Today we're pleased to share with you an audio essay written and read by Jonathan Gibson,

entitled Ten Things You Should Know About Limited Atonement. Jonathan is the editor of From Heaven

He Came and Sought Her, Definite Atonement in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective.

Ten Things You Know. theological and pastoral perspective. Ten things you should know about limited atonement, written and read by Jonathan Gibson.

The first thing we should say at the outset is that limited atonement is an unfortunate phrase

because here is the atonement of Christ

and now it sounds like someone wants to limit it. Why would we want to limit an atonement for sinners?

I think the phrase definite atonement is a more positive way to speak about this doctrine of limited

atonement and so for the purposes of this article i'm going to use the phrase definite atonement in

each of these ten points number one definite atonement is a way of speaking about the intent and nature of Christ's death.

The doctrine of definite atonement states that in the death of Jesus Christ,

the triune God intended to achieve the redemption of every person given to the Son by the Father in eternity past,

and to apply the accomplishments of his sacrifice to each of them by the Spirit. In a nutshell, the death of Christ was intended to win the salvation

of God's people alone, and not only was it intended to do that, but it effectively achieved it as well.

Jesus will be true to His name. He will save his people from their sins. In this regard, the adjective

definite does double duty. Christ's death was definite in its intent. He died to save a

particular people and it was definite in its nature. His death really does atone for sin.

Number two, definite atonement has courted controversy in the Christian church. For Sam,

definite atonement is a grim doctrine, as Carl Bart said, containing horrible blasphemies,

as John Wesley said. For others, it is a textless doctrine, as Broughton Knox said,

arrived at by logic rather than by a straightforward reading of the scriptures.

Pastoral, definite atonement is viewed as the Achilles heel of the reformed faith, quenching a zeal for evangelism

...