Following Jesus (John 1:35-42)

We’ve been away from our study of John for a while, so let me remind you of what came before this text: The first 18 verses of John 1 form that majestic prologue that gives us such a beautiful picture of Jesus Christ as the divine, eternal, incarnate Word of God. We met John the Baptist in those verses and saw how God had called Him to be a unique witness for Christ. Beginning with verse 19, we saw John the Baptist testifying to Jewish leaders and to his own disciples about the coming of the Messiah. He pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, giving us that great prophetic imagery of Jesus as the sacrificial substitute who would shed His own blood on the cross to redeem us from sin. John the Baptist said, “This is the Son of God.” And so now, we find John the Baptist standing with two of his disciples. One of them, we are told, is Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. The other is not named, but in keeping with how this writer customarily veils his own identity, it is easy to conclude that the unnamed fellow is John, the son of Zebedee, the brother of James, the soon-to-be apostle of the Lord Jesus who wrote this book and four others of our New Testament.

In verse 37, after hearing the testimony of John, we are told that these two men “followed Jesus.” Eighty-one times in the New American Standard translation of the New Testament, we read of the idea of “following Jesus.” It is perhaps the most common way of referring to the Christian life. It is a life in motion, it is going somewhere, being led along by Jesus. So, the metaphor arises within the New Testament of the Christian life as a “walk,” and Christians become known as “people of the Way,” for they are following after Christ in the way that He is going, and indeed He speaks of Himself as “the Way” (John 14:6). Now in some of these 81 occurrences, nothing more is implied than a casual, curious kind of following – people want to see where He is going and what He is going to do, but they are not personally determined to go there with Him and experience those things for themselves. The same is true of many in the world today. But others have committed themselves to following Jesus by faith, to be with Him, to know Him, and to serve Him.

Now, when John records that he and Andrew began to follow Jesus in verse 37, which of these two senses of the word does he intend? Certainly the idea of a curious onlooker is present. They are following in a somewhat detached way to see what John the Baptist sees in him, to see why their teacher has pointed to this other teacher as superior to himself. But of course, John is writing these words some sixty years after that day—sixty years in which he has become and remained a faithfully committed follower of Jesus in the other sense. So, perhaps this is a double-entendre here. “We were following Him; we would soon become His followers.” I imagine that here in our midst today are people who are at various stages in that process. Some are here out of custom or compulsion and have no interest at all in following Jesus. Others are here out of curiosity, and are interested in just seeing where it is that Jesus is going, but haven’t decided yet if they will pursue Him. But others are here out of commitment. You have become His follower, and maybe you have followed him for a week or a month, or a year or two, or ten, twenty, maybe fifty or sixty years. Our experience in following Jesus is not altogether unlike that of John and Andrew in this passage. We learn some things about following Him from them, and we begin to see those things played out in our own lives. I want to mention four of the aspects of following Jesus that are present here in these verses.

I. We follow Jesus because He draws us to Himself. (vv35-37)

If you are a follower of Jesus today, think back to when you first began to seek Him. Can you honestly say that, out of the blue, you just decided that you wanted to go from being a rebel to being a worshiper? Or would you say that you began to seek God in response to something that you believed He was doing to get your attention? I believe that many of us knew immediately that we were responding to God’s initiative, His stirring in our hearts, when we began to seek Him. Others may not have recognized it immediately, but over time, hopefully came to the conclusion that when it comes to our relationship with God, He always makes the first move. Jesus said in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” And we won’t be able to prove Jesus wrong on that. Apart from an awakening of grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, we remain, as Paul says in Ephesians 2:1, “dead in our trespasses and sins.”  

Look at our examples here in the text, Andrew and John. These are just ordinary guys, not too different from you and me. They are fishermen working in their families’ businesses based out of Galilee, and somewhere along the line they crossed paths with John the Baptist. Maybe they heard a buzz about town concerning this guy so they went out to the wilderness to have a look. Here’s a wild-eyed, strangely dressed, prophet out in the desert telling people that they need to repent and get right with God because the Messiah is coming! That message only appeals to people who know that they are sinners and that they need what he is talking about. But that awareness is not something that we reason ourselves into. That is born of the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. When John the Baptist preaches that message, it is the Holy Spirit who speaks to the hearts of Andrew and John and says, “Yes, this message is for you.” And so, they begin to learn from John the Baptist. They become his disciples, undoubtedly an unofficial kind of role, as they both continued in their fishing business as well. But one day, they are with John and they hear Him refer to Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He is the Son of God who John has been preaching about, the Coming One who will rescue humanity from sin. And on the next day, He passes by again, and John says, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Now the Holy Spirit has confirmed in their hearts that what John the Baptist is saying is true, and so they begin to follow Jesus.

I can recall several times in my life when people spoke to me about Jesus, and I disregarded them. People tried to confront me about my sin, and I ignored them. But their words never left me. It took me being all alone on a dark and quiet night, at the end of my rope, for their words to come back to mind. God in His providence had so arranged the circumstances of my life that I realized that I could no longer get through this all on my own. And I started to remember what I had heard others say about God, about Jesus, and about my sin. Over the course of coming days, and weeks, and months, God drew me closer and closer to Himself, making me all the more aware of my hideous sinfulness and His unfathomable grace, until finally, alone with my Bible, I confessed, “God I know you are there and you have been chasing after me to grab hold of my life. You have my attention and I am listening.” And twelve hours later, after hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I became one of His followers. But it was all in response to the work of God to draw me by His grace to Himself.

Your external circumstances were undoubtedly different in some detail and degree, but the internal spiritual realities are the same for all of us. God is drawing us by the convicting work of His Spirit to realize our sinfulness and our spiritual helplessness. And by His providence, He is placing people into our lives to speak truth about Himself and about the salvation that we can find in Jesus. And the next thing we know, we are believing things we never believed before, and thinking in a way we have never thought before, and desiring things that we never wanted before. We are responding to His initiative to work in us by His Spirit, His word, and His witnesses. And the same will be true of others as God works through us to be witnesses to them. Following Jesus begins when we respond to the work of God to draw us to Himself. And then, no sooner than we have begun, we will be faced with a challenge. We see that next in the text.

