Did Jesus Only Die for the Elect? LIMITED ATONEMENT VS. UNIVERSAL ATONEMENT | ask Theocast

The Language of Atonement in Matthew, John, and the Epistles

The Bible has a lot to say about this. I'm just gonna read through some of these passages so you can hear the language. This is a common language as it's relating to Christ's death on the cross for us.

So Matthew 20 28, the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many. John 10 11, the Good Shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. So we're talking about to whom did Jesus die for, right? John 17 19, for their sake I consecrate myself or I sacrifice myself.

Galatians 2 20, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Ephesians 5 25, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. 1 Peter 2 24, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might die to sin and to live to righteousness.

The Purposeful, Particular Focus of Christ's Death

So you can hear the intentions of the writer, the gospel writers, Paul and the Epistles and Peter, that the intentions of Christ's death have a focal point. They have a purpose, not a general for all, but you hear this language that it's pointed towards a selected group.

You can, there's even language that I'm gonna read to you, it's what we call the for us language. These statements are in the New Testament where it's describing Jesus' death as a focus and it's for us.

Romans 5 8, God shows his love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Galatians 3 13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. Ephesians 5 2, Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

1 Thessalonians 5 10, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Titus 2 14, he gave himself for us to redeem us from our lawlessness. So this isn't an isolated passage.

Interpreting the Whole Bible on the Atonement

So as we have done in the other videos we're gonna do now, when you have to interpret a topic, a subject, when we would say systematic theology, when you have to systematize something, in other words, what does all of the Bible have to say about this topic, you have to take all the verses and lay them out and say where are they most clearly spoken about and what do they all say, what do they all mean, and then that's how we make our conclusions.

So this is what we're doing now. We're talking about the purpose of the atonement. What did Jesus come to accomplish? And in these verses so far he is speaking about a not a general population that all sins are covered, but he's talking about a specific group of people.

And even in here, relating to us, when Paul's writing from the perspective of the believer, he's saying Christ died for us. The debate that we're gonna get into now is between... Hey, thanks for watching.

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