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Christology: A Class On The Person and Work of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Christology: A Class On The Person and Work of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Christology
A Class on the Person and Work of
our Lord Jesus Christ
Hosted by:
Living Hope Bible Church
“An Oasis of Hope in Christ”
6N171 Gary Avenue
Roselle, Illinois 60172
(630) 529-8489
Christology: Introduction 1 of 15 Page 2 of 205
I. Introduction
A. Definition of Christology
B. Significance of Christology
Christology: Introduction 3 of 15 Page 4 of 205
(8) Believers have been created unto good works in Christ (Eph.
2:10; Jn. 15:5)
6. Significance to Eschatology
C. Source of Christology
b) Key elements:
c) Key Quotes:
(1) We are bound to oppose the view that the Christian faith
springs out of historical observation, out of the historical picture
of Jesus of Nazareth. Christendom itself has always known
otherwise. Christian faith springs only out of the witness of the
Church of the preached message and the written word of
Scriptures. The historical picture is indeed included in the
latter…. But his picture itself is not the basis of knowledge"
(Emil Brunner, The Mediator, 158).
(2) "If once the conviction is regained that the Christian faith
does not arise out of the picture of the historical Jesus, but out of
the testimony to Christ as such-- this includes the witness of the
prophets as well as that of the Apostles-- and that it is based
upon this testimony, then inevitably the preference for the
Synoptic Gospels and for the actual words of Jesus, which was
Christology: Introduction 8 of 15 Page 9 of 205
d) Fallacies:
b) Key Elements:
c) Key Quotes:
d) Fallacies
3. Orthodox Christ
b) Key elements
D. Schemata of Christology
a) Deity
b) Humanity
c) Personal Unity
E. Bibliography of Christology
3. On the Incarnation
1. Introduction
a) John 1:1-- "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God."
(1) The term logos, translated by the English term "word," has
as its basic idea that of disclosure or revelation of God. A
comparison of John 1:1 with 1:14 shows that the Word of verse
one must be a reference to Christ. Of him it is said he was (en)
in the beginning (cf. Gen. 1:1; John 17:5). Thus there never was
a time when he was not. Whenever the beginning was he
already was. This refers to the pre-existence and eternity of the
Logos.
(2) Further, it is said that he was with (pros) God. "With" has
the sense of "toward" or "facing" "giving the picture of two
personal beings facing one another and engaging in intelligent
discourse. The use of the same verb that was used in the first
clause of verse 1 (en) indicates that ho logos and ho theos have
always been two separate centers of consciousness or individual
persons.
(4) Not only was he "in the beginning" and "with God," but the
scriptures also declare he "was God."
(5) The third clause of verse 1 speaks of the nature of the Word.
He is of the very essence of deity. The words theos en ho logos
have been the target of various cultic and aberrant forms of
pseudo-Christian theology since John first penned them. They
have been variously translated as "God was the Word," "the
Word was a god," "the Word was divine," and so forth. The only
grammatically and exegetically correct translation, and therefore
the only theologically correct translation, however, is "the Word
was God."
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(6) While Colwell has demonstrated that in such a construction
as this theos does not need the article to be definite (E. C.
Colwell, "A Definite Rule for the Use of the Article in the Greek
New Testament," Journal of Biblical Literature, L II, 20-21),
nonetheless it is to be construed as a predicate nominative rather
than as the subject. This is not a convertible statement with
either noun capable of being construed as subject. The article
could have been used with theos or it could have been omitted
with logos had there been the intent to have "God" as subject of
the clause. "God" is in the first position in the clause for
emphasis because this is the climactic statement of a series of
remarkable statements. Not only was the Word already in
existence at the beginning, and not only was He a personal being
in fellowship with God, but He was Himself God. Furthermore,
the statement "God was the Word" is in direct contradiction with
everything else John teaches about God (to say nothing of the
rest of the New Testament). He has already, in the second
clause, distinguished God and the Word, and he will continue to
do so throughout his writing. John was trinitarian and this trans-
lation would make him a unitarian. . . .
(8) When one translates the third clause of John 1:1 as "the
Word was divine," it is usually with the implication that divinity
is something other and less than absolute deity [see e.g., John A.
T. Robinson, Honest To God, p. 71]. If John had meant "divine"
as the sense of the statement, he had access to the word theios.