II. When we begin to follow Jesus, He will challenge our motives (v38).

We live in a world that caters to convenience. Today, you can do your banking, pick up your medicines, and grab a bite to eat without getting out of your car. Most of our banks, pharmacies, and fast food restaurants have drive-through windows. But you must not forget where you are. If you pull up to the drive-through window at Wells Fargo and order a Big Mac, a large sweet tea, and some cough syrup, they will tell you that you are in the wrong place. They don’t offer what you want, but if you need to do some banking, they will be glad to help you. They can’t give you whatever you want, because they are a bank, not a pharmacy or a restaurant. You have to want what they have to offer, or else they can’t help you.

Well, people begin to follow Jesus for all sorts of reasons. But, it isn’t long into the journey before Jesus will challenge the motives of us all. He did that for Andrew and John here. Notice in verse 38, he asks, “What do you seek?” Now don’t think for a moment that He really doesn’t know. He knows everything. He knows what they are seeking, but He asks so that they can examine their motives for themselves and acknowledge the truth of the matter. Think about that question for a moment. What do you seek? Why are you here? Why do you have an interest in Jesus, in the Christian faith, or in the Church? What would your answer be? Jesus already knows the answer, but He wants you to wrestle with that question for yourself. Think of the number of possible answers that people might give to that question. Some business professionals are told that a good place to make important contacts is at the local church. I once heard a professional golfer whose career had unexpectedly improved say that he credited it all to his newfound faith in Jesus. There have been many lonely people who have been counseled at one time or another to go to the church, and there they can find new friends. Singles are sometimes told that church is a good place to find a mate. And of course, today, we have this putrid doctrine being pushed through books and television by famous so-called preachers saying that if we will follow Jesus and have enough faith, evidenced by your generous financial contributions to their ministry, then you will be healthy, happy, and rich. And people believe these things and they begin to show an interest in Jesus.

So, Andrew and John, what do you seek? Notice how they answer: “Rabbi, where are You staying?” I think there is more to this answer than we see in print. I think that the answer they give to Jesus is significant, for it indicates that they are not seeking a “what,” but a “who.” They aren’t seeking something from Him; they are seeking Him. They want to be with Him, wherever He is staying. And it is a good thing that they do, because Himself is all that Jesus promises to give to anyone, and it is graciously and gloriously enough! He is who we need, He is all we need, and He is infinitely greater than anything we could ever desire!

You and I may have been seeking any number of things when we first gained an interest in Jesus. I suppose many of us were initially attracted to Him to escape the horrors of hell or to enjoy the splendor of heaven. But if He never has before then I believe that this very day, Jesus would want to check your motivation at its core. What do you seek? Missing hell is not the point. Gaining heaven is not the point. He is the point. You see, if you don’t want to be with Him, then hell would present you with a great opportunity to avoid Him. And if you don’t want to be with Him, then heaven is going to be a miserable place for you. But if you long to be with Him above all else, if your motive is to have Him, for Himself, then you shall find that He will open Himself to you, and in Him you will find a treasure greater than anything you have imagined. He is the treasure! So, what are you seeking? If the answer is something other than Jesus Himself, well you may have come to the wrong place seeking the wrong things. So, what are you seeking? How you answer that question will have an affect on this third aspect, for when we are truly seeking Him for who He is we find …

III. Jesus invites His true followers into closer intimacy with Himself (v39-41)

If you have been following Jesus for long, I am sure you have noticed, and probably with some pain and frustration, that He does not always grant everything you ask for. I don’t know of a single prayer that is guaranteed to get the answer that you want, except for this one: “Lord, I want to know you more.” In fact, I have come to suspect that at the root of all of His answers, including the times when His answer is no, the prayer that He is ultimately answering is this one. When He grants my petitions, it is so that I will know Him more; and when He denies them, suspends or postpones them, it is so that I will know Him more. “Andrew, John, what do you seek? Rabbi, where are You staying?” And Jesus says to them, “Come, and you will see.” He is inviting them closer to Himself, that they might know Him more.

Now our text tells us that it was about the tenth hour. According to the old standard of measuring the hours of the day from sunrise, we gather that it was about 4:00 in the afternoon. Soon, the sun will set, and they will need shelter for the night. Jesus is inviting them to come and spend the rest of the day and the night with Him. According to the customs of hospitality in that day, this would almost certainly include the evening meal. Who could turn down such a glorious invitation? So they went with Him, and they stayed with Him, probably all through the night, and shared the evening meal together. Now, we do not know what transpired in that time together, but what we see in verse 40 tells us that the time these men spent with Jesus had a profound effect upon them.

As a result of this time spent with Jesus, they grew in their understanding of Him. Notice that in verse 38, they address Him as “Rabbi.” The word literally means “my great one,” or “my exalted one,” but as John tells us here, the common usage of the term is “teacher.” It was a term of respect given to anyone who was viewed as a teacher. A good example of this is seen in John 3, when Nicodemus will address Jesus as “Rabbi,” even though he was not as of yet committed to Him or to His teachings. But something happens to these men as they spend time with Jesus. When they go out the next day, Andrew runs straight to his brother Simon and says, “We have found the Messiah!” Now this is a far different way of referring to Jesus. “Messiah,” the Hebrew term, and its Greek equivalent “Christ,” both literally mean “Anointed One.” Throughout the Old Testament, anointing had been an important part of the process of setting apart kings, and priests, and prophets. But promises had been made to Israel all along that a day was coming when there would be a greater Prophet, a greater Priest, a greater King who would come. This ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King, is the Messiah—not an anointed one, but the Anointed One! And because of the intimate time spent with Jesus, Andrew has come to the realization that Jesus is that Messiah.

