Definite atonement (sample):

1) The presumption and headiness of man would have set the cart before the horse ; but the everlasting truth hath appointed this order. Peter thought he would have jeoparded his life for Christ, and have redeemed the Redeemer: but Christ came to give his life for his sheep, of whom Peter was one. Now after that Christ died for those that be his, there is strength given in the hearts of such shepherds and sheep as be faithful, to suffer death for Christ s sake. “The Resurrection of Christ,” in The Writings and Translations of Miles Coverdale, 362.

Sins of the world:

1) HERE should we children of belief diligently ponder and consider, what Christ hath done for our sakes; namely, that he, when he had fulfilled his ministration committed to him of the Father, and now would offer up himself upon the cross for the sins of the world, and with his own death deliver mankind from the captivity of Satan, and from eternal death, declared, how he loved his own until the end, and with what desire he longed to eat the Easter lamb with his disciples, before he suffered. 1 Cor. v. Isai. liii. John i.: giving them thereby to understand, that he was the true paschal Lamb, which, being slain for us, should take away the sins of the world, that the figures of the old testament might be reduced into the truth; that like as the Jews, to whom with a prescribed ordinance it was commanded yearly to eat the Exod. xii. Easter lamb, did the same for a memorial of their deliverance out of Egypt; so we believers also might in the new testament have a remembrance and exercise of the gracious redemption, whereas we by his death are delivered from the power of darkness, of the devil, and of sin, and brought to eternal life.

And to the intent now that the remembrance of such excellent benefits, grace, and merits of the passion of Christ, might ever be fresh and new with his disciples and all believers, our Lord Jesus Christ, when he now would go unto death, and pay the ransom for the sins of all the world, he then did eat the Easter lamb with his disciples, to finish the shadow of the old testament; and that he might be remembered thereby, he instituted the bread and wine for a sacrament and memorial of his holy body and blood. Miles Coverdale, “The Passion of Christ,” in The Writings and Translations of Miles Coverdale, 211

2) For the death of Christ is our life. The earth quaked, the stones burst asunder. For the preaching of the death of the Son of God hath altered the whole world, and many hard stony hearts are moved to repentance, faith, and good works. But when the side of the dead body of Christ was opened with the spear, and the rock, as Zachary saith, was digged up, there ran out water and blood; declaring manifestly thereby, that unto us out of the death of blood Christ followeth life and purifying. For water cleanseth, in the blood is the life of man, and with the blood of Christ is all blood stanched; and now is Christ s blood only available, being sprinkled through faith in our hearts. This oblation and passion of Christ, the ransom for the sin of the whole world, was done in the eighteenth year of the empire of Tiberius, reckoning from the beginning of the world 4007 years, the 25^th day of March. Miles Coverdale, “The Old Faith,” in The Writings and Translations of Miles Coverdale, 75-76.

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Sibbes:

Limited redemption:

1) First, He redeems us by paying the price, and so he only redeemeth, for he paid the price to divine justice. We are in bondage to the wrath of God under his justice; and so there must be satisfaction to justice before we can be free.

Then, secondly, We are in bondage to Satan, as God’s executioner and jailor. Now from him we are freed by strong hand. So Christ freeth us by his Holy Spirit, working such graces in us as makes us see the loathsomeness of that bondage; working likewise grace in us to be in love with a better condition, that the Spirit discovers to us. So that the Spirit brings us out by discovery and by power. All that Christ freeth by virtue of redemption, paying the price for, all those he frees likewise by his Spirit, discovering to them their bondage, and the blessed condition whereunto they are to be brought to a state of freedom, which freedom he perfects by little and little, till he bring them to a glorious freedom in heaven.

And the reason of this, that where Christ doth free by way of redemption, to die and satisfy God’s justice for any, to those he gives his Spirit, by which Spirit they are set at liberty the reasons are manifold. To name one or two. Sibbes, “Excellency of the Gospel,” in Works, 4:218.

2) Fourth, Again, Christ gave that that was his own, his own body, his own life, for his sheep; and his own endeavour, whatsoever he gave, was his own. So if we will be kind to others, we must do it of our own; we must not do good with that that we have gotten from others by unjust means. For the ‘sacrifice of the wicked,’ in this kind, ‘is an abomination to the Lord,’ Isa. i. 13. Let us have interest in that we give. Christ gave his own life, and God gave his own Son for us. Sibbes, “The Church’s Riches,” in Works, 4:523.

3) “Believed on in the world.” By ‘world,’ especially here in this place, is meant the world taken out of the world, the world of elect. There is a world in the world, as one saith well in unfolding this point; as we see, man is called a little world in the great world. Christ was preached to the world of wicked men, that by preaching, a world might be taken out of the world, which is the world of believers. Hence we may clear our judgments in that point, that when Christ is said to redeem the world, it must not be understood generally of all mankind. We see here, the world is said to believe in Christ. Did all mankind believe in Christ? was there not a world of un believers? Sibbes, “The Fountain Opened,” in Works, 5:516-517.

