For Whom Did Christ Die?

BY FERRELL GRISWOLD

Ephesians 5:25-27

Did the Lord Jesus Christ die for all men? There are many who teach that today. Whether a person actually becomes saved or not, they tell people, depends on whether that person receives Jesus as his Savior.

This kind of theology undermines the power of our Lord's work at the cross. For in this concept, Christ sought to do something that He failed to accomplish in full, since not all men are in fact saved. All He could do was to remove obstacles to salvation and render men savable.

Then, there are those who speak of the general sufficiency but limited efficiency of the atonement. While Christ's death is sufficient to save everybody, they say, it is nevertheless only efficient for those who believe. Still others rationalize that Christ died for the Adamic sin of all men, but for the personal sins of only those that believe. That you can't find one bit of scripture to support.

Limited Atonement

What the scriptures do show is that the only limitation connected with the atonement is that of its object. Christ died for a specific people in view. A people who had been set apart by the Father for salvation before the foundation of the world. Christ did not merely render them savable, but He guaranteed that they would all be saved.

Let's look first at Romans 5:19: "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

This statement sets forth the principle of man's sinfulness through his union with Adam. Every person individually is guilty of transgressing God's law, of course, but he does so because he is born of Adam.

The word "made" there is a legal term. Thus, this verse is saying that by one man's disobedience, many were legally constituted sinners, and that by the obedience of oneeven the Lord Jesus Christmany are constituted righteous in the court of God's justice.

Definite article. But why does it say that by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners? Didn't all fall in Adam? Not really. Angels didn't fall in Adam. They fell before Adam; they fell individually. And there's no redemption for the fallen angels in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the original Greek manuscript, you see, appearing before the word "many" is the definite article. For as by one man's disobedience, the many were legally constituted sinners. That definite article serves as an index finger pointing out a definite class of creatures that became sinners in Adam. Who are they? Adam's posterity: the human race.

Similarly, by the obedience of Christ, shall the many be legally constituted righteous. Who are they? All of Adam's race without exception? No. Just as "the many" that were constituted sinners are those that were under Adam's headship, so "the many" who are constituted righteous are those that are under Christ's headship. Having been redeemed by His atonement, they are counted righteous.

That's why the angel of the Lord said this in Matthew 1:21 to Joseph about Mary's being with child: "She shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people (not all people) from their sins."

The Good Shepherd

In John 10:11, Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." The Bible pictures all of God's elect as sheep. Hence, the Lord says to the Pharisees in verse 26: "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep." He didn't say because you don't believe, you're not of My sheep. Rather He says, the reason you don't believe is that you're not My sheep.

Ephesians 5:25 makes it clear that the sheep are indeed a picture of the body of believers. It reads, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;" Remember the Lord gave His life for the sheep?

But the sentence continues in the next two verses: "That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

We see here that all those whom Christ loved and gave His life for will not only be saved, but will be sanctified and glorified as well. That's characteristic of a definite atonement. An atonement limited in its design and its application.

Biblical Basis

We can all agree that the atonement of the Lord reaches as far as the extent of God's love. So, if the atone
ment is universal, as those people claim, then God must love everyone. Indeed, many go around these days and tell everyone they meet, "God loves you! He loves everyone alike."

The Bible insists, however, that God does not love all people alike.

In Deuteronomy 10:15, we read, "The Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day." Note that He loves the seed of the fathers "above all people".

And in Romans 9:13, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated"; and in Psalm 5:5, "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity."

No, God does not love everyone; He hates the wicked. And the redemption of the Son is limited to those whom God had elected to love.

"Us all." This truth is further underscored in Romans 8:32, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"

Who are the "us all" there for whom God spared not His Son and to whom are given freely all things? The answer is in the ensuing verse, verse 33, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died."

The "us all", you see, is God's elect, those who are the justified, those that can't be condemned. These are the special ones for whom God did not spare His own Son.

Meanings of Christ's death

Just what did Jesus accomplish by dying? The Bible talks about the death of Jesus Christ in four ways:

(1) He made a substitutionary sacrifice for sins. Hebrews 9:26 states, "but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Now, if Jesus put away sins by that sacrifice, He made a substitutionary sacrifice for sins.

