WHY MAKE AN ISSUE OF LIMITED ATONEMENT?

Why do I make an issue of limited atonement? Because the Word of God makes an issue of it. The Word of God is clear that Christ did not die to give every son of Adam a chance to be saved. Christ died only for His elect. He said, “I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:15). Those who do not believe don’t believe because they are not God’s elect. “Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.” (John 10:26).

We make an issue of limited atonement because the glory of Christ is at stake in it. If Christ died for someone who perishes in hell anyway, then Christ has no glory in salvation. Christ would be ashamed if anyone for whom He died perished. There would be no reason for any sinner to trust Christ if He could fail to save them. But thanks be to God, the Lord Jesus Christ has not and will not fail to save anyone the Father gave Him in the covenant of grace! Christ will receive all glory eternally because He did not lose one who the Father gave Him to save. The truth of limited atonement gives sinners good reason to trust Christ for all of their salvation.

Neither salvation nor sanctification is in any way a cooperative effort. When Peter was sinking beneath the waves, he didn’t say, “Lord, nothing is going to happen today that you and I together can’t handle.” He said, “Lord, save me.”

Pastor Chris Cunningham

Federal or Seminal Head

Many commentators in their attempt to explain imputation will refer to Adam as our “Federal Head”. By “Federal”, they mean “Representative”. When Adam, as our representative sinned, God charged or imputed the guilt of that sin to all mankind. “By man came death…” “In Adam all died”. I Cor. 15:21-22. I believe the truth of imputation goes further. Just as Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek because he was in the loins of Abraham, Heb. 7:9-10, we were in the loins of Adam. It is not “Federal” headship, it is “Seminal” (seed) headship. We were there in the garden physically in our Father according to the flesh. If these new DNA tests could go back far enough, they would trace every man’s ancestry to Eden in Mesopotamia. Death was not just charged to us, it was experienced by us. We actually died in Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED”. Rom. 5:12.

In the same way (spiritually not physically) all God’s elect were placed by God “in Christ” before Adam. We are His seed. When it pleased the Lord to bruise Him and make His soul an offering for sin, God saw His seed. Is. 53:10. He did not just bear our sin, He bore us. Christ suffered at the hand of His Holy and Just Father the punishment we deserved… and we died in Him.

Read Rom. 6:3-11 “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed…”

Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ” Gal. 2:20. Then he said in Phil. 3:10, that his hope was to know Him and the fellowship of His suffering. When Christ died, He did not just own our sin to satisfy Divine justice, He owned every one of His people. We were “IN” Him. The just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. Federal Head speaks to legal imputation. Seminal Head speaks to the glory of Christ and our real spiritual union with Him.

Pastor Greg Elmquist

To disobey the Gospel is far worse than to break the law. For disobedience to the law there is a remedy in the Gospel, but for disobedience to the Gospel no remedy can be found!! “There remained no more sacrifice for sins.”