The whole question of the scope of the atonement has to do with its design.

And to talk about the design of the atonement means that we have to first identify the designer.

And when the Bible speaks about the plan of salvation, it talks about God's plan.

God is the planner.

God is the designer. It's God who sends Christ into the world.

We serve a God who is sovereign over all things, even to the smallest degree.

What he decrees comes to pass. What he determines to do is done.

And he's also the God who saves, who actually saves sinners.

Hi, I'm Nathan W. Bingham, and thank you for joining us for the Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind.

As R.C. Sproul concludes his study of the work of Christ, today he looks at a hard question for whom did Christ die?

If you have never really asked that question before and simply assumed that the answer was everybody,

or if you've rejected the idea that Christ died only for some, then I encourage you to keep listening

as R.C. Sproul gives a clear and biblically compelling case for the extent of the atonement.

He has Dr. Sproul.

In our final section today on the atonement of Christ, we're going to discuss briefly one of the most controversial issues that surrounds the whole discussion of the atonement of Jesus.

And that's the question for whom did Christ die?

I was recently speaking in Boston, and a person came up to me and introduced himself as a Christmas Calvinist.

And I gave a puzzled look to him because I'd never heard that expression before.

I said, what do you mean a Christmas Calvinist? And he said, no, well.

So as he said that, I knew what he meant.

He was obviously making reference to the historic acroostic that seeks to summarize the disputed points of reformed theology after a controversy broke out in Holland between some Dutch Calvinists and some of their group that were protesting certain doctrines

in which the distinctives of reformed theology were summarized with the acroostic tulip.

...