Addressing certain Concerns associated with Limited Atonement

  

The starting premise is that God’s love and compassion for the human beings whom He created (in His own image) are unmistakably evident throughout scriptures.  However, there is no doubt that God is at the same time holy and just, and these attributes cannot be overlooked by the generations of sinners who took on the fallen nature of Adam and Eve after the couple succumbed to temptation and disobeyed His explicit prohibition.  How then will God deal with those who sinned — from birth as pointed out in Psalm 51:5 and Psalm 58:3 — when He epitomises love and compassion on the one hand but on the other hand He is holy and just as well?

 

Even before Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden, the plan had already been set in motion for the woman’s Seed to play a crucial role in the ensuant “enmity between you [viz the tempter] and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed” (Genesis 3:15).  The Seed disclosed by God in the protoevangelium is none other than “… the Man Jesus Christ Who gave Himself a ransom for all …” (I Timothy 2:5-6).  Who are included by Paul in the pronoun “all”?  Naturally, reference must be made to the same pronoun “all” found in the immediately-preceding verses:

“… God our Saviour Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:3-4)

 

How should I Timothy 2:3-4 (which have been attracting much attention especially among those subscribing to the so-called Limited Atonement hypothesis) be understood?

●     First of all, it has to be noted that I Timothy 2:3 refers to “God our Saviour” without any indication of Him being regarded as the Saviour of all men.  Paul’s careful choice of words here has to be taken into cognisance.

●     Why do these verses go on to declare that “God our Saviour … desires all men to be saved”?  The offer of salvation is extended to all on earth because those opting to decline His invitation will eventually face God the Judge Whom unrepentant sinners cannot by that time accuse of favouritism and unfairness when He “will render to each one according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6) since they had been forewarned that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

●     Also carefully chosen by Paul is the word “desires” as God is fully aware that not all men will respond positively to His attributes of mercy and grace that are manifest in I Timothy 2:3-4, given the state of human nature depicted right through the Bible (in, by way of example, Romans 1-2).

●     I Timothy 2:4 is invariably cited incompletely as “… Who desires all men to be saved …” but actually what has been carefully crafted by Paul is “… Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”.  Hence, God desires all who accept His offer of salvation to concomitantly come to the knowledge of the truth.  For this reason, the ambit of I Timothy 2:4 does not extend to any person who has no inclination to know the truth from God after having readily accepted His free gift (which, after all, seemingly functions as an insurance policy).

 

In view of these considerations, the pronoun “all” in I Timothy 2:5-6 must denote sinners who comply with what has been alluded to in the preceding text of I Timothy 2:4.  Sinners are assured that “… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).  This assurance comes not just from Paul but harks back to Old Testament as well for “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).  These supporting Pauline verses from the theological book of Romans do not suggest that the pronoun “all” in I Timothy 2:5-6 embraces any who continues to revel in sin and remains unappreciative of the Man Jesus Christ’s finished work on the Cross.

  

The discussion thus far has drawn reference from Pauline books.  There is a need to also check whether the other New Testament books not authored by Paul have provided such insights too.  Practically all evangelists are familiar with John 3:16 but they generally highlight an incomplete version of this particular verse when spreading the gospel.  Looking at the verse in its entirety is imperative: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) — clearly not encompassing sinners who heard the news of God’s salvation offer but remain disinterested in accepting Him as Saviour.  Furthermore, included in Peter’s message during Pentecost is the Old Testament verse (likewise cited by Paul) that “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).  Bearing in mind these verses (reproduced from non-Pauline books), attention must then be directed to a key passage in the book of Hebrews (which does not mention Paul as its author) concerning the sacrificial Lamb: “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered and, having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9).

  

It is equally important to look at the following election-related verses that likewise have been attracting the attention of those in the Limited Atonement community:

“For whom He foreknew, He also pre-destined to be conformed to the image of His Son …  Moreover, whom He pre-destined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30)

●     Way before any sinner becomes convicted of his guilt and accepts the risen Christ as Saviour, God already foreknew.  In other words, God has foreknowledge of how each sinner will respond to His offer of salvation; for example, the Lord personally told Jeremiah at the outset that “before I formed you in the womb, I knew you [and] before you were born, I sanctified you” (Jeremiah 1:5).  Another example of God’s foreknowledge — but this time of King Cyrus who founded the Medo-Persian empire — had been featured in Isaiah’s prophecy a century before the pagan king’s birth: “I have even called you by your name [and] I have named you” (Isaiah 45:4).

●     The progression outlined by Paul in Romans 8:29-30 does not intimate that the sinner numbered among the elect will be pre-destined straightway to justification and glorification; instead, he is “pre-destined to be conformed to the image of His Son”.  The act of conforming is never instantaneous, and all repentant sinners whose sins had been washed by the Lamb’s blood must thereafter undergo the life-long process of sanctification — inclusive of which is Paul’s exhortation for believers to “also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

 

In addition to the verses from I Timothy and Romans, those in the Limited Atonement community are wont to rely on Jesus’s shepherding analogies in John 10 to bolster their conviction.  There is really no need to extrapolate such illustrative analogies to found novel fringe doctrines.  Clearly, the Pauline and other verses considered in the present discussion are collectively self-consistent for conjoining God’s generous offer of salvation (through propitiation by the Man Jesus Christ’s blood) with the Lord’s call for each of the elect to be saved.

 

That said, it should be asked how generous is God when extending His mercies to all sinners.  Peter, when responding to those who wondered about the delay in Christ’s return, reminds believers that “the Lord is not slack concerning His promises … but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).  Abraham’s situation springs to mind here: in actual fact, he (as well as his family) “died in faith, not having received the promises” (Hebrews 11:13) which God repeatedly proffered to him as there was a five-century delay before the Hebrews took over the Promised Land “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Genesis 15:16) at the time.  Apart from this negative example of the Amorites not repenting after the protracted grace period that extended over four generations, the Bible also contains the following counter-narratives where hard-core sinners became repentant and received God’s mercies:

●     After Jonah’s announcement that “yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4), the inhabitants of the Assyrian capital capitalised on the forty-day grace period to fast while turning from their wicked ways.  The end result is that “God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them and He did not do it” (Jonah 3:10).

●     King Nebuchadnezzar brazenly destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem before carting the articles in the House of God to Babylon.  After the egotistical despot subsequently suffered the punitive period of humiliation foretold in Daniel 4:23-26, God forbearingly restored him who then rendered praise to the Most High as recorded in Daniel 4:34-37.

●     Upon hearing the prophecies pronounced against him and his wife, King Ahab “… fasted and lay in sack-cloth and went about mourning.  And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, ‘Because Ahab has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days’ …” (I Kings 21:27-29).

 

There is certainly no biblical verse ever hinting that God’s generous offer of salvation permits unrepentant sinners to be spared from divine punishment.  As a matter of fact, the following authoritative verses are unambiguous about the contrary being the case:

●     “And He said to the eleven, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature …; he who does not believe will be condemned’ …” (Mark 16:15-16)

●     “… those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be punished with everlasting destruction …” (II Thessalonians 1:8-9)

●     “Depart from Me [viz Son of Man], you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels …” (Matthew 25:41).

 

As a concluding thought, the telling question posed by God (to the initially hesitant prophet when chosen by the Lord) should be mentioned too: “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die … and not that he should turn from his ways and live?” (Ezekiel 18:23).  This verse amply explains why He has been mercifully extending the offer of salvation to all but then only those who, as already foreknown by Him, are ready to confess their sins and receive the Saviour will appropriate the cleansing power afforded by the blood of the Lamb.