Atonement Differences
Calvinists and Arminians alike confess that Christ died for sinners. They differ on what His death actually accomplished, and for whom. For the Calvinist, the cross secured the redemption of those for whom Christ died, paying their debt in full and satisfying the wrath of God toward them. For the Arminian, it made redemption possible for all, to be secured by those who believe. The table below compares the two views.1 For the wider comparison of the two systems, see Table T8.
| Calvinism | Arminianism | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Christ is punished for the sins of the sinner. His substitution is penal and personal. | Christ is punished for the sin principle, not the sinner. His death paid the price of sin impersonally. |
| Purpose | To accomplish personal redemption. | To secure a possibility of redemption. |
| Focus | The great personal exchange. | The great general enablement. |
| Result | Personal Redemption | Salvability conditioned on the human heart. |
| Implication | God is just and the justifier of the one Christ redeems. | A sin may be punished twice (injustice of double jeopardy): on Christ and on the man who never repents. |
Sources
1. Table T6 is adapted from John D. Hannah, Charts of Reformation and Enlightenment Church History (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), “The Atonement in Calvinism and Arminianism.” ↩︎