As we spend time with Jesus, we too will grow in our understanding of who He is. Some of you may be like the men we see in verse 38. You are intrigued by Jesus, curious about Him, but not sure that He is much more than merely an exalted teacher. I am reminded of C. S. Lewis’s famous statement in Mere Christianity. Lewis says:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.[1]

So we must all grow in our understanding of who He is, and that happens as we spend time with Him in intimate fellowship. We grow from seeing Him as a good man and a teacher, to seeing Him as the Messiah, the Prophet, Priest, and King, the Lord God, the Savior, and our ultimate treasure in this life and the next.

But we also see that John and Andrew were affected by this time spent with Jesus in that they begin to have a greater impact for Him. Immediately, Andrew goes out to find his brother and bring him to Jesus as well. It’s a funny thing about Andrew: he shows up three times in John’s Gospel, and every time, he’s bringing someone to Jesus. I want to be that guy! And it seems that all this is standing in the way of you or me being that kind of Christian is our need for spending more time with Jesus. As we draw closer to Him in intimate fellowship, taking as it were our meals with Him and spending our days and nights with Him, we are emboldened to proclaim Him to others and to bring them in to meet Him. Jesus says this in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”  Mark 3:14 says that Jesus appointed His disciples that “they would be with Him, and that He could send them out to preach.” But He would not send them out until He had brought them near to be with Him. Andrew exemplifies this.

As we follow Christ, He continually invites us into intimate fellowship with Himself, with the result being that we gain a greater knowledge of Him and we begin to make a greater impact for Him. Now, as Andrew brings Simon to Jesus, we see the final aspect of following Christ here in this text:

IV. As we follow Jesus, He promises to transform us (v42)

As Simon is brought to Jesus by his brother, Jesus looks at him and says, “You are Simon the son of John.” That is correct. How did Jesus know that? Well, maybe Andrew had told him, but he didn’t need to. Jesus knows everything there is to know about you, including a great deal that you do not even know about yourself. And part of what Jesus knows about you is not merely who you are, but what you will become as you follow Him. So He identifies who Simon is, but then He says, “You shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).” Cephas, a Hellenized form of the Aramaic name, and Peter, the Greek equivalent, both mean “Rock.” The statement is a promise, not a wish or a hope. Jesus is not saying, “I really hope you will become a rock-solid guy,” or “If you really apply yourself, one day you can be a sure and steadfast fellow.” Jesus says, “You shall be called ‘a Rock,’ because I will make you into that kind of person.”

Simon was a man whose emotional instability would become notorious through the events recorded in the four Gospels. John MacArthur says of Simon that he was "brash, vacillating, and undependable. ... he fit James's description of a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:8).”[2] And it is interesting that from this point on, sometimes Jesus will call him Peter, and sometimes He will call him Simon. But there is a reason behind whichever name He uses. He will call him Peter when speaking of him as a faithful follower. He is being what Christ has promised to make him. But when Peter acts impetuously, foolishly, and carnally, Jesus will call him Simon. He is acting like who he was before he met Christ. But Jesus has made a promise to Peter. Just as surely as He has changed his name, He will transform his nature over the course of a lifetime until he becomes a man of rock-solid faith. I imagine when Peter stood to deliver that marvelous sermon in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, Andrew looked on and remembered the day that he brought him to Jesus. No one could have known what God would make of that cranky fisherman on that day – no one, that is, but Jesus. He saw Simon for who he was, and called him Peter because that is who He would make him.

When you and I began to follow Christ, there is a sense in which we all received a new name: we were called the sons and daughters of God; we were called saints; we were called “Christians,” which means “like Christ.” And these new names were given to us with the promise that Christ would transform us as we follow Him throughout the days of our lives. He will make us what He has called us. At times, our behavior and our attitudes do not reflect our new names and demonstrate how far we have left to go in the process of transformation. But Christ never revokes the new name. Still, we are called saints, sons, daughters, Christians, because still He is at work making us into the fullness of those names.

Recently, the NBA’s most notorious bad-boy, Ron Artest, changed his name to Metta World Peace. Metta is a Buddhist term that means loving-kindness and friendliness, and World Peace, of course is self-explanatory. He said that he hoped this new name would “inspire and bring youth together all around the world.”[3] But last Sunday, Metta World Peace delivered a malicious elbow to the head of James Harden, resulting in a concussion for Harden, and a 7-game suspension for Metta World Peace. The headlines on one news site read, “Artest Suspended Seven Games.”[4] Catch that: Artest, not World Peace. It seems that the writer of that article understood that even though he has changed his name, he is still acting like the same old Ron Artest, the bad-boy of the NBA. It is relatively easy to change one’s name. Changing one’s nature requires the transforming power of Christ. We can change our names, but not our natures. But when Christ changes our name, He promises that He will transform our nature to reflect who He is making us to be.

Meanwhile, we continue following. Andrew and John followed Jesus along ‘til about sundown. And finally, Jesus invited them to just come over to His place for the night til the break of the next day. And you and I have been drawn and invited to follow Christ, knowing Him better, serving Him more, undergoing the transformation as He changes our nature to match our name. And the sun will set on this world, and Jesus will invite us into His eternal home, where there is no night, and thus we will be with Him there forever, treasuring the glory of His presence for eternity. John will write much later, looking back on a lifetime of following Christ, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. … and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:1-2).

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[1] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 52.

[2] John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary: John 1-11 (Chicago: Moody, 2006), 67.

[3] Ben Bolch, “We Have World Peace: Ron Artest Gets Name Change.” Online, http://articles.latimes.com/

2011/sep/16/sports/la-sp-ron-artest-name-20110917. Accessed April 26, 2012.

[4] “Artest Suspended Seven Games.” Online, http://www.mydesert.com/article/20120425/SPORTS02/

204250329/Artest-suspended-seven-games. Accessed April 26, 2012.

Metta World Peace, Simon Peter, and Me

Every major professional sport always seems to have its "bad boy" whose career is defined by bad judgment, irresponsible behavior, and flagrant defiance to rules, officials, team and league authorities. For the last little while in the NBA, that "bad boy" has been Ron Artest. In a relative few years, Artest has earned a reputation as being a loose cannon. He's admitted drinking alcohol in the locker room during games. He showed up to practice in a bathrobe. He applied for a job at Best Buy to get an employee discount. He asked for time off because he was tired from promoting a R&B album for a group on his production label. His confrontation with Pat Riley earned him one of many suspensions in his career. Artest is most notorious for his involvement in the brawl that broke out in a Pistons-Pacers game in 2004 when he got into a physical altercation with fans and players. For that incident, he earned a suspension that amounted to 86 games, the longest in NBA history. Off the court, he's been involved in cases of traffic violations (including driving without a license), animal abuse and domestic violence (the latter, for which he served 10 days in jail).

