Eph 1136ff 9/5/89; Eph 15, 103, 161

DOCTRINE OF UNLIMITED ATONEMENT

A. Definition and Description.

1. In the Old Testament, atonement was presented through the Hebrew verb KAPHAR, which means “to make an atonement, to make reconciliation, to cover, or pass over, to atone by offering a substitute.”

a. KOPHER is a noun meaning redemption. KIPHUR is a noun meaning atonement.

b. KAPHORETH is the word for the place of atonement or the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. The blood of the animal sacrifice covered the KAPHORETH satisfying God, thus portraying atonement. Animal sacrifices and their blood was used to cover for sin and the communication of the saving work of Christ before it actually occurred. These were the shadows pointing to the cross (Heb 9). Even the Jews knew that atonement applied to all members of the human race.

2. Atonement in the Old Testament refers to the use of animal sacrifices to portray the saving work of Christ on the cross. Atonement in the New Testament refers to the actual saving work of Christ: propitiation, redemption, reconciliation, imputation, and justification. “Blood” is used to indicate the entire saving work and to identify it with the Jewish illustration when an animal was sacrificed.

3. Once a year on the Day of Atonement (JOM KIPPUR), an animal sacrifice was made at the brazen altar outside of the Temple in the court of the Temple. The brazen altar represented the cross. Then the high priest took the blood of the animal in a basin and carried it into the Holy of Holies where atonement was accomplished by sprinkling the blood over the top of the Mercy Seat. Over the Ark was a throne, flanked by two cherubs representing the holiness of God. One cherub represented God’s righteousness; the other God’s justice. The two cherubs looked down and were satisfied with that sacrifice. This represented the doctrine of propitiation, or how God the Father was satisfied with the work of God the Son on the cross. So in Rom 3, Jesus Christ is called the mercy seat.

4. There were three things in the Tabernacle used to illustrate salvation or unlimited atonement.

a. The tables of the Law were put inside the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was made of acacia wood (humanity of Christ), plated with gold (deity of Christ).

b. Also placed inside was a pot of manna.

c. Aaron’s rod that budded.

5. All three items speak of different categories of sin. The Law reveals that sin is a violation of divine standards. Aaron’s rod that budded illustrates sin as a rejection of authority. The pot of manna represents sin in failing to utilize logistical grace, being kept alive but rejecting Christ as Savior.

6. Atonement is the means of reconciliation between God and man, the basis for divine propitiation, and the portrayal of divine judgment for our sins. Unlimited atonement is the means of reconciliation, the means of removing the barrier between God and man, the basis for divine propitiation.

7. While animal blood was the shadow which communicated this judgment, the true basis for atonement is the actual saving work of Christ in redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation

. a. 1 Pet 2:24, “He carried our sins in His own body on the cross.”

b. 1 Cor 11:24, “This is My body which is given for you.”

c. 2 Cor 5:21, “He who knew no sin was made sin for us.”

d. This removed the barrier for the entire human race. God also did something for believers only in reconciliation: the imputation of divine perfect righteousness resulting in justification.

e. The imputation of all sins to Christ is only possible because when man is born into the world and receives the imputation of human life, he simultaneously receives the imputation of Adam’s original sin as the basis for his condemnation.

8. 1 Jn 2:2, “And He is the propitiation for our sins, but not for our sins only, but also for the entire world.” Atonement includes the efficacious sacrifice, redemption, and propitiation. 9. Atonement is defined as the saving work of Christ on the cross. The burnt offering of the Old Testament was accepted to make an atonement, Lev 1:4. However, animal sacrifices have no efficacy, Heb 10:4; only the perfect sacrifice of Christ is efficacious, Heb 9:26 and 10:5-10.

10. So atonement is the reconciliation between God and man, accomplished by the efficacious sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Hence, unlimited atonement and propitiation remove the barrier between God and man, so that every person in the human race can have eternal salvation.

B. The necessity for atonement is spiritual death and personal sin, Eph 2:1.

1. Spiritual death occurs at the moment of birth, when God creates soul-life and imputes it to our biological life, after we exit from the womb. Spiritual death precedes our personal sins. The work of Christ is necessary to make atonement for our spiritual death. Therefore, there is a sense in which atonement is used as a theological synonym for salvation.

