Romans 5, Limited Atonement

My pastor preached on Romans 5 this morning. He talked about the sufficiency of Christ, and that when we are regenerated, and born again, we are saved through His blood, and His blood alone.

He went on to say that we must understand why we are sinners, and that we're all born in original sin. This sin nature was imputed to us through Adam.

Romans 5:17 "For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."

We also must understand the depths of sin, Jeremiah 17:9 exposes our sinful hearts:

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"

As Dr. Belcher said this morning, Christ bore the fulness of God's wrath that I, or we, should have had. And, it's only the blood of Christ that can satisfy His wrath that burns against us.

As I was following along in Romans 5 with him, I noticed these verses:

Rom 5:15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

Rom 5:16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.

Rom 5:17 If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Rom 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

I believe in a limited atonement, and this morning I saw it so clearly in the above verses. Lorraine Boettner had this to say:

Let there be no misunderstanding at this point. The Arminian limits the atonement as certainly as does the Calvinist. The Calvinist limits the extent of it in that he says it does not apply to all persons...while the Arminian limits the power of it, for he says that in itself it does not actually save anybody. The Calvinist limits it quantitatively, but not qualitatively; the Arminian limits it qualitatively, but not quantitatively. For the Calvinist it is like a narrow bridge that goes all the way across the stream; for the Arminian it is like a great wide bridge that goes only half-way across. As a matter of fact, the Arminian places more severe limitations on the work of Christ than does the Calvinist. (Lorraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1932) p. 153.)

If you want to read an excellent post on limited atonement, read James White's piece on "Was Anyone Saved at the Cross?"

The two words that I noticed were the all and many in Romans 5:18-19. I hear often from others that all always means all, but that isn't true, because you must look at the context. If all always meant all, then all men would be saved, and justified, and we know that not all men are not saved, nor will all men be saved.

Rom 5:18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

Rom 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

I love it when God opens up the Scriptures to me like that. I encourage you to go over to James White's site, and read his post on "Was Anyone Saved at the Cross?"