In September of 2011, Artest announced to the world that he had officially changed his name to Metta World Peace. He chose Metta as a first name because it is a Buddhist term that refers to loving-kindness, friendliness, benevolence, and kindness. Courtney Barnes, who has the unenviable job of being Artest's publicist, said that Ron had been considering the switch for a long time, "but it took many years of research and soul-searching to find a first name that was both personally meaningful and inspirational." Artest said in a statement, "Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world" (Reference). 


But a changed name does not always coincide with a changed nature. On April 22, 2012, with the season winding down and the playoffs on the horizon, Metta World Peace maliciously elbowed James Harden of the Oklahoma City Thunder, causing Harden to suffer a concussion. When the NBA took action to render a 7-game suspension of Metta World Peace, several news outlets posted the headline, "Artest Suspended Seven Games" (example). When I saw that headline, I thought, "Artest? I thought he changed his name?" And suddenly I thought of another famous example of a changed name and a nature that was slow to change with it. 


When the Apostle Andrew brought his brother to meet Jesus, the Lord said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter)." The name Cephas, or Peter, means Rock. Simon was a man whose emotional instability would become notorious through the events recorded in the four Gospels. John MacArthur describes Simon as "brash, vacillating, and undependable. ... he fit James's description of a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). Jesus changed Simon's name, it appears, because He wanted the nickname to be a perpetual reminder to him about who he should be. And from that point on, whatever Jesus called him sent a subtle message. If He called him Simon, He was signaling him that he was acting like his old self. If He called Him Rock (Peter), He was commending him for acting the way he ought to be acting." (MacArthur, Twelve Ordinary Men, cited in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: John 1-11, p.67). 


The Lord Jesus had given Peter a new name, and was at work transforming his nature to match his name. The same could be true of all of us. We who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are called "Christians," which means "like Christ." But often, our behavior and attitude reflects more of what we used to be than we have been called to be. What the world sees in us is often very much "unlike Christ." But the moniker hangs over us, reminding us, sometimes subtly and sometimes severely, of how unchanged we remain, and how desperate we are for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 


It is relatively easy to change one's name. It is impossible to change one's nature. Jeremiah 13:23 asks, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" It seems obvious that the answer is "NO!" And the Lord says that if the leopard can change his spots, "Then you also can do good who are accustomed to doing evil." We cannot. But all things are possible with God. Through faith in Christ, our sins are washed away and we are given a new name and a new nature. But the old nature abides, requiring daily and moment-by-moment dying to self. The new nature breaks through in fits and starts, slowly, gradually, over a lifetime. But it is God who does the work by His Spirit within those who belong to Christ. 


Metta World Peace seems to be aware that a change is needed. But that change is not possible by paperwork at the courthouse. Metta World Peace is a man who needs Jesus. Without Jesus, he can change his name all he wants to, but he continues to act like the Ron Artest of old. And when Peter's faith falters, he acts like the old Simon. When my faith falters, I act like the guy who lived 20 years ago before I met Jesus. So, the fact is that I need Jesus every day, as Peter and Ron Artest do. I am not yet what I am supposed to be. Thankfully, because of the transforming power of Christ in me, neither am I still what I used to be. But I have within me "the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). This hope assures me that, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure" (1 John 3:2-3). 

Luke 23:46 "Father Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit"

Audio

The Season of Lent began on February 22 with Ash Wednesday and culminates today in the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Throughout this season we have been focusing our thoughts on the seven statements spoken by Jesus Christ as He died on the cross. The great Puritan Bible scholar Matthew Henry wrote that “one reason that He died the death of the cross what that He might have liberty of speech to the last, and so might glorify His father and edify those around Him.”[1] Think about that for a moment. No other mode of execution would provide Jesus the opportunity to speak these wonderful words of grace that do so much to enlighten us to His love, His suffering on our behalf, and His purpose in dying to redeem us from sin. In the first saying, when He prayed for His Father to forgive His murderers, we saw His infinite mercy. In the second, when He promised paradise to the repentant criminal, we saw His abundant grace. In the third, when He entrusted the care of His mother to the Apostle John, we saw His tender compassion. In the fourth saying, after the sky was darkened and as He bore the sins of humanity under the flood of God’s judgment, He cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” In that expression, we see His intense agony. In the fifth saying, as Jesus said, “I thirst,” we saw His unique character. In the sixth saying, as He said, “It is finished,” we saw His complete mission. And now we come to the final of the seven sayings. After uttering this statement, Luke and Mark say that “He breathed His last.” John and Matthew speak of how He “bowed His head” and “gave up” or “yielded up His spirit.” This is the final dying word of the Savior.

I remind you of the extent of His suffering that He has endured. In addition to dealing, throughout His life, with opposition from the religious and political leaders of His day, undoubtedly orchestrated by Satan to destroy the Messiah before His mission was completed, we know that He was betrayed by one of His own disciples and handed over to His enemies. In that moment, every one of His followers abandoned Him. Bounced around in a kangaroo court where He faced false charges from lying witnesses who had received payment to speak against Him, Jesus was convicted in the greatest mockery of justice the world has ever known. He was tortured extensively, from beatings to scourgings, not to mention the shameful mockery He endured before ultimately being sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be executed in a cowardly attempt to appease a bloodthirsty mob. Crucifixion was the cruelest form of execution ever devised in the minds of sinful men. After carrying the heavy cross to the place of death, the victim of crucifixion would be stretched out, the joints being ripped from the sockets to add to the pain and misery and make the process of dying all the more excruciating. Then, nails would be driven through the wrists and the crossed ankles of the victim as they were raised up in public shame and humiliation. The death would be long and agonizing. In addition to traumatic blood-loss, dehydration, and agonizing pain, the cause of death in crucifixion was almost always suffocation. As the body weakened, it was harder to draw in breath. The victim would fight for breath, pressing against the spike in the feet to thrust the body upward and outward to inhale. Eventually, exhaustion, pain, and complete agony would make breathing impossible. Jesus endured all of this.

