Subject: Is Limited Atonement a "scandalous" Doc |
Bible Note: Greetings John! Thanks for the response my new friend! I too love the dialogue which takes place on the forum. Let me respond to your two main points in reverse order. 1) Reconciliation: Process or Completed Action! If we only had v. 19, I would agree with you that ‘reconciliation’ should be viewed as a process. V. 19 says, "that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, …". The verb ‘reconciling’ is a present, active, participle. Thus, it could be viewed as either a process or a continuing action. However, this is not the case in v. 18. V. 18 says, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:". Here, the verb ‘reconciled’ is an aorist, active, participle. This refers to a point of action completed at sometime in the past. Thus, it cannot refer to a process, but only to complete action. Why the difference in the two verbs? It would be appropriate to look at the totality of Christ’s incarnation, ministry, life, and death and describe it all as the process that God was using to reconcile us to Him. But, as you correctly anticipated, all of that ‘process’ was completed at the cross. Thus, looking back, it is a completed action. This seems to be only way to harmonize the two different tenses of the participles. 2) The Meaning of ‘all’! Here is my approach to interpreting words like ‘all’, ‘everyone’, and ‘anyone’. These are universal terms which can only be limited by either additional words or the immediate context. For instance, if Jesus were to say, "You are my disciple, and all of you were chosen by Me!" Here, the context clearly limits ‘all’ to each disciple. You said that you feel that Christ is only referring to all the ‘elect’. However, there is no mention of the elect in this passage. Indeed, this passage is in harmony with Rom. 5. There, Paul compares the extent of Adam’s sin with Christ’s death. a) Rom. 5:12 - "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned—" Question: Does ‘all’ here refer to each individual? I think we all (no pun intended) would agree that it does. b) Yet, Rom. 5:18 says, "18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men." Question: Does ‘all’ here refer to each individual? It must! The comparison itself demands it. The context demands it. There is no other word here that limits ‘all’ in anyway. The only limitation, as it 2 Cor. 5, is the demand of Calvinism that Christ did not die for all. Now, does this mean that ‘all’ will be saved? No! Even Rom. 5 makes this perfectly clear. Rom. 5:17 says, "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Thus, the gift of righteousness must be received. It does not automatically apply to each individual. This harmonizes with 2 Cor. 5 as well. There, Paul says that God was reconciling to world to Himself through Christ. But, in verse 20, Paul commands us to "be reconciled". Why? Because the cross made reconciliation possible for each individual, but it must be received or accepted before it applies to an individual. Else, why would Paul command us "to be reconciled"? This is getting long, so let my post my concluding remarks in a second post! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |