More interesting stuff coming out of Ligonier. Nathan W. Bingham is interrogating John MacArthur on Limited Atonement—except that he is not doing a good job of it. He is not asking him the right kind of probing questions. The question asked and being answered is, “How is limited atonement true when Scripture teaches that Christ died for the whole world?” Here is the transcript:
“Well, we know He is the Savior of the world because there is only one Savior for the world. The world has only one Savior; but we also know the Atonement is limited. We all know that, right?”
Wrong! That is news to me.
“The Atonement is limited because people go to hell.”
They go to hell because they choose to: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16); “... they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). The choice is theirs to go to either. Nobody is forced to go to heaven or hell. How does that “limit” the Atonement? That is the question Nathan should have been asking John MacArthur.
“Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, ‘Many will say to Me, Lord, Lord, and I will say to them, Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.’”
Agreed, except that he fails to quote the preceding verse:
Matthew 7:
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
The choice is always theirs to do what it takes to go to heaven or hell. It is their choice where they end up, not God’s. How does that “limit” the Atonement?
“Jesus talked more about hell then He did about heaven.”
I am not so sure about that. It seems he talked about “judgement” more than heaven or hell:
Matthew 12:
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Notice that John MacArthur says nothing about repentance, keeping the commandments of God, and doing what is good and right in the sight of God, which are the biblical requirements for obtaining forgiveness, remission of sins, and eternal life. If you believe in “predestination” and “faith alone” as he does, then I guess that would rule everything else out.
“We know that hell is a reality, and we know people go there and perish forever. So we all believe in a limited atonement, right?”
Wrong! How does people’s choices to go to heaven or hell “limit” the Atonement?
“Not everybody is going to be saved.”
By their own choices, agreed.
“You either believe in a limited atonement, or you believe in a universal atonement; and if you believe in a universal atonement, to be logically consistent, then there is no hell, and no one will be in hell. Everyone will be in heaven.”
Absolute rubbish, nonsense: “… they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). If what he is saying is true, Jesus should have said: “… they that have been predestined, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have been predestined, unto the resurrection of damnation” or, “… they that have been atoned for, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have been not atoned for, unto the resurrection of damnation”. But he didn’t say any of those things. If that is what he wanted to say, why didn’t he say it that way? Jesus’ focus is always on people’s works. They shall be judged according to their works:
Matthew 5:
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 16:
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Acts 10:
35 But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.
Acts 26:
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Romans 2:
9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;
10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:
1 Corinthians 3:
13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
2 Corinthians 5:
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Philippians 2:
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
1 Timothy 6:
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
2 Timothy 2:
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
Titus 2:
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
1 Peter 1:
17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
Revelation 2:
26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Revelation 20:
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Revelation 22:
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
He then continues:
“If you are going to affirm an unlimited Atonement, then you really are going to end up as a universalist; because if He actually died for the whole world, then the whole world is saved.”
Of course not! “… they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). How hard is that to understand?
“So, we don’t, we can’t go there because there is a hell, and it is full of people, in fact, most people. So the Atonement is limited. Then the question is, who limits it? Do we limit it, or does God limit it? And the answer to that question biblically is crystal clear. God limited it. He limited it to the elect.”
Nonsense! The Atonement is not limited: “... they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). How hard is that to understand?
“Either God determined whom He would save and take the glory, or God just threw Atonement out there as some nebulous option, and hoped some people would grab hold of it and become a part of His redeeming purpose. The Bible does not allow for that.”
No idea what Bible he is reading. Must be the one written by John Calvin. The one written by God says this:
Mark 16:
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Matthew 7:
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
John 5:
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
That is the true biblical teaching, expressed in the clearest possible terms (and lots more that could be added to it).
“So, you just need to remind yourself you believe in a limited atonement.”
Of course not! He believes in “limited atonement;” but but he didn’t obtain it from the Bible.
“Now, you ask the question, are men sovereign or is God sovereign? If God is sovereign, then He limited it.”
Where in the Bible does it say “sovereign” means meticulous predestination and predetermination of all freewill choices and decisions of man? His theology is an invention out of thin air. It has nothing to do with the Bible. And special thanks to Ligonier for providing such an excellent resource for exposing the heresies of Calvinism! 😀
No comments:
Post a Comment