But we must remember that He endured it for us and for our salvation. He died the death of a wicked sinner, though He was completely righteous. The death He died was that of a sacrificial substitution. He died under the providence and purpose of God in our place. In Him all of our sins might receive their just penalty under the justice of a Holy God. Every sacrificial lamb, and goat, and bull that had ever been slain under the sacrificial system of Israel had foreshadowed the day when Jesus would become for us the ultimate sacrifice. God Himself, incarnate in human flesh, would bear our sins that we might be reconciled to Him. And now the end of that process has drawn nigh. He utters one final saying, and then He gives up His spirit to death. As we look at this final saying, we see that it is not the helpless cry of a hopeless victim. It is rather the triumphant cry of a victorious King, whose mission to redeem His people from sin is now complete. There is an understated humility and meekness in these final words, but at the same time, a tone of intimacy, confidence, and sovereignty over life and death as He says, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”

I. The Dying King Speaks Intimately

The Fourth Commandment prohibits the taking of God’s name in vain. While we usually associate this with a specific set of blasphemous vulgarities, to take God’s name in vain means something broader. It means to use God’s name in empty and meaningless ways. Over the centuries, some have taken this commandment more seriously than others. When pious Jews would come across the covenant name of God in Scripture, they would substitute the name Adonai for YHWH, thinking that it would prevent them from misusing the covenant name. At various points in Israel’s history, people would speak impersonally of God by referring merely to Heaven, or pronominally by simply saying, “Him.” On the other end of the spectrum, we might point to modern man’s tendency to speak flippantly of God as “the Man upstairs,” or “the Big Man,” or something ridiculous like that. But when Jesus, the Son of God and God the Son, spoke of God in a way that no one ever had before. He spoke of God as His Father. Though God had been spoken of in times past as the Father of Israel, no one dared to speak of Him with such intimacy as to call Him their own Father. It would have been considered blasphemous and vanity to be so familiar with Him. Jesus changed all that.

In every time but once, in the fourth saying of the cross when He cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me,” Jesus always addressed God as “Father.” In that unique occurrence when He refers to His Father as, “My God,” He did so because the intimacy of their eternal coexistence was ruptured as He bore the sins of humanity under the full measure of divine and holy wrath. The severity of that judgment was so intense that all of creation was affected. The sky grew completely dark in the midst of the day and the earth shook. But here, with the full penalty now paid for the sins of humanity by the shedding of His blood and the world-saving mission now completed in His death, He is able to speak once more with the affection and intimacy that He had known for all eternity. He says at last, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”

Of course, He could uniquely claim this for Himself, being the divine, coequal, coeternal Son, and Second Person of the Triune Godhead. But Jesus did not reserve this intimacy merely for Himself; He taught His followers that they too could speak to God and address Him as “our Father.” The Bible tells us that all who receive Jesus Christ are adopted as the sons and daughters of God. He becomes in truth a Father to us all through faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. It is the great longing of God that all of His children in this family of faith would know the intimacy of a personal relationship with Him that Jesus experiences and makes possible for us. In the Garden of Gethsemane, before His arrest, Jesus prayed, that His followers “may all be one,” saying, “even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21). Jesus had prayed in that prayer with great intimacy, calling out to God as “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36), using the most tender of all expressions, akin to us saying, “Daddy” or “Papa.” And the Apostle Paul said that we, as followers of Jesus, can use the same intimate terminology as we approach the God of the universe. In Romans 8:15-17, he writes, “you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” Again in Galatians 4:6-7, he says, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” The death of Jesus makes this possible for us, by removing our sins and covering us with the very righteousness of Jesus Himself.

But in our suffering, we are so prone to forget that we have been loved with this kind of intimate love! It doesn’t take much for us to forget that the God who created the universe and who reigns over all in glorious sovereignty is in fact our Father! Notice Jesus, enduring the most cruel hardship ever experienced by anyone in human flesh, crying out to God and casting Himself upon Him as His intimate Father! Oh that we, the adopted sons and daughters of God, might rest in the intimacy of the only begotten Son as we cry out to God in the hardships of life and even in the face of death! The King of Kings, the Lord Jesus, speaks intimately as He addresses the Father with His dying breath.

II. The King Speaks Sovereignly

Have you ever been in a situation when things were completely beyond your control and you felt helplessly dragged along by your circumstances or the will of another? Some of us experienced that a year ago when we crossed the border from India to Nepal late one evening. In a rustic and dark border control shack, we sat in front of an Indian official and heard him tell us that if we crossed the border, we could not return. This didn’t go along with our plans. We had planned to cross that same border back into India two weeks later. I plead our case and produced documentation, but to no avail. The man said, “You can go to Nepal tonight, but if you do, you cannot come back to India.” There was nothing we could do to change his mind. He was in control, and we were at his mercy, and he didn’t have any. But we had come to go to Nepal, and to Nepal we must go, not knowing if or how we would get back to India, or home to the U.S.A. We were not in control of any aspect of that at this point. It was very unsettling.

Often we are tempted to look at the suffering and death of Jesus in a similar way. We see Him being hauled off from Gethsemane by an armed contingent, and dragged from one authority to another who pronounce His fate. And then we see Him being nailed to the cross and hung to die. It seems to us that everything is radically out of His control and that He is at the whim of wicked people. But this is not accurate. At no moment in this entire episode is Jesus ever out of control. At no moment is He a helpless victim. He is not passive in His dying. He is the active agent, sovereignly in control of all that is transpiring. We see this by His words, “I commit my spirit,” followed by His deliberate act of bowing His head and breathing His last. Everything, including His dying breath was in His complete control.

