CALVINISM: “LIMITED ATONEMENT”
We continue our look into the doctrines of “Calvinism” because we want to examine what the Bible teaches and we also want to defend the Gospel message against teachings that we believe corrupt it.
Calvinism is basically summed up in five points known as the TULIP: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. We have an article on Total Depravity, one on Unconditional Election, and now we turn our attention to “Limited Aronement.” And it is as silly and wrong as the other two. All of these dark doctrines basically stand or fall together, and one leads to another.
The easiest way to describe the doctrine of Limited Atonement is to say it teaches that Jesus did not die for everyone. Right there, all Gospel believers should turn it off and reject it outright. Any doctrine that says Jesus did not die for everyone or that God does not love everyone—Calvinism teaches both of these—should be rejected explicitly. Even a simple perusal of the Gospel story would show the utter fallacy of such thinking.
The Bible teaches the universal love of God for everyone and that Jesus died for everyone. Both are taught clearly enough for anyone to understand it. Everyone can be saved.
Calvinism teaches that our Lord died only for what they call “the elect.” Of course, we recognize that the Bible talks about the elect, but what the Bible means by it is not what Calvinism or “Reformed Theology” does.
The most familiar verse in the Bible has to be explained away in some fashion by the Calvinist. The clear meaning of John 3:16 is exactly what it says. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Notice the words “the world” and “whosoever.” Whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but have everlasting life. Why? Because Jesus died for the world. The verse means exactly what it says.
Limiting the atonement of Christ to a group that God supposedly chose before they were even born is not only a distortion of the Gospel, it is a denial of the Gospel. No, our Calvinistic brothers and sisters likely do not intend to do that. But that is what they are doing.
According to the inspired apostle John—God speaking through him, in other words—Jesus died “not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). When he says “not for our sins only,” he is referring to believers. But John says He not only died for us who have accepted it, He died for the whole world.
Calvinism says that John means Christ did not die for “us Jews only,” but for people of all races. Although that is true, that is clearly not what John meant here. You cannot limit what John said to fit your theology. Jesus died for all.
Paul said, to people who had never even heard the Gospel before, that God commands “all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). If Jesus did not die for “all people everywhere,” then what good would it do for “all people everywhere” to repent? Limited Atonement is simply at variance with the Gospel call. Therefore, it is not the Gospel. Calvinism is not the Gospel.
The great invitation of Jesus is for everyone: “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:30). This invitation is not “limited” by anything other than one’s willingness to come to Jesus, a decision that is made by the individual. Jesus is not inviting all to come knowing full well that some cannot come.
Think of that. Calvinism teaches, directly or indirectly, that Jesus invites everyone to come knowing that not everyone can come. Only “the elect” can come to Him. This is silly, foolish and dangerous teaching.
The Bible begins by telling us that all men and women are created in the image of God (Genesis 1: 26–27). And it ends with a universal call to all who were made in His image. All. Revelation 22:17 says anyone who wants may come and take the “free gift of the water of life.”
The requirement is to be spiritually “thirsty,” not to be “one of the elect,” fortunate enough to have God love you. It might feel swell to think that you are one of “the lucky ones” who are loved by God, but that feeling is of the devil. Everyone is loved by God.
God did not create people in His own image just to send them to hell. Everyone is created in the image of God. This the Calvinist will affirm. But being created in the image of God is the same as saying being loved by God. The Calvinist cannot say to everyone, “Jesus loves you. Jesus died for you.” Because he or she does not believe that. They do not believe that Jesus loves everyone and they do not believe that Jesus died for everyone. Let that sink in and think about what that means.
What we see the apostles of Christ, following in the steps of Jesus, doing in the Book of Acts is preaching to everyone. And they preached to everyone that by choosing to accept and follow Christ, they could be saved. Calvinism makes it out to be some sort of game where we preach to everyone, but we know that only “the elect” can come. “But we don’t know who the elect are,” the Calvinist says, “and that is why we preach to everyone.”
This is nonsensical, unnecessary, and again, ridiculous. You tell everyone to come to Christ, believing that not everyone can come to Christ. Nonsense. We preach the Gospel to all because all can be saved. The truth is, we try to persuade people to be saved (2 Cor. 5:11) because we know that they can be saved.
Limited Atonement denies all of this. To say that the blood of Jesus and the death of Jesus is “limited” in its scope is totally false. They say that the power of the cross must be limited in the number of people to whom it applies, or else it is limited in its power. “If Jesus died for everyone,” in other words, “and everyone will not be saved, then His death accomplished nothing.”
What they cannot see, or will not see, is the freedom God has given to everyone to accept the accomplishments of Christ at the cross for themselves. Salvation is accomplished by Jesus, and it does not become a human “achievement” just because there is human “acceptance” involved. Everyone but the Calvinist seems to understand this clearly.
