Another nice video by Ligonier on Limited Atonement that is worth commenting on. In this video Derek Thomas responds to the question: “How can we reconcile the doctrine of limited atonement with 1 John 2:2?” The transcript is as follows:
“That is a great question, and it has been asked at least since the 1700s and the Synod of Dort, and the advocacy of the doctrine of particular redemption. So let me ask, ‘What does world mean?’ I have been in all the world. I have been in Australia, where you come from. I have been in Melbourne, where you grew up. I have been in New Zealand. I have been in Moscow in Russia. I have been in Brazil. I have been in Canada. I have been in Mexico. I have been in Peru. I have been in South Africa. I have been in Israel. I have been in Pakistan. I have been in India. I have been in probably every country in Europe that you could name. I doubt that you could name one that I haven’t actually been in. I have been all over the world, but I have never been in China. I have been in Japan, but I haven’t been in China. I have been in Taiwan, but I haven’t been in China. I have been all over the world. And I could hold my head up high and say with absolute truthfulness, ‘I have been all over the world, but I haven’t been in China.’ I haven’t been in Iceland. I haven’t been in Venezuela. I haven’t been in multiple countries in Central Africa, but I’ve been all over the world.
“What does ‘world’ mean? And it can mean different things in different contexts. When John says ‘For God so loved the world,’ and is that John or is that Jesus? It depends if you are using a red-letter Bible. I think it is probably John rather than Jesus. That is my personal opinion. What does John mean by, ‘For God so loved the world?’ Does he mean every single person that ever was, is, and shall be? Or does he mean that God’s love is so great and so vast that it is global? There isn’t a nation in the world where God’s love does not extend. He wants the elect, right? So the question is coming from the Synod of Dort, from Calvinism; so God wants His elect from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation to come to Jesus. It is from all over the world. ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel.’ So, ‘world’ doesn’t necessarily have to mean in every single context every single individual person.”
So let us examine more closely the scriptures on the subject, and see what they reveal. The scriptures that talk about Jesus being the Savior of the “world” are as follows:
John 1:
29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
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.
1 John 4:
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
1 John 2:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The scripture that he is commenting on is actually the last one (1 John 2:2), which is a bit more nuanced than the rest. It distinguishes between “our sins” (the believers’, the “elect’s”), and those of the rest of the “world,” the non-elect; and says that Jesus died for and atoned for the sins of both. That makes his interpretation less than convincing. But his problem doesn’t end there. There are verses that don’t just talk about the “world” in general terms, but point specifically to every single individual in it:
1 Timothy 2:
4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
2 Peter 3:
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Hebrews 2:
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
1 Timothy 4:
10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
He can no longer dismiss those as “generalizations”. The words any and all, and every man and all men, cannot be brushed aside as “generalizations”. They can only be understood to mean what they say. The last quote (1 Tim. 4:10) is particularly interesting. It is saying that the Atonement is universal, but it only benefits those who believe.
If you just take the “world” scriptures alone, and ignore everything else, they may give him enough wiggle room to read his “generalized” meaning into it, and just manage to escape with the Calvinistic interpretation. But that would be cheating. It is not an honest way to read and interpret scripture. If one is so sold out to Calvinism that it is more important to him than the truth, to the point that he is willing to twist, distort, and ignore scripture in order to preserve and maintain it, then he starts losing credibility as a serious Christian thinker, scholar, and theologian. But his problem gets worse still. There are passages of scripture that teach that Jesus not only died for and atoned for the sins of the whole world, and of every individual in it; but more specifically, of those who are not saved at all, those who are are damned:
Romans 14:
15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
1 Corinthians 8:
11 And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?
2 Peter 2:
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them [the heretics], and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
If these verses do not altogether discredit Limited Atonement, I don’t know what else they do. I am sure the Calvinists will now raise the question: if Jesus died for and atoned for everyone’s sins, why isn’t everybody saved? That is an absurd and illogical question that only a Calvinist would ask; but since it is asked, the biblical answer to it is obvious:
Mark 16:
15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
John 3:
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
Matthew 7:
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Matthew 12:
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Acts 26:
20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
John 5:
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Ezekiel 18:
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return [repent] from his [evil] ways, and live?
• • •
31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
32 For I have no pleasure in the death [damnation] of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Ezekiel 33:
11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death [damnation] of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
What all of that means is that (1) God wants everyone to be saved, not just the “elect”. (2) He has made it possible for everyone to be saved if they want to, implying that he has atoned for all their sins so they can be saved; the choice is then theirs whether they are or not. And (3) There is no “predestination” or “unconditional election”. People are free to choose which way they want to go, and become the “elect” by their own choices, not by some kind of divine predestination:
Revelation 3:
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
He only knocks, he doesn’t force the door open. The choice is then entirely ours whether to open the door for him or not.
Matthew 11:
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
The invitation is extended to all. All are invited to come, and none are excluded. Whether they accept the invitation or not is entirely their choice.
John 1:
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 12:
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
“Whosoever” means anybody who chooses to, or wants to, or desires to; and nobody is forced to, obliged to, or “predestined”.
Romans 1:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
So the conclusion is that Calvinism is heretical, unbiblical, and false; and the sooner these folks realize and admit that, the better it will be for all concerned.
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