Tuesday, December 2, 2008

The Atonement

I have had about half a dozen conversations and encounters on the web regarding the doctrine of the atonement. With the rise of the Federal Vision heresy in the Church and many other issues regarding the atonement of Christ and what Christ purchased and for whom He purchased it, I felt it good to put something out there for the flock of God.

Doctrine is ALWAYS the means to the end. The word doctrine has been translated by some people to literally mean "right thinking" or "whole thinking". What I mean is that right thinking about who God is how God leads us to love and to know Him more. If we do not know Him, we cannot love Him. We may be loving someone that we made up, but it may not be the Living God.

What's important about learning about the atonement is not so that knowledge can be gained for knowledge sake and so that you can be made to look good in front of other people. What is important about learning about the atonement is that what God had in mind in sending Christ and what God had in mind in creating the world can be more fully known. Without knowing these things, we can never make sense of all of the aspects of life that seem chaotic.

The videos below are of John Piper teaching through the atonement and what that means. The term Limited Atonement has been largely misunderstood by most people, including myself, and is defined in the second video in probably the best way that I have ever heard it explained.

These videos are all a lot to take in both time wise and information wise. If you cannot watch all three of them please watch the middle video.


Part 1





Part 2




Part 3

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