Introduction

As we continue to reflect on limited atonement today, I want to begin by reviewing some of what we have covered so far. You may recall that a key passage for this study on the doctrines of grace is Acts 20:24. In this passage we get a look at Paul’s heart as a minister and an example for every minister of the gospel today (and for the Christian as light in darkness and at war with the world and worldliness):

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Clearly, the gospel is God’s gospel, the one that has its source in God. Furthermore, it is clear that God’s gospel is about grace; it is "the gospel of grace" that Paul was called to preach. To testify to the gospel of grace was more important to Paul than life itself; it must therefore be the most important thing in life. Everything is laid on the line for the gospel of grace.

Now what is this gospel of grace so emphasized in the ministry of Paul?  In writing to these same Ephesian Christians, Paul tells us that the gospel of grace is the good news of God’s election that is the fountain from which all blessings flow to us from the God of all blessings:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him (Eph. 1:3-4).

Every spiritual blessing that comes to us from God the Father accords with ("even as," v. 4) the fact that "He chose us in him (in Christ) before the foundation of the world." All the blessings are expressions of special favor (Eph. 1:6, to the praise of his glorious grace). This is grace, the showing of favor. God favors us and thereby leaves others without these favors:

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. ⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened (Rom. 11:5-7).

We are favored and the rest are passed by being left to the just punishment of their sins. We should be punished too but we are not by God’s loving kindness and gracious favor.

From the letter to Ephesians we also learn that this favoring of us is totally undeserved because we were "dead in trespasses and sins" (2:1). Put simply, it is grace to totally depraved sinners. The dead are unable to respond to God in repentance, faith, and obedience. We once walked on this path of death (Eph. 2:1-3). But God, rich in mercy and love, made us alive (2:4-5). This action was by grace and it is rooted in electing love because we were raised up with Christ (2:6). That means that we were raised with Him in His resurrection. Being raised with Him is not something that happened when we believed. It took place when Christ was raised from the dead and exalted to heaven; thus we were blessed in Him with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (1:3). Being made alive from spiritual death becomes our experience in time because of God’s electing love to us in Christ. This is the favor shown to us as undeserving sinners.

But how can God show such favor to us as sinners. We know why He chose us and chose to favor us with the gift of life; it is because of His love. But how can He show this favor given our sinfulness? To answer this question we have to focus the barrier that stands between God and man, namely, sin. In order for God to be gracious to us, sin must be dealt with. His love is not arbitrary. Instead, it conforms to His perfect justice. So justice must be satisfied in order for God to favor us with spiritual life.

Satisfaction of God’s justice and wrath against our sin is propitiation. This brings us to our third doctrine of grace. First, it is grace to totally depraved sinners who are unable to repent and believe. Second, it is electing grace by which God chose who would be given faith and in that way saved. Now, third, it is atoning grace. It is by the atoning work of Christ on the cross that God is able to show favor to totally depraved and undeserving sinners. This doctrine of grace is presented to us in Acts 20:28,

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

In this passage where Paul defines gospel ministry, we have a simple explanation (definition) of limited atonement. Limited atonement means that Jesus obtained the church with his own blood. In other words, when Jesus died on the cross He acquired or literally saved (cf. Lk. 17:33) the church (cf. He bore our sins in His body on the tree; we were crucified with Christ).

Now let’s consider this question, why is limited atonement good news? This question is based on the context of Acts 20:24-28 and the fact that this text identifies the obtaining of the church on the cross as the gospel of the love and grace of God. So why is limited atonement (the obtaining of the church by the death of Christ, fully, perfectly, and without failure) good news of the gospel of God’s love and grace? It will help answer this question if we contrast it with the bad news of unlimited atonement. In a sense this question becomes, "why is limited atonement good news of the grace of God and unlimited atonement bad news about the grace of God?"

1A. First of all, limited atonement is good news of the grace of God

It refers to something that was accomplished. An event took place in the past. It took place when Jesus died. It happened on the cross. God’s wrath against the church was satisfied, that is, actually satisfied (1 Jn. 2:2). The church was acquired by High priestly sacrifice. Salvation of the church was settled once and for all in the death of Christ. There on the cross Jesus secured eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12). That means that on the cross He made it certain that we would be released from sin forever.

