Is the Doctrine of Limited Atonement Biblical?

 IS THE DOCTRINE OF LIMITED ATONEMENT BIBLICAL?

By Ezekiel Kimosop

The doctrine of limited atonement as advanced by Calvinism is part of the five doctrines under their TULIP systematic. The foundational doctrine is the Total Depravity doctrine that teaches that following the fall in Adam, all men in all ages since Adam suffered spiritual death and fell into total sinful depravity and are dead in sin, unable to hear the gospel and come to God without first being regenerated by God. Calvinism teaches that since God determined from the foundation of the world on who among sinners will be elected, the salvation plan was already predestined and Christ's atonement was merely provided to fulfill God's eternal plan for His Elect. Those who are not chosen by God will be damned in hell to His glory.

Having set out the philosophical concept underpinning Calvinistic soteriology, we now return to examine the doctrine of limited atonement. It is important to appreciate that none of the doctrines can be understood in isolation, philosophically speaking, because they all lie on a systematic taught by John Calvin and Augustine of Hippo. 

The limited atonement doctrine teaches that God provided atonement that exclusively targeted a specific group of sinners whose election was predestined by God from the foundation of the world. It teaches that the atonement was only actuated for and is efficacious to the Elect alone. While this articulation is partly true, the problem lies with the philosophical foundation which assigns election to God alone and extinguishes the sinner's free will choice in accepting or rejecting God's grace in the gospel yet this is plainly taught in the Bible. 

If God determined that a given number or set of sinners were specifically chosen ahead of Calvary for redemption, this should be affirmed in Scripture. There are several passages of Scripture that clearly teach or reveal that God's grace is primarily available to all sinners but only those who respond to the gospel will be saved. 

Calvinism teaches the opposite. It states that only those sinners who had been predestined to Election will be enabled by God to believe the gospel and those who are outside God's prior list will be hardened to damnation in hell. To this extent, my view is that the limited atonement doctrine is inconsistent with biblical truth and misrepresents the revelation of Scripture concerning God's offer of salvation. 

Several passages of Scripture, including John 3:16-17, explicitly proclaim that the sinner has a free will choice to make in response to the gospel. Calvinism denies this truth by asserting that salvation is exclusively God's choosing. 

The doctrine of irresistible grace again supports the limited atonement doctrine to the extent that it affirms God's explicit control of salvation to the exclusion of the sinner's free will choice. This is also true of the unconditional election doctrine which teaches that the sinner need not make any contribution or action to his salvation.

For this reason, my view is that the limited atonement doctrine as outlined by TULIP Calvinism is largely unbiblical. I believe that salvation is available to all sinners since Calvary and that any sinner who hears and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ will be saved. I further believe that God did not predetermine that a given set of sinners shall be saved to the exclusion of others. God never hardens and prevents some sinners from responding to the gospel. 

Ezekiel Kimosop 2021