Although theios does express a biblical truth, John was
identifying person (logos) with person (theos) here, not person
with attributes (Cook, op. cit., pp. 49-51).
(11) Also note that he became flesh, that is, he was no mere
semblance of man. The term "dwelt" in verse fourteen is better
translated "tabernacled" or more literally "pitched his tent." This
was done "in our midst" or "among us." He not only became a
man in form but also in fellowship, in actual daily living.
(5) As Metzger points out Paul does not hesitate to call Christ
Lord of the living and the dead (Rom. 14:9), the Lord of Glory
(1 Cor. 2:8), the one through whom all things hold together (Col.
1:17), to whom all creatures are to bow (Phil. 2:10); he is,
moreover, the veritable image of God (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15) and
the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). Paul represents
Christ as preexistent (Gal. 4:14, 2 Cor. 8:9), as being in the form
of God and having equality with God (Phil. 2:6) (Carl F. H.
Henry, God Revelation and Authority, V, 197-98). (For a full
discussion of this passage from an exegetical standpoint see John
F. Murray, The Epistle to the Romans, II, 245 ff.)
(1) Titus 2:13 declares, ". . . our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ." That this declaration is to be understood as stating that
Jesus Christ is God as well as Savior is supported by Granville
Sharp's rule which states, "When the copulative kai connects two
nouns of the same case, if the article ho or any of its cases
precedes the first of the said nouns or participles, and is not
repeated before the second noun or participles, the latter always
relates to the same person that is expressed or described by the
first noun or participle; i.e., it denotes a farther description of the
first-named person" (see H. E. Dana and Julius R. Mantey, A
Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament, p. 147).
d) Colossians 2:9
(1) Also supports the deity of the second person in that it states,
"in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. . . ."
(1) This Jesus Christ (the last-named Person) is the true God"
(identifying Him thus with the Father in His attribute, "the only
true God," John 17:3, primarily attributed to the Father)
(Jamieson, Fauset, and Brown)
(e) If John did not mean to affirm this, he has made use
of an expression which was liable to be misunderstood,
and which, as facts have shown, would be misconstrued
by the great portion of those who might read what he
had written; and, moreover, an expression that would
lead to the very sin against which he endeavours to
guard in the next verse—the sin of substituting a
creature in the place of God, and rendering to another
the honour due to him. The language which he uses is
just such as, according to its natural interpretation,
would lead men to worship one as the true God who is
not the true God, unless the Lord Jesus be Divine. For
these reasons, it seems to me that the fair interpretation
of this passage demands that it should be understood as
referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. If so, it is a direct
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assertion of his divinity, for there could be no higher
proof of it than to affirm that he is the true God" (Barnes
Notes on the New Testament, Op. Cit.)
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5. Old Testament Witness to His Deity
a) Only Begotten
b) Firstborn
(2) The sense of the term is well illustrated throughout the Old
Testament and especially in the lives of the patriarchs Isaac,
Jacob, and Joseph. None of them were the first son born to their
respective fathers but each became designated as firstborn as
they were given the place of honor and double-blessing in the
family (see also 1 Chron. 26:10).
c) Son of Man
(1) Description
(3) Condemnation
(1) This view held that the Logos laid aside some or all of his
attributes at the incarnation. These in turn were redeveloped
during his earthly life in some cases. The milder form claimed
that the emptying of Philippians 2:7 only included the relative
attributes of omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence while
he maintained the so-called immanent attributes.
A. His Deity
B. His Humanity
(1) The birth of Jesus was the birth of a human child (Matt.
1; Luke 2; Gal. 4:4)
(5) He had flesh and blood (Heb. 2:14) and after the
resurrection, flesh and bone (Luke 24:39).
(1) Importance
(2) Significance
(g) Summation
(3) Evidence
(a) Prophesied.
(a) Background.
(b) Sign.
(c) Virgin.
(4) Denial
b) Immaculate Conception
(2) Since she was subject to the necessity of original sin, she
stood in need of redemption; but since she was redeemed from
the moment of conception, she was thereby preserved from
original sin.
(4) Catholics officially promulgate the idea that "Mary bore her
Son without any violation of her virginal integrity" (Ott, 205).
