The Doctrine of Limited Atonement is a Calvinist belief that Jesus died for ONLY those people God elects to salvation. In other words, Calvinists believe Jesus didn't die for everyone as scripture clearly states. They believe His sacrificial death will benefit only certain people whom God elects or chooses for salvation, collaterally condemning everyone else to hell. Here's a perfect example of why heresy is so dangerous; it includes just enough truth to make it appear credible, and because of it, people get sucked in. Did Jesus die a substitutionary death on the cross so that people can be reconciled to God? Absolutely. Do the words 'predestinated' and 'elect' appear in the Bible? Yes, they do. Well, that's everything Calvinists need to take a doctrine and run with it. However, those words are not used in the manner Calvinists perceive and preach them.
Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." "All" is defined as 'all, any, every, the whole." 3956 in Strongs).
Here are verses which state that Jesus died for "ALL" people, using the same definition as Romans 3:23: Titus 2:11-12, 1 Timothy 4:10; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Timothy 2:3-6, 4:10; Romans 4:11, 16; John 1:7, Romans 3:22, 10:12,and Romans 10:18.
Here are verses which tell us that Jesus came to seek and save the lost; lost defined as 'fully destroyed' (622 in Strongs). Is it possible that those spoken of in Romans 3:23, those who fall short of God's glory, are fully destroyed? Jesus came to save them. Matthew 15:24-28; Matthew 18:11-12; Luke 15:4-7; and Luke 19:10.
These verses state that "whoever" (the one who) believes: John 3:36; John 5:24; John 6:35; John 7:38; and
John 11:25.
These verses state that Jesus died for the "whole world": Matthew 28:19; John 1:29; John 12:47; 1 John 2:2; and
1 John 4:14.
These verses state that those who "believe" in Jesus will be saved: Mark 9:23; Luke 7:50; John 1:2; John 8:24; John 20:31; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Romans 9:33; 11:20, 23; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 1:21; Hebrews 10:39; 11:6;
1 Timothy 4:10; 1 Peter 1:9 and 1 John 5:4.
These verses state that those with "faith" in Jesus will be saved: Matthew 9:2; Luke 8:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; Ephesians 2:8-9; and Romans 4:14; 10:17.
These verses state that "everyone" who believes in Jesus will be saved: John 3:16, Hebrews 2:9; John 6:40; Acts 10:43.
These verses make a distinction between those who DO believe and those who do NOT believe, indicating a choice on the part of the person: Mark 16:16; John 3:18, 3:36; Hebrews 4:3 and Romans 9:30-32.
John 1:12 states that as "many' as "received" Jesus He gave them the authority to become children of God, to the ones BELIEVING into His name. "Many" is defined as "as much as, as great as, as long as, etc." (3745 in Strongs). In other words, there is no limit to the number as long as they believe.
Finally, I want to include Romans 1:18-20 which tells us that God placed His moral code on the heart of every person ever born, so that NO ONE has an excuse for not knowing Him. This means ALL, ANY, EVERY, the WHOLE of mankind knows God intrinsically. This intrinsic knowledge is the very reason atheists fight His existence while caring nothing about fighting the existence of purple spotted flying toads (because atheists know such creatures don't exist!) This one verse, all by itself, does away with the idea that God chooses some people to know Him and excludes other by Sovereign will. What it proves is that God sovereignly chose EVERY person to know Him, not to be saved, but to be aware of Him so he can respond to God's offer of salvation through Jesus!
Jesus' death did make all mankind potentially savable/redeemable, based on their individual responses to His offer of salvation, as demonstrated by the verses listed above. Jesus' death did provide a benefit that may or may not be accepted, based on the free will of individuals. Jesus did redeem a specific group of people; THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIM AS SAVIOR!! NOT some group of favorites chosen by God. Those who receive Jesus as Savior, as John 1:12 tells us, are the "Elect" of which many of the New Testament letters speak. In other places, the 'elect' refers to individuals or nations chosen for service. Context matters. You can read more about this in the paper about Romans 9, here on this site.
Not a solitary drop of Jesus' blood was shed in vain. His sacrifice completely and perfectly accomplished the objective for which God designed it; to save those who accept Him as Savior. Verses which speak of the Redeemed who are given to Christ, as His sheep or His bride, reference those described in the numerous verses listed above. Ephesians 1:4-5 tells us that God gives those who believe in Jesus, the 'elect or chosen' to Christ as His sheep or bride because it satisfied/delighted (2107 in Strong's) God to do so when He was laying the foundations of the world. God planned salvation for all!
In complete agreement with Ephesians 1:4-5, Hebrews 4:3 tells us that the ones believing will enter into the rest God has for them, but the ones under God's wrath, those who do NOT believe, will NOT enter God's rest. It also states that this is the plan God had in place before the foundation of the world. Isn't it interesting that Hebrews 4:3 defines the 'elect or chosen' as those who believe?
That some people refuse Jesus does NOT mean that any of Jesus' blood is wasted. Without His sacrifice NO ONE would be saved, so it was mandatory that Jesus die, according to God's plan so that those who want redemption might have it. There is NO waste involved. If you were the ONLY person who ever accepted Jesus as Savior, He would have still died for you. His blood would have still purchased your redemption. Jesus truly saves everyone for whom He died, ANYONE who believes on Him for salvation. Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 16:31.
I count 59 scriptures listed on this page, with no duplications, which state, in some manner, that Jesus died for ALL people and/or only need to believe in Him for salvation. In addition to misapplying the words 'elect, chosen, predestinated,' to mean that only God's favorite people will receive salvation, Calvinists must find a way to dismiss these 59 verses. To be honest, I'm sure there are few somewhere along the line that I failed to find which only makes the dismissal of such verses even more egregious.
When God's word is rightly divided, which certainly means all of scripture is used (you don't leave any of it out), it is obvious that the doctrine of limited atonement is a lie. Logically, speaking of ALL means the largest number of people, so the 'elected, chosen, predestinated' ones is a subset of 'ALL.' The inverse CANNOT be true. It is impossible to start with an 'elected, chosen, predestinated' subset group and then fit in the scriptures which speak of 'ALL' as it is defined by the original Greek.
Thanks to Derek Robinson for the pic!