Although these Old Testament texts can give great insight into the atonement, the New Testament must also be examined to give complete clarity on whether Jesus died for the entire human race or merely for the elect. In “The Work of Christ,” Robert Letham powerfully demonstrates that Jesus didn’t merely suffer on the cross, He suffered for sin on the cross, as God, “Made made him to be sin who knew no sin… ” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV). According to Letham, “made him to be sin” means “that the sinless Christ was made to suffer for sin, that he was subject to the full brunt of the divine curse that hung over sin… .”1 This text clearly proves that Christ literally bore the punishment due to sin. This type of suffering is unimaginable to us if we understand the infinite disparity between Jesus’ experience of His Father on the cross compared to what He had experienced since eternity past. Jesus and the Father had enjoyed perfect, loving communion together within the union of the Trinity. Jesus had known nothing but the love and care of His Father, and on the cross, He knew nothing but the Father’s furious wrath against sin. How right Letham is when he writes, “To fathom the depths of what Christ endured we would need to spend eternity in hell.”2 The human mind cannot comprehend this level of suffering, and those for whom this atonement was accomplished will never need to.
From this atoning sacrifice, there are three notable fruits from Christ’s atonement for us – removal of sin, propitiation in the face of God’s wrath against that sin, and personal sanctification. In his discussion of the atonement, Murray makes a significant observation in Christ’s purposes in it, in that “Christ did not come to make sins expiatable. He came to expiate sins.”3 Letham further explains, that as with the Day of the Atonement, where the sins were placed on the goat, which then carried their sins out to the desert, our sins are born away by Christ.4 This is shown clearly from Hebrews. From there, we learn that Christ “put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26b ESV). Thus, there is a seemingly insurmountable difficulty with the doctrine of universal atonement. If Christ took away sins through his death and Christ died for all, why are not all men’s sins taken away? Why do men still die in their sins? Arminian Robert Picirilli responds that “by His redemptive work salvation was made accessible to all.”5 Logically, that could be an acceptable response to this question, but the author of Hebrews does not say that Christ made the removal of sin possible through his sacrifice; he says that he did remove sin through his sacrifice. Thus, taking the Arminian position to its necessary conclusion, the sins of every man on Earth are removed, but this is clearly unbiblical. The Arminian cannot take this position, and instead changes the meaning of Scripture in contradiction with its plain reading – that Christ died for the expiation of the sins of specific people.
Another effect of Christ’s death is the propitiation of our sin in the face of God’s wrath against it. According to Murray, propitiation is expressed in the Old Testament by a word that literally means to “cover.” From this, we can gather that it is sin that is covered, which results in cleansing and forgiveness before God.6 Hebrews provides further evidence for this in describing Christ, showing that He “had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17 ESV). Before Christ, the final and ultimate High Priest, the Levitical priest would perform sacrifices for the people for the cleansing of their sins and a right standing before God. Christ’s position as the final High Priest is the same for Christians. It is the sacrifice of Himself that provides propitiation for our sins and a restored relationship with God. With this understanding of propitiation, verses such as 1 John 2:2 are not as problematic for the Calvinist as they might initially seem. There, the Apostle John says, “If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1b-2 ESV). In The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, John Owen states that by implication, “He must be an advocate to intercede, as well as offer a propitiatory sacrifice… ”7 With this understanding of propitiation, it is impossible that this verse is saying that Christ died for everyone who ever lived. Christ is not the advocate for the unbeliever and is not the propitiation for their sins, as they have not believed. The Arminian would likely respond again that Christ is the potential propitiation for the sins of the world, but again, that is not what the text says. John says that Christ is the propitiation for sins. Thus, this verse can only be speaking of believers. In light of this, “the world” is not every person on Earth, but speaks to Christ being the all-sufficient Savior for all who repent and believe – both for the Jew and for the Gentile.
Finally, Scripture also shows how Christ’s death directly leads to the sanctification of those for whom He died. Owen cites Hebrews, showing how these are inseparably tied together. There we read:
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13-14 ESV).
Thus, “that which was done carnally and legally in the type must be spiritually effected in the antitype, – the sacrifice of Christ typified by that blood sacrifice of beasts.”8 As previously established, the Levitical sacrifices were made as a provision for the ceremonial cleanliness of the Hebrew people, not for all the inhabitants of the Earth. In the same manner, the blood of the Christ purges one of sin, bringing about sanctification and righteousness before God. Even the Arminian would affirm that the unbeliever cannot be sanctified, as they must first repent and trust in Jesus for their salvation. It is indisputable that regeneration precedes sanctification. Since sanctification is a work done only in the believer, universal atonement cannot be reconciled with this passage, as the atonement directly leads to one’s sanctification. Only with a definite understanding of the atonement can this verse be understood consistently – that Christ died for those whom He would save and through His Spirit, sanctifies their hearts.
- Robert Letham, The Work of Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 134.
- Ibid., 133.
- John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955), 63.
- Letham, 139
- Robert E. Picirili, Grace, Faith, Free Will – Contrasting View of Salvation: Calvinism & Arminianism (Nashville, TN: Randall House, 2002), 104.
- Murrary, 30.
- Murray, 71.
- Owen, 138.