Those who claim that Christ died for everyone are effectively denying this important truth. If the Lord Jesus Christ had substituted for all men without exception, then all men must be saved. Conversely, since not all men are saved, He must have substituted for only those who are or will become saved.

Old Testament prophecy. Several hundred years before the death of Christ, God spelled out in Isaiah 53 that which was grown up in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world. We read in verse 4, "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows"; in verse 5, "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Every statement there is talking substitution. The chastisement that has brought us peace with God was not upon us, but upon Him. Your sin, as Martin Luther said, can't be in two places at one time. It's either on Christ or on you.

And does it say that with His stripes, we may be healed if we cooperate? No, it doesn't say that. "With his stripes we are healed." It's an accomplished work. As you read on in Isaiah 53, you'll find many other verses prophesying Christ's substitutionary sacrifice.

No stillborn. Now, underline verse 11: "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied."

If a woman goes through labor and birth pains, she would be most heartbroken if her baby were a stillborn. She will be satisfied only if and when her baby is seen. Now, if you believe in universal atonement, you are saying that Christ may miscarry, that He travailed for everybody but He can't get anybody born. I won't have it.

Let me assure you that every soul for which the Lord Jesus Christ travailed in birth pains on the cross of Calvary will be born whole. That's what we mean by limited atonement.

(2) He propitiated for His people. We read in I John 4:10, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ means that He reconciled His people to God. He appeased the righteous wrath of God. He removed all the enmity between them and God. As a result, those who had formerly been under the wrath of God will go free.

Now, I ask you: Did Christ's death reconcile Esau to the Father? Did He remove the enmity between God and those Pharisees whom He called "hypocrites", "serpents" and "vipers"? If you answer from the Bible, your answers can be nothing else but "No".

(3) He redeemed His people from the law. Galatians 3:13: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

If the Lord Jesus Christ had substituted for all men without exception, then all men must be saved.
Did Jesus redeem Judas Iscariot from the curse of the law? Was He made a curse under the law as much for Judas as for the apostle Paul?

No way. Of Judas, Jesus said in Matthew 26:24: "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born."

Did Christ or didn't Christ redeem? If He did, then it must have been a specific, limited redemption, inasmuch as most people do die and go to hell.

(4) The atonement of Christ is followed by the Spirit's regenerating work. In his first epistle, the apostle Peter addresses believers as the "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ."

As the atoning work of Jesus Christ was limited in design by the purpose of God in election, so the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit is limited by the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God never regenerates except those that were purchased by the Son and chosen by the Father.

Intercession by Christ

We learn from Hebrews 7 that Christ, the High Priest in heaven, is always interceding for us. But notice what Jesus says in His high priestly prayer in John 17, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine" (v. 9).

That's pretty clear, isn't it? The intercessory work of Jesus Christ is always based upon His atonement, just as the intercession of the Old Testament priest was based upon the sacrifice. Therefore, if Jesus Christ does not pray for the world, the world can never be saved.

Somebody said: "But aren't you ignoring John 3:16? Doesn't it say that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son?" No, I'm not ignoring John 3:16. I believe it with all my heart.

But having presented the above documentation for limited atonement, I'll put the burden of proof on them to seek out the right definition of the word "world". What world was it that God loved?

The us-ward. In II Peter 3:9, God says: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise (of the second coming), as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

To understand that verse, you've got to find out who the "us-ward" are. Well, at the beginning of that epistle, Peter addresses the letter "to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God" The "us-ward", you see, are those who are of like faith, those whom Peter speaks of in his first epistle as the elect of God. They are the world which God so loved that He gave His Son.

With that in mind, we can readily understand the next statement to mean that God is not willing that any of the us-ward should perish, but that all of the us-ward should come to repentance. He is patiently waiting for everyone that God has given Him to come to repentance and become saved. Once all of them have been brought into His kingdom, Christ shall return.

Thank God that Christ's death was a limited atonement. Thank God that Jesus came to seek and save a definite, specific number of people. Thank God that He had written all their names in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the earth. Because of that, we can know for sure that once all of His lost sheep have been brought back to the fold, Christ will come back to complete our salvation, and we will be with Him forevermore. o

Rev. Ferrell Griswold is the late pastor of Clairmont Reformed Baptist Church, Birmingham, AL. His messages are now distributed by the Berean Tape Ministry, 4105 Court G, Fairfield, AL 35064.

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