2. The simultaneous imputations at birth of human life and Adam’s original sin result, therefore, in all mankind being born physically alive and spiritually dead. This condemnation is the necessity for atonement.

a. God does not condemn all without providing a solution to that condemnation in the form of the offer of salvation. This imputation demonstrates the wisdom and justice of God; for condemnation must precede salvation.

b. All those who die before reaching accountability are automatically saved as a part of the doctrine of unlimited atonement. Only the doctrine of unlimited atonement explains what happens to those who die before they reach the age of accountability.

c. The necessity for unlimited atonement comes from condemnation.

3. Personal sins were never imputed to man, but to Christ on the cross.

a. We have never been judged for our personal sins. But this does not set aside the law of free will. You are still responsible for your bad decisions. Gal 6:7, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.”

b. What happened to all personal sins in eternity past? This is answered in 2 Cor 5:19, “By not imputing their sins to them.” The printout of these sins from the PROM chip of the computer-decrees is the imputation of these sins to Christ. 2 Cor 11:24, “This is My body which is given for you.” 1 Pet 2:24, “He carried our sins in His own body on the wood.” 2 Cor 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin as a substitute for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

c. The doctrine of unlimited atonement is a reminder that Jesus Christ in His humanity received the imputation and judgment of our sins.

d. Our sins could only be judged in His human body. His deity could have nothing to do with sins. Deity cannot receive sin, or have anything to do with sin. But His humanity could, and became spiritually dead. Yet there is no separation of the Hypostatic Union, and the attributes of each do not bleed into the other. So what’s the answer? It’s inscrutable. 4. Unlimited atonement is the efficacious sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the entire human race. The sacrifice was His spiritual death, not His physical death. That sacrifice was for every sin in the human race. Unlimited atonement results from the efficacious sacrifice of Christ being judged for the sins of the world, satisfying the righteousness and justice of God the Father in propitiation.

5. The result of the judgment of our sins in Christ is twofold.

a. Unlimited atonement frees the individual under spiritual death to believe in Christ for salvation. The judgment of sin on the cross frees the human race to enter into a non-meritorious system of perception, called faith, Eph 2:8-9. Faith is preceded by the work of the Holy Spirit, called common grace, and repentance, which is simply changing your mind about Christ. Because we are still spiritually dead when we believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit must pick up our weak faith and make it effectual and valid, called efficacious grace.

b. The removal of the barrier between God and man, which is called reconciliation. The Godward side of salvation is propitiation; the manward side is reconciliation.

C. The Principle of Unlimited Atonement.

1. Unlimited atonement is compatible with the sovereignty of God; for God desires that all men be saved. God selected every member of the human race, giving them human life, and is willing that all should be saved. The fact that all are not saved is indicative of the fact that we are given free will, and that free will is the means of resolving the angelic conflict. We have free will because we must have the same basic pattern in immaterial essence as the angels. God desires that all men be saved.

2. Christ was judged for the sins of the entire human race, which is a manifestation of the sovereign will of God in the matter. Unlimited atonement provides potential salvation for the entire human race, but restricts actual salvation to those who believe in Christ. Negative volition can express itself in indifference or rejection of Christ, or it can express itself in any form of works or human good as a means of salvation.

3. Unlimited atonement offers potential salvation for the entire human race, but restricts actual salvation to those who believe in Christ. So for whom was Christ “made sin?” For everyone to whom He gave life at birth, simultaneously condemning them at birth. God would not give life to anyone at birth unless He had provided for them a salvation which they could choose to accept or reject. Condemnation at birth is the greatest benefit, along with being selected by the imputation of human life.

4. Therefore, unlimited atonement provides salvation for both the saved and the unsaved, the elect and the non-elect, the predestined and those who are under just condemnation.

5. Unlimited atonement is compatible with man’s two chances at salvation: at the point of God-consciousness (arrived at by human thinking), and at the point of Gospel hearing. For anyone who is positive at the first point, God is obligated to provide the Gospel hearing of the second point.