In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” At the Garden of Gethsemane, when Peter tried to defend Jesus with a sword from the mob that had come to take Him away, Jesus said, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matt 26:53). Pilate said to Him, “Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus said, “You would have no authority over Me unless it had been given you from above” (John 19:10-11). Jesus was in control of the whole ordeal. And when it came time to die, it was Jesus who determined when and how He would go. Augustine said, Christ gave up His spirit in death “because He willed it, when He willed it, and as He willed it.”[2] Those at the scene of the crucifixion could not believe that He was dead so quickly (“quickly” being a relative term, for hours had elapsed). In order to hasten death so that the bodies could be removed from the crosses before the Sabbath, the soldiers came around to break the legs of the victims so that they could no longer raise up to draw breath. But when they came to Jesus and found Him already dead, they could not believe it! In order to prove that He was really dead, the Bible says that “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:34). He did not need their assistance to hasten His death. When He knew that the time was at hand, He voluntarily breathed His last and committed His spirit to His Father. He was sovereign until the very end, including over the very moment of His death.

Now, in this sense, Jesus is utterly unique. None of us can control when we will die. You may object to that and ask, “What about suicide?” Surely you know that many attempt to take their own life and fail to do so. They try to end their life but they live on, in whatever state, with all the scars and shame of their failed attempt. The fact remains that we do not control the moment of our death. But as Jesus was sovereign over His dying moment, He too is sovereign over ours. And if we have lived knowing Him as Lord and Savior, then we can rest in His sovereign control over our lives and our deaths without fear, knowing that when our final breath draws nigh, our spirit – that immaterial part of our being that will live on eternally in heaven or hell – will depart in the hands of our Savior. It was in this tranquil peace that Stephen, the first Christian martyr, died. Acts 7:59 records his dying words, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Because Christ was sovereign over His own life and death, we know that He is also in control of our own, and we can live and die without fear, knowing that because He committed His own spirit to the Father as He died for us, we can commit ours to Him as we live and as we die.

The dying King spoke intimately to His Father, and sovereignly as the Lord of life and death as He died on the cross. But I want to conclude by pointing out how confidently He spoke in His dying breath.

III. The Dying King Speaks Confidently.

Of the many fears and phobias that afflict humanity, one of the most common is the fear of the unknown. For example, if you hear a rattling of the door, you may fear what caused it. Perhaps it was an intruder, or it could have merely been the wind. But until you know for certain, there is a sense of fear at what could be causing the rattling sound. But suppose you knew that it was your loving father opening the door and ready to embrace you and lavish you with gifts? If you know that, then all fear is removed. Another fear that often grips human beings is the fear of death. I can’t help thinking that the fear of the unknown underlies much of our fear of death. We fear death when we do not know what is on the other side of the door. But if we knew that on the other side of death’s door, there was a gracious and loving Father who would be there to receive us and embrace us and to lavish gifts of unspeakable glory upon us, then the fear of death would vanish. We could face death with confidence and assurance. And that is how Jesus faced death.

There is confidence in the words of Jesus as He says that He is committing His spirit into the hands of His Father. Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit. Jesus is not here committing His spirit to the great unknown. As He yields His life up to death, He knows that He is committing His Spirit into the hands of His Father. It is interesting how the word hand is used in the suffering and death of Jesus. While they were still in Galilee, Jesus had told His followers that He would be delivered into the “hands of men, and they will kill Him” (Mk 9:31). At Gethsemane, He told His disciples that the hour was at hand and “the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners” (Matt 26:45). Yet here, when it comes time to die, Jesus knows that He is not in the hands of these sinful men, but in the hands of His Father. Thus Peter can speak of the entire ordeal in Acts 2:23, saying that Jesus had been nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men who put Him to death, but that it all occurred by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

Jesus’ confidence in the face of death assures us that this is not the end. If death meant merely the end of existence, then there would be nothing to commit to the Father. If eternal suffering and perdition awaited on the other side of death, then there could be no confidence in committing Himself to the Father. But Jesus knew full well that on the other side of death there was life that continued on, a glorious life in the presence of His Father where He had eternally dwelt and shared in the glory of Triune deity. There is a confidence in knowing that though His body will go into the grave, His spirit will be with the Father in mere moments. He had promised the thief, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” And there they would come into the presence of the Father together.

But Jesus also knew that death was not the end of His body. He knew, and had announced to His disciples in advance, that after He was killed, He would rise from the dead. Thus, though His dying word is a prayer to His Father, it is not His final word. After rising from the dead, Jesus would continue on in the presence of His disciples for forty days before ascending to His Father. And Jesus has promised all of us who follow Him by faith that the same future awaits us. When death comes, our spirit will depart to be with God. As the Apostle Paul said, “I … desire to depart and be with Christ” (Php 1:23), and in 2 Corinthians 5:8 that to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord.” But we also have the promise that we will follow Christ in resurrected glory as our bodies rise from the grave on the final day. Jesus said, “This is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40). Paul says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming … for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, " DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:22-23; 52-57).

Death’s only advantage over us comes through the fear of standing before a holy God and having to deal with our sins. But if we know that Christ has come and conquered our sin and the law that stands to condemn us through His death, and conquered death and hell for us through His resurrection, then all fear is gone. We who have trusted in Jesus by faith can look death in the face and say, “Where is your sting?” We know that there is life eternal to be gained immediately and ultimately when our bodies will burst forth like Christ’s from the tomb in resurrected glory!

At the Council of Constance in 1415, the great evangelical Gospel leader Jan Hus was condemned as a heretic for preaching the simple of Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone – the same message that we preach here every Sunday. And after condemning Hus to be burned at the stake, the leading bishop said, “We commit thy soul to the devil!” But Jan Hus steadfastly declared in response, “I commit my spirit into Thy hands Lord Jesus Christ. Unto thee I commend my spirit, which Thou hast redeemed.” Hus had the same kind of Easter confidence that the Lord Jesus Himself and all of His faithful followers have had through twenty centuries of Christian History! Because we know that Christ has redeemed us from sin and its penalty through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, we can face death without fear, knowing that our spirit has been entrusted to God and that life everlasting awaits beyond the grave. Because Jesus said, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit,” we who are His by faith can say the same thing in the face of death.