Jesus’s death is not “limited” at all. The only limits in the matter come from an individual’s unwillingness to accept the free gift of salvation. Everyone can choose to accept Christ.
Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:4 that God “desires all people to be saved.” Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9 that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” If Limited Atonement is true, none of the apostles knew about it.
Many of those who espouse Calvinism are highly educated and intellectual and know a lot about the Bible, generally speaking. But it is how they are obsessed with intellectualism and how that affects the way they interpret the Bible that is a serious problem, in my judgment.
They have to spend the bulk of their time explaining Scriptures away using complex “theological logic.” There can hardly be any debate over the fact that Calvinism is a complicated—and I would say convoluted— system that does not make sense to the “common people who heard Jesus gladly” (Mark 12:37). Anything that complicates the Gospel, a message that is simple—and simple for the purpose of reaching everyone—is not a good system of thought.
The Gospel deserves better than that. The Gospel is simple. It was designed by God to be simple and it was designed by God to be for everyone. And it is for everyone.
1 Timothy 4:10 calls God “the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” We must not overthink what Paul says here but believe exactly what he says. He is saying exactly what it sounds like he is saying because that fits with his theology and his practice.
Paul preached to everyone that they could be saved and if they rejected salvation, he blamed it on them, not on the fact that they were not “elected” or “predestined.” Saying that God is “the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe” does not refer to God “choosing to save some and not others.”
It means that God is willing to save everyone, and does save everyone if they will believe and accept the Gospel. That is what it can mean, that is the only thing it can mean, and that is what it does mean. Therefore everyone can believe in and accept Christ.
Christ died for everyone who will trust in Him and obey Him. Jesus tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). He is the source of eternal salvation “to all who obey Him” (Hebrews. 5:9). Something that can be received by everyone has to be offered to everyone. And equally true, something that is offered to everyone has to be available to everyone.
Calvinism makes God out to be a deceiver. “Offering” salvation to everyone, but not really offering it to everyone. But the truth is, the offer of God is sincere. And those who are condemned before God will not be condemned because He did not “elect” them. They will be condemned because they rejected what God has done for them.
God proves His love for all sinners because Jesus died for us, and His grace has appeared to everyone (Rom. 5:8, Titus 2:11). Sin is a universal problem (Rom. 3:23), and therefore the remedy is a universal offer and solution (Rom. 10:13; 2 Cor. 5:19). Limited Atonement puts the love of God into what is perceived by them to be a nice little theological box. But it will not fit in that box. Calvinism must be rejected.
Yes, we are aware of what the Calvinistic answer to much of this is: “If Jesus died for people who will go to hell, then His death did not actually accomplish anything. He merely died to make salvation possible, but we actually save ourselves by choosing to receive it.” And, frankly, that is silly. The Gospel does not need that kind of human “help” to exalt and magnify the work of Christ.
One does not have to go to extremes in any way, shape or form in order to answer the egregious doctrine of Limited Atonement. The reality is this: God’s sovereign plan of salvation means Christ came into the world to save sinners, all of humanity are sinners, and He died for all. The plan also means that it is freely offered, and can be rejected. The free gift is bought and paid for by Christ, but it must be accepted by the believer on the Giver’s terms. God does not do the accepting for you.
I can offer you something that is completely free and still require that you accept it. Everyone would understand this if we were talking about money. For example, if someone said to you, “I will give you $1 million if you will be at my house tomorrow morning at 8 AM to pick it up.” You would not argue about that being illogical. You would not even consider for a moment that it is illogical. You would not enter into a debate with the giver about how that would mean you are earning the money if you have to show up at his house at a designated time.
You would not argue at all. You would likely be too excited about getting the money. But just because you went to the house at that time—i.e., accepted the gift on the giver’s terms—does not mean you earned $1 million. So it should not be confusing at all to say that God has the free gift of salvation accomplished and paid for, and you can have it if you are ready and willing to receive it.
The grace of God has appeared to everyone (Titus 2:11). God desires the salvation of everyone (1 Tim. 2:4) because He “so loves” the world (John 3:16). He wants none to perish, but wants all to be saved (2 Pet. 3:9). Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2).
Limited Atonement teaches that everyone for whom Christ died will be saved. He died only for the elect, and therefore, if Christ died for you, you will definitely be saved because God will give you faith and make you a believer. There are so many ways to refute this ridiculous doctrine, many of which are found in the verses we have cited.
But the death blow to the entire idea is found in 1 Peter chapter 2: “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1).
Notice that Peter speaks of some who “deny the Lord who bought them”—that is, Jesus died for them—and they bring upon themselves destruction. Even though Jesus bought them, they rejected Christ and would be lost if they continued in their “denial.”
Limited Atonement, like all the other points of Calvinism, is a hard-core and ridiculous denial of Gospel truth.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
