3. Christ's Atonement
We are not told why God does not save all
mankind when all were equally undeserving, and when the sacrifice on Calvary
was that of a Person of infinite value, amply sufficient to save all men had
God so desired it. But the Scriptures do tell us that not all will be saved.
However, we can say that the atonement,
which was worked out at an enormous cost to God Himself, is His own property,
and that He is at liberty to make whatever use of it He chooses. No man has any
claim to any part of it. We are told repeatedly that salvation is by grace. And
grace is favor shown to the undeserving, even to the ill-deserving. If any part
of man's salvation were due to his own good works, then indeed there would be a
difference in men, and those who had responded to the gracious offer could
justly point the finger of scorn at the lost and say, "You had the same
chance that I had. I accepted, but you refused. Therefore you have no
excuse." But no. God has so arranged this system that those who are saved
can only be eternally grateful that God has saved them.
It is not for us to ask why God does as He
does, for the Scripture declares:
"Nay but, O man, who art thou that
repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why
hast thou make me thus? Or hath no the potter a right over the clay, from the
same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What
if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
much long-suffering vessels fitted unto destruction: and that he might make
known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he afore prepared
unto glory, even us, whom he also called." (Rom. 9:20-24)
Only the Calvinist seems to take the fall of
man seriously. A proper evaluation of the fall and of man's present hopeless
condition is the missing element in so much of today's thinking, teaching and
preaching. Arminianism seriously errs in assuming that man has sufficient
ability to turn to God if only he will. The Calvinist insists that man is not
merely sick or indisposed or just needs the right incentive, but that he is
spiritually dead, and that the atonement of Christ does not merely make
salvation an abstract possibility such that all men can turn to God if they
will.
The Calvinist holds that the atonement was an
objective work accomplished in history which removed all legal barriers against
those to whom it was to be applied, and that it would be followed by the work
of the Holy Spirit subjectively applying the merits of that atonement to the
hearts of those for whom it was divinely intended.
We call attention again to one of the most
important verses in Scripture concerning the matter of salvation: "No man
can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him" (John 6:44).
Another like it is; "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and
he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). And to the
Christians in Corinth, Paul wrote: "The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot
know them, because they are spiritually judged" (I Cor. 2:14).
And how does God cause the elect to exercise
faith? The answer is: In regeneration the Holy Spirit subdues man's heart to Himself,
and imparts to man a new nature which loves righteousness and hates sin. He
does not force man against his will, but makes him lovingly and spontaneously
obedient to His will. When the Lord Jesus appeared to the hardened persecutor
Saul as he was on the way to Damascus, he immediately became obedient to the
Lord's will. "Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy
power," said the Psalmist (110:3). Thus God gives His people the will to
come. That act on God's part, in the sub-conscious nature of the person, is
known as regeneration, or as a new birth, or being born again.
When a man is thus given a new nature, he
reacts according to that nature, as do all of God's creatures. He then
exercises faith and does good works characteristic of repentance as naturally
as the grape vine produces grapes. Whereas sin was his natural element, now
holiness becomes his natural element - not all at once, for he still has
remnants of the old nature clinging to him, and as long as he remains in this
world he still is in a sinful environment. But as his new nature is free to
express itself he grows in righteousness; he enjoys reading God's Word,
praying, and having fellowship with other Christians.
We therefore have to choose between an
atonement of high efficiency which is perfectly accomplished, and an atonement
of wide extension which is imperfectly accomplished. We cannot have both. If we
had both we would have universal salvation. But the Arminian extends the
atonement so widely that so far as its actual effect is concerned, it has
practically no value other than as an example of unselfish service. Dr. B. B.
Warfield used a very simple illustration to present this truth. He said that
the atonement is like pie dough - the wider you roll it the thinner it becomes.
And the Arminian, in making it apply to all men, reduces its effectiveness to
such an extent that it becomes practically no atonement at all.
