Gospel Prism

I think most people assume that beucase John MacArthur is a Dispensationalist, he is at odds with John Calvin’s view of soteriology.  But this is quite untrue.  In fact, at a church recently, he said, “Jesus was a Calvinist.”  I happened to believe a faithful reading of the NT will show this to be true.  Of course, it is not that Jesus was a Calvinist, per se.  But rather, Calvin faithfully exposits the Bible’s position of the work of Christ and God’s redemptive plan.  And yes, my Dispensationalist friends, your hero John MacArthur agrees.  You don’t believe me?  Nathan White has a five part series reflecting on John MacArthur’s position that “Jesus was a Calvinist.”

And since our church has recently studied John 6, I want to include a few more notes on limited atonement and unconditional election from Nathan White:

First of all, John 6 shows us that only the ones who are given will be raised(v37), who are the same as those who believe (v40), which clearly tells us that Christ will not raise all men without exception. So then, since not all will be raised, then Christ did not ‘atone’ for the sins of all men –otherwise all would be raised (unless of course, we misunderstand what the words ‘atone’ and ‘propitiation’ mean). Thus, since there will be people who suffer eternal punishment (not all will be saved), then we can affirm that Christ did not atone for their sins.

Secondly, it is a matter of deduction that if all are dead in sin, and only God can draw us out of that sin through unconditional election, and that a select group (elect) will be given and drawn out of that sin, then Christ need only to atone for the sins of that select group. Although Christ’s blood is sufficient to cleanse every man without exception, it needs only to be shed for those whom the Father has given and drawn (which leads back to the first point: that all men would be raised if Christ shed His blood for the sins of all men).

Thirdly and most importantly, before we can understand the extent of Christ’s death, we must first understand the intent of His death. And John 6 spells out clearly for us what the intent of His death is: to save those given, those who are drawn, and those who believe. Please note how Jesus firmly says: “I should lose nothing�. That is, as the context we have previously examined affirms, those who are ‘given’ in verse 37, and who subsequently will be ‘drawn’ in verse 44, all of those without exception will be raised on the last day. There is nothing potential about this statement! Do you see how definite this is? It is fixed in eternity praise God!

I love John 6.  It is truly the words of life that Peter recognizes that Jesus has for all who trust in Him.