Unlimited Atonement - Historical Background

Historical Background

For more details on this topic, see History of Calvinist-Arminian Debate.

The Five Articles of Remonstrance
Conditional election
Unlimited atonement
Total depravity
Prevenient grace
Conditional preservation

Modern Calvinists often charge that the doctrine of unlimited atonement was first formalized during the beginning of the 5th Century AD as part of the debate between Augustine of Hippo and Pelagius. However it is the position of a majority of professing Christians that the atonement was held as unlimited by most of the early Church Fathers (ECF). Pelagius and his followers strongly held to unlimited atonement but rejected original sin. It was not until Jacobus Arminius that unlimited atonement, original sin, and total depravity were formally joined within one theological system. In response to the Remonstrants' Five articles of Remonstrance, the Synod of Dort published the Five points of Calvinism with limited atonement as one of the five points.

One of the stronger, more vocal proponents of Unlimited atonement was John Wesley. Those who opposed the view include George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards. It should also be noted that the namesake of the Calvinist systematic theological viewpoint, John Calvin, seemingly expressed an unlimited atonement position in several passages from his published Commentaries.