because i am jesus christ and i will die for all your sins

Our preaching and evangelism must mimic the Spirit’s general call if we hope to be instruments of His specific call. 2:1–3), and we should preach so that all people everywhere might be saved (Matt. We should pray that all people everywhere would be saved (1 Tim. The Bible offers Jesus to all people without distinction and without any embarrassment that Christ did not die for all people without exception. Maybe our hangup is that while we tell people, “Jesus died for you,” the Bible says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). The Spirit opened Paul’s mouth to preach Christ, but He opened Lydia’s heart to receive Christ (Acts 16:14). Yet He calls the elect also through this general call, ensuring that they will answer it by extending to the elect the internal call as well. He calls sinners through preaching, even though some resist His call (Acts 7:51). He calls people to Christ generally and particularly, externally and internally. This raises a related question: Does limited atonement limit the gospel offer to the elect only? Gospel ministry should mirror the Spirit’s ministry. The Bible does not call us to receive Christ’s death because He died for all men, but it calls us to receive Christ who “is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe” (4:10). He is the propitiation for our sins, and He is the only means for anyone to escape God’s wrath. He does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, culture, status, or anything else. Why, then, do some passages of Scripture seem to universalize Christ’s death (e.g., 1 John 2:2)? Because Christ is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Tim. God is triune, and the atonement is a unified Trinitarian act in purpose, production, and perfection. God does what He does because He is who He is.

Those for whom He died die to sin in Him, just as those for whom He rose rise to new life (2 Cor. The Son applies His death to the elect through His intercession so that they can be with Him where He is (v. He prayed these things for those whom the Father chose and gave to Christ (vv. He does not pray for the world, that the Father would keep them, that they should be one, and that they should be sanctified in the truth (John 17:11, 19). The Son will not be the broken link in the chain. The Father saves by particular election, the Son by particular redemption, and the Spirit by particular calling. It is not that the Father chose some and the Spirit changes some while Christ died for all. Christ’s death extends as far as the Father’s electing purpose (Acts 2:23) and the Spirit’s effecting power (13:48). The Trinity is undivided and indivisible. The Father calls His elect to Christ by His Word and Spirit (2 Cor. No one receives the things of God or confesses that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit (1 Cor.

The Holy Spirit is the Father’s seal of ownership on the elect (vv. The Father chose believers in Christ before time began (Eph. The united work of the Trinity shows clearly why Christ died for the elect only. 1:21) by rooting Christ’s death in the saving work of the whole Trinity, and by answering two common questions. We can best understand the fact that Christ came to save His people, and them only, from their sins (Matt. As soon as someone pointed out that all people must be saved if Christ did these things for all people, I was sold on limited atonement.Īs a children’s catechism says, “Christ died for all who were given to Him by the Father.” The issue is the triune God’s design or intent in the atonement. I came to Christ by understanding that God counted our sin to His Son in order to count His incarnate Son’s righteousness to us (2 Cor. While many people readily accept that we are totally depraved, that God chose us unconditionally and eternally in Christ, that we believe in Christ only by the Spirit’s irresistible grace, and that the triune God preserves us to persevere to the end, they find it harder to swallow that Christ died for the elect only. The idea that atonement is limited to the elect is the last stumbling block for many, but it was one of my first steps into Reformed theology.

Because i am jesus christ and i will die for all your sins