Unlimited atonement has no such news to proclaim because God’s wrath on this view was not satisfied when Jesus died. It was only potentially satisfied. It was like providing medicine for the human family, but there was no accomplishment that acquired the church. Per unlimited atonement there was no actual satisfaction of the wrath of God when Christ died. He did not guarantee the salvation of the church there on the cross. Simply put, none of these things can be true because what Jesus did on the cross was done equally for all without exception. And we know that not all will be saved. So His death did nothing more than make a provision for all that has the potentiality of saving but it actually secured the actual salvation of no one. That was not settled once for all on the cross; our salvation was not accomplished by the death of Christ.

Thus, it should be clear that unlimited atonement cannot proclaim the good news of the grace of God because it has no accomplished salvation to proclaim. It proclaims a mere potentiality for the cross and that is bad news for sinners in desperate need. In this case, no news is bad news.

The cross cannot be preached as a saving event for needy sinners. There is no actual propitiation, no actual substitution, no actual redemption, and no actual reconciliation to be proclaimed. And underpinning all these things, there is no actual union with Christ in His death to be announced as spoken of in Romans 6:6, "we know that our old self was crucified with Him." In the purpose of God and by His grace, we were crucified in union with Christ back there in history when Jesus died. And it was for a specific purpose: "that we no longer be slaves to sin." Marvelously, the death of Christ included particular people with Him there and then with the unfailing purpose that they be freed from sin in their life time.

Therefore, the lack of finality, history, and accomplishment of unlimited atonement goes against the whole tenor of the gospel. Contrary to unlimited atonement, Scripture teaches that Jesus acquired the church with His blood (Acts 20:28; He did not potentially acquire it). And Scripture teaches that Jesus obtained eternal redemption with His own blood (Heb. 9:12). We preach an accomplished work by a great transaction that took place in history near Jerusalem on the cross. The gospel we preach is that of a work that took place in history; that work is to be proclaimed and believed. Christ certainly and unfailingly builds His church on that historic sacrificial event. This is news to be spread far and wide; it is the news that makes the gospel good news.

2A. Second, limited atonement is good news of the grace of God

Grace is God giving favor to totally depraved sinners. It means that salvation is "wholly ascribed to God" (Dort). This is sometimes called sola gratia, that is, that salvation is solely due to the love, mercy, and action of God in such a way that man has nothing to do with his salvation. It is by grace alone, without any contribution by man. That is the good news of grace.

It may be helpful to be reminded at this point of the distinction between synergism and monergism. This is the great difference between Rome and the Reformation and between Arminianism and Calvinism. Synergism in theology is like the synergistic principle in business when separate companies work together. A shopping mall is a synergism; it is a cooperative venture. Synergism refers to a co-work and monergism refers to a single or one-work. Regarding salvation, a synergistic principle is in place when salvation is made to depend on cooperation between God and man. God does His part and only if man does his part will he be saved.

Subtly, the grace of God is turned into works. In this scheme faith, which Scripture says is not a work (Rom. 3:28; 9:32; Ga. 2:6), is turned into a work, a co-work that is decisive in man’s salvation. This synergism is not good news of the grace of God for totally depraved sinners. They cannot cooperate. This is very serious and dangerous ground given the warning in Galatians about adding to the work of Christ and thus preaching another gospel that has the content of "Christ, plus something man contributes" (cf. Gal. 1:6-9; 2:16). If we trust in Christ plus something else (our faith, this obedient act, or that good work) then we stand under the curse of the gospel rather than within its blessing. So this view runs in a serious red flag zone; it is truly dangerous regarding the spiritual safety of sinners in need.

But limited atonement is monergistic to the core. It means that our entire salvation from beginning to end, from conversion to glorification, was secured by Christ on the cross. Monergism could not be revealed more clearly. God does not depend on man in any way whatever. Likewise, sola gratia is emphatically preserved from corruption. So is free grace. That is why it is good news for we can find no solid ground in ourselves to any degree. Of course, it is this point of humility, this humbling of us, that goes with the proclamation of grace to needy sinners. The good news is that those who humble themselves in submission to Christ receive a salvation that entirely depends on Christ and His work in death and resurrection.

