Withering the TULIP - Limited atonement

How does limited atonement, which teaches that Christ’s propitiary work was limited to those whom God has elected to be saved, expound these verses?

1Jn 2:2 and *he* is the propitiation for our sins; but not for ours alone, but also for the whole world

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God which carries with it salvation for all men has appeared,

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal

Act 13:47 for thus has the Lord enjoined us: I have set thee for a light of the nations, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the end of the earth

i know i have come across more verses, but I can’t seem to find them. I’ll add them as I find them.

Don’t tell people they are sinners!

Read this off one of the fastest growing churches website, which suggests that when gospel sharing, leave the sin issue out ‘kay? Its neither relevant nor important.

Most people are invited into a relationship with God by being told they are wrong, sinful, and in need of salvation. While this is certainly true, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, I certainly wouldn’t show up to a party where the basis of being invited was that I am a screw up. To have the first words of the Gospel of Christ be ones of condemnation present a false concept of the core of the gospel and of God’s love. I certainly don’t like being told that I am a bad person and I assume you don’t either. It’s no wonder people become defensive, cross their arms, and shut down before we get to our point in telling them they are sinners, being that God has forgiven them. Yet the topic sentence of the gospel is a guilty verdict and by the time we get to the good news of God’s undying love we have already put the world on its heels in a defensive position. God is the only Judge of sins I am not. I know what I have done and to condemn others of being sinners is not my place. I would rather have them know Jesus by his love. Remembering that Jesus came not to condemn the world but for its salvation is very important when we encounter the good news.  

What if the first thing that we thought of when we talked about the cross was the hope that it represents and the love of God not just the sin that held Christ there. Sin is only a part of the cross it is not the point. If we invited people into a relationship with a Loving, holy, and untamable God, I think people would be far more apt to listen to the good news and engage it. Then once the basis of their relationship with Jesus is love not sin they would realize the broken state of existence they are in. I believe God would show them that they need Christ and yet know that they are loved even as a broken person. 

How different would our lives as Christians be if at the core of our relationship with God was not the need of a savior but God’s love? That are the center of it all we knew that Jesus had hope in us and that God loved us. Our actions would not be driven by sin management, hiding our true selves, or fear; they would be actions of a free redeemed people. If the core of our relationship with God is mere redemption from sin we fall into so many traps. For instance what is there left to do once we realize that we are forgiven? Well, we could sit around and try to not sin anymore, but if we could have done that, then Christ died in vain. St. Paul writes pretty clearly that how Christ has redeemed us we are free from the law and from sin. Yet if at the center of our gospel is sin, there will be no way to get away from it. We would exist lives of guilt because we kept failing to be sinless. Yet most dangerous is that sin is not Godly and to have a gospel based on sin would be to create one that has something to do with God, but God would not be the foundation of it. To have a Gospel based on sin, is a gospel that is self focused and is no gospel at all.

If love is the center of our theology, then sin becomes a part of our live but we will be able to stop worrying about our own salvation and we will be able to act in freedom the freedom of faith. Our faith would not be measured in how little we sin, rather it will be seen in how we act in love. We would not be burdened with the guilt of a sinful life but we would be free to forgive and to love for we know that at the core of God is love. A gospel based on love is one that is based upon God. I would like to point something out that seems to go unnoticed in most Christian circles. Jesus walked around and taught before he was crucified. And when he arose from the dead he walked around and taught a little bit more. The cross was part of his ministry, It was not the whole deal. It is very important, but during those times of walking with us he also taught us about love. On the cross God shows us how love wins. I am not saying that sin is not an issue, sin is all around us and is very dangerous. As we love Christ more and more, we ought become more aware of our fallen state, yet we also become aware of grace more and more. Christ came for the salvation of the world from sin, but he came because of love. We need to put love first and then realize the effects of a life based on love

Pasted from <http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1928>

 

What makes the good news, good news? Is not the fact that God has loved the people of this world in spite of its sinfulness?

