Along with many books that I have been reading on World War II, I have also been reading the classic book by Robert Lightner entitled The Death Christ Died. The book is a book that seeks to defend the unlimited atonement of Jesus Christ against the Calvinist teaching of limited atonement (or particular redemption). The title itself is written to counter the popular Calvinist book by the Puritan John Owen, The Death of Death: In The Death of Christ. Lightner builds his case by studying both views of the atonement side by side, contrasting the views with Scripture.
For the Arminian view, there are not many books on the unlimited atonement. I must hand it to the Calvinist, they have done a great job of having their views pushed not only on the Internet and in their churches, but also through their publications as well. Lightner’s book is one of the few that attack the limited atonement view. A few Arminian books will briefly touch on the issue, but this book is a book that deals directly with the teaching itself.
Robert Lightner himself is not Arminian. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and holds to Calvinism but rejects the notion of a limited atonement. However, I read the book and have not found anything that I disagree with. I do know that Lightner rejects the Lordship teaching of John MacArthur, but there is no trace of that found here. I believe most Arminians could easily read this book and not disagree with Lightner (probably much to his disdain). Therefore, if you are looking for a book that would help you understand what the Scriptures teach about the atonement, than by all means this is a good book to get apart from your own studies of the Word of God. One final side note is that Lightner takes the popular John MacArthur Study Bible to task over MacArthur’s limited atonement views by giving the study notes themselves, and then Lightner wrestles with MacArthur’s notes as well as with the whole of Scripture.
[Link to original post and comments on Roy Ingle’s blog, Arminian Today]
