Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming Savior gives us further details on the nature of Christ’s atonement. From this, we can draw implications for whom His atonement was made. In his essay “Stricken for the Transgression of My People,” J. Alec Motyer expounds on the various requirements for a proper penal substitute. His more literal translation of Isaiah 53:5 reads, “He was wounded because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities.” Further, he renders 53:8, “He was cut down from the land of the living because of the rebellion of my people to whom the blow belonged.”… Read more
Month: May 2020
In pondering the nature of Christ’s death on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for sinners, the necessary question that must be drawn from this is, “For whom did Christ make atonement?” In John’s First Epistle, we read, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2 ESV). Initially, it might seem that this verse would answer this question without the need for further debate – that Christ died for the sins of every person who ever lived.… Read more