When entering debate on any subject one must be willing to understand his opponent’s position. I have read and listened to enough Arminian and non-Calvinist teaching on the subject of the atonement to feel pretty good about my understanding of their position. To them this is not a debate about the atonement alone; it is a debate about the love of God. Taking several key texts into consideration there is no way I can object to that (for example, Romans 5:8 and 1 John 4:10).
For the Calvinist, however, this is looking at the atonement itself and how it fits into the whole of God’s redemptive plan. Though I do not base my understanding of the atonement on my understanding of Unconditional Election (in fact I have often said that I would still hold to this view of the atonement even if I believed in Conditional Election) I do see the importance of bearing in mind how God has put His purpose of salvation into motion.
So what is the central aspect of the atonement? I think Romans 3:25-26 gives the answer:
God put [Jesus Christ] forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
At first glance this verse may not appear to lend credibility to one side of the debate or the other. But look deeper into Paul’s argument and see what he is saying.
Context: Every single person is guilty of sin before God and liable to judgment (Romans 3:23). Not only so but they are in a continual state of rebellion and enmity with God (Romans 3:10-20).
Christ’s death is described as: Propitiation. This is a wrath bearing sacrifice. By definition, Christ did not propitiate us, rather, he propitiated God. God’s wrath was (quenched, satisfied, absorbed) on behalf of every person for whom the propitiation substituted. This means that if Christ propitiated God on your behalf God’s wrath that would otherwise be poured out on you in hell has been emptied out on Christ.
How propitiation is applied: By faith. Arminians use this to justify the belief that propitiation was made on behalf of every single person who has ever lived. At first this seems to be Paul’s point when he says, “…to be received by faith” as if there is this big “pool” of propitiation and all one must do to receive it is have faith in the provider. That might sound good but the word “propitiation” does not allow for that kind of understanding, lest God pour out His wrath on previously canceled sins. Paul further explains the place of faith in propitiation when he says
“This was to show God’s righteousness, because he had passed over former sins…[and] at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”So God has passed over past sins (see 2 Samuel 12:13) and He can be just in justifying the one who has faith in Christ. So even apart from Unconditional Election we see that if God knew who would have faith in Christ His purpose would be fulfilled in providing propitiation for their sins. It would be counter to Paul’s argument that God was seeking to be “just” if he was arguing that God was pouring out His wrath for people He knew would not have faith and then unjustly pouring it out again on those people in hell.
So we can understand the first reference to faith “…to be received by faith” to mean that this propitiation applied to the person when he has faith in Christ rather than assuming the large propitiation “pool.”
Later I will demonstrate that there are ways in which Christ’s death had positive effects for those who would never put their faith in him. But that is not where this debate rests. The central aspect of the atonement was made on behalf of those who would put their faith in Christ. That is true regardless of your position on Election.
Grace and Peace,
Stephen
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