As we close in prayer, I would like to ask you to consider the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He did this for you and for your salvation. If you have never trusted in Him before, I pray that this day you might you might behold Him dying on the cross for your sins, and conquering death for you through His resurrection, and turn to Him in repentance and faith and receive Him as your Lord and Savior. And if you have, then I pray that this Easter, you would consider these final words of Jesus, and know that because of His life and death and resurrection, you have been granted a wonderful intimacy with God. You need not cower from Him in fear or wonder about His love for you. He is your Father, and you can live in the embrace of His love. And you can trust completely in the sovereignty of God over all that comes your way in life and even in death. Knowing this, you can face each new day, even and including your final day, in the confidence that your spirit has been committed to Him, and He has redeemed you to Himself in a relationship that can never be severed, not even by death. There is life beyond the grave. Easter is a reminder that He lives, and that in Him you have life everlasting as well.

  

---

[1] Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1991), 1907.

[2] Augustine, On the Holy Trinity, Book IV, Chapter 13, Paragraph 16 (page 78 in this edition);  in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip Schaff, Series 1, Volume 3. Accessed Online http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ schaff/npnf103.pdf. Accessed April 5, 2012. 

On the Effectual Call of the Gospel

I'm doing a good bit of writing on Reformed issues today as a follow up to some classroom discussions in my Church History class last night. While lecturing on Calvin and his "Ism", one student remarked, "Well, if only the elect will be saved, and all of the elect will be saved, and none of them will be lost, then we might as well not do anything." Ah, that is the famous straw man argument! It beats and destroys a position, but that position is not Reformed Theology (or Calvinism). It beats and destroys Hyper-Calvinism, which is a far different thing. It was Hyper-Calvinism that prompted William Carey's critics to say that he didn't need to go abroad for the Gospel for God would save the elect without our help. Indeed, God does not "need" our help, and preaching the Gospel is not helping Him. It is obeying Him. We preach the Gospel because we were commanded to do so, and because God has determined that it is through the preaching of the Gospel that He will call His elect to Himself. As I mentioned in my previous post, even the Canons of Dort (written by Calvinists who were more Calvinist than Calvin!) urged the necessity of preaching the Gospel to all nations and all people! Typically, we illustrate this by pointing out one example after another of those who, like Carey and others, were robust Calvinists and passionate missionary-evangelists. But, last night in class, I was struck with a sudden urge to share a different illustration. I would credit the Holy Spirit with the idea, for I don't recall ever reading it before.

Suppose there is a large rectangular table covered with shiny, silver-colored objects. Some of those objects are metal, and some are plastic, painted to look like metal. How can we determine which ones are truly metal? One way we can do this is to take a large magnet and hover it just above the table, and watch the metal objects "jump" up from the table and attach to the magnet. All those that are left on the table are not metal. They are plastic. Otherwise, they would have been drawn to the magnet. Now, you might say, "What if there is metal covered by plastic pieces which are hindering it from being drawn to the magnet?" or "What if the portion of the magnet closest to the metal piece is already covered with metal so that the power in that portion of the magnet is not as strong?" Well, we must pass the magnet over time and time again, from every angle and direction to make sure that all the metal pieces have been drawn upward.

This is a parallel with the effectual call of the gospel in drawing forth the elect. Like our table, the world is filled with the elect and the nonelect. They look alike, they act alike, they smell alike, etc. So how do we know who the elect are? The Gospel is our magnet! When we preach the Gospel to all nations and all people, the elect are drawn out by grace and the power of the Holy Spirit. They are drawn to the Gospel like metal to a magnet. But we know some who heard the gospel time and time again, and did not respond, and then much later they did. Yes, they are like those pieces of metal in the later part of the illustration. One factor or another hindered them from being drawn. But eventually, they will be, if they are "metal," if they are elect. We do not know who is elect and who is not, so we keep preaching the gospel, from every angle and every direction, time and time again, so that all of the elect are drawn out by the effectual call of the Gospel.

So, we must preach the Gospel. It is the magnet that draws the elect to Christ. 

The Sufficiency, Efficiency, and Intent of the Atonement

As I've been teaching about the Reformation in Church History this semester, I have tried to be careful to explain the difference between Calvin, Calvinism, and the TULIP (often spoken of as the "five points of Calvinism"). John Calvin (1509-1535) was a man -- by all measures, a man whom God used greatly for His glory. I always come away from reading Calvin feeling blessed by the experience, and so I read him often. Calvinism is the systematization of Calvin's teachings. I suppose one could say that Calvinism originated with Calvin, but it didn't attain full and final form with him. His followers and successors contributed to what we call Calvinism today. This is why I feel like, unless we can point to a page number in the Institutes of Christian Religion, we ought to speak of Reformed Theology rather than Calvinism. I will never forget when I got my first copy of the Institutes a number of years ago. I searched the Table of Contents and the Index to find the TULIP explained and defended. I expected that Calvin would have a section on each petal of the TULIP wherein he would write some brilliant explanation of the point. But guess what? It wasn't there. The TULIP doesn't come from Calvin (though I suppose one could find quotes from the Institutes to defend each petal of the TULIP) or from the city of Geneva. The TULIP comes, fittingly, from Holland. Well, sort of, anyway. In response to the Five Articles of Remonstrance published in 1610 by the followers of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), Dutch Calvinists convened at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619) to articulate the essentials of their faith. The conclusions of this meeting were published in The Canons of Dort. The Canons of Dort articulate what is known as "Dortian Calvinism." This became the most popular expression of what is called Calvinism. But the TULIP acrostic comes much later. From researching several sources, the earliest use of the acrostic seems to have been in a 1905 lecture to the Presbyterian Union by Cleland Boyd Mcafee. From that time, it was popularized by well-known writers, such as Lorraine Boettner, A. W. Pink, and more recently R. C. Sproul and John Piper. For the benefit of readers who may not be aware, the letters stand for: 

T - Total Depravity

U - Unconditional Election

L - Limited Atonement

I - Irresistible Grace

P - Perseverance of the Saints

Now, when it comes to the TULIP, by far the most controversial element of it is the "L", which stands for "Limited Atonement." Thus we find many people who say that they are "Four-Point Calvinists" because they reject Limited Atonement. Others say that they can hold to Limited Atonement only if it can be defined in a specific way, namely that the atonement is limited only in its efficiency (it will only save the elect), not in its sufficiency (it is unlimited in its power to save anyone who would repent and believe on Christ). I myself have made this claim numerous times. However, upon researching this line of thinking, one finds that it is actually closer to what the Arminians posited in the Five Articles of Remonstrance. 