6. Unlimited atonement is compatible with the issue of the angelic conflict: to prove that God is fair and just, and that anyone can be saved by God’s grace. All of God’s creatures have had the opportunity to become elect. Man was created to resolve the angelic conflict. Man was created with one thing in common with angelic creatures: a free will. Like angelic creatures, mankind used his free will to oppose God. And in both cases God provides a solution so that mankind, like angelic creatures, has the option for salvation by grace. (In the Word of God we are not given detailed information about angelic salvation. But we know there are elect angels and fallen angels.)

7. The parallels are obvious. All angelic creatures had equal opportunity to become elect angles in eternity past. All mankind has equal opportunity to become elect in human history.

8. Negative volition of mankind rather than the divine provision of unlimited atonement is the cause of man’s failure to receive salvation. Election relates to the sovereignty of God in eternity past. Election is the expression of the sovereignty of God in eternity past. God willed the highest and best for us and provided equal privilege and equal opportunity in election for attainment of that highest and best.

a. Equal privilege in election is our royal priesthood.

b. Equal opportunity in election is our logistical grace.

9. Unlimited atonement is compatible with the principle that man manufactures his own problems through his own free will, and only God can solve those problems through His sovereignty and His policy of grace.

D. The Old Testament Analogy to Unlimited Atonement.

1. Rom 3:21-28, “Now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, being confirmed by the Law and the prophets [O.T.], that is, the righteousness of God which comes through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, (for there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,) and receive justification without payment by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God the Father has publicly displayed by means of His blood as a mercy seat through faith in Christ. This was a demonstration of His [God’s] righteousness, because of the passing over of previously committed sins, because of the delay in judgment from God, for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time [the Church Age], in order that He might be just even when He justifies anyone who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded! By what principle? That of works? Definitely not! But by the principle of faith. Therefore, we conclude that mankind is justified by faith apart from any works of the law.”

2. God’s righteousness is available to “all who believe.” It is obvious that “all have sinned” refers to every member of the human race, which is contrasted with “all who believe.” If everyone has the problem of spiritual death and subsequent personal sin, then everyone must be included in the solution. Only unlimited atonement satisfies this requirement.

3. God the Father has made a public issue of the salvation work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Why has He made it a public issue? Because Christ was judged for the entire human race. The cross was open to the public because salvation is open to the public. Anyone can be saved. God has publicly displayed unlimited atonement.

4. God judges every sin of every human being: unlimited atonement. The day of atonement in the Old Testament was unlimited atonement. It was atonement for all who believed in Christ.

5. The “delay in judgment” was the fact that all personal sins were programmed into one PROM chip in eternity past, and the printout of their judgment did not occur until the crucifixion of our Lord.

6. God is just even when He justifies “anyone” who has faith in Christ. God would not have been just had He judged only the sins of the elect at the cross.

7. “Mankind” is a reference to all mankind. There is no distinction given.

8. This passage is also very important because, if our spiritually dead faith could have passed through to God, then God would not be God. God the Holy Spirit must make that faith effectual through efficacious grace.

a. So this even eliminates making any non-meritorious function a source of arrogance or boasting. This is how He is “just even when He justifies.” The Holy Spirit in every case brings to God a valid faith, made effectual by the Holy Spirit. Then the justice of God the Father imputes to us His perfect righteousness which means instant justification.

b. It also means that God now personally loves us, and it also sets up the grace pipeline, down which God imputes to all believers logistical grace blessings.

c. The principle of faith is, first, that it is non-meritorious, and secondly, that the Holy Spirit makes that faith effectual. E. Atonement is unlimited.

1. Since Christ was judged for every personal sin in all of human history, it is God’s intention, will, and sovereign desire that every person believe in Christ. This requires unlimited atonement.

2. By “unlimited” is meant that atonement is available for everyone. The fact people are not saved indicates that the sovereignty of God and free will of man coexist in human history.

a. Limited atonement contends that Christ only died for the elect. This is Calvinistic theology, but is not orthodoxy.

b. In eternity past, God elected believers and willed for them the highest and best and so deposited their escrow blessings.

c. God in His omniscience had the good sense to know who would believe in Christ.

d. But election, as the expression of God’s will, also includes God’s desire for all men to be saved. So when you understand that election was for everyone, then you understand why there had to be unlimited atonement, in which Christ died for everyone. Because God wants all humans to be saved, He must provide a salvation for all.

e. To be saved, Jesus Christ must be our substitute. So for Jesus Christ to be the substitute for everyone, He must be judged for the sins of everyone. This is why we find repeatedly in the Bible the word “whosoever." Jn 3:16, Acts 10:43, Jn 6:40,47, “whosoever believes in Him.”

