Carson on the Intent of the Atonement

Here is a few pages from The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson. It’s a small book but very helpful. I particularly like the way that Carson holds together different passages of scripture. This means that he can say that Jesus died for all but also died in a special way for the elect.

Here’s a snippet:

I argue, then, that both Arminians and Calvinists should rightly affirm that Christ died for all, in the sense that Christ’s death was sufficient for all and that Scripture portrays God as inviting, commanding, and desiring the salvation of all, out of love (in the third sense developed in the first chapter). Further, all Christians ought also to confess that, in a slightly different sense, Christ Jesus, in the intent of God, died effectively for the elect alone, in line with the way the Bible speaks of God’s special selecting love for the elect (in the fourth sense developed in the first chapter).

Read the rest of the section here.

Never heard of ‘atonement’ or Jesus?? Find out more here

Guessing comp: 12 warm fuzzies to the first person to guess the famous Australia location where this pic was taken…

3 Replies to “Carson on the Intent of the Atonement”

  1. that’s a big call… he’s written lots of good stuff.

    but i do think it’s very good.

    hey didn’t you once write a review on this book? i didn’t think it was all positive??

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