Unlimited Atonement

One of the things that every person most needs clarity on is the love of God. “God is Love,” John said. In order to sustain a good and healthy life we must have the conviction that no matter how deep you go into the heart of God you will find love of infinite degree. Only a settled conviction of His goodness will allow us to trust Him with our whole lives.

Indeed, one of the main things that the Devil does on earth is implement ideas and images that suggest that God is not truly good. This is done through art, politics, and education of course, but it is also done through religion. Many would-be theologies excel at presenting a God who doesn’t really love everyone completely and unconditionally.

The only effective way of disarming these ideas is to know the cross of Christ. The cross must be the cornerstone upon which we build our entire theology. This, and the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, radically subverts the ideas that prevent us from fully loving and trusting God. The cross shows us that God will go to the utmost level to reach and care for everyone, even His enemies. “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

We must overcome the idea that since few are saved, God must will that many be lost. In a certain sense of course this is true, i.e. because God permits it. But imagine a father who saw his children get involved in drugs and alcohol and who didn’t wish that his children were different. Children sometimes get in trouble precisely when parents give them one of the things that they most need: the freedom to determine their own lives.

The picture of God that Christ brings in the Gospels is: “…that you may be like your Father in the heavens, for He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” God joyfully and happily wills and does good to every human and angel; this is the basis of His greatness. Jesus tells us that God is like a shepherd who, upon losing one of his sheep, spends all of his time and resources attempting to retrieve that one sheep (Luke 15:4). Thus throughout the ages people have come to the profound conclusion that even if you were the only person who ever lived, Christ would have cheerfully come to die for you if you had become a sinner.

A very instructive passage in the Bible is John 12. Among other important theological points, one should notice that when Jesus reaffirms that He is not afraid of the cross he cries, “Father, glorify your name!” Why is the cross God’s glory? It is because the death of Jesus on our behalf shows like nothing else what it is about God that is really amazing and admirable. It is His infinite goodness.

This love is the basis of Christian teachings such as “love your neighbor as yourself,” or “love your enemies.” We are to do these things precisely because that is the heart of God.

Some complain that the only reason we need to think of God’s love for everyone is so that we can witness to others. What an impoverished thought! No, our perception of the goodness of God and the beauty of Christ is the only sound basis for a heart that is flooded with love and gratitude. One of the deepest mysteries of the Christian faith is that God believes that people are so valuable that He would suffer a cruel death even if it would only be efficacious for part of humanity.