Limited Atonement
by Rod Jackson
All verses are quoted from the NASB anything in [square brackets] is added by me for clarity.
What does the 'T' in T.U.L.I.P. stand for?
SHOW CARD - TOTAL DEPRAVITY
What does Total depravity mean?
Total Depravity means that all people are fallen in all aspects of their being (mentally, physically, spiritually and emotionally) so that we do not even desire to be saved from our depraved state.
What does the 'U' in T.U.L.I.P. stand for?
SHOW CARD - UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
What does Unconditional election mean?
It means that God has chosen some or all people for salvation not conditioned on any goodness or faith in these people but is conditioned by God's will.
Read Psalm 49:7-9 - People in the past could buy and sell slaves but no one could purchase someone's soul. In Leviticus 17:11 we learn that God gave the shedding of blood as a means of atonement because the life is in the blood. It truly is a costly price to purchase a human soul for the shedding of animal's blood never atoned for anyone's sins (Hebrews 10:4).
SHOW CARD - LIMITED ATONEMENT
Today's lesson is on the 'L' in our acronym T.U.L.I.P. which stands for Limited Atonement. Limited atonement deals with the scope of humanity that is elect.
The word Atonement literally means to cover over. This covering over of our sins is how we come to be reconciled to God. This is why some people use the memory jogger At-one-ment to remember that this is what atonement does. It makes us at one with God (reconciled to God). When the volcano Mt St. Helens erupted, it blackened the whole mountain with ash. It looked dark, desolate, stark and ugly. But a week or so later, snow had lightly covered the mountain and it looked quite beautiful. We can think of this snow covering over the mountain as symbolic of our sin being covered over (cf. Isaiah 1:18)
John 1:29 - The scope of the power of Jesus is for the world.
John 3:16 - Here we see the scope of God's love, He loved the world.
1 John 2:2 - The scope of the atonement is The world?
SHOW CARD - X NOT - LIMITED IN POWER
So Jesus' death had the power to save all people. This is the reason why Jesus had to be God and man. A mere man could not have this scope of atoning power. He must have been God for His death to be sufficient for all humanity.
Matthew 1:21 - Jesus will save His people.
John 10:11 & Matthew 25:32-34 - Jesus lays down His life for His sheep and His sheep are those who are saved.
Acts 13:48 - Only those Gentiles that were appointed to eternal life (i.e. Elect) believed.
Acts 20:28 - God bought the church of God with His own blood. The church is the people not the building.
Ephesians 5:25b - Christ gave His life for the church.
SHOW CARD - LIMITED - TO THE ELECT.
So we see that Jesus' death was sufficient to save all people but only actually or effectively saves the elect. So is the whole world elect?
Matthew 22:14 - Many are called but few are elect. This clearly shows that not everyone is elect.
Matthew 7:13-14 - Wide is the road to destruction and narrow the road to life.
John 17:9 - Jesus only prays for the elect not the non-elect, therefore the elect cannot be the whole world.
OBJECTION -
Acts 10:34 & Romans 2:11 - God shows no favouritism therefore He cannot elect some people as that is showing favouritism.
1 Timothy 2:4 - Shows that all types of people are saved (kings and non-kings). It doesn't matter what Job one has.
Galations 3:28 - God saves Jews & Greek, Males & Females, Slaves & Free. So God does not show favouritism towards the various types of people (doesn't matter if you are any of these categories). The elect consist of people from all walks of life.