FK: Sure, but all I have to do is say "therefore, Christ did not die for all men", which is the Reformed position.
LOL. Simple, logical and Scriptural, isn't it?
If God wanted all men to be saved, all men would be saved. I remember the day I first heard that sentence, and my life hasn't been the same since.
Thank God. 8~)
If you have faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you really, truly are different than the reprobate next door because you are a member of God's family whom He ordained from before the foundation of the world.
And this is the Christian distinctive that the world conspires to deny and erase.
The really sad thing is that so many Christians go along with this error.
"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." -- 1 Corinthians 6:20
Christ didn't pay for the sins of every man, or else hell is and will remain empty.
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." -- Hebrews 10:12-18"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
By His "one offering" Christ has "perfected forever" His sheep.
All the wolves and goats are on their own.
And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. 9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Within the Christian, according to Paul, a battle continues. The Christian is to identify the mind controlled by the Spirit within himself.
And this is what gives legs to our capacity to separate those two. That wonderful promise of God that you previously posted:
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Then Sacred Scriptures is calling God a liar, according to you. Why do you continue to ignore what the Bible clearly tells us?
For this [is] good and pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires that all men be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim 2:3-4
I know you pretend that verse doesn't exist, but there it is...
Not only that, but the Bible ALSO says Jesus died for THE SINS OF THE WORLD
I have posted this before, it was ignored, but I will post it again in the slim chance that a Calvinist might see the error of this idea that salvation is only held out to the self-selected few. Not only are these from Scriptures, but the beloved St. Augustine...
Maybe today, you will be lucky and your life will be changed again...
Be converted to me, and you shall be saved, all ye ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is no other. Is 45:22
And the angel said to them: Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, that shall be to all the people: For, this day, is born to you a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.” Luke 2:10-11
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” Luke 19:10. Are not all men lost without Christ? Don't we hear this mantra over and over from Protestants? Can't they get their theology straight?
“And they said to the woman: We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard him, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.” John 4:42
“I am not come to call the just, but sinners.” Mat 9:12. All men have sinned, no? How many countless times are we told this - except when the subject turns to salvation of anyone other than Calvinists...
“I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved: and he shall go in, and go out, and shall find pastures.” John 10:9
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself. John 12:32
And if any man hear my words, and keep them not, I do not judge him: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world”. John 12:47
“As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to all whom thou hast given him.” John 17:2. Christ’s power is superabundant for ALL flesh…
“Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father, that all fullness should dwell; And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven. Col 1:19-20
“For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that he may have mercy on all.” Romans 11:32. Does "all" mean something else?
“For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus: Who gave himself a redemption for all” 1 Tim 2:5-6
The first Christians also believed that Christ’s death had universal application. It is only later heretics who invented that Christ’s death was limited in value...
“Let us fix our gaze on the blood of Christ and know how precious it is to His Father because it was poured out for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to the whole world. (St. Clement, Letter to the Corinthians, c. 85 AD)
Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she … having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary… by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race. (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies c. 180 AD)
“Inasmuch as Christ gave Himself for the redemption of the whole human race, Paul said, as we have seen above, that He redeemed those who were bound in the captivity of their sins (Romans 3:24, 1 Tim 2:6), when separate from God (Heb 2:9), He tasted death for all.” (Origen, Commentary on Romans, c. 244)
“For this reason, then, He takes to Himself flesh capable of dying, so that this flesh, by partaking of the Word who is superior to all, might be worthy to suffer death in the place of all…. Then, by offering to death the body which He Himself had taken, as a sacrifice and offering free of every stain, He forthwith removed death from all His fellowmen, by that sentencing of a substitute….And thus, too, the incorruptible Son of God, being joined with all by the similarity of flesh, He surely clothed all in incorruptibility through the promise of resurrection. (St. Athanasius, Treatise on the Incarnation of the Word, c. 318)
Read the next careful and note it is from St. Augustine, as it addresses another mistake Protestants make, that man does not have free will:
“The blood of your Lord, if you will it, is given for you; but if you do not want this to be so, it is not given to you. But perhaps you are saying: ‘My God had the blood by which He could redeem me; but already when He suffered, He gave it all; what does He have left that He can give also to me?’ This is the great thing about it, that what He gave once, He gave for all. The blood of Christ is salvation to those who want it, and torment to those who do not.” (St. Augustine, Sermon 344, c.400)
“In view of the magnitude and potency of the price, and because it pertains to the universal condition of the human race, the blood of Christ is the redemption of the whole world.” (St. Prosper of Aquitaine, Responses on behalf of Augustine to the Articles of Objections Raised by the Vincentianists, c. 431)
It should be clear that the Church has always held that Christ’s death had universal application to ALL men of the entire world. Christ did not die just for the elitist Calvinists, but rather, for all mankind, being the Mediator between God and man when He became one of us. Just as Adam’s sin effected the entire human race, the Church viewed Christ, the Second Adam, as effective for the entire human race in redeeming it.
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. And not only so; but also we glory in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned… But not as the offence, so also the gift. For if by the offence of one, many died; much more the grace of God, and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.” Romans 5:10-13, 15
Christ’s death was objectively for the entire human race, since He is the universal man, the Second Adam. There is not a single man or woman who has ever lived who this death is not given for. Redemption is universally given to all mankind, since He is the Mediator.
Clearly, God desires ALL men to be saved. Christ's sacrifice was offered for the sake of ALL men - unless you think Adam's sin mentioned in Romans 5 is GREATER than Christ's salvific work. Clearly, then, God ALLOWS men to choose to be saved or not to be saved. THIS is His will, according to Scriptures.
Regards
Amen to your whole post, Dr. E. :) It really is this simple. What in the universe prevents God from getting whatever He wants? Nothing.