In this article, I want to wrap up some thoughts about the Atonement and then move into the issue of the resurrection of Christ and what implications the doctrine of the resurrection of Christ has for our very lives. When we study the Scriptures, it is not theory; it has to do with reality and all doctrines have a relevance to your life and all these truths have some bearing on the way we live.
Ultimately, the Scriptures invite us to see that the identification of the believer in Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension is so great that your destiny is determined by His destiny; and your derivation is changed from that of Adam to that which is in Christ. You have a new dignity that you did not have before. He has given us the offer of His power to become the people He always intended us to be. We do not have the power to be the people God intended us to be because we lost that power as a result of the fall; and we cannot restore that ourselves simply because we cannot change our own hearts.
If the problem is the human heart, then no amount of external change or attempts to have better lives will solve the problem of the human heart. It becomes bootstrap theology; trying to lift yourself up by your own efforts. Thus, the need for the Atonement, which we have seen before, is to make it possible for God to reconcile us and to atone for our sins and to make satisfaction—to make us acceptable in His sight.
Now, there is a debate that goes on and it has to do with the extent of the Atonement. I will only say a few words about that. It has to do with this issue: did Christ die and pay for the sins of only those who will accept Him? Or did He pay for the sins of everybody, regardless of whether they accept or reject Him? Some call this the doctrine of limited Atonement versus unlimited Atonement, but those who embrace limited atonement, which means His atonement was limited to those who would actually come to faith, if it is limited only to them, they prefer the term ‘particular redemption’ and ‘general redemption’. The idea of limited atonement would seem to imply that there is a problem with what God has done and Christ’s atoning work was deficient in some way. They prefer to say it is ‘particular’ to those who God knew, even before the foundation of the world.
Your view on this will be shaped by your view of the larger issues. These larger issues have to do with the nature of God’s providence; of God’s sovereignty; and the doctrine of election. Whatever decisions you make on that level will apply to this point. We discussed this a few articles ago, but those who have a more Arminian theology will be far more likely to embrace a general redemption. Those who embrace a more Calvinistic orientation will be drawn to the particular redemption. The real issue has to do with the fundamental difference between the fact that Arminians would say that God’s purpose was to save all people, but it was frustrated by man’s will to rebel and that Calvinists would say that God’s purpose is to save those whom He has chosen. The issue is that He has made an offer available to all people—whosoever will—but at the same time, only those who were chosen will respond to the invitation. It does not eliminate the actual choice that people make. They would admit to a mystery going on here: how it is that God could be sovereign and yet our choices are still very real and genuine.
Sometimes this is talked about in the acrostic ‘TULIP’, where it speaks to the five points of Calvinism. ‘T’ represents total depravity; and it means not that we cannot do anything, but everything we do is tainted. Apart from the power of the Holy Spirit within us, even our best deeds are tainted. ‘U’ stands for unconditional election and speaks to the idea that there are not conditions; that God chooses us not because of something virtuous in us, but because of His love for us. There is a deep and profound mystery why some people come to faith and others do not. In fact, from a Biblical point of view, the larger question is why anybody is saved—not why some people aren’t. According to Scripture, God would be just if all people were separated from Him because of their sin. We die and are separated from Him not by virtue of not hearing the Gospel, but by virtue of participating in sin. We do not die from ignorance of the cure, but we die because of the disease.