Redemption—Accomplished and Applied - Dordt College Homepages

from the law of works. We are no longer bound to justify ourselves by keeping the law perfectly. (II) Sin.
We are freed from both the guilt of sin (we are justified) and the pollution of sin (we are sanctified).
Chapter 3: The Perfection of the Atonement
The focus of this chapter is to give us a right understanding of this topic in opposition to errors of the
Roman Catholic Church. Those for whom Christ died make no satisfaction for their sin. The Father
chastises them in love in various ways in this life, but this in no way makes satisfaction for their sins. To
say that it did would be to say that the work of Christ was imperfect and would “rob the Redeemer of
the glory of his once-for-all accomplishment.” The atonement was accomplished once for all at a
specific point in history. It can never be repeated. It was completely unique. And it was intrinsically
efficacious. Christ completed all that was necessary for the salvation of his people.
Chapter 4: The Extent of the Atonement
Christ did not die for the sins of all people. Murray refutes the argument that some verses say that
Christ did indeed die for all by looking at the context of some of those verses and by looking at the
teaching in other parts of Scripture. The words, “all” or “every,” do not always mean all people. They
must be taken in context. For example, in Hebrews 2:9 we read, “…that he [Jesus] should taste death
for every man.” But in the verses that follow, we see that the writer “is speaking of the many sons to be
brought to glory (ver. 10), of the sanctified who with the sanctifier are all of one (ver. 11), of those who
are called the brethren of Christ (ver. 12), and of the children which God had given to him (ver. 13).” It
is true that there are benefits from Christ’s death which are given to all people, but salvation is not one
of them. Murray next proceeds to set forth that Christ died, not to make salvation possible for all men,
but to secure salvation for the elect. After extensive arguments from several Scripture passages, he
comes to 1 John 2:2: “And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole
world.” The explanation of this verse is summarized in the following: “It was necessary for John to set
forth the scope of Jesus’ propitiation” (people from every nation), “the exclusiveness of Jesus as the
propitiation” (Jesus is the only way to salvation), and “the perpetuity of Jesus’ propitiation” (it endures
through all time).
Chapter 5: Conclusion
We should base our beliefs about the mediatorial work of Christ on the Bible alone. We must not seek
to make analogies between our experiences and the work of Christ, for doing so only raises us up to his
level or drags him down to ours. There can be no true comparison. Christ satisfied the infinite wrath of
God to secure salvation for his own. This he did because of God’s great and eternal love.