NT Framework 39: Limited Atonement

SBC Family,

We've been studying the Death of the King, and a big part of this involves the concept of God's justice and how that is satisfied so a man can be right with God. All this begs us to try to understand what happened on the cross. Everyone knows He died for our sin. Somehow the payment was made. But a question that has developed in church history is for whom did Christ die? Did He die for all men? If He did, then why are all men not saved? If it is because man must believe, then is salvation left up to man? Who is controlling salvation? This has been a sketchy area. Last week I showed you three systems, two of which have historically controlled the discussion; Arminianism and Calvinism. I went through five points of each because these points are logically interrelated. I also introduced Free Grace and the suggested acronym LOTUS as an alternative five points. I didn't mean to communicate that I believe LOTUS. I meant to communicate that there are other models to consider. Most people don't realize this. They think that if you are not a Calvinist you are an Arminian and vice versa.

At any rate, there really was no way to "just" discuss the question, "for whom did Christ die?", but now that we have looked at those five points we can dive into it. I want to show you how Calvinists think and why they think God's intent for Christ's work on the cross is that He only die for the sins of the unconditionally elect and what verses they use to support it. Remember, this is a system, so all five points of their acronym TULIP stand or fall together. I think I'm going to introduce something new to the discussion that helps resolve their challenge. The strongest point of Calvinism's limited atonement is a logical construct: if Christ died for all men and all men are not saved, then the atonement doesn't save anyone (it's powerless). We want to take this apart and show why it's incorrect biblically and logically. We also want to show that the atonement did accomplish something. It's what it accomplished that is the key to the whole debate (IMHO).

See the attached document.

Grace to you,
Jeremy

Attachment:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HKSoHwxWZYPN2_PEE-9sgvuJFQtoItDA/view?usp=drive_link