Limited Atonement Remix Part 5

V. In What Way Did Christ Die for Everyone? (Part 1)

In light of the nature of the atonement I have presented there are only two options for the object of the atonement for Christ. Either he died as a propitiation only for a definite group or he atoned for every person in the way presented by universalism (everyone will be saved through Christ no matter what they believed). Universalism is, of course, 100% unbiblical because we know that not every man who has ever lived will be saved.

But there is still one problem that must be addressed under the banner of limited atonement, namely, that all men do experience some things that were purchased by the death of Christ. There are two primary things that I want to address on this topic, namely, the innumerable blessings which God has bestowed on those who will never believe in Christ (known as common grace) and God’s salvific stance toward humanity.

“Common grace is the grace of God by which he gives innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 657).

This topic is mostly fleshed out by theologians in two ways:

#1 Every single person has been created in the image of God and is therefore born with a special, undeserved privilege.

#2 Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies on the basis of the good things that God does for those who reject Him (Matthew 5:45).

The myriad of good which God has bestowed on men and women who will never turn to Him in faith and repentance could be considered unjust apart from the death of Christ. So it could be said that God was vindicated for the undeserved good which He pored out on those who would never be His people in the death of Christ.

This is a disputed doctrine that some theologians say is lacking in biblical evidence. It is possible that God is vindicated in the good that He bestows on the unbelieving in His wrath being pored out on them for eternity in hell. So I do not hang my belief that there are things that were purchased for every person on the cross completely on common grace. The next post will address the gospel message itself and how it relates to the few passages with a “unlimited atonement” flavor.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen