The connection between unconditional election and limited atonement is clear. Unconditional election explains what it is
that limits the atonement, that is, the sovereign will and choice of
God Himself. Universal atonement says that not God’s will, but man’s,
limits the atonement and almost always, therefore, denies unconditional
election, teaching instead a conditional election that God only foresees
and then selects who will choose Christ and who will profit from
Christ’s death.
Election is in vain if salvation and the cross still depend on a man’s freewill choice. Whether or not God chose anyone would make no difference. All would still hinge on man’s decision to accept or reject Christ.
As far as total depravity is concerned, that doctrine is the reason why the atonement must be efficacious for all those whom God has given to Christ, for the doctrine of total depravity teaches us that man has of himself no power to accept Christ or to believe in the cross. If the power of the cross really depended on our acceptance of Christ, and if men are totally depraved, no one at all could possibly be saved by the cross.
Likewise, the doctrines of irresistible grace and perseverance follow from limited atonement. The doctrine of limited atonement means that Christ purchased everything by His death, including the grace that brings us to salvation and preserves us in salvation to the end. It also means that those for whom Christ died are saved and must be saved. It demands, therefore, a grace that is powerful and irresistible and that never fails.
Ronald Cammenga
Ronald Hanko
Saved By Grace, pp. 122-123
http://rfpa.org/collections/books-by-ronald-cammenga/products/saved-by-grace-paperback
Election is in vain if salvation and the cross still depend on a man’s freewill choice. Whether or not God chose anyone would make no difference. All would still hinge on man’s decision to accept or reject Christ.
As far as total depravity is concerned, that doctrine is the reason why the atonement must be efficacious for all those whom God has given to Christ, for the doctrine of total depravity teaches us that man has of himself no power to accept Christ or to believe in the cross. If the power of the cross really depended on our acceptance of Christ, and if men are totally depraved, no one at all could possibly be saved by the cross.
Likewise, the doctrines of irresistible grace and perseverance follow from limited atonement. The doctrine of limited atonement means that Christ purchased everything by His death, including the grace that brings us to salvation and preserves us in salvation to the end. It also means that those for whom Christ died are saved and must be saved. It demands, therefore, a grace that is powerful and irresistible and that never fails.
Ronald Cammenga
Ronald Hanko
Saved By Grace, pp. 122-123
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