LIMITED ATONEMENT

L stands for limited atonement, which describes God’s intent behind the death of Christ in providing salvation. The question is, Did Christ intend to atone for the sins of all people who have ever lived, or did He intend to atone for the sins of the elect only? Another way of putting it: Did God love people generally, without reference at all to them as individuals, and send Christ to die to provide a possibility of salvation? Or did God love specific individuals, sending His Son to die for them specifically, perfectly atoning for their sin such that the death of Christ actually guarantees the salvation of a particular people?

Christians can rest assured that if they believe, it is because of the work of God, and that work cannot fail because His love cannot fail.

Limited atonement is necessitated by God’s justice. If sin has been atoned for, it has been judged and God no longer holds it against us. But unbelief is a sin, so if Christ died for all sinners, how could God hold unbelief against anyone? Christ atoned for it, after all. But God sends unbelievers to hell, and if their sin has been atoned for, this is unjust. He is holding sin against them that cannot be held against them because Christ atoned for it.

Limited atonement is also taught explicitly in Scripture. Under the old covenant, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest of Israel offered an atoning sacrifice only for the people of Israel, not for everyone on the planet (Lev. 16). In the new covenant, Jesus tells us that He lays His life down for His sheep and only for His sheep (John 10:1–18). Some people are not His sheep but are goats. Jesus died not for the goats but for the sheep—His people. We should note that some people have objected to limited atonement because of texts such as 1 John 2:2, which says Jesus is the propitiation not for our sins only but “for the sins of the whole world.” Yet, that text is not talking about the intent of the atonement; rather, it refers to the way of salvation more generally. God has provided only one way of salvation—through Christ (John 14:6). If anyone in the world is going to be saved, it is going to be through Him. There is no other way. The point of 1 John 2:2 is that Christ is the only atonement that can save anyone, not that He has atoned for the sins of every individual.

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