Authentic Christianity: How Lutheran Theology Speaks to a Postmodern World

by Gene Edward Veith Jr.

Calvinists recognize justification by grace through faith pretty much as Lutherans do, but with one major difference: they believe in the doctrine of limited atonement, that Christ died only for the elect. Lutherans believe in universal atonement, that Christ died for the sins of the entire world. As the Bible puts it, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Under Calvinism, one can never be quite sure if Christ died “for me.” Christians struggling with that question are encouraged to scrutinize their lives and their inner selves for evidence of “the fruits of faith”; that is, good works. But that, again, throws us back to the Law and good works as the de facto basis for the assurance of salvation. Calvinism also creates a system in which election—not the cross—is, in effect, the basis for justification.