3. 2 Pet 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise [the second advent] as some count slowness, but is patient with reference to all of you, not willing that anyone perish, but for everyone to go on to repentance.”

a. The aorist active infinitive of the Greek verb CHOREO means to go forward, to advance, to go on. The accusative singular direct object from the noun METANOIA means to have a complete change of mind about something.

b. God wants all of mankind to go on to a complete change of mind about the gospel. Before there can be faith in Christ, there must be a change of mind about Christ. Once this change of mind occurs, the person generally believes in Christ.

c. God is not willing for “any” to perish, but for “everyone” to change their mind about Christ. This is unlimited atonement.

d. Unlimited atonement means that eternal salvation is available to the entire human race. Because Christ was judged for all, salvation is available and offered to all the human race in unlimited atonement.

4. “Whosoever” and “anyone” are key words in the doctrine of unlimited atonement.

a. Jn 3:16, “For God loved the world so much, that He gave His Son, the uniquely born one, that whosoever [anyone who] believes in Him shall never perish, but have eternal life.”

b. Acts 10:43, “Of Him, all prophets bear witness that through His name, anyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sin.”

c. Jn 6:40, “For this is the will of My Father, that every one who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life.”

5. 2 Cor 5:14-19, “For the love for Christ keeps motivating us; in fact, we have reached this conclusion: that One [Jesus Christ] died as a substitute for all [unlimited atonement], therefore all have died [spiritual death at birth]. And He died a substitute for every one, that those who live [believers] should no longer live for the benefit of self [in cosmic system], but for Him who died and was resurrected; namely, that God [Father] by means of Christ was reconciling the world to Himself by not imputing their sins to them [at birth], and He deposited in us the doctrine of reconciliation.”

a. Instead of imputing our sins to us for judgment, they were imputed to Christ for judgment.

b. The doctrine of reconciliation is that approach to the unbeliever in witnessing that the barrier between man and God has been removed.

c. Christ died as a substitute for all - all the human race. Spiritual death at birth qualifies everyone for condemnation, which must precede salvation.

6. Other Scriptures which state the doctrine of unlimited atonement.

a. Rom 5:6, “For while we were still helpless [spiritually dead], at the right time Christ died as a substitute for godless ones.”

b. 1 Tim 2:6, “Who gave Himself a ransom a substitute for every one.”

c. 1 Tim 4:10, “For this reason, we [pastors] work hard to the point of exhaustion, and we hang in there tough [keep on contending], because we have confidence in the living God, who is the savior of all men, especially of believers.”

d. Tit 2:11, “For the grace of God has shown itself, providing salvation for all men.”

e. Heb 2:9, “For while He was made inferior to angels [Jesus Christ in humanity], for a brief time because of the suffering of death, we see Jesus who has been crowned with glory and honor, that by means of the grace of God, He should taste death as a substitute for every one.”

f. 1 Jn 2:2, “And He is the propitiation for our sins [believers], and not for our sins only, but for the entire world.”

F. Because of unlimited atonement, sin is now eliminated as the indictment of the unbeliever at the Last Judgment.

1. The barrier between God and man has been removed. The unbeliever is judged on the basis of their human good and evil because these were not judged at the cross. Personal sins are not even mentioned at the Great White Throne judgment. Rev 20:12-15.

2. The doctrine of unlimited atonement explains the unbeliever’s indictment at the Last Judgment. The unbeliever is indicted because he has rejected Christ as savior during his lifetime. The sins of the entire world were imputed to Christ and, therefore, are not the issue in salvation.

3. The doctrine of unlimited atonement condemns the entire unbeliever segment of the human race. Jn 3:18, “He that believes in Him is not judged; He that does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the unique Son of God.” Cf Jn 3:36.

4. Unlimited atonement provides salvation for all, but the necessity of faith in Christ limits the possession of eternal salvation to those who believe. Salvation is a potential for all, but a reality only for those who believe in Christ.

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