(6) The Scriptures, on the other hand, describe Mary as the one
who "brought forth" her Son; they say nothing about a
miraculous birthing of Jesus.
(8) For Augustine and others, Biblical support for this comes
from an inference based on Luke 1:34, where Mary’s question is
taken as "a resolve of constant virginity on the ground of special
Divine enlightenment" (Ott, 207). Others look to John 19:26 and
infer that Mary had no other children but Jesus.
d) His Sinlessness
(4) Peccability
(a) Definition
(b) Argument
(5) Impeccability
(a) Definition
(b) Argument
(3) Denied that Christ was completely human, saying that the
divine logos took the place of the human mind.
a) Hypostatic:
(2) This refers to the union of the two natures in one person. "In
the incarnation of the Son of God, a human nature was
inseparably united forever with the divine nature in the one
person of Jesus Christ, yet with two natures remaining distinct,
whole, and unchanged, without mixture or confusion so that one
person, Jesus Christ, is truly God and truly man" (EDT, s.v.)
b) Incarnation:
(1) Refers to the act whereby the eternal Son of God "became
flesh".
(3) It also embraces the fact that Christ bears His humanity
forever.
(4) The term can be traced to the Latin version of Jn.1:14. The
closest Greek equivalent is ,, en sarki: in the flesh,
1Jn.4:2.
c) Kenosis
d) Essence
(a) Essence
(b) Subtance
(1) Introduction
(2) Hypostasis
(4) Persona does not point to three wills, three emotional beings,
and/or three center of self-consciousness; therefore, the term
person is used differently in theology than in current usage.
Christology: Unipersonality of Christ 4 of 17 Page 62 of 205
(c) But all the while he was God. The wonder is not
that he surrendered any of his divine perfection's, for
this he did not do, but that as God he was thus humbled.
c) Other-passages
(6) Paul reminds Timothy that the one mediator between God
and man is both God and man (1 Tim. 2:5-6).
(7) The writer to the Hebrew Christians states that Jesus partook
of flesh and blood so as to be able to identify with human kind in
temptation, suffering and death (Heb. 2:14). There is little point
in saying a mere man partook of flesh and blood.
(1) Some are true of the whole person (i.e., both natures)
(2) Some are true of the humanity, but the whole person is
in view.
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(3) Some are true of deity, but the whole person is in view
a) Issues
(1) Explanation
(2) Evaluation
(1) Explained
(2) Evaluation
(d) The Logos did not merely assume a human body, but
became a human being. The union is metaphysical, not
moral. In such a union, whatever can be said of Christ's
divine nature, or of His human nature, can be attributed
to Christ's whole person.
Christology: Unipersonality of Christ 15 of 17 Page 73 of 205
(3) That calls for Christ to be man from all eternity that is
contrary to the whole concept of kenosis and incarnation.
7. Conclusion
(1) We must believe that the union of the two natures in Christ
does not confuse or mix them in a manner to destroy their
distinctive properties. The deity of Christ is as pure deity after
the Incarnation as before it; and the human nature of Christ is as
pure and simple human nature as that of His mother or of any
other human individual — sin excluded.
(3) We must hold the two natures in such a union that it does
not divide the person of Christ into two selves, as in
Nestorianism, or such a blending of the two natures into a
composite that is neither God nor man as in Apollinarianism.
The resultant of the union is not two persons, but one person
who unites in Himself the conditions of both the divine and
human existence.
1. Definition of (E)states
2. Number of (E)states
a) Liberal Approach:
(3) Hick states the premise that controls his Christology at the
outset: “If [Jesus] was indeed God incarnate, Christianity is the
only religion founded by God in person, and must as such be
uniquely superior to all other religions.” He disbelieves this and
sees Jesus as simply one teacher among many. He wants to
reconceive Christianity as a religion that is “centered upon the
universally relevant religious experience and ethical insights of
Jesus when these are freed from the mass of ecclesiastical
dogmas and practices that have developed over the centuries.”
This requires, says Hick, breaking free of the network of theories
about incarnation, the Trinity, and atonement that he says once
helped focus Christian thought.
b) Historical Approach:
c) Ideal Approach
(1) All proofs for the triunity of God also prove the eternality of
Christ (e.g., Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).
