“Limited Atonement”

“As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” John 17:2

This weeks study brings us to our third letter of TULIP which is “LIMITED ATONEMENT”. This bible doctrine is certainly the most hated of all biblical teachings because it limits salvation to a limited number of souls and crushes the Arminian teachings of “God loves every one”, “God wants everyone to be saved”, and “Salvation is your choice”. First, let’s please set the record straight, none of these are true, they are what are known as myths created to please and prick the hearts of the lost world. Therefore we can see why the Religious world hates this teaching.

The doctrine of limited atonement is absolutely proven in the scriptures and therefore whether you hate it of love it, it is so, so true. John chapter 17 is known as the real “Lord’s Prayer” because it is not simply an example prayer or model prayer but a real prayer between The Son and the Father. John 17 is a lot like John 6 it puts the act of giving salvation to God and not man. Here Jesus prayed that “he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.” That is the Son should give eternal life to as many as the Father gave Him before the world was created in the eternal covenant. Jesus went on in verse 6 to say “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” Noting that the Father indeed gave this “limited” number of souls to the Son. Jesus never promised salvation to an unlimited number of people but rather to a limited number. Let’s look for a moment at the Arminian teaching that “it is Gods will that all men be saved” if this were true would not all men be saved? Isn’t the absolute will of God always accomplished? “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” Ephesians 1:11 Why does Jesus in His prayer to the Father just before His death declare a limited number that will be given eternal life? We also see Jesus say in John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” And also in verse 44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” That same limited number is spoken of again. We also see a limit to salvation in Acts 2:39 “For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” This call is done by the Holy Spirit and we see the conclusion to this call in Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” because God cannot fail.

The doctrine of limited atonement is not a hate doctrine but rather a love doctrine because it guarantees at least some of mankind will be saved rather than all be lost to eternal destruction. This is what Charles Spurgeon meant when he said “I may be called Antinomian or Calvinist for preaching a limited atonement; but I had rather believe a limited atonement that is efficacious for all men for whom it was intended, than a universal atonement that is not efficacious for anybody, except the will of man be joined with it.” Limited Atonement makes salvation “efficacious” or capable of or successful in producing an intended result. What end result do the Religionist have, maybe they were saved or maybe not, even Charles G. Finny one of the fathers of our religionist teachings of today once said, “we don’t know if this is working or not” beloved if God does it, it is done and with 100% success. We do not know what the exact number is of limited atonement, but what we do know for sure is with every doctrine, even with the most liberal teachers and their myths, there is only a limited number saved because never is everyone saved. However Limited Atonement guarantees that some will be truly saved.