Bible Question:
Is the doctrine of limited atonement necessary for Calvinism? Does the doctrine of limited atonement treat the scriptures fairly? I am thinking of verses such as John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2 where it seems pretty clear (judging by his use of the word throughout the whole book) that John means world as in all of humanity and not just the elect. 1) How do limited atonement proponents explain verses such as John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2? 2) Is the doctrine of limited atonement necessary for Calvinism? Could it not be the case that Christ died for all and God just elects those whom he will save? These do not seem to be logically contradictory. |
Bible Answer: achoo4 John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Note that, "that whoever believes in Him shall not persish". God loved the whole world, but only those who believe do not perish. 1 John 2:1, 2 My little children, I am writing these things so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. Note that; the Advocate is for the saved, the unsaved cannot avail themselves of the Advocate because they have not accepted Him. "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world." John 1:12 - John says as many as received Him, not all but to many. Mathew 22:14 - Jesus says many are called but few are chosen. John 6:37 - Jesus says all that the Father has will come, it does not say all will come it says the ones who will come. Acts 13:48 - Luke says that as many as had been appointed by God to eternal life believed. 1 Tim 4:10 - Yes God died for all men, especially for believers. Romans 9:22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? He died for all of them, but not all will be saved. 1 John 2:2, Only the saved have an advocate with the Father, the unsaved have not partaken of the heavenly grace to avail themselves of the privelege of forgivenss of sins until they repent to Jesus and call Him Lord. Limited Atonement is definitely necessary to Calvinism. And Arminianism has that Unlimited Atonement it necessary to it. The problem with Limited Atonement as that is taught in Calvinism is that God does say in the Bible without a doubt in the Greek that Jesus died for the whole world, for the sins of the whole world, as a propitiation, and that He desires for all men to be saved. There is another way to look at the process of salvation; you can have Unlimited Atonement without veiwing that the way Arminians do, as that God willed that all be saved, but that He does not save some because they chose to reject Him. That Arminian belief poses a major problem with the sovereignty of God; it says that God chooses us because we choose Him, which is Biblically backwards, wrong, and erroneous. Another way to view Unlimited atonement outside of Arminianism is to see that while God did indeed have Jesus die for the sins of all people, the whole world, God only decides to save some based on His choice and His choice alone, and by His choosing He sends the Holy Spirit to work on the unbeliever of His choice to choose God by their own free choice once they have been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit. This allows for the fact that man has a limited ability to have free choice, like a bird which has the ability to be free to fly, but has a broken wing and cannot fly though it be free, it must be healed, and then be able to choose to fly. This is neither Arminianism, nor Calvinism, both schools of thought which take one set of scriptures to make a point, or system, without balancing the other scripture which bear on the problem. However, it is much safer to adhere to the majority of Calvinism as it comes closer to a true interpretation of scripture than does Arminianism which trods heavily upon the sovereignty of God. The scriptures state over and over again that God's will is that many will be saved and not all. So then we cannot confuse God's desire that all men be saved, and that God sent Jesus to die for all men, with God's will that only some of all Jesus died for will be saved. blessing abound, bowler |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Bible general Archive 4 | Author | ||
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Tamara Brewington | ||
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Tamara Brewington | ||
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skccab | ||
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justme | ||
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Immanuelsown | ||
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TRUTHSEEKER001 | ||
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TRUTHSEEKER001 | ||
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ahchoo4u | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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bowler | ||
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LookRightTroughMe | ||
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InGodITrust |