Five, not 4-1/2: Redux

A few weeks ago as our Thirsty Theologians met, Anthony challenged my thinking regarding the scope of the atonement. I usually express it this way: the value of Christ's sacrifice is infinite, sufficient to pay for an infinite sin debt (enough for every sin in the history of this world and another thousand just like it), but that the payment is rendered only on behalf of the elect. This view was dubbed 4-½ point Calvinism. As I understand it, Anthony was asserting that 5-pointers hold that the atonement of Christ is sufficient and efficient only for the elect. While, apparently, a 4-½ pointer holds that the atonement of Christ is sufficient for all, yet efficient only for the elect. I took no small exception to the idea that I hold to an inferior view of the sovereignty of God (he says wryly as he pokes Anthony in the ribs), so I thought to write a fuller explanation here. In fact, I believe that the view I expressed is exactly what the Synod of Dort had in mind as they formalized the 5-points.

Let's break this down, first I hold these presuppositions and present them here as matter of fact, but will defend them if need be:

• The effect of the Atonement must be limited, since scripture is clear that many will receive due punishment in Hell. So the question for the Bible-believing inquirer is "in what way is the atonement limited?"
  
• The value of Christ's death is infinite, so there was no defect in the sacrifice that prevents all from being saved
  
• The Atonement actually affected propitiation and expiation, it was not just potential atonement

The value of Christ's death is infinite. This is not a 4-1/2 point understanding (whatever that is) but a statement from the Canons of Dort (Second Main Point of Doctrine, Article 3), and therefore intrinsically a 5-point doctrine. I think the main misunderstanding is at the point of how the atonement is accomplished. If it is the death of Christ by itself that effects atonement then there is a need to say that His sacrifice is of limited value, else adopt a Unitarian heresy. But, the atonement is made by Christ being made sin and then receiving death as the due penalty for that sin—a substitute in our stead (2 Cor 5:21). That God laid on Christ only the sins of His elect is how this infinite payment is limited. And, if the atonement is truly effective, if it actually accomplished redemption (versus only potentially), then this must be how only some men are saved while others are not.

Consider this syllogism:

all those whose sins are expiated [A] are saved [B], and
all men [C] are those whose sins are expiated [A]
therefore all men [C] are saved [B]

Scripture assures us that this conclusion is false, and so one or both of the premises must be false. I will gladly assert and later defend, if need be, that the first proposition is true (this is the doctrine of perseverance), and therefore the second must be false. Since it is a universal statement, and it is false, the correct statement follows by course by simple negation: not all men are those whose sins are expiated. Let's correct:

all those whose sins are expiated [A] are saved [B], and
not all men [C] are saved [B]
therefore not all men [C] are those whose sins are expiated [A]

I engage in this exercise to simply show that anyone who holds to the biblical teaching of Hell, and to the clear biblical support for the doctrine of preservation (which includes the vast majority of Baptists) then the idea of a limited expiation is a necessary conclusion. Limited expiation is how the atonement is limited, in that the Father only places on the Son the sins of His elect, i.e. all who will be saved. When Christ died for those sins, they were actually expiated; it was effectual remission of sin.

To put it another way, if sins are actually paid for on the cross, and all sins are placed on Christ, what then does God punish in Hell, sins that have been paid for? Heaven forbid! The only other alternative is that the atonement is not really atonement but a purchase of a chance for forgiveness, one made effective by faith. Consider the enormous ramifications of this stance. What is the end-product of creation? Once this current heaven and earth boil away and are replaced, what will be left from this creation enterprise? A bride for Christ. All of creation, this world and the vast stretches of starry heavens, exist to produce a bride for Christ, and all of that, the grand plan and work of God is held in jeopardy by the fickle and deceitful human heart? Again, Heaven forbid!

Perhaps a reformulation of my initial assertion would make the point clearer. Though the sacrifice of Christ is of infinite worth, He provides expiation for only the sins laid on Him by the Father, acting as a scapegoat for the elect. Thus a payment of infinite value was rendered to redeem those chosen by God, according to His good pleasure, out of all of humanity.

Immediately some will protest that scripture talks about Jesus taking away the sins of the world, that He was a ransom for all, or the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all (John 1:29, 1 Tim 2:6, Isaiah 53:6 respectively), but I would ask, gentle reader, if there is any way to see these statements as un-limited without becoming a Unitarian? No, the only question is how you might limit them in your understanding, and whether you give maximum freedom and glory to God or to man.