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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.
Part II: Redemption Applied Chapter 1: The Order of Application God supplies every need in the full and free gift of salvation to his people. There are a number of aspects into which the application of redemption may be divided, and there is also an order in which they take place. Murray shows from John 3:3,5; 1 John 3:9; 1:12; and Ephesians 1:13 that there is indeed an order to the parts of the application of redemption. From primarily Romans 8:28-30 and then filling in the rest of the parts, he finds the order to be the following: calling, regeneration, faith and repentance (conversion), justification, adoption, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Chapter 2: Effectual Calling There is a call of the gospel which goes out to all people; this is the universal call. But the call that the New Testament almost always refers to is the effectual call to God’s chosen people. Its name is selfexplanatory—this call is effective to “usher men into a state of salvation.” God is the author of this effectual call, and in particular it is God the Father that thus calls. We have nothing to do with its initiation—we depend completely on God’s sovereign grace. The call is a summons which is inherently efficacious. “The call is also a high, holy, and heavenly calling.” We are “called to be saints” (Rom. 1:7). This call is of determinate purpose; it is eternal; and it is in Christ that the pattern of this call was made, the Father working with the Son. Murray makes several arguments to show that calling is indeed prior to regeneration in the order of application, thought he admits it makes little difference in the end. Chapter 3: Regeneration How can we, who are by nature incapable of doing any good, answer God’s call? “God’s call, since it is effectual, carries with it the operative grace whereby the person called is enabled to answer the call and to embrace Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel. God’s grace reaches down to the lowest depth of our need and meets all the exigencies of the moral spiritual impossibility which inheres in our depravity and inability. And that grace is the grace of regeneration.” In regeneration, God makes us a new creation by the Holy Spirit. We are born again; this is not something it was possible for us to choose, just as we did not choose to be born of our mothers. This regeneration is entirely of the Holy Spirit. From several texts, Murray shows that “Regeneration is the beginning of all saving grace in us”; repentance and faith, etc., are the consequences of regeneration. Now it must not be thought that regeneration can then be “abstracted from the saving graces which are its effects”; no, regeneration and its fruits are inseparable. Chapter 4: Faith and Repentance Faith By regeneration, we are enabled to believe in Christ. “He is the absorbing preoccupation of faith.” First, Murray looks at the warrant of faith. How does the sinner know that Christ will save if he believes? In answer, we have both the “Universal Offer of the Gospel” and the “All-Sufficiency and Suitability of the Saviour Presented.” With regard to the former, we see that in both the Old and New Testaments, there
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