Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 37:2 (Winter 1975)
Article: Reformed Thought On The Extent Of The Atonement To 1618
Author: W. Robert Godfrey

WTJ 37:2 (Winter 1975) p. 133

Reformed Thought On The Extent Of The Atonement To 1618*

W. Robert Godfrey

In 1618 Calvinists from all over Europe gathered together at Dordrecht (Dort), Holland to participate in judging the Arminian theology. All the delegates to the Synod agreed that the Arminian theses submitted to the Synod were unacceptable. But when the Synod came to formulate the orthodox position, significant differences emerged among the delegates. The sharpest disagreements revolved around the extent of the atonement. Neither the orthodox delegates nor later historians appreciated the wide variations on the extent of the atonement contained within Reformed thought. Calvinism in the early seventeenth century was not a rigid, monolithic movement. This article will examine the sources and nature of the differences among Reformed theologians on the extent of the atonement before 1618. Such an examination will analyze this doctrine from its biblical foundations through the history of Christian thought to the concern in the Reformed Church sparked by the Arminian controversy in the United Provinces. A selective overview of influential thinkers and documents will clarify the historical development of Reformed theology before Dort and provide the historical context for understanding the bitter debate at Dort on the extent of the atonement.

Before the Reformation

Augustine was the first great defender of the efficacy and particularism of God’s grace. Augustine linked the operation of this grace in the elect closely to the work of Christ: “Hi ergo Christo intelliguntur dari, qui ordinati sunt in vitam aeternam.

* This material is taken from chapter two of a Ph.D. dissertation, “Tensions Within International Calvinism: The Debate on the Atonement and the Synod of Dort, 1618–1619,” submitted to the History Department of Stanford University, 1974.

WTJ 37:2 (Winter 1975) p. 134

Ipsi sunt illi praedestinati et secundum propositum vocati, quorum nullus perit.”1 Augustine also stressed what Christ has done “pro nobis,” that is, for his own.2

We did not love him. He loved us, to the end that we might love him. “And he sent his Son to be the propitiator for our sins,”—propitiator, that is offerer of sacrifice. He offered sacrifice for our sins.3

While Augustine did not express clearly or discuss at length the doctrine of the definite or limited atonement, he did come very close to this doctrine: “Quia videbat eos ad sempiternum interitum praedestinatos, non ad vitam aeternam sui sanguinis praetio comparatos.”You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
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