Message of the Latter Rain - Kelvin M. Duncan

only for the believers. Whether we call the favored group "the believers" or
"the elect," we still have a limited atonement.
The Bible says, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1
Corinthians 15:3). Therefore, we must go to the Scriptures to find the answer
to our question: For whose sins did Christ really die? We must look to the
Scriptures to find the "limits" of the atonement, if such limits exist.
When we go to the Scriptures, we find that Romans 5:6 contradicts the
Arminian position. It states the exact opposite. "For when we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).
Verse 8 of the same chapter repeats the same thought: "God commendeth his
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8).
Apparently, Jesus did not die for believers. In the book of Romans the
apostle takes pains to emphasize the point: Jesus died for sinners! We shall
soon discover that His death is the atonement for all our sins. This atonement
is equivalent to the forgiveness of all sins, in a limited sense. Since there are
different aspects of atonement, there must also be different aspects of
forgiveness. The Arminian perspective recognizes only one aspect of
forgiveness--that which occurs when the sinner confesses and repents. This
limited understanding leads the Arminian to conclude that Christ's death is
merely "provisional." Although Christ's death is in some respects
provisional, that is by no mean the full extent of the reality. The actual good
news is much better than that allowed by the Arminian philosophy.
Note:
1. We should be clear that it is the "unbeliever" who will die and not
necessarily the "non-believer" who has never heard the gospel. For
evidence that "non-believers" can be saved, see Zech. 13:6.
32