The Atonement of Christ Is for All Men

Christ's death was for all men. Right now, every sin anyone ever did has already been paid for by Christ's blood. God's holy character demands payment for every infraction against His righteousness. 

From God's POV, all such debts have been fully satisfied because of Christ's death on our behalf. On this truth, the invitation of the Gospel can be extended to all men.

Otherwise, preachers of the Gospel lie when calling all to Christ as they are commanded and commissioned to do. They cannot, with integrity, call to salvation someone whose sin debt has not already been satisfied by Christ.


So Christ died for sin because He was the only One who could. Sinless blood is the only atonement God's holiness could and would accept in payment. Sinner's can never pay for their own sin...all are bankrupt without Christ.

Limited Atonement, an evil doctrine of Calvinism, teaches Christ only died for those God had selected before time began. This cannot be, as it would leave a huge debt on the part of sinners still owed to God through out eternity. A sinner, as we shall presently see, can only pay for one sin with his eternal soul.

God's justice can only be fully satisfied by Christ's blood and in God's sight, this was already accomplished by Christ before the world began. Not one sin, however seemingly insignificant, will ever go unpaid, or God is complicit in that anomaly by allowing it to breach the Laws of His righteousness.

All truth of God must be clarified, and this doctrine is no exception. I am not teaching universalism, that perversion of God's Word of grace.

Not all are saved because Christ died for them. Each person must accept God's free and gracious invitation to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" and be saved. Each person must be "born-again" by coming to Christ, the giver of eternal life. Christ knows His sheep, and logic demands they know Him as well.

A refusal to come to Christ, whom the Spirit is exalting in His witness to a lost world as the only Redeemer, is the sin against the Holy Spirit.

This is the one sin not covered by Christ's atonement and those who commit it shall pay for it and only it, by their spiritual death...separation from God forever. God's scales of justice will be eternally balanced, or God is not God.

Let us believe the happy truth Jesus gave as His motivation for living and dying, "I have come to seek and to save sinners."

Those who seek Him who is seeking them, will soon find the Captain of their salvation, the hero of Calvary, the ever living One, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:20

Author's notes:

Christ did not come to condemn us. We were already condemned by our sin to be separated from the Holy One, God. He came to give us freedom to walk with God without a bad conscience and thus progressively become more like Him. This walk culminates in Heaven and involves a final consummation in righteousness so we are truly good and pure, fitted by His grace to enjoy God's Presence and eternal Heaven.

Israel: Present and Future

God's Word is completely accurate and extremely precise on every subject.

Here is an example from Hosea 3:4,5 dealing with Israel's present condition and her glorious future:

4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods.

5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

THE PRESENT BAD NEWS ABOUT ISRAEL
(For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince)

COMMENT: This part is fulfilled. The present Israel acknowledges no king, earthly or Heavenly. She rejected her true King and crucified Him. She has no king.

(without sacrifice or sacred stones)

COMMENT: The temple was destroyed in 70 AD, just as Jesus foretold. So there is, and can be, no blood sacrifice as the Temple was the site for such offerings. Therefore, the Mosaic system of Law and sacrifices is no longer operative.

(without ephod or household gods)

COMMENT: Present Israel depends solely on her own wisdom, rejecting all types of spiritual guidance, real or false.

THE FUTURE GOOD NEWS FOR ISRAEL
5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.

COMMENT: This part of the passage is future, looking to the end of the Tribulation, when Israel will repent and allow God to write His Law on their hearts. Thus the New Covenant will be fully enacted in Israel for the first time. (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

The new Israel will enter the millennial reign of Christ with Him as their King, ruling from Jerusalem, seated on the throne of David. This latter truth fulfills the Davidic covenant. The Abrahamic covenant will also be fulfilled and Israel will possess all of the Promised Land for the first time, just as God promised.

SUMMATION: God keeps His Word. Just as Israel's sin blocked God's good will for them and robbed them of His blessings many times, so it is with Christians. Yet God is faithful and will keep His promise of salvation in Christ to even the weakest, out-of-the-way believer.

Israel's experience teaches us that God never fails those who have trusted Him. He will correct and guide, He will chastise us for our sins, yet He will never abandon us. Let us resolve to hear His voice more clearly and give Him the glory due His Name.

Christ died to take away our sin in every way.

PAST: the penalty of sin, paid (death)

PRESENT: the power of sin defeated (Christ lives in us)

FUTURE: the presence of sin, departed (when we see Him, we shall be like Him).

 

We who believe Christ are called to be faithful because He is faithful. We find the God of truth revealed in the Bible. Let us pursue Him there above all other voices to the contrary.

