Real Atonement vs Potential Atonement

                                    "He Himself bore our sins in His body
                                     on the tree, that we might die to sin
                                     and live to righteousness.  By His
                                     wounds you have been healed."
                                                                    1 Peter 2:24


          Jesus, Himself, bore the sins of His people on the cross, giving us
     His righteousness, and healing us spiritually from the deadly disease of sin.

       
                                                            **********

          In his book, 'The Potter's Freedom,' James White explains that Jesus' death
     on the cross was an actual, effectual, definite atonement for the people of God,
     and not a potential atonement for every single person in the world.


                              " ... The bible's teaching on the intention and effect
                                of the atonement precludes us from believing that
                                Christ died to make men savable, but that He actually
                                saved those for whom He substituted.

                                In fact, it is our assertion that the word "substitution"
                                should not be used of a merely potential atonement,
                                for such would destroy the personal aspect of the death
                                of Christ."


                              " ... The error of (believing in a universal atonement) should
                                be clear.  They are:
                                         
                                            1. rejection of the biblical doctrine of the positive
                                                decree of God;

                                            2. rejection of the biblical doctrine of the deadness of
                                                man in sin and his inability to do anything that is
                                                pleasing to God (including 'acceptance of forgiveness
                                                of sins');

                                            3. rejection of the biblical doctrine of the atonement,
                                                including its intention and result.

               White continues:

                               "The result is a theoretical atonement that saves no one:
                                       His blood may 'buy' forgiveness, but our choice
                                       determines whether the entire work of Christ in our
                                       behalf will be a success or a failure.

                                 This empties the word 'paid' of its meaning.  If someone
                                 pays my bill, I no longer owe the money.  The [universal]
                                 view leaves us with a contractual situation where Christ
                                 offers to pay the bill based upon the performance of the
                                 free act of faith.

                                 " ... The certainty of the application of the benefits of Christ's
                                   work is found in the fact the elect are known personally to
                                   God due to His decree:  therefore, Christ substitutes for them
                                   personally in His death, assuring the application of the benefits
                                   of His death in the life of each individual who has received God's
                                   sovereign grace in eternity past.

                                   The salvation of the elect is therefore certain not because God
                                   passively knows who will believe, but because God's decree
                                   makes the elect a reality (even before we, who live long after the
                                   cross, are born) so that they can be intimately joined with Christ
                                   in His death upon the cross.

                                   As Paul said, 'I have been crucified with Christ.'  This is the
                                   statement of every one of the redeemed, but may we never teach
                                   that this is a statement that can be uttered by the rebel God-hater
                                   in hell!

                                                                         **********

                                 " ... we are not saying that God completed and applied the entire work
                                  of salvation to the elect at the cross.  Such would be impossible since
                                  most of the elect were not yet born.

                                  What we are saying is that the elect were joined to Christ in His death
                                  so that they can all say 'I was crucified with Christ.'
                                  What we are saying is the unregenerate man in hell can never say
                                  'I was crucified with Christ.'

                                  What we are saying is that it is equivocation to say 'Before the moment
                                   in time when they were regenerated, the elect were not saved actually
                                   but only potentially.'  What does 'potentially' mean?  That there was
                                   some doubt involved?"

                                                                          ***********

          White continues:

                                 "The death of Christ obtained eternal redemption, not possibly,
                                   but with certainty.  The elect were joined with Christ so that no
                                   possibility exists of their not receiving the benefits of their being
                                   joined to Christ.

                                   He procured actual forgiveness of sins in their place.  Yes, this
                                   great benefit will be applied to them in time, but that does not
                                   reduce the certainty of its application to a mere possibility.

                                  The sins of the elect people of God were nailed to the cross of
                                  Christ and no others.

                                   ... It is not a matter of Christ 'potentially' bearing sin: either He
                                   bore it or He didn't.  If He did, those sins are forgiven.

                                  The fact that the elect will only come to know of this great benefit
                                  when God, by His grace, regenerates them, brings them out of
                                  darkness and into His light, and gives them the knowledge of what
                                  Christ did for them long before they were born, does not make His
                                  work in their behalf a mere potentiality.               


                                                                          **************

          We cannot help but agree wholeheartedly with the words of Charles Spurgeon:

                                 "Let the Christian feel that the teaching which
                                  lowers the work of Christ, makes it dependent
                                  upon the will of man as to its effect, puts the cross
                                  on the ground, and saith,

                                                           'That blood is shed,
                                                            but it may be shed in vain,
                                                            shed in vain for you,' -

                                 let us all feel that such teaching cometh not from the Spirit of God.
         
                                 That teaching it is which, pointing to the cross, saith,

                                                            'He shall see of the travail of
                                                             his soul, and shall be satisfied;'

                                 that teaching which makes the atonement a true atonement which
                                 put away the vindictive justice of God for ever from every soul for
                                 whom that atonement was offered, exalts Christ, and, therefore, it
                                 is a teaching which comes from the Spirit of God.

                                 When your heart is brought to rest upon what Christ has done, when,
                                 laying aside all confidence in your own works, knowledge, prayings,
                                 doings, or believings, you come to rest upon what Christ has done in
                                 its simplicity, then is Jesus Christ exalted in your heart, and it must
                                 have been the work of the Spirit of divine grace.

                                 The person, then, and the work of Christ are exalted."


                                                               **************


                                               "Just as man is destined to die once,
                                                 and after that to face judgment,
                                                 so Christ was sacrificed once to
                                                 take away the sins of many people;
                                                 and He will appear a second time,
                                                 not to bear sin, but to bring salvation
                                                 to those who are waiting for Him."
                                                                             Hebrews 9:27-28


                                               [Jesus said],

                                                  "For even the son of Man did not come to
                                                    be served, but to serve, and to give His life
                                                    as a ransom for many."
                                                                              Mark 10:45