In Article Two, the Arminians said: 

That agreeably thereunto, Jesus Christ the Savior of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of the Gospel of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And in the First Epistle of John 2:2: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

This seems to indicate that the dichotomy between "sufficiency" and "efficiency" of the Atonement is an Arminian position. Now, if it is true, then it doesn't matter whether or not it fits into one system or the other. And if it is not true, then we should not hold to it, even though our system may require it. And this is where we run into danger by isolating one proposition of the Arminian system or one petal of the TULIP from the rest. In my class lecture, I likened the petals of the Tulip and the points of Arminianism to a Jenga tower. In the game Jenga, the goal is to remove a block from the tower without toppling the whole thing. It seems that the systems of Arminians and Calvinists require all of the "blocks" to hold up each other. One cannot say, "I am a Calvinist, but I reject limited atonement," and neither can one say, "I am an Arminian, but I reject unlimited atonement." Each of these positions are critical to keep the respective "tower" from collapsing. 

The Arminian system is designed to demonstrate that salvation is a "synergistic" process that combines the work of God with the "act" of the human being to believe upon Christ. The Calvinist system, on the other hand, is a "monergistic" system that sees all the work being done by God Himself, and the belief of the human being as a result or effect of what God has done. Thus, in the Arminian system, unlimited atonement means that sins have been atoned for all people, and those who choose to believe upon Christ will receive the benefits of the atonement. The Calvinist system emphasizes that no one is able to make that choice (because of total depravity) until and unless God has unconditionally elected them, covered them in His atonement, drawn them by His irresistible grace. The Arminian system, regardless of how palatable it sounds, presents "in total," a salvation that is not secure for anyone. As Packer describes the Arminian position, "Christ's death did not ensure the salvation of anyone, for it did not secure the gift of faith to anyone (there is no such gift); what it did was rather to create a possibility of salvation for everyone if they believe" (quoted in R. C. Sproul, Grace Unknown, p164). 

Sproul writes, "Reformed theologians do not question that the value of Christ's atonement is sufficient to cover the sins of the whole fallen race. The value of His sacrifice is sufficient to cover the sins of the whole fallen race. The value of His sacrifice is unlimited. ... When we speak of the sufficiency of the atonement, however, we must ask the question, Is it a sufficient satisfaction of divine justice? If it is sufficient to satisfy the deamnds of God's justice, then no one needs to worry about future punishment. ... [I]f Christ really, objectively satisfied the demands of God's justice for everyone, then everyone will be saved. ... If faith is necessary to the atonement, then Christ's work was indeed a mere potentiality. In itself it saves no one. It merely makes salvation possible. Theoretically, we must ask the obvious question, What would have happened to the work of Christ if nobody believed in it? ... In this case Christ would have died in vain. He would have been the potential Savior of all but an actual Savior of none" (Sproul, Grace Unknown, pp165-167). 

Thus, it seems that we are asking the wrong questions and splitting the wrong hairs in a discussion about sufficiency and efficiency. Sproul says, "The ultimate question has to do not so much with the efficiency of the atonement, but with its design" (p168). So, it seems best to remove the question of sufficiency from the discussion altogether, for it is a discussion of mere hypothetical potentials. When we speak of the atonement, what is at issue is its effect. Only the elect will be saved by the atonement of Christ. In this case, we must conclude that it was only designed to redeem the elect. Otherwise, we end up with either an incomplete atonement (because it needs belief to make it "work", and since so many don't believe, it is a rather pitiful attempt at redemption); or else (worse?), a universalism that has all humanity redeemed ultimately whether they want to be or not. Ironically, this ends up being more "deterministic" than robust Calvinism. 

Returning then to the question of whether or not it is fitting for a Calvinist to speak of a sufficiency/efficiency dichotomy, or whether tinkering with the phrases makes one a "four-point Calvinist" or a "one-point Arminian," we can be encouraged by the language of the Canons of Dort. Under the Second Main Point of Doctrine, Article 3, the Dortian Calvinists wrote, "The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice for the satisfaction of sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world." Article 8 says further, "For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death of His Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to salvation...." 

Contrary to those who say that such a system hinders the spread of the Gospel, it is instructive to read Article 5 under the same Second Main Point of Doctrine in the Dortian canons: "Moreover, the promise of the Gospel is that whosoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together the the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel." 

My point here is to, at a far greater length than I originally intended, suggest that it is perfectly in keeping with a monergistic reformed system of faith to say that Christ's atonement is sufficient for all and efficient only for the elect. Even though this is the language of Arminians, we see in the Canons of Dort that it is also the language of Calvinists. But behind the language is the reality that for Arminians, the atonement does not actually secure atonement for anyone; it merely makes it possible. For Calvinists, there is greater confidence that the atonement actually succeeded in securing the redemption of the elect. Thus, the matter at stake is not sufficiency or efficiency, but design or intent. Therefore, a Reformed (or Calvinist) Christian can say that they believe in an atonement which was sufficient for all, yet designed for the elect, and fully efficient for them. 

As I have said many times, we should never seek to be identified with a system, but with the Savior. By most of my friends, I am called a Calvinist. By a good number of Calvinists, I am called some kind of tertium quid ("a third thing", neither Arminian or Calvinist). But my aim is not to earn any labels. My aim is to follow Christ and His Word, and in so doing, I am ever more comfortable with all five-points of the TULIP, given that they are fully explained and not taken as self-sufficient phrases.