text. You cannot say that “God our Savior, who desires [Pharaoh] to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” God made it impossible for Pharaoh to be saved! He hardened Pharaoh’s heart! God purposed to destroy Pharaoh and his army, that God would be glorified.
When we read that God so loved the world, clearly Scripture is not referring to Pharaoh. Nor does John 3:16 refer to Judas Iscariot. We have seen that Jesus was handed over by Judas according to “the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.” Before Judas had ever been born, or had done anything good or evil, God prepared him for destruction. Are Judas and Pharaoh the only two? Did John mean to say that “God so loved the whole world ... except Judas and Pharaoh ... that He gave His only begotten Son”? No, there are many other objects of wrath prepared for destruction. When Jesus walked the earth, He often spoke in parables.
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’”
The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven had been revealed to the disciples. God had opened their eyes to the truth, and given them the gift of understanding. What do you have that you did not receive? However, there were others who were blinded to the same truth. God had planned this before the beginning of time, so that His purpose in election might stand. Was Jesus incapable of speaking the truth in a way that the multitude could understand, if He had so desired? He certainly didn’t mince words with Lazarus: “Come forth!” There are those to whom God has no intention of revealing the truth of salvation through Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote to the Romans, “The elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” God gives life to whom He sovereignly chooses. We have seen the words of Christ: “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me ... No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” God did not leave our salvation to chance. Paul reiterated this concept in Romans 9:18. God “has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens,” and he reinforced it in Romans 11, asserting, “If by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” Salvation does not come to us by our works in the present, seen or foreseen, but rather solely because of God’s amazing, sovereign grace, and His self-determined love. No one can say that God foreknew or foreloved him because of some quality within himself.
Those who point to verses like 1 Timothy 2:4 and insist that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” ignore the reality that God loves all men without distinction, not without exception. God loves all men without distinction. Look at Colossians 3:11. “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” God calls all men and women to His kingdom without distinction, both Jew and Gentile, rich or poor, white or black, all are welcome at His table. But not all will sit at that table, for not all have been invited. Look at the very next verse from Colossians: “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” God has chosen those to whom He will give the gift of eternal life.
The Atonement was Definite and Actual!
Dear Reader, I hope you will agree with me that the preponderance of Scripture supports the doctrine of a particular election. Therefore, it follows that if there has been a definite election, there can not possibly be an indefinite atonement! Jesus said that “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” The Father chooses a particular group, and He gives those He has chosen to the Son to redeem them from death. This is why during Jesus’ great high priestly prayer in John 17, He said, “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” Jesus was not praying for the whole world, for the entire universe of humanity. Rather, He prayed only for that particular group whom God had foreloved, or foreknown, and “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” It was this group, the group that the Father had given to the Son “before the foundation of the world,” for whom Jesus would pay the sin debt in full.
Limited Atonement
What I am describing for you here is properly described as the doctrine of a Limited Atonement. Some theologians like to stay consistent with the particularist designation, and call it the doctrine of a Particular Atonement. Simply stated, a particular atonement means that Jesus did not die so that every man, woman, and child throughout the universe of human history will have an equal opportunity to choose eternal life. Rather, Jesus died in the place of a particular group, and His death in itself is the absolute and final guarantee of their salvation.
This system of theology that I have described for you is often referred to as Calvinism, after the great Reformer, John Calvin. I have avoided the use of the term because it is something of a misnomer. While John Calvin certainly subscribed to these great doctrines of historical, biblical Christianity, he by no means invented them. John Owen, in his magnificent book, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, shows that many of the early church fathers believed this doctrine and taught it. Calvin formalized these doctrines in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, but he did not create them. He was merely making logical deductions from the truth of Scripture, and following in the footsteps of great men of faith who had gone hundreds of years before him.
Verses Which Support a Particular Atonement
Perhaps the most powerful verse of all which supports the doctrine of a particular atonement is recorded in the book of Matthew, when the angel of the Lord told Joseph of the impending birth of the Christ child: “And (Mary) will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” The angel did not say that Jesus would save “all people,” or “many people,” or “some people” from their sins. No, Jesus would save His people, those whom the Father had given Him. Another powerful verse is Acts 20:28, in which Paul said, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which [Jesus] purchased with His own blood.” Jesus purchased the church, His people, with His own blood. He did not purchase the whole world. Nor does the verse say that He tried to buy the whole world. When His work was finished, the writer of Hebrews tells us, Jesus sat down at the right hand of God the Father, because His atoning work was done, finished. He had purchased the church with His blood. Hebrews 1:3 asserts that Jesus “by Himself purged our sins.” He did it by Himself. We contribute nothing to the atonement. And we also see again that the work is done. He Himself purged our sins, and His cross work is finished. Here are some more verses which support the view of a particular atonement.