 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10) 

I mean c’mon, if the gospel was just, “hey, guess what, God loves ya! You wanna love him back?” what so good about that news? That kinda sounds like what I used to do in high school with the girls, thinking they’d be honoured that I’m interested in them (I learnt the hard way that that was rarely true). A cheesy pickup line.The basis of our relationship with God is not our accepting Christ, it’s based on what Christ has done on the cross. We are accepted in the beloved (Eph 1:6).If any suggest that we should cloak the sin problem, and focus only on the God’s love, they are preaching an incomplete gospel. Everybody hates a terrible sales pitch, especially one that emphasizes the desirable good of a product but only reveal the strings attached after they’ve bought in! Preaching an incomplete gospel does just that. No wonder we find so many ‘professing Christians’ in Christendom today. They are the offspring of an incomplete gospel, that doesn’t make known the need for repentance and confession of sin before God as part of their response to the glorious gospel of salvation offered to men through Christ.Paul warned the heretics in Galatia about a different gospel

But if even *we* or an angel out of heaven announce as glad tidings to you anything besides what we have announced as glad tidings to you, let him be accursed Gal 1:8   

what were the key elements of Paul’s gospel?

testifying to both Jews and Greeks repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 20:21    

1. REPENTANCE towards God
2. FAITH towards Christ

  Both need to be explained with love, care and sincerity, not with a holier than thou attitude.      

Withering the TULIP

I’m starting to believe that ‘Calvinism’ is something you have to ‘convince’ yourself to believe. Why? I used to believe in reformed teaching, without calling myself reformed, but it turned out that I kept saying, “I don’t understand this, because its too lofty for my thoughts, so just believe what Calvin and Augustine say the bible teaches me.” If these doctrines are so lofty, then what makes Calvin and Augustine so sure that’s what the bible teaches? Christians have carried too much baggage from previous generations, and I think reformed teaching is one of them. Its time to really ask ourselves what does the bible really teach on the doctrines of election, predestination and foreknowledge. Is your understanding totally based on your study of the word of God, or from reading Spurgeon, Calvin and such…

Calvinistic teaching is marked by the famous acronym : TULIP

T - Total Depravity - man does not, and is unable and cannot seek God on his own

U - Unconditional Election - God has chosen some, out of all mankind, to be saved,  but not because of any inherent good or worth in them.

L - Limited Atonement - Christ’s death on the cross was propitiatory to God, but only to cover the sins of those He has chosen

I - Irresistible Grace - Those who God has chose, will definitely and eventually be saved.

P - Perseverance of the Saints - God will continue to do a good work in a believer’s life. A believer will get better and better till the day of death, or Christ’s return.

These doctrines have huge roots in what many believe explain the doctrines of election, predestination, foreknowledge. I’ve been reading the related passages I used to be so convinced of in my reformed mind, and suddenly i feel like i’m finally being reformed.

While i don’t totally disagree with the above, neither to i believe in them totally.

For the record, I’ve not turned Armenist either.

The Lord willing, I’ll post some thoughts on the TULIP in future.

What saves, faith or works?

Should you ask which is most necessary to salvation, faith or works?
I beg leave to propose a similar question: Which is most essential to breathing, inspiration or expiration? If you reply, that “the moment either is absolutely at an end, so is the other; and therefore both are equally important :”
I return exactly the same answer. If humble faith receive the breath of spiritual life, obedient love gratefully returns it, and makes way for a fresh supply. When it does not, the Spirit is grieved: and if this want of cooperation is persisted in to the end of the day of salvation, the sin unto death is committed, the Spirit is quenched in his saving operation, the apostate dies the second death, and his corrupt soul is cast into the bottomless pit, as a putrid corpse into the noisome grave.

- John Fletcher, An Equal Check To Pharisaism and Antinomianism, circa 1773

Something to ponder upon…