We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ and his resurrection were provided for the salvation of all people, but are effective only for those who believe. Christ's death and resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation, and only those who believe in Jesus Christ become born of the Holy Spirit and thus become children of God.
Notice that this statement is silent on penal substitution. Penal substitution is not a tenet of evangelical Arminianism. Take it or leave it.
And that exposes a fatal equivocation in debates over the scope of the atonement. Which atonement? What theory of atonement? “Limited” atonement isn’t the same kind of atonement as “unlimited” atonement. So the comparison is qualitative as well as quantitative.
If I remember my historical theology correctly, the governmental theory of the atonement flows most naturally out of Arminian soteriology.
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