(1) In like manner, all proofs for the deity of Christ are proofs of
his pre-existence or pre-incarnate state (Isa. 9:6; John 1:1- 2;
10:30; Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13)
(a) The Angel of Yahweh (Gen. 16:7, 11, 13, cf. 21:17,
19; 22:11- 12, 15-16, cf. 24:7, 21, 40; 31:11, 13;
48:15-16; Zech. 1:12-13).
(1) All of the following titles imply deity and were his prior to
the incarnation.
(d) Son of God (Ps. 2:7; Luke 1:32, 35; John 1:49).
(1) John 1:1-2, 14. "He was in the beginning with God."
(2) John 8:58. "Before Abraham was born, I AM" (cf. Exod.
3:13- 15).
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(3) John 17:5. He links the glory about which he prays with pre-
incarnate glory.
(1) Introduction
(a) Introduction
(c) Symbolism:
(d) Typology:
(c) Symbolism:
(d) Typology:
(b) Distinctive:
(c) Symbolism:
(d) Typology:
(c) Symbolism:
(d) Typology:
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C. His Humiliation
1. Introduction
(2) John Calvin writes, "It follows that when he became man
Christ did not cease to be what he was before and that nothing
was changed in the eternal essence of God which assumed flesh.
In short, the Son of God became man in such a way that he is
still that eternal Word who had no temporal beginning" (The
Gospel According to St. John, pp. 20-21)
(3) A ransom was provided to put away sin (Mark 10:45; Heb.
9:26);
(4) He became our faithful high priest (Heb. 2:10, 17-18); and e)
he provided an example of a godly life (1 Pet. 2:21-23).
(2) He was born of woman and under the law to redeem those
under the law (Gal. 4:4-5).
a) Introduction
(1) The reasons for his sufferings in life. Jesus suffered during
his earthly life because of
a) Introduction
(2) For all men death was because of their sin; for Christ,
because of our sin. God judicially laid on him our penalty that
he voluntarily agreed to assume.
(b) Abel's lamb (Gen. 4:2-5, cf. Heb. 11:4 and 9:22;
Jude 11);
(2) It empties the grave of its terror for the believer (Ps. 16:7-11;
Acts 2:24-31; 13:34-35).
(a) Calvin'
s View:
(f)
D. His Exaltation
Their research took two directions and related two yet future events. They
were interested in the exact time of the events and if they could not
determine the particular time they would look for the distinguishing
characteristics of the period, the circumstances that would surround
Messiah's comings. The predictive revelation given them by the Spirit fell
into two categories of truth about Messiah each of which was further
susceptible to subdivision.
No truth of the Christian faith is more pivotal or vital than that of the bodily
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
While this is a vast improvement over the first named view it, too, tends to
subjectivize the resurrection. It ends up being true only for the Christian.
The third view that McDonald names is the "Universal Historical approach
to history" which he associates with Wolfhart Pannenberg and some
contemporary evangelicals. This approach "denies the existence of two
kinds of history and argues that there is only one universal history which is
open to the unique activity of God and which is also open to historical
inquiry" (ibid., p. 6).
McDonald, who lines up with the second view, faults this third approach
with the ". . . difficulty in showing persuasively why the historian should be
open to the miraculous activity of God in history if one has not
experienced it." Why should the historian "conclude more than Mary did
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at the tomb (that the body was stolen) unless he be permitted to encounter
whatever it was which created Easter faith in her (an encounter with the
risen Lord?)" (ibid.). He goes on to argue that the supernatural does not
take place in history in general but only in the personal history of certain
individuals.
Thirdly, experience may testify to things as having happened which did not
indeed happen at all. There have been those who thought Mussolini was
the antichrist and that Thomas Dewey was elected president but neither
supposed experience was an historical fact.
The truth of the matter is that there is only one kind of history in which two
kinds of events may take place--natural and supernatural. Both kinds of
events may be accepted as historical on the basis of testimony and
personal experience. Either kind of validation depends for its veracity
upon the character of the witness and the character of the data. The
resurrection of Jesus Christ took place in the realm of ordinary history,
was witnessed to by ordinary people (including such a skeptic as Thomas)
and by God, and left historical evidences of its factuality. While it is true
that to date only those who have believed have borne witness to the
resurrection (a matter which should be of no surprise to anyone) the day
will come when even the unbelieving will witness to it (Phil. 2:9-11).
a. Objective evidence.