Furthermore, for God to have laid the sins
of all men on Christ would mean that as regards the lost He would be punishing
their sins twice, once in Christ, and then again in them. Certainly that would
be unjust. If Christ paid their debt, they are free, and the Holy Spirit would
invariably bring them to faith and repentance. If the atonement was truly unlimited,
it would mean that Christ died for multitudes whose fate already had been
determined, who already were in hell at the time He suffered. If the atonement
merely nullified the sentence that was against man so as to give him a new
chance if he would exercise faith and obedience, it would mean that God was
placing him on test again as was his ancestor Adam. But that kind of a test was
tried and had its outcome long ago, even in a far more favorable environment.
Carried to its logical conclusion, the theory of unlimited atonement leads to
absurdity.
We should remember that Christ's suffering
in His human nature, as He hung on the cross those six hours, was not primarily
physical, but mental and spiritual. When He cried out, "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me," He was literally suffering the pangs of hell.
For that is essentially what hell is, separation from God, separation from
everything that is good and desirable. Such suffering is beyond our
comprehension. But since He suffered as a divine-human person, His suffering
was a just equivalent for all that His people would have suffered in an
eternity in hell.
As a matter of fact, the redeemed man gains
more through redemption in Christ than he lost through the fall of Adam. For in
the incarnation God literally came into the human race and took human nature
upon Himself, which nature Christ in His glorified body will retain forever,
and evidently He will be the only visible God that we will see in heaven. Peter
tells us that we now are "partakers of the divine nature" (II Peter
1:4); and Paul says that we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ" (Rom. 8:17). Think of that!
Partakers of the divine nature, and
joint-heirs with Christ! What greater blessing could God possibly confer upon
us? As such we are superior to the angels, for they are designated in Scripture
only as God's messengers, His servants.
Ultimately the Arminian is faced with
precisely the same problem as is the Calvinist - that broader problem as to why
a God of infinite holiness and power permits sin at all. In our present state
of knowledge we can give only a partial answer. But the Calvinist faces up to
that problem, acknowledges the Scriptural doctrine that all men had their fair
and favorable chance in Adam, that God now graciously saves some of the fallen
race while leaving others to go their own chosen sinful way and manifests His
justice in their punishment. But having admitted foreknowledge, the Arminianism
has no explanation as to why God purposefully and deliberately creates those
who He knows will be lost and who will spend eternity in hell.
However, as regards the problem of evil, we
can say that God created this world as a theater in which He would display His
glory, His marvelous attributes for all of His creatures to see and admire -
His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Here we are
concerned primarily with His justice. God's justice demands that goodness must
be rewarded and that sin must be punished. And it is just as necessary that sin
be punished as it is that goodness be rewarded. God would be unjust if He
failed to do either. Therefore He created men and angels not as robots who
would automatically produce good works as a machine produces bolts or tin cans
but who would deserve no rewards, but as free moral agents, in His own image,
capable, in Adam before the fall, of choosing between good and evil. He
manifests His justice toward those whom He has purposed in grace to save by
rewarding them for the good works that are found in Christ their Savior and
credited to them, confirming them in holiness, and admitting them into heaven.
And He manifests His justice toward those whom He has purposed to by-pass for
their willing continuance in sin.
Likewise, if sin had been excluded, there
could have been no adequate revelation God's most glorious attributes, grace,
mercy, love and holiness, as is displayed in His redemption of sinners. Let us
remember that the angels in heaven earned salvation through a covenant of
works, by keeping God's law. As in the Case of Adam, they had been promised
certain rewards if they obeyed. They did obey, and were confirmed in holiness.
They have not experienced salvation by grace.
There is an old hymn which says, "When
I sing redemption's story, the angels will fold their wings and listen."
And so it will be in the ultimate contrast between men and angels. Hence the
explanation of sin is that God permits it, but controls and overrules it for
His own glory. If sin had been excluded from the creation those glorious attributes
could never have been adequately displayed before His intelligent universe of
men and angels, but for the most part would have remained forever hidden in the
depths of the divine nature.