Paul Hartog argues convincingly no! What is ironic about the Calvinistic view of limited atonement is that Calvin did not hold to it. Here is a quote from Calvin’s commentary on Galatians: “God commends to us the solution of all men without exception, even as Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world.” Paul Hartog has written a new book on Calvin’s view of atonement where he documents Calvin’s view. Click here for a PDF http://www.baptistbulletin.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/a-word-for-the-world.pdf
Hartog asks, does this mean that the provision of Christ’s sacrifice is limited to the elect alone, since God eternally intended to apply Christ’s work ultimately to the elect alone? No, because Calvin seems to coordinate a universal provision of Christ’s sacrifice with the general call of the gospel: “God commends to us the salvation of all men without exception, even as Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world.” Calvin affirms, “Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all men.”
Unlike some later authors, such as Tobias Crisp, Calvin did not espouse a notion of “eternal justification.” According to Calvin, until one is united with Christ by faith (which the Spirit efficaciously forms in the elect through the Word), one is not justified. In order that the redemption of Christ may be effectual and useful to us, we must renounce our former life” (Calvin, 1 Peter 1:18, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews and the First and Second Epistles of St Peter, 248).
Contrast Calvin’s own words with Leahy: “For Calvin, with Bible in hand, Christ died for all without distinction, not all without exception” (Leahy, “Calvin and the Extent of the Atonement,”). Citing the Lukan genealogy of Jesus, Calvin notes that “the salvation provided by Christ is common to all mankind. For Christ, the Author of salvation, was begotten of Adam, the common father of us all.” Jesus is “Redeemer of the world . . . since He was there, as it were, in the person of all cursed ones and of all transgressors, and of those who had deserved eternal death . . . and bears the burdens of all those who had offended God mortally.” Calvin’s “Last Will” refers to “the blood of our great Redeemer, as it was shed for all poor sinners.” According to Calvin, it is “incontestable that Christ came for the expiation of the sins of the whole world.” The footnotes for all this documentation is in the book in chapter 12.
