“THE ATONEMENT AND FREE OFFER OF THE GOSPEL,” Chapter 9 in THE COLLECTED WRITINGS OF JOHN MURRAY, VOLUME 1: THE CLAIMS OF TRUTH, by John Murray

A “Bonus” Chapter Summary from Books At a Glance

By Benjamin J. Montoya

 

After Jesus was raised from the dead, Luke explained, “repentance to remission of sins should be preached in his name and all the nations,” (Luke 24:47). That is, Luke explains that Jesus gave his apostles the Great Commission. This commission involves the gospel proclamation. “The gospel is the proclamation of good tidings, good tidings from God, good tidings of what God has done, good tidings of what he has promised to do.” The preaching of the gospel also involves repentance. Repentance means a “radical change.” We are born sinful. Repentance means that we are changing our mind about our desire to sin and desire Christ more than our own sin and misery that comes from it. This may sound like a harsh term, but nothing less will be required. The atonement of Christ is what makes the gospel possible; Christ needed to die on the cross and be raised so that the atonement could even be possible to begin with. Thus, before we can understand a worldwide proclamation of the gospel, we need to remember that the gospel is primarily about the atonement of Christ. This point raises an important question.

What is the relationship between the atonement and the free offer of the gospel? That is, when Christ died on the cross to provide atonement, for whom did Christ die? And how does our view of our answer to that question affect our free offer of the gospel? Through considering the Scriptures and the nature of the doctrines found therein, we will find the answers to our questions. Let’s begin by considering the love of God.

[To continue reading this summary, please see below....]