Salvation from the Power of Sin

The Galatians had been wonderfully saved through the Gospel message preached by the Apostle Paul.

 After he left, a group known as Judaizers came to these new converts, like spiritual snakes encroaching on an unprotected nest of fledglings.

Coming from Jerusalem with forged letters of recommendation from the Apostles, they impressed the novice Christians with their knowledge of the Law.

These “teachers” soon had the new converts tied hand and foot with the demands of Judaism.... They were told real believers keep the Law of God and are circumcised. Soon the joy of salvation through faith in Christ alone ebbed away and the Galatians became religious. Envy, criticism and every form of religious hypocrisy held sway.

This is a common problem all new Christians face. How do we go on after coming to faith in Christ? The Apostle Paul wrote the Letter to the Galatians to answer that question for them and for us.

Paul sets the premise of his reply in Galatians 1:3-5: "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Are we always thinking one dimensionally in regard to Christ’s death? Was His death only useful in saving us from condemnation? Or did His death on our behalf save us from sins past AND provide a safeguard against the sin and error every new Christian must navigate in the path to spiritual maturity?

I submit Paul is pointing here to Christ’s death providing a living Savior, who is our source of strength, guidance and spiritual sustenance.
He spoke of this point of view also in Romans 5:10: “For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

The hope of the sinner is the salvation found in Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. The hope of the believer is found in the presence of the resurrected Savior in his life made real by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. There is victory for every believer in Jesus Christ as we realize His power and presence is available to us by Christ’s death for us.

Apply With Care

It is a tremendous help in understanding the New Testament to realize not everything is written to believers.

Misapplying true scriptures (all scripture is true) is the cause of much heartache to sincere Christians. Such wrong application discourages, frustrates and stunts spiritual growth.

True growth in the Christian has its roots in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as expressed in the Scripture. No wonder the Apostle Paul commited the Ephesian Elders to "the Word of His grace" and promised them growth and eternal rewards by this means.
Acts 20:32:"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified."

One of the main reasons Christians misunderstand correct application of the saving word of Christ is not realizing the designation of some NT Epistles to the nation Israel in general and Jewish believers in particular. These Jewish-Christian Epistles have the dual purpose of evangelizing the unsaved Jews, and strengthening the Jewish believers.

All believers, both Jew and Gentile, are now part of the body of Christ. We are all alike sealed into Christ and Christ is in each one of us, through the Holy Spirit. Physically, Christ is right now in Heaven, praying for us that we would flourish.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit in us is representing Christ, and ministering to us individually and collectively. He does this by teaching, admonishing, and encouraging us in love, to GROW. He also uses the parts of the body (Apostles, preachers, teachers, evangelists) to minister to the body and to grow the body numerically and spiritually.

Here's an example of the spiritual duality found in the Jewish Christian Epistle of 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, (about returning) as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Part A of 3:9 carries the assurance to believing Jewish Christians that Christ is coming soon. Of course, by extension, that's good news for all Christians, Jew or Gentile.

However, part B of verse 9 can only be applied to unsaved people. As Peter is the Apostle to the Jews, we can safely presume he has unsaved Jewish folks in mind, though again, by extension, we can correctly include all unsaved alike in the application of this warning.

Let us examine the latter part of this verse: "Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Salvation is experienced by trusting Christ. Repentance is turning from unbelief (the mother of all sins) and receiving eternal life by believing Jesus Christ paid for all sin on the cross. This is a one time event in the Christian life, never to be repeated. It is being "born-again" which only happens once in both physical and spiritual life.

Proof of Christ's full payment is seen in the bodily resurrection of Christ. Those who fail to accept Christ in their brief life span, will indeed, perish forever, separated from God while experiencing eternal torment. Jesus said in John 8:24, "Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."

No wonder the God of all grace who wants no one to perish is delaying the glorious return of His Son! He is extending His offer of mercy to all, but here in particular to His beloved Israel, through the Apostle to the Jews, Peter.

No one, having received Christ, (John 5:24) is in danger of "perishing". Thus we are forced to conclude this verse is directed to the unsaved Jew.

Let us not misapply Scripture. We shall look at 1 John 1:9 next time. That verse is the most misapplied of all in the New Testament, IMHO.

 

Notes:

Jesus speaking in John 5:24: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."

John 5:24 assures everyone who trusts Jesus Christ already possesses eternal life and will never perish. It is on this bedrock foundation we must build our house of faith and understanding. This allows us to correctly understand scripture and apply it as intended by our gracious Savior.