1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 11.6 How Does God Justify Sinners? God Saves All of His People
Table of Contents
The Text
Romans 3:25–26 (CSB) God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
The Chapter
The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.
The Confession
Galatians 3:9 (CSB) Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.
Romans 4:22–24 (CSB) Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness. Now it was credited to him was not written for Abraham alone, but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
When expounding a Confession, the Doctrines of Grace will inevitably appear. Reformed Theology tends to do that. And within the first 11 chapters of the 1689, no Doctrine of Grace is mentioned more so than Limited Atonement. That is, simply put, Christ came to live and die just for elect and none more.
Matthew 1:21 (CSB) She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.
John 10:11 (CSB) “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Now, opponents of this doctrine will not suggest Universal Atonement--that is, Christ died for all to be saved. But they would suggest that Christ came to make salvation possible for all, based on a handful of verses that speak of Christ dying for the world.
1 John 2:2 (CSB) He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
1 Timothy 2:4 (CSB) who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Peter 3:9 (CSB) The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.
1 Timothy 4:10 (CSB) For this reason we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
John 3:16 (CSB) For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Those are five super solid evidences for such a doctrine. But what is doctrine? Doctrine is nothing more than what the Bible teaches. What we must always contend for, just as the Reformed men and women before us, is that to teach a Doctrine, the Doctrine must be in support of the whole of Scripture. In other words, we use all of Scripture to interpret all of Scripture--before our own wisdom, intellect, education, and church history. All of Scripture interprets all of Scripture. That is what we call sola Scripture--according to Scripture alone.
In light of all of Scripture, how does those five examples stand up? Do they mean what we think they mean?
1 John 2:2 (CSB) He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.
What is the context of 1 John chapter 2? Look at verse 1:
1 John 2:1 (CSB) My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one.
Let me propose this question: do believers and unbelievers have an advocate with the Father in Jesus Christ? If you say yes, then what does this verse mean?
John 3:36 (CSB) The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
How can the wrath of God remain on an unbeliever whose sins are atoned for by the Christ death on the cross? If Christ died for all, then all are saved. If all are saved, then the wrath of God does not remain on anyone. But the Bible says that the wrath of God remains on the unbeliever. Therefore, Christ did not die for all.
(Your homework: do a context study of the aforementioned verses.)
Which then leads to this question: Did Christ make salvation possible?
I am reminded of a young adult service I attended where the guest pastor said something off to the side of what he was preaching about: "I just couldn't do it. Jesus Christ when to cross, not knowing who would accept him or not. I couldn't do it. If I was going to die for someone, I had to know if they would be saved or not."
It was in that moment, in the middle of a very non-Reformed, Evangelical, non-Denomination, megachurch setting that I was 100% convinced of Limited Atonement. Because Christ did not die to make salvation possible but Christ's death on the cross would actually save his people from their sins. It is not the possibility but the definite.
Let us take a look at the most famous Bible verse of all time:
John 3:16 (CSB) For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
What does the verse say? That everyone who believes or does not believe will not perish but have eternal life? Or does it say everyone who believes will have eternal.
Let me throw in a ringer: read Romans 1:16-17. What does it read? Does it say that the gospel is the power of God in salvation for those who believe and do not believe?
Romans 1:16–17 (CSB) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
The gospel has no power to save the unbeliever in their sins--it is only power of God in salvation for those who believe.
Again, those who believe and not the possibility of those who believe.
I say all of that to make this point. Where the opposition to the Doctrine of Limited Atonement falls apart is when you have to ask this question:
Did Christ die to make salvation possible for those who were already dead? That is, what about those who died before the death of Christ? How does a dead man make decisions to believe and trust in Christ?
Romans 3:25–26 (CSB) God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
In other words: all of the sins of the saints before Christ (that is, the Old Testament saints) were passed over by God. God did this because he was going to send his Son to save those who would believe and trust in the gospel of God, starting with Genesis 3:15, all the way to "It is finished" on the cross.
The saints of the Old Testament were marked by one truth. They did not know the name Jesus or the title Christ or perhaps the cross or anything of that. But they heard the preaching and proclamation of God's promises.
What does the text say?
Genesis 15:6 (CSB) Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
God knew what he was doing. God knew you and me. God did not see how good we were or smart enough or wise enough or good enough to choose him. Our hearts are desperately sick. We are running hard away from God. And God knew that. God knew all of that. That is why he sent his Son.