The doctrine of atonement is often called “the heart of the gospel” and is a key part of the priestly work of Christ. This doctrine “is the cause found in the good pleasure of God to save sinners by a substitutionary atonement.”[i]
This atonement is full, substantively fulfilling all requirements for atonement. However, it is limited in that it applies efficaciously only to those whom God chose before the foundation of the world, the elect.
God effectually called the elect according to his good pleasure, will, love, and justice. He made His Son the surety over all the elect to ensure their salvation. Christ as surety for the elect results from God’s good pleasure. The Bible is replete with evidence that God caused Christ Himself to be surety and provide for the salvation of the elect by his good pleasure, will, and love (Rom. 3:24-26; Gal. 1:4; Col. 1:19, 20; John 3:16; etc.).
When we write about God’s will, we discuss the will rooted in His nature. It is not arbitrary, but God’s free will is accompanied by his good pleasure, love, justice, and so forth.
God caused the doctrine of atonement, and His attributes that go into this decision all go together. Otherwise, it would not show the truthfulness of God and the true extent of the sufferings and death of Christ. The fact that God, the Father, gave up his only begotten Son to such sufferings and a shameful death cannot be explained on the principle of less than all of his attributes that are used in this by the Father.[ii]
THE CAUSE
Because of the Fall, every human being is at war against God. But each human being does not have the wherewithal to save himself. God must save him.
According to the Bible, the three persons of the Godhead agreed to a plan of salvation for humankind. Therefore, God is the cause of the atonement.
Each person would have a role to perform in the plan of salvation. The Father, among other things, would choose the elect who would be saved. The second person of the Trinity, the Son, would be the surety and vicar of the elect and would ensure their salvation on earth by taking the form of a human. And the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, would effectuate the actions of the Father and Son.
The atonement satisfies God in the elect humankind’s trespasses against Him. The idea of the atonement is to satisfy God and to reconcile the elect sinner to Him. The sinner accepts the secondary effect of reconciliation of the sinner as a result of God justifying the sinner. As a result, the human being lays aside his alienation against God, and the Holy Spirit lives in his heart forever.
LIMITED
The atonement is limited because it is only effective for the elect chosen by God the Father. Many, especially the Arminians, believe that everyone may be selected for atonement if they choose. But a human being does not decide whether or not he is justified. God does that. The Bible is clear on this point. So, atonement is limited ONLY to the elect that God, the Father, has chosen in the beginning before the foundation of the world.
This is a particular atonement in that it is limited to a specific class of people, the elect. God is determined to make this salvation efficacious for ONLY certain human beings, and humankind’s actions cannot bar it.
The Bible talks about those for whom the plan of salvation and atonement was for. Those for whom Jesus Christ laid down his life “are variously called ‘His sheep,’ John 10:11, 15, ‘His Church,’ Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25-27, ‘His people,’ Matt. 1:21, and ‘the elect,’ Rom. 8:32-35.”[iii]
Christ, in his sacrificial death on the cross, clearly limited his intercessory work to a particular group of people, the elect, when he said, speaking to the Father in The High Priestly Prayer, “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours (John 17:9). ONLY the elect are saved by Christ’s sacrificial and substitutionary work on the cross, unlike the belief of the Arminians and the Universalists who say that all humankind can be saved if they so choose.
As Berkhof writes:
The Bible clearly teaches that the design and effect of the atoning work of Christ is not merely salvation possible, but to reconcile God and man, and to put men in actual possession of eternal salvation, a salvation which many fail to obtain (Matt. 18:11; Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 1:4; 3:13; Eph. 1:7).[iv]
The Atonement is unconditional and not dependent on man’s will. Jesus Christ paid the price required by God for the ransom required for sin. Therefore, Jesus effectively completed all the conditions required by God (Rom. 2:4; Gal. 3:13, 14; Eph. 1:3, 4; 2:8; Phil. 1:29; Titus 3:5, 6).[v]
CONCLUSION
The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms states, “The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience, and sacrifice of himself, which he, through the internal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father, and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto him.”[vi]
This atonement contains two elements. The first element involves Jesus Christ’s redemption on the cross as payment for the ransom price required by God for the sins of the elect, even though Christ was Himself sinless. The second element is the ground for our justification and adoption, which comes from Jesus Christ as the only human being to live a perfect life. This is the merited righteousness that was His as a result of living a perfect, sinless human life. Therefore, he was the proper sacrifice for the sins of the elect.
Therefore, Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died on the cross for the sins of the elect. This guarantees eternal life with God in the New Heaven and Earth forever for the elect whom God chose before the foundation of the world.
[i] Berkhof, Louis, Systematic Theology, combined ed., (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2021), p. 374.
[iii] Berkhof, p. 404.
[iv] Berkhof, p. 404.
[v] Berkhof, p. 404.
[vi] The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms with Proof Texts, chpt. 8, § 5 (The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 2005, 2007).
