Continued from part 3

I ended the last post on this theme by recommending John Owen’s book “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.” It is a majestic work. Though written many decades ago, I believe the arguments presented there remain unrefuted.

Here’s what we need to think through. If we as Christians believe that Christ really did make an atonement for sin… if we believe He made an actual rather than a merely hypothetical atonement that really did remove the wrath of God on behalf of sinners, then we need to think through the logical consequences of that.

As John Owen makes clear in the book, if Christ made an actual atonement for sin, then by resistless logic, the following must therefore be true:

“The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

1) All the sins of all men.
2) All the sins of some men, or
3) Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for, and so, none are saved.

That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.
But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins?

You answer, “Because of unbelief.”

I ask, “Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it is, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!”

Continue reading →

…namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”

“Taste death for everyone….” Surely “everyone” means everyone, right?

Well usually, yes, but not always. This in fact has to be determined by the context in which the words are spoken. For example, if a teacher asks his class of students, “Is everyone present?” he is not asking if everyone on the planet is present in the room, but rather all the students enrolled in the class. Context is key. That’s how the word “everyone” is used. Context determines what is meant by the words.

The question in Hebrews 2:9 is whether “everyone” refers to all human beings without distinction, or whether it refers to everyone within a certain group (as in the above illustration, “everyone” of the students enrolled in the class).

To determine the answer to that question, lets now read Hebrews 2: verses 9 -10 together: Continue reading →

offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Did Christ’s sacrifice perfect for all time everybody on the planet (past, present and future)? Surely not, unless we believe in universalism (that everyone will be saved).

In John 15, Jesus taught us that true love can be seen in laying a life down for friends:
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you…

In Galatians 2:20, Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Can a non Christian affirm that like Paul, he was crucified with Christ? Surely not! Continue reading →