Salvation Was Accomplished At The Cross!

          The following information comes primarily from an article by Dr. James
     White, titled 'Was Anyone Saved at the Cross?'



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          Why would Christ die for the whole world if God did not intend to save
     everyone?  Or did Christ's atoning death save everyone for whom it was
     intended?  Answers coming up.

          "Did Christ actually make a substitutionary sacrifice for sins or didn't He?
     If He did, then it was not for all the world, for then all the world would be saved."
     Edwin H. Palmer   'The Five Points of Calvinism'


          If Christ's death was a universal atonement, that He died substituionarily in the
     place of every single man and woman in the world, then either:
                               
                               1) everyone will be saved or

                               2) Christ's death is insufficient to save without
                                    additional works.

          Neither is biblical!

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          Most of us who go to church have always been taught that Jesus died for "the whole
     world," meaning every single person.  In other words, Jesus' death was a universal
     atonement, not a limited one.

          However, those who believe Christ's atonement is for everyone, believe it is limited
     in its effect, because if true, then Christ could die in someone's place and yet that per-
     son may still be lost for eternity.  The atonement's power and effect are limited under
     this belief.


          Under Reformed theology, the scope of the atonement is limited (or definite), while
     its power and effect are unlimited.   In other words, Jesus' atonement was effective for
     whom it was intended --- His people!

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          Only those who are "in Christ" have had their sins forgiven and atoned for, and are
     reconciled with God the Father.

          "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.   The old has passed away;
     behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us
     (His people) to Himself and gave us (His people) the ministry of reconciliation;  that
     is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses
     against them, and entrusting to us (His people) the message of reconciliation."
     2 Corinthians 5:17-19

          The word, "world" here, cannot mean everyone in the entire world, for only those
     who are "in Christ" are reconciled to God, while all others are lost in their sins. Many
     will die and spend eternity in Hell, never reconciled to God.


          Christ atoned for His people.

          "For our (His people) sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him
     we (His people) might become the righteousness of God."  2 Corinthians 5:21

    
          "God treated Jesus as if he had committed believers' sins, and treats believers as if
     they did only the righteous deeds of the sinless Son of God."  John MacArthur


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          In Reformed theology, the atonement's extent is limited (definite) because it does
     not apply to everyone.

          In Synergistic theology (man and God cooperate together to accomplish salvation;
     Jesus' atonement is not enough by itself to save), the power of the atonement is limited
     because it does not actually save anyone.

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         Reformed theology limits the atonement quantitatively, but not qualitatively.
         The atonement is meant for and effective for God's chosen people, and it is totally
     effective everytime.

          In Synergism, the atonement is limited qualitatively, but not quanitiatively.
          The atonement is for everyone, but actually has no power in and of itself to save
     anyone without the person's cooperation or permission.

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          In Reformed theology, "the atonement is like a narrow bridge that goes all the way
     across the stream."

          In Synergism, "the atonement is like a wide bridge that goes only half-way across."
     Lorraine Boettner    'The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination'

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          Christ's death actually accomplishes something --- it saves His people.  His atone-
     ment was a real, actual, substitutionary one, not a possible, theoretical one that is de-
     pendant on the actions of man to be effective.

          Jesus died in behalf of those the Father had, from eternity, decreed to save.  There is
     absolute unity between the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit in saving God's people.

          The Father chooses or decrees their salvation, the Son dies in their place, and the
     Spirit sanctifies them and conforms them to the image of Christ.


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          "We say Christ so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that
     no man can number, who through Christ's death not only may be saved, but are saved,
     must be saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved."
     Charles Haddon Spurgeon