Matthew 20:28, 26:28; Luke 19:10; John 6:35-40, 10:11, 10:14-18, 10:24-29, 11:51-52; Romans 3:24-25, 5:8-10, 8:32-34; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:18-19; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 2:15-16; Ephesians 5:25-26; Colossians 1:13-14; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 1:3, 2:17, 9:12, 9:14-15, 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:2, 4:10; Revelation 5:9.
“Why Have You Made Me Like This?”
The doctrine of a particular atonement infuriates a great many Christians. I used to be one of them! I taught vigorously against the doctrine, feeling that it was somehow “unfair.” One of the chief objections that you will hear believers raise against this doctrine concerns their unsaved relatives: “Do you mean to tell me that some of my unsaved family members may be predestined to go to hell?”
I wrestled with this issue myself. I, too, have unsaved family members, even members of my immediate family, and I pray for them daily. But I take comfort from the fact that God has ordained a particular group for salvation from the foundation of the world. If my relatives are part of that elect group, then there is nothing that can stop them from obtaining that salvation. Those whom the Father has given to the Son will be saved. I will continue to pray for them and witness to them, confident that the results are in God’s hands. If God has chosen to grant them eternal life, I will join the angels in rejoicing on that day that my relatives trust Christ as their Savior. If God has not chosen to grant these people eternal life, will I be angry with God? If a family member dies unsaved, will I accuse God of not being “fair” to my family? Of course not! Whom am I, a mere man, to talk back to the sovereign God of all the universe? I can only stand on the truth of Scripture, that God is just when He speaks, and blameless when He judges. I will not always understand God’s sovereign plan, but I have complete assurance that His plan is true and righteous and just. I have that confidence because I trust in God’s Word, not in my feelings.
Verses Which Seem to Contradict the Doctrine of a Particular Atonement
1 John 2:2 tells us that “[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” The Arminians will read this verse and ask indignantly how it is that we say that Jesus died for the elect, when we read here that He died for the sins of the whole world. Another such verse is Romans 5:18, which reads, “Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.” Again, the Arminian will demand an explanation. The gift, they insist, was given to all men, not to a particular elect.
Again, we have arrived at a point where the Scriptures seem to contradict themselves. As I have said throughout this book, we must remember that we are dealing with a system of truth. All Scripture is God-breathed, so there are no contradictions. I have tried to clearly and faithfully outline the system of truth that is historical, biblical Christianity. When it comes to the idea of a particular election, we have seen that God has sovereignly chosen a particular group, the elect, out from among the world of humanity and predestined that group for salvation. It is impossible for any thoughtful person to deny this truth, because there are just too many verses which attest to the election of believers.
This election is unconditional, meaning that God places no condition, such as foreseen faith, foreseen good works, or continuous obedience to God’s commands, on membership in that group. We have read the Scriptures which clearly indicate that faith is a gift of God, and that faith is not granted because of works, lest anyone should boast. Furthermore, if the election were conditional, then the doctrine of God’s sovereignty is destroyed, because God would be reacting to some quality within man, rather than sovereignly foreordaining all the events of history. In addition to this, if the election were conditional, then Scripture is no longer inerrant, because we saw in the last chapter that we are justified freely, which, in the language of the original manuscripts of the New Testament, means that justification occurs “Without cost to you, without cause in you, for no reason, for no advantage, for nothing.” Everything that God does is free, in that sense, because He is never responding to or motivated by any outside agent or cause. He is never obligated to do anything--He is sovereign. The particularist gives all glory to God for salvation: we are elected by God, our faith is a gift of God, we are justified by God, and man may take absolutely no credit for salvation. No one can boast, unless we boast in the Lord. This system is a death blow to the idea of synergism (cooperative effort between God and man in salvation), and exalts monergism (the work of God alone.) This returns us to the great Reformation cry, cited earlier by J. I. Packer, “God saves sinners.” Salvation is of God. This is the historical system of Reformation theology, and I have endeavored to explain and exalt this system of truth throughout this book.