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Sufficient satisfaction:

1)

Of the virtue of the death and passion of
Jesus Christ, and the true purgatory
of the Christians, Chap. 18.

By like reason, the Christian faith doe also hold, that the only blood of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice that he hath done upon the cross for poor sinners, is so sufficient to satisfy the judgement of God, and to cleanse man of his sin, that there needs none other Purgatory for them: as indeed, there is none other to cleanse them, neither by fire, nor by water, nor by any other means, neither in this world, nor in the other. In like sort, there is no other ransom nor satisfaction toward God, but only his. Therefore he that seeks satisfaction anywhere else, be it in his own works, or those of other men, or in any kind of creature, & that in all, or in part, the same he or she refuses wholly the ransom and satisfaction made by Jesus Christ. Pierre Viret, A Christian Instruction, conteyning the law and the gospel. Also a summarie of the Principall poyntes of the Christian faith and Religion, and of the abuses and errors contrary to the same, translated by I.S. (London: Abraham Veale in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Lambe, 1573), 17-18.

Satisfaction for man:

1)

Of the true fulfilling of the law of God. Chap. 27.

But even as no man can serve God aright, according to his will, except he be well instructed first in his law, and in his word, even so it is not sufficient to have been well instructed, if it be not put into use. And therefore, the knowledge of the same serves but to greater condemnation, if there be nothing else. And because that man of his nature is so corrupted through sin, that not only he can not of himself accomplish perfectly any one of the commandments of God, but on the contrary, can do nothing else but continually resist his holy will: Therefore he hath need of Jesus Christ, chiefly for two causes. The first to satisfy for man, in that wherein he is not able, to the end that Jesus Christ through his obedience, might recompense the fault that is in man, through his rebellion. The second is, to the end that man being justified through faith in Jesus Christ, as is already said and so forthwith regenerated by his Spirit, and reformed to the very image of GOD, might to the better disposed to obey his holy will, to dedicate and consecrate himself wholly to his service. Pierre Viret, A Christian Instruction, conteyning the law and the gospel. Also a summarie of the Principall poyntes of the Christian faith and Religion, and of the abuses and errors contrary to the same, translated by I.S. (London: Abraham Veale in Paules Churchyard at the signe of the Lambe, 1573), 26-27.

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Edwards:

Particular Redemption:

Miscellanies:

1) 21. Limited Atonement. God did not intend to save those, by the death of Christ, that he knew, from all eternity, he should not save by his death. If he intended to save any, it was those he knew would be saved.

2) 424. Atonement Is Sufficient. Christ did die for all in this sense: that all by his death have an opportunity of being saved. He had that design in dying that they should have that opportunity by it, for it is a thing that God designed that all men should have such an opportunity, or they would not have it, and they have it by the death of Christ. This however is no designing of the atonement but only for the preservation of their being. Paul uses the term in a similar way in 1 Tim. 4:10, “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.

3) These earnest prayers and strong cries of Christ to the Father in his agony, show the greatness of his love to sinners. For, as has been shown, these strong cries of Jesus Christ were what he offered up to God as a public person, in the capacity of high priest, and in the behalf of those who priest he was. When he offered up his sacrifice for sinners whom he had loved from eternity, he withal offered up earnest prayers. His strong cries, his tears, and his blood were all offered up together to God, and they were all offered up for the same end, for the glory of God in the salvation of the elect. They were all offered up for the same persons, viz. for his people. For them he shed his blood in that bloody sweat, when it fell down in clotted lumps to the ground. And for them he so earnestly cried to God at the same time. It was that the will of God might be done in the success of his sufferings, in the success of that blood, in the salvation of those for whom that blood was shed, and therefore this strong crying shows his strong love. It shows how greatly he desired the salvation of sinners. He cried to God that he might not sink and fail in that great undertaking, because if he did so, sinners could not be saved, but all must perish. [Banner of Truth, Christ’s Agony, in Works vol, 2, p., 875.]

Redemption of Mankind:

1) Section I. Wonderful things done, by which salvation is procured

We will consider the choice of the person to be our redeemer. When God designed the redemption of mankind, his great wisdom appears in that he pitched upon his own, his only-begotten, Son, to be the person to perform the work. He was a redeemer of God’s own choosing, and therefore he is called in Scripture, God’s elect (Isa. 42:1). The wisdom of choosing this person to be the redeemer, appears in his being every way a fit person for this undertaking. It was necessary that the person that is the redeemer should be a divine person.—None but a divine person was sufficient for this great work. The work is infinitely unequal to any creature. It was requisite that the redeemer of sinners should be himself infinitely holy. None could take away the infinite evil of sin, but one that infinitely far from and contrary to sin himself. Christ is a fit person upon this account. [Jonathan Edwards, “The Wisdom of God, Displayed on the Way of Salvation,” in Works, Banner of Truth, vol, 2, p., 142.]

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