3A. Limited atonement proclaims the good news of the powerful grace of God

The limit regarding the atonement is a limit of design: it is designed for and brings about the salvation of the church. It has no limit in its value or power; that is why it is efficacious. Jesus accomplished the salvation of God’s elect when He died on the cross. As expressed in the high priestly prayer of John 17, Jesus was given authority over all people for the purpose of giving eternal life to those given to Him in the eternal covenant of redemption (v. 2). Therefore He came into the world on a mission. The salvation of His church (those given to Him, the Father’s elect) was His goal and that goal was completed perfectly and fully when He died.

But unlimited atonement is not good news of the grace of God Almighty because God does all He can trying to save all that He can but the only ones that are saved are those who independently of God allow Him to save them. Consistently, as a former teacher of unlimited atonement used to say shockingly: "Hell is a tribute to the failure of the triune God to save those who are there." The decision to allow God to save them is not due to God’s saving grace or to the death of Christ on the cross. No, this decision of man is what turns the potentiality of the cross into an actuality.

What power is this in which God tries to save sinners but then finds His hand shortened that it cannot save? What power is in the blood of Christ that bears the sins of people and yet they are still punished in the end for their sins? But God says, "I have preserved for myself seven thousand men" (Rom. 11:4-5). No one can stay the hand of the Almighty. Men have plans but God frustrates them; His purposes stand forever. Accordingly, it is the power of the cross that draws people to faith; it is the power of the cross that remedies the inability of fallen man to repent and believe (Jn. 12:32; Jn. 6:44).

But unlimited atonement gains universality at the expense of efficacy. It proclaims a universal but ineffectual atonement. Thus, "died for all" means He in fact actually died for no one. He was not the actual substitute for anyone. It is an amazing emptying of meaning from the words "died for" and "died in the place of" to argue a death that is potentially for all but actually for none because He did not actually bear our sins there on the cross.

The good news is that because He did actually die in the place of sinners then they will not bear their sins in the future. The good news is that no one for whom He died will suffer the penalty of sin in the future. Therefore those who cling to Christ will never face or experience the punishment of their sins. So, trust Him and live; He is the only way of life!

4A. Limited atonement is good news of the justice of God’s grace

Double payment for sin is unjust. When we give full weight to propitiation as the satisfaction of the wrath of God, then we see justice executed for sinners on the cross. Justice is satisfied there by a substitution that is final and once for all. Now if this was accomplished for each and every person who ever lived, then there will be people who will have to bear the wrath of God for their sins even though the wrath of God was already satisfied and justice was already executed on the cross for their sins. The proclamation such injustice is not good news. Nor is it good news but no news again if the proclamation announces that Christ did not satisfy God’s wrath on the cross. Unlimited atonement must either proclaim God as unjust or proclaim that Jesus did not satisfy justice on the cross. That is the opposite of good news.

On the other hand, limited atonement simply proclaims the full and complete satisfaction of the wrath of God that met all the demands of justice once and for all for everyone for whom Jesus died. His death in fact met the requirements of justice for us when He bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24). This is the foundation of justification: it is how God can be true and just when He declares a sinner not guilty (guilt means liable to punishment, that is truly and justly the case when we believe because it was already accomplished). This is the marvel of justifying grace (cf. the fundamental question: how can God be true and just to declare those who have in fact sinned not guilty when He requires judges to only justify the innocent and to duly condemn the guilty, Deut. 25:1; Prov. 17:15).

5A. Limited atonement is good news of the wise grace of God

Where is the wisdom of God to die for multitudes that He knew would perish? What wisdom is this that does something so costly for people to whom it will grant no saving benefit? How is it wise to have a high priest who does not intercede for those for whom He made sacrificial offering of Himself? Involved here is the bond of sacrifice and intercession. Scripture teaches the unity of the work of Christ as priestly sacrifice and priestly intercessor. But in the unlimited atonement view, Jesus is priestly sacrifice for all without exception but He intercedes only for His people.

