No Gospel in a Limited
Atonement
The gospel from the days of its inception has been
under attack. Satan will continue to do everything within his subtle
and deceptive power to destroy or diminish it. He has no qualms
about whom he uses to do his dirty work. He will use a secularist to
assail the historicity of the resurrection, and create doubts about
the authenticity of the message. He will use the religionist to
argue that the cross represents the consummate act of an exemplary
life, demonstrating what it takes to earn a resurrection from the
dead rather than what it really is—a vicarious substitution for
sinners and the payment for their sins. Perhaps his greatest delight
is to use the Christian theologian for the purpose of limiting that
atonement. If he cannot destroy the message, he is certainly willing
to take what he can get to diminish its appeal or application to a
lost and dying world.
What exactly is the gospel? Well, in 1 Corinthians
15:1-6, Paul declared to the church at Corinth the same message he
preached to them while they were still lost in their sins—a message
they received and by which they were saved through faith in the
Christ who suffered in their stead. Paul delivered to them what he
had first received from the Lord, that “Christ died for our sins
according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he
rose again the third day according to the scriptures: and that he
was seen…” (15:3-5). The good news Paul preached was that God in
Christ had provided a remedy for (i.e., had done something about)
their sins, and attested to the nature and value of Christ’s death
by raising him from the dead on the third day.
Paul believed without equivocation that Jesus Christ
died for all men without distinction or exception, and therefore
could look with confidence into the eye of any man anywhere on the
planet, and declare, “Christ died for your sins!” No pulpiteer who
lacks that confidence has any right to call himself a gospel
preacher, because the cross is the crux of the gospel. Earlier in
the epistle, Paul affirmed that preaching the cross of Christ was
equivalent to preaching the gospel (1:17-18). Preaching the gospel
is preaching Christ crucified (1:23). Preaching Christ crucified is
to declare to every sinner that Christ died for his or her sins, and
that his precious blood was shed for them. According to Jesus,
Paul’s boss, the gospel was meant to infiltrate “all the world” and
to be heard by “every creature” (Mark 16:15). So much for
limitations!
Preachers of a limited atonement will find themselves
at odds with Paul and his gospel. Intellectual honesty will require
of them to declare the following to their congregations: “Christ may
or may not have died for your sins! Call upon the Lord Jesus and
cross your fingers! If he died and rose again for you, he will save
you. If you were excluded from that limited number for whom Christ
died, he has neither the desire nor the ability to save you!” Few if
any limited atonement preachers will ever display that kind of
honesty, but it is exactly the dilemma they face when they attempt
to limit to a select number what Paul openly applied to all!
In an effort to mask the aforementioned dilemma,
limited atonement preachers typically resort to redefining the
gospel. Charles Haddon Spurgeon is an example. In a sermon entitled
“Election No Discouragement To Seeking Souls”, Spurgeon made this
statement: “Furthermore, if we understand the gospel at all, the
gospel lies in a nutshell. It is this: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved…This promise is the gospel” (Spurgeon’s
Sermons, Vol. 8, p. 233). Well, it is clear that Paul understood
the gospel, and would have this to say to Spurgeon: “That promise,
brother Charles, is not the gospel. It is the offer (or promise) of
forgiveness and life eternal based upon the gospel that Christ died
for our sins!” Because Spurgeon embraced the false doctrine of
limited atonement, it was impossible for him to declare the gospel
that Paul articulated. He was forced to redefine it because of the
limited value and scope he placed upon the death of Christ.
In the same message, Spurgeon declared: “If any man
who ever lived, or ever shall live, believes in Jesus Christ, he
hath eternal life. Election or no election, if you are resting upon
the rock of ages, you are saved. If you, as a guilty sinner, take
the righteousness of Christ—if, all black and foul and filthy, you
come to wash in the fountain filled with blood—sovereignty or no
sovereignty, rest assured of this, that you are redeemed from the
wrath to come” (Ibid, p. 233).
Now, these words are commendable, but hypocritical.
Spurgeon’s theology taught him that there was neither effectual
grace nor a fountain filled with blood for those excluded from the
atonement. Spurgeon’s words are indicative of his intellectual
dishonesty in this area. Moreover, they enable us to understand that
the great success of Spurgeon’s ministry can be largely attributed
to his inconsistencies with the tenets of Calvinism rather than his
embrace of them.
The false doctrine of limited atonement has no place
in gospel preaching for there is little or no gospel in it. Yet many
good men of God fall prey to its philosophical appeal. If you are
attending a church with a limited atonement pastor, then your church
is virtually gospel-free. Lost sinners will never hear the good news
that Christ died for their sins unless the pastor’s preaching is
inconsistent with his doctrine, as was Spurgeon’s. If such is the
case, may his inconsistencies abound to the glory of God!
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