The Calvinism Debate - Way of Life Literature

e “all” must be defined in context, and in the context itrefers to all men. See 1 Tim. 2:3-5 -- “For this is good andacceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have allmen to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of thetruth. For there is one God, and one mediator between Godand men, the man Christ Jesus.” at Jesus gave Himself aransom for all men demonstrates clearly that His atonementwas not limited to the elect and that all men can be saved.CHRIST RECONCILED THE WORLD UNTO HIMSELFAND HAS COMMITTED TO BELIEVERS THE WORDOF RECONCILIATION -- “And all things are of God, whohath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hathgiven to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that Godwas in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, notimputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committedunto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18-19).ese verses encapsulate the doctrine of atonement as itrelates to the world. In verse 18 we see that believers arereconciled to God by Jesus Christ, but in verse 19 we see thatGod intends for the reconciliation process to extend to theentire world. e fact that “God was in Christ, reconciling theworld unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”is an obvious teaching of Scripture, but it does not mean, asthe Calvinist argues, that all men are automatically saved.(Arthur Pink in e Sovereignty of God, p. 62, argues fromhuman logic aer this fashion: “If it was offered for allmankind then the debt incurred by every man has beencancelled.”). e universality of Christ’s atonement does notmean that all men are automatically saved but that all menCAN be saved because the work of Christ on the cross issufficient to save them, but they must receive the word ofreconciliation, which, of course, is the gospel. We see in thispassage also that the believers are God’s instruments forpreaching the “word of reconciliation” to the world. Whenone sinner believers on Christ he, in turn, is to preach thegospel of reconciliation to others. Since the gospel is to be69