How is it wise to have God’s law undo God’s atonement (the law may condemn me even though Christ died for me; this is the news to which we are pointed by unlimited atonement, this is what is to be believed; but what good news is this for faith to lay hold of?)?  A charge can be laid at my feet even though Christ was not spared but died for me! That is bad news. But this view has it all wrong; because of the death of Christ in their place needy sinners can never be charged with their sin.

6A. Limited atonement is good news of the grace of the triune God

Per the unlimited view, Christ does not accomplish what the Father planned (Eph. 1:3-4) and the Spirit applies (2 Thess. 2:13-14). The Father chose a specific people to be saved and the Holy Spirit sets them apart in time unto that salvation. But Christ, in the unlimited atonement view, does not secure the salvation of the elect in His death; nor does He secure the separating work of the Spirit. Surely, this is a view that wrongly places disharmony within the trinity and that is not good news! Contrary to this unlimited atonement in this respect, Scripture teaches that Jesus obeyed the will of the Father in coming to save those given to Him; His death accomplished what the Father planned and the Spirit applies. This is good news of the gospel of grace of the triune God.

7A. Limited atonement is good news of the loving grace of God

Is there no good purpose in the cross itself for any particular person in a personal way? Where is there personal love in the death of Christ if He did not bear the sins of particular people on the cross? If unlimited atonement were true, then the cross would be impersonal in that the sins of particular persons were not dealt with there and then. It teaches that a potentiality was put in place for everyone but nothing actual was accomplished for specific persons. This is a common love that puts the cross in the same category of love that God has for people in general as shown in His gifts of sunshine and rain (Matt. 5:44-48). But this general love is not a saving love. The cross is thus non-saving love and that is not good news about the cross for sinners who need salvation.

His death manifested and thus secured an inseparable, unshakable good for those for whom He died. What good does unlimited atonement secure unshakably for those for whom Christ died? It secured nothing; it only opened a door of possibility but no certainty. So we must ask, "How is it love on God’s part that "loves all" by the cross but does not secure the salvation of any by the cross?" That is not good news.

How do we take in the love of God to be comforted by the sacrificial love of Christ? It is not comforting to shift our confidence from the cross to something we do to complete it (like our faith). That puts the onus on us, which is not good news for getting into the kingdom or staying in it. Thus, how can having an intercessor at God’s right hand be comforting to the Christian when the love that God has for sinners expressed in the intercessors sacrifice is a love from which those for whom Christ died can be separated? But Paul says:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:32-39).

The love of God in Christ is such that all for whom Jesus died will receive all things (v. 32). He died for the elect against whom no charge can be laid (v. 33). God’s love expressed in the death of Christ is the kind of love from which those loved can never be separated.

It is not good news to hear that people for whom Christ died, that people that are loved by God in Christ can nevertheless still die in their sins as taught by unlimited atonement. We are told that love never fails and that self-sacrificing love is active in giving the highest good to those that are loved. Then are we to believe, (as is the case in unlimited atonement) that God is active in giving the highest good to people who perish in eternal judgment? That is not love. What is it? It is justice. Surely, we cannot think that God loves those in heaven and those in hell in the same way (Of course, it is a common argument of unbelievers to say that because God is love and loves everyone then we are all going down the same road and no one will be punished in hell forever; we buy into that argument when we do not challenge the the idea that God loves everyone in the same way).  That’s why we must keep the love of election and the love of the cross ever before us. God’s love for His elect from before the foundation of the world is a saving love that is realized through the gracious love of the cross. The good news is that the atonement is limited to the elect because it expresses a powerful, personal, and actual saving love of God in Christ from which those who are so loved can never be separated.

Conclusion

This good news of limited/efficacious/saving love from which there can be no separation is to be preached far and wide. We tell the nations of an accomplishment, an actual, historical, personal, and all-powerful accomplishment of salvation by Christ on the cross. We tell sinners of an event that was planned for God’s people in eternity before the foundation of the world that occurred in history on a hillside near Jerusalem that extends across the centuries in the actual saving of His people, and that takes them without fail to the glory of heaven. We tell this marvelous gospel story saying to one and all: if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is the risen Lord then you will be saved with the kind of salvation that is certain and sure as the saving work of the triune God.