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Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. -Titus 3:5-6 |
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? -Hebrews 9:14 |
Arminians and other opponents of limited atonement like to quote the following texts which speak about Christ dying for "all," "all men," or the "world." It is necessary to understand that these texts refer to Christ's death incorporating all men without distinction of category -Gentile as well as Jew, ruler as well as citizen, rich as well as poor, etc. They do not mean all men in the sense of every individual. The following texts are examples:
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I Timothy 2:6-8 Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. "All" means all people, Gentiles as well as Jews, as the center verse indicates, but does not mean every individual Jew or Gentile. John 4:42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world. "The world" refers to the Samaritan/Gentile/heathen world, that Christ is not a Savior for the Jews only; but this text does not mean that Jesus saves every individual in the whole world. |
I John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write 1 unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world. "Whole world" here means all the Gentile/heathen nations as the "our's" refers to the Jews, but it does not mean every individual in the whole world. II Corinthians 5:14-15 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. "All" refers to all believers, all the saved, all the Church, as verse fifteen clarifies, but it does not mean all in the sense of every individual in the world. |
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Compare the following two verses from the writings of John: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but alsoforthe sins of the whole world. -I John 2:2 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me: for they are Thine. -John 17:9 If the expression "the whole world" would mean all individuals in the world, these texts would contradict each other. Why? To what does the expression, "the whole world" refer? |
