The Doctrine of Limited Atonement

Did Jesus Christ die for the sins of all men? Yes. Are all men going to be saved? No. Do all men have the same chance to be saved? Yes. Then why are not all men saved? Because of the fact that all men had the same chance to be saved: none.

It is important to remember the first two points in the TULIP crostic: Total Depravity (coupled with total inability) and  Unconditional Election. Total Depravity teaches that NONE seek after God, and the flesh warps the choice of man to choose anything but God. This is how a perfect man, Adam, chose to sin in the garden. So because a man cannot choose God due to his depravity, God chose to save some out of the whole of the race of humanity. It therefore follows that if man is unable to choose, and God, without any precondition, chooses (elects) certain people to be saved, then it must also follow then, that if not everyone is going to Heaven, then the atoning work of the cross is limited: Limited Atonement. (This is basically a wordy restatement of Romans 8:30, below).

It is not the power of the cross that is limited, but rather the scope of the cross. God gives the Universal call of the Gospel- that is the purpose of the Great Commission. However, the specific call, the drawing to Christ, is limited to the elect. Only those elected will be atoned. The sacrifice of Christ is sufficient to save everyone who has ever lived, however, it is efficient for the salvation of the elect only.

The Bible is clear that the atoning work of Calvary was directed only toward the elect:
Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Romans 8:30
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 

John 10:27-30
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. 30 I and my Father are one.
John 17:9-12
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

I found an interesting website operated by a Nazarene, Doug Ledbetter. This Nazerene brother is not a Wesleyan when it comes to soteriolgy (the doctrine of salvation). In that page, he offers this good insite into I John 2:2, which, as he points out, is often mentioned as contradictory, 1 John 2:2:

And he (Jesus Christ the righteous, from I John 2:1) is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 


Doug has this to say: At first glance, this verse appears to contradict the idea of Limited Atonement, but upon closer inspection it does not. The word propitiation means satisfaction of God’s demands. In view of this definition and if this verse is really talking about the whole world, then we are back to universalism, which is un-Biblical. The phrase “whole world” in the Bible often means just a larger group of people, not literally the whole world. So, this verse is likely speaking of the two different groups of believers: Jews and non-Jews. John may be saying that Christ is not only a propitiation for our sins (Jewish believers) but for the elect found also throughout the whole world.
http://www.dougledbetter.org/theology/limited_atonement.html