Yes, Christ's propitiation is capable of redeeming the entire world, every single soul who has ever been or will be born.
And yet not all men are saved. Therefore, we must look deeper into the Scriptures to understand what God is telling us because we know that if Christ has paid for a man's sins, those sins have been forgiven by God and that man has been redeemed. So we keep reading John and find verse 5...
"But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." -- 1 John 2:5
So John draws the same distinction Christ drew in John 17 -- those who are His believe in Him and keep His commandments. And that belief and the keeping of those commandments are part of the good fruit of the Spirit, by which "know we that we are in him."
John reiterates this distinction a few verses later...
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." -- 1 John 2:19
Faith is the evidence of our regeneration by the Holy Spirit; a lack of that faith "manifests" and testifies that "they were not all of us."
Universal salvation does not exist just by looking around us, as well as considering what the Scriptures say about Judas and those who depart from the faith of Christ and all those who seek destruction.
Universal atonement does not exist, or else every sin of every man would be forgiven, and all men would be saved.
Therefore, Scripture is telling us that Christ's atonement is specific, personal and transformative. His sacrifice was sufficient for all the world, while efficient only for those whom God has given Him to gather, those who are called by His name.
And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them... Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word" -- John 17:9-10,20"I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
To deny the particular redemption of Christ is to do the devil's work by making the grace of God ultimately ineffectual, turning it from a specific declaration to whom God wills into a general nudge in the right direction, capable of being ignored by men who are somehow stronger than the Holy Spirit.
That is not the God of Scripture. He gets what He wants because it's all His anyway. Some men are given saving grace and are healed by His stripes and receive the love of the truth, while some men are not. Paul agrees with Christ...
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" -- 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Everything gets back to the first cause, one way or another. And one way or another, everything works to glorify God, either by displaying His mercy or His perfect judgment.
Don’t forget John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
The term, “world” has different meanings in Scripture, depending on its context.
Oft times it refers to the value system of the world as in James 4:4 “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.”
Sometimes it refers to all the lost people in the world, as in John 18:6-10 “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.”
Sometimes it speaks of mankind in general, as in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Interesting note on this verse (upon which I’ve had a discussion with the author of the article that started this thread!) - the word, “so”, this verse is not an adjective modifying “much”; it’s an adverb describing the action in the phrase “he gave his only begotten son”. John 3:16 would be more properly rendered from the Greek as follows: “”For this is the way God loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Yes, Christ's propitiation is capable of redeeming the entire world, every single soul who has ever been or will be born. And yet not all men are saved
Two different things. Your favorite Apostle makes it very clear that Christ's sacrifice justified everyone.
"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" [Rom 5:18]
Why are then not all saved? Because of ego and pride, and not from any lack of God's grace.
John reiterates this distinction a few verses later... "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." -- 1 John 2:19
This doesn't agree with what Jesus is quoted as saying, namely that there are those who
"believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away" [Luke 8:13].
If they were not "not of us" then they never believed, but that's not what Jesus is saying in Luke.
Faith is the evidence of our regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Faith is love for God, a belief in His goodness.
a lack of that faith "manifests" and testifies that "they were not all of us."
According to Christ (Luke 8:13) they lost their faith and grace with it, just the way Adam and Eve lost it. They believed the serpent who said they would not die if they ate of the tree, essentially calling God a liar, and they believed him. Once they lost faith, they sinned. The very beginning of the Bible tells us that we can lose faith and fall from grace!
Every time we sin, we fall from grace. Every time we repent, we are restored.
Universal salvation does not exist
No it doesn't, but not from lack of God's grace; rather from abundance of human pride.
Universal atonement does not exist, or else every sin of every man would be forgiven, and all men would be saved.
To the contrary, with one exception, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (my emphasis)
"I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin." [Mark 3:28-29]
Therefore, Scripture is telling us that Christ's atonement is specific, personal and transformative
To the contrary, the Scripture is telling us that Christ's atonement is a universal "justification that brings life for all men," impersonal (God is not partial), and, potentially transformative for those who heed His call, and persevere.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word"
You do realize He was talking about the disciples and, naturally, those who succeeded them, not the general population. Your favorite Apostle reminds us that not all are appointed apostles and teachers in God's church, I am sure you know that.
turning it from a specific declaration to whom God wills into a general nudge in the right direction, capable of being ignored by men who are somehow stronger than the Holy Spirit.
God is love and love doesn't impose. Those who love are not oppressors but liberators. Forced love is no "love" except maybe or those with S&M tendencies.
That is not the God of Scripture. He gets what He wants because it's all His anyway. Some men are given saving grace and are healed by His stripes and receive the love of the truth, while some men are not
That is not God as revealed in Christ. God, as revealed in Christ, desires salvation for all men.
Paul agrees with Christ..."And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" -- 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11
Yes, Paul would say something like that, unfortunately, but it does not agree with Christ of the Gospels. Christian God does not deceive and lie.
As for out dear Paul, he had an impossible work to accomplish and he used everything and all to win people over, by his own admission
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save [sic] some. [1 Cor 9:22]
So, always read him cum grano salis.
Redemption is not the same as forgiveness.
Redemption of all sin occurred on the Cross at the time of Judgment.
Forgiveness did not occur at the Cross.
Judgment occurred at the Cross.
Forgiveness occurs at the moment of saving faith or initial salvation for all presalvation sin and forgiveness for all post salvation sin occurs upon repentance and confession per 1stJohn 1.
The Unlimited atonement Christ provided on the Cross does not change the condemned state of man, but it satisfies the righteousness of God the Father demanding Judgment for all sin.
All the sins of man were imputed to the Son of God on the Cross and received by Him in His personal love for God the Father and impersonal love for all mankind.
Now that all sin has been atoned, every man is able to be saved by God’s grace. God will have nothing to do with sin, however, and while man remains in sin, God does not grace man with eternal life.
Neither does man have anything good in him to given eternal life, but faith, which is non meritorious of the believer, but glorifying of the object of faith, our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, makes a situation where God is free in His essence to grace the believer with eternal life.