When we read verses which seem to contradict our system of thought, such as 1 John 2:2, Romans 5:18, and, of course John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish ...”), we must diligently seek to see how these God-breathed doctrines coherently fit into His consistent system of truth. Let us look at John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2. These books were written by the apostle John, who was a Jew. When John writes that “[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world,” He is referring to the world that existed outside the world of Judaism, i.e., the Gentiles. He does not mean every human being in the universe of mankind, but rather men of all nations without distinction. We have already read Colossians 3:11: “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” The corollary passage to this is also found in the gospel of John. Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, was given a prophesy about the death of Christ. The Scriptures clearly say that Caiaphas was not merely venturing an opinion: “Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.” The Spirit of God revealed to Caiaphas that Jesus would not merely die for the nation of Israel, but for all the children of God throughout the world. So when John writes that “[Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins,” He means “Jesus satisfied God’s wrath for the sins of we Jews who will look to the Messiah for salvation.” Then John continues, “and not for ours only but also for the whole world,” meaning all God’s elect children outside the nation of Israel and the world of Judaism.
This also is true of Paul, when he wrote to the Romans that “the free gift came to all men.” Paul did not mean that the free gift of eternal life is for all men and women without exception; If that were so, everyone would be saved, and universalism would be true. Paul meant that the gift is for all men from all walks of life, Jew and Gentile alike.
Again, the point to remember is that God loves all men without distinction, not without exception. John was given a vision of heaven, and he saw “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” God did not distinguish between Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, educated or ignorant, slave or free, male or female, young or old, black or white, or any other distinction when he chose a certain group to be His adopted children from before the creation of the world. He chose men, women, and children from all over the world, and from all walks of life, to be His. However, this does not mean that the entire universe of humanity has an equal opportunity to be saved. “It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.”
It is also important to note the use of the word world in the New Testament. Whenever we see world, does it always mean “each and every person; all without exception”? In our own conversation, this certainly is not the case. We might say that we took a cruise “around the world” (planet); or we might say that a high-priced lawyer “moves in a world that I can’t enter,” meaning that individual is a member of an affluent society that would not welcome us. Is it possible that the New Testament also uses world in different senses? It is not only possible--it is so. Arthur Pink pointed out several different meanings for the word world in the New Testament. Romans 3:19, for example, uses world to mean the entire human race: “Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”
John 15:18 refers to the “world” of unbelievers: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.” This usage is seen also in John 17:9, when Jesus said, “I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me.” Those who point to John 3:16 to say that Jesus died for the sins of “the whole world” have a difficult time explaining away this direct statement from the Lord that He is not praying for the whole world!
The particularist, of course, will define the use of world in John 3:16 to mean the world of believers only: “For God so loved the world [the entire world of His elect, called according to His purpose] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This is the same meaning that was employed by John the Baptist when he first saw Jesus Christ: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Did John mean that Christ would take away the sin of the entire universe of humanity? No, we see this cannot be the meaning of this verse, because Jesus clearly taught that “The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep,” meaning that He gave His life for the elect only. To firmly establish the meaning of this truth, Jesus boldly told the Pharisees: “But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep.” He also told these stiff-necked Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” In other words, Jesus was saying that if the Pharisees recognized their spiritual blindness and believed on Him as their light out of darkness, they would have no sin, because they would be saved. However, they rejected the Light of the World, and their sin of unbelief remained on them forever. There was no atonement offered for them. Christ died for His sheep only! So how, then, could John the Baptist, speaking by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, say that the Christ would take away the sin of the world? This statement can only be true if he is referring to the world of believers, i.e., God’s elect. Two more verses which use world in the sense of the world of Christian believers only are 2 Corinthians 5:19 and John 12:47.
World can also mean the entire created universe. Ephesians 1:4 says God “chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,” meaning the heavens, the earth, the seas, and everything in them — all created reality. This is the same sense that Jesus used in Matthew 16:26, when He asked, “What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” In another instance, world refers strictly to this earth, as in John 13:1, which reads “Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father.”
John 12:31 utilizes still another sense of world, the sense of a world system: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.”
Lastly, as we have already seen, world can be used to mean without distinction between Jew and Gentile, as we saw in 1 John 2:2.
The point of this discussion is to remind you that when we read a verse with the word world in it, we must not leap to the assumption that it carries the same meaning from one verse to the next. There is an outstanding resource which will help you to understand the proper, biblical understanding of the verses of Scripture which universalists and hypothetical redemptionists appropriate to support their position. John Owen wrote a magnificent book called The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. Written in 1684, The Death of Death remains the authoritative work on the Scriptural justification for a particular redemption. Mr. Owen examined every passage of Scripture that might be used in an argument against particularism, and masterfully shows how these verses actually support particularism, rather than disputing it. No one, in the more than three hundred years since its first publication, has ever been able to offer a coherent rebuttal to Mr. Owens classic resource. I could not recommend it more highly. A contemporary author who has also done a fine job of examining many of these passages is Dr. Robert Reymond, in his New Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith. Dr. Reymond is currently the Professor of Systematic Theology at Knox Theological Seminary, and his highly readable work has been called “the best one-volume systematic theology in English.”
Let the Word be the Word!
From the very beginning of this book, I have contended for the inerrancy and the authority of Holy Scripture. If the Bible is the Word of God, then we must accept it as pure truth. I must confess to you that I did not do that for many years. I railed against the doctrine of a particular election; I argued against it, I preached against it, and I avoided any meaningful conversation of the doctrine with its proponents. However, as my love for and knowledge of the Scriptures continued to grow, I found that I had no argument against the truth of Scripture. I could mount a great many arguments against particularism based on my feelings; however, I could find no arguments that held any Scriptural validity.
In fact, as I gave greater care to my examination of the Scriptures that spoke directly to Christ’s atoning work on the cross, I was struck by the finality of the words that the Holy Spirit selected. There is nothing “indefinite” or “potential” about the words of Matthew 1:21--“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” He will save His people! This is the God-breathed truth of Scripture. The Holy Spirit did not say, “He may potentially save some people, if only they will turn to Him and believe.” I finally realized that the particularist view honors the God of Scripture and accurately reflects the truth of God’s Word. Those who insist that all men and women may or may not choose Christ are imposing a twist on Scripture that simply does not exist.
Let us look at some of the great passages of Scripture that relate to the atonement of Christ. If the hypothetical redemptionist view of the atonement is correct, all of the great, salvific words used in these passages must have the word “potential” added to them. Look at the violence that this concept does to the Scriptures!
The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a potential ransom for many. (Mark 10:45.)
The Son of Man has come to seek and to potentially save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10.)
Behold! The Lamb of God who potentially takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29.)
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd potentially gives His life for the sheep. (John 10:11.)
Therefore take heed to yourselves ... to shepherd the church of God which He potentially purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28.)
... Being potentially justified freely by His grace through the potential redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a potential propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His potential forbearance God had potentially passed over the sins that were previously committed. (Romans 3:24‑25.)
For if when we were enemies we were potentially reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been potentially reconciled, we shall be potentially saved by His life. (Romans 5:10.)
Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to potentially put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26.)
To Him who loved us and potentially washed us from our sins in His own blood ... (Revelation 1:5.)
You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have potentially redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (Revelation 5:9.)
Isn’t that a horrible desecration of God’s Word? All of these inspired words are robbed of their rich, salvific meaning when the pejorative word “potential” is read into the Sacred Scriptures out of an unbiblical theological system. There is no excluded middle when it comes to the meaning of the word atonement. Either Christ really atoned for the sins of His people, or He did not. Either He really purchased His people, or He did not. Those who believe the hypothetical redemptionist view that the death of Christ, in the primary sense, did nothing to propitiate God and did not accomplish salvation for anyone should always read the great verses of Scripture listed above with the word potential added to them, in order to properly express their unbiblical theology. There is only one problem with that: There is the stern admonition of Scripture.“Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.”
In all things, we must strive to be true to God’s Word. There are times when that is not a particularly comfortable experience! When I read in Philippians 1:29 that it has been granted to me, not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for His sake, I’d just as soon not believe that... but I must. Many of us, when we read that no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him, would rather not believe that... but we must. It is the teaching of the inspired, infallible, living Word of God.
To serve God truly is to serve Him in the knowledge of who He is. To worship truly is to worship God for who He truly is. We are to give God all the credit and all the glory for His sovereign plan of salvation. Remember that the main thrust of Scripture is to give glory to God--not to give salvation to man. Soli Deo Gloria! The Glory of God Alone! This is the emphasis of the Bible ... and this is the reason that God bestows salvation on His elect.
Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!”
See Numbers 17:8. God caused Aaron’s dead, wooden rod to blossom and bring forth ripe almonds, providing another wonderful example of God sovereignly bringing about life from what which is dead.