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b. Subjective evidence.
While this has long been the view of liberal theology Rudolph
Bultmann has given it a somewhat different expression. He
claims that Jesus ". . . did not speak of his death and
resurrection as redemptive acts" and that "for the truth of his
word he offers no evidence whatever, neither in his miracles
. . . nor in his personal qualities" (Jesus and the Word, pp.
151-52). By Hordern's analysis
He lives, he lives,
Salvation to impart.
You ask me how I know he lives--
He lives within my heart.
a. It was bodily.
1) The body that died is identical with the one that was
raised (Matt. 28:9; Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-29).
b. It was distinctive.
3. The agent of the resurrection (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:26; 5:30; 13:30; 1 Cor.
6:14).
b. God the Father was also involved (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 1:1; 1 Pet.
1:3).
c. God the Holy Spirit was involved (Rom. 8:11). This is somewhat
of a problematic passage for establishing the Holy Spirit's
involvement in Christ's resurrection. The line of argument must be
that the one who raised Christ referred to in Romans 8:11 is the
Father. At the same time we should not miss the fact that herein
the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of the one who raised him.
Thus, as a member of the godhead he is closely identified with the
resurrection of Christ.
c. As to scripture.
a. Introduction.
c. Was there more than one ascension? (John 20:17; Heb. 9:6- 12).
a. To Jesus Christ.
b. To the world.
c. To the believer.
1. The biblical base for the doctrine (note references to Christ at God's
right hand). a) In prophecy (Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:44; 26:64; Luke 22:69).
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b) In fulfillment and instruction (Acts 2:33; 5:31; Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20-21;
Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3-4; 8:1; 10:12-13; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22).
2. The word occurs in the KJV in Romans 5:11 and has the basic
meaning of reconciliation. The word often is used in the Old
Testament to translate the Hebrew words kipper and kippurim,
which mean “propitiation” or “expiation”.
4. The center of Christ’s work, the main event to which the whole
Old Testament pointed and to which the whole New Testament
expounded was Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. Christ’s
death is the very heart of the Christian faith. It is the central theme
of Scripture.
6. “The atonement is the work Christ did in his life and death to
earn our salvation” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 568).
2. The Motives
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(2) The fact that God the Father sent His only begotten Son to
die for sinners because He loved them beforehand should spur
every Christian not only to wonder and amazement but also to
profound adoration, love and praise toward God.
(3) The Father didn’t have to send the Son and the Son didn’t
have to humble Himself, but because of their love and mercy
toward the elect Jesus came and died. “Enter into His gates with
thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to
Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is
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(4) At the same time, the justice of God requires that God find a
way that the penalty due to us for our sins would be paid for (See
Romans 3:25).
(5) “Therefore, both the love and the justice of God were the
ultimate cause of the atonement” (Grudem, 569).
1. Introduction
(1) First, it refutes the popular modern day notion that there are
many different paths that lead to God and eternal life. This
doctrine proves that only the sinless blood of Christ can remove
the guilt of sin and consequently God’s wrath against the sinner.
(2) Second, it tells us a lot about the God who is–the God with
whom we all have to deal. The God of the Bible is not
promiscuous or sloppy regarding ethics. Jehovah is infinitely
holy and righteous and thus cannot dwell or have fellowship with
any person who has the guilt of sin.
a) Introduction
(1) There are four major biblical reasons why the atonement was
necessary, most of which are intimately connected with God’s
nature or character.
(2) The reason God cannot simply let sin slide or sweep it under
the rug and pretend it doesn’t exist is because He is righteous
and just. “The LORD is righteous, He is in her midst, He will do
no unrighteousness” (Zeph. 3:5). “Righteousness and justice are
the foundation of Your throne” (Ps. 89:14). “He is the Rock, His
work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and
without injustice; righteous and upright is He” (Dt. 32:4). When
the Bible speaks of God’s ethical perfection and justice, it does
not refer to a standard or realm of ideals outside of God but to
God’s very being itself. “God is light and in Him is no darkness
at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). Therefore, Abraham, who knew God’s
character, could ask Jehovah: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth
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do right?” (Gen. 18:25). Likewise, the apostle