The Extent of the
atonement
The first question we must ask when
determining the extent of the atonement is,
“Did Christ provide an actual atonement or hypothetical atonement?” “Did
His atonement hypothetically save all, or actually save some?” We must first
deal with the passages in John 3:16-21. Comments such as, “God died for
whosoever…” And, “God died for the world,” are merely surface-level descriptions of the
overarching deed. Such phrases shall not be used to argue against particular
atonement. Using such tactics are merely sound bites which cause inflammatory
diversions. We must deal with the act. The act to which we refer is this: God sent His Son to save sinners, by
sending Him to die upon the cross and to be resurrected for their
justification. This is not simply an academic, second-tier, theological exercise;
rather, we are discussing the scope and reach of the cross. Hyper-Calvinist
straw men aside, this writer believes fully that the Gospel must be proclaimed
to all men. All men must hear the glorious ultimatum before they can be regenerated
and converted. The sinner must be given the gift of repentance and faith to
respond rightly to this appeal.
The extent of the atonement is
first a matter of dealing with the doctrine of Election. The inescapable reality is that God has
chosen some unto salvation. Paul wrote to the Ephesians:
Eph. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in bthe heavenly places in Christ, just as aHe chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the 2kind intention of His will, 6 to the
praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved.
As Paul affirms, God has chosen
those whom He will save “before the foundation of the world.” In fact, elsewhere
Peter (1 Pet. 1:20) and John (Rev. 13:8) mention “the Lamb” who was slain before the foundation of world.
This provision is made for sin, before the fall in eternity past. Peter’s Sermon on the Day of Pentecost
clearly and emphatically states that God planned the atoning death of His Son
at the hands of ungodly men (Acts 2:23). This must be first mentioned to lay
the groundwork for the reach and scope of the atonement. Here, we return to our
question: “Did God provide an actual atonement or hypothetical atonement?”
God clearly has selected and
predestined some to be saved out of a wicked generation of rebellious sinners
(Romans 9:21), according to His sovereign purpose. Now to the key verse of epic
dispute,
John 3:16 “For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall
not perish, but have eternal life. 17 “For God adid not send the Son into the world to judge
the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
First
let us deal with the obvious distinction in the verses that follow. Namely,
that not all will be saved. Many will reject the Son who has been sent by God.
They are identified in the following verses as those who have already been
judged (vv. 18-19). They are not among those who are saved by the coming of
Christ into the world. They are those who have rejected God and stand condemned
before God. It is thus illogical to conclude that this second group is both
saved, and condemned. This group is among the broad road of those who hate God.
Did Christ come to die for their sins? If He has, do we believe that there is
any weakness or deficiency in the salvific work of Calvary or in the
predetermined salvation plan of God? If there is a deficiency in the plan, we
must conclude that there is a deficiency in the Planner. We will return to this
notion.
Two questions
must first be answered, “Who is ‘the world’”? And “Who is ‘whoever'
{whosoever}”? Since the Gospel of John was originally written in koine (common)
Greek, we must first engage the word “world” by its Greek definition.
The World
The
verse can be understood as saying, “For God so loved the cosmos (gk.).” Here the word, “cosmos” refers to a specific world
order, system. This cannot mean a general populace of the entire world. How do
we come to this conclusion? Take the example of the verse in Revelation that says the whole world (KJV) or earth (NASB) followed after Antichrist. The Greek
explicitly mentions that the whole general populace or inhabited earth followed
after the antichrist. Rather than using a limiting term like cosmos in this
verse, John uses a term of generality. Whereas in John 3:16, he uses cosmos as
a term of specificity. The cosmos (world order/system) will also be redeemed
with the coming of Christ, and groans until such restoration has taken place
(Romans 8:22).
When
the Pharisees mention that the “whole world” is following after Christ. They do
not mean the entire population. In fact, Christ was rejected by the majority, the
closer He came to suffering upon the cross. John the Apostle indicates that the Pharisees
were speaking in exaggeration, but were still being specific, and limiting in
their estimation. The whole world of Israel and other Gentiles in closer
regions were following after Christ. Since, the way is narrow and few find it,
we cannot surmise that the Pharisees were saying that the general populous upon all the face of the earth were following Christ. Had they meant cosmos in this way, he would not have
been crucified (John 18:36). We also know that the majority despised Christ in
His first advent (coming) (Is. 53:3).