J. I. Packer, in the forward to John Owen, p. 6 (emphasis in the original).
Ephesians 1:4; Acts 20:28; John 6:63.
Hebrews 1:3. Theoretically, God had no business rasing Christ from the dead and seating Jesus at His own right hand, in full acceptance of His wrath-removing sacrifice, if the atonement stands or falls on the sinner’s response. What is the propitiating factor? The cross... or my response? Hence, the primary question, with reference to redemption, is not “Does the unsaved person have to receive the free gift of eternal salvation in order to be saved?” Rather, the primary question should be “Did the Father accept the death of His Son as a complete propitiation (satisfaction) of His eternal vengeance for the sins of those for whom Christ died?” If the answer to this primary question is “Yes”--and according to Scripture it is--then all those for whom Christ satisfied God’s eternal wrath will never suffer eternal damnation.
1 Corinthians 1:30 (NIV).
See Deuteronomy 3:30, where God hardened the spirit of King Sihon.
Acts 2:23. Also see Acts 1:15-17.
Matthew 13:10‑15. Also see John 12:37-40.
Hebrews 1:3, 10:12, 12:2.
Revelation 7:9. Also see Revelation 5:9.
Arthur W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, (Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Book House, 1930), p. 253-4.
John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Carlisle, PN: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1959).
Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998). See pages 683-702 for his exposition of the allegedly “universalistic” passages.
W. Gary Crampton, “A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith,” The Trinity Review, February 1999, p.1.
Proverbs 30:6. Also see Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32; Ecclesiastes 3:14; 1 Corinthians 4:6.
Jeremiah 17:9; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 8:7; Psalm 14:2-3 and John 6:44, 65.
1 Corinthians 1:30 (NIV).
Romans 4:16, 9:8; Galatians 3:7.
1 Samuel 3:7 says that Samuel “did not yet know the Lord” when he was called by God. Also see Jeremiah 1:4-5, where we read that the Lord ordained Jeremiah to be a prophet before he was born.
1 Peter 1:1-2 (NIV) speaks to “God's elect, ... who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”; The section in question of John 6:64 reads, “Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe.”
Many Greek scholars, however, insist that a more accurate translation for “foreknew” in Romans 8:29 would be “foreloved,” which carries quite a different connotation, one which does not support the theory of foreseen faith.
Quoted in J.I. Packer, introduction to The Death Of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen, (1852; reprint, Carlisle, PN, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1967), p. 14.
The Scriptural evidence against the universalist viewpoint is overwhelming. See Job 20:5-7, 21:20, 30; Psalms 9:5, 7, 52:5, 68:1-2, 73:17-21, 27; Psalms 92:7, 97:3, 139:19, 145:20; Daniel 12:2; Matthew 3:12, 10:18, 13:42, 49-50, 25:41, 46; Mark 9:44-49; Luke 16:23-24; Romans 9:22; Philippians 3:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Peter 4:17-18; 2 Peter 2:3-17; Jude 11-13; Revelation 14:10-11, 20:10, 15, 21:8.
Quoted in J.I. Packer, introduction to John Owen, p. 14.
W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, (Old Tappan, NJ, Fleming H. Revell Co. ), p. 263.
Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, The Person and Work of Christ, (Philadelphia, PA, The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1950), p. 430.
Richard C. Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (1880, reprint, Grand Rapids, MI, Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 1953), p. 310-311 (Emphases in original). Dr. Trench also cites Luke 22:19-20; John 10:15; Galatians 3:13; 1 Timothy 2:6; Titus 2:14; and Hebrews 2:9 as verses where huper is used with the same precise meaning as anti.
There are times when a little knowledge is, indeed, a dangerous thing. Some of those who insist that the relative pronoun “that” (“that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”) refers back to grace, rather than faith, do so on the basis of only a rudimentary knowledge of the Greek language. Gordon Clark points out that some ersatz Greek “scholars” will argue that the Greek word for faith in the original text is in the feminine gender, while that is neuter. Therefore, they announce that Ephesians 2:8 does not mean that faith is a gift, because the neuter relative pronoun may not refer to a feminine noun. However, Dr. Clark, who was a richly accomplished linguist, notes that abstract Greek nouns like faith, love, and wisdom actually require the neuter relative pronoun. Whether you are reading the original Greek or the English translation, Ephesians 2:8 asserts that faith is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. (See Gordon H. Clark, Predestination [Phillipsburg, NJ, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1987], p. 102-103.)
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