We
have established that there are two categories in John 3:16-18; those who
believe and those who are already condemned. Since the Bible must not be read
through selective proof-texting, rather progressively and in context, we must
go beyond Jesus' encounter with Nicomedus and onto the Garden of Gethsemane. Who was Jesus committing to prayer before the
Father in John 17? There are those He refers to as given to Him from out of the
world (cosmos). A specific people is whom God has selected to give to His Son
is the focal point of the Son’s prayer. In John 17:9, Jesus says,
9 I pray for them: I pray
not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine;
and I am glorified in them.
Here
Jesus is referring to a limited and particular people who are given to Him and
that He will be glorified in them. The distinction is that Christ is not
praying for the entire world populace of both believers and unbelievers. He is
praying for believers who will remain in the world system. These are those
given to Him, and these are those whom He, in a matter of hours, will go to the
blessed cross and make a perfect sacrifice unto the Father.
Who is the ‘Whosoever’?
The
term whosoever must be qualified. Are we to say that ‘whosoever’ is comprised
of believers and non-believers? Emphatically, we must not! The text says,
“Whosoever believes…” Therefore, whosoever is not a hypothetical group of
people who may reject Christ if they so choose. There is already a category for
such persons in John 3:18. They are the ‘already judged’ who ‘hate the light’.
Thus, the whosoever are those who are
drawn by the Father to salvation, away from sin and death, and given to Jesus
Christ (John 6:37). The whosoever are
an actual people who are granted eternal life for their belief, not a
hypothetical group who may or may not believe upon the blessed Christ of
salvation. The whosoever is granted
eternal life. They do not remain dead in their sins. The whosoever are not believer and unbeliever, lest we believe in the
false doctrine of universalism which says that all will enter heaven. We may
look no further than John 3:18 to recognize the awaiting judgment of those who
reject Christ. A specific group of redeemed men and women from every tribe,
nation, and language have been elected unto salvation. Thus the ‘whosoever’ are
those who are recipients of God’s electing love. Here we must briefly examine
John’s later writing. Specifically, 1 John 2:2 says,
“1John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins
of the whole world.
The
question we must pose is this, “Has the wrath of God been satisfied for every
person upon the earth, whether now or prior, whether in heaven or hell? Have
the condemned received propitiation (satisfaction of God’s wrath)? Are not the
condemned experiencing the wrath of God at the present moment and for all eternity? All sinners who
reject Christ are abiding in the wrath of God (John 3:36). The wrath of God is
revealed against them for their ungodliness and unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). Is
John the Apostle referring to the whole general populace for all time? The very
term propitiation speaks of definiteness and actuality. A definite satisfaction
and actual atonement has been made with the death of Christ. God’s satisfaction
of the blood shed by His Son is not a hypothetical satisfaction. The former
animal sacrifices of the priests, as insufficient as they were, were not
hypothetical sacrifices for hypothetical Jews. Thus, do we believe that the
atonement of Christ was definite and all sufficient? The writer of Hebrews
reminds the Christian that His atonement has been orchestrated by God, rendered
in blood, definite, all sufficient and actual (Heb. 9:13). Theologians refer to
this as vicarious atonement.
The
scope and reach of atonement is applied to everyone who calls upon the name of
the Lord (Acts 2:21). But the whosoever
can only call upon Christ if the Lord enables to them to cry out. The crying
out is only done where there is the preaching of the Gospel (Rom. 10:14). Thus,
this writer must not succumb to the emotionalist misrepresentations that this
view does not aim to call every man under heaven to repentance and faith in
Christ. Every man must be confronted with the utter rebellion of sin and the
necessity of salvation in Christ. However, the whosoever is the elect of God who calls upon the name of the Lord
and are redeemed. The bible is clear that not all will call upon the name of
the Lord. Some will hear the gospel proclamation and turn away hardened in
their sin. However, only those predestined to salvation will call out.
Therefore, we preach to the cosmos,
and expect that only the few will be saved. The rest are condemned for their
rejection. Only God knows who are His elected. Thus, we are those who cry out
to every human being, and God thus determines if He may draw them or leave them
in their rebellion (Rom. 9:16). Whosoever comprises not hypothetical believers,
or a rebellious, undecided majority. The whosoever
comprises of a definite people, responding to a definite Savior, by His
vicarious death and resurrection. Whosoever
are the elect of God, called to Him and predestined unto salvation. This is an
actual predestination by way of an actual and particular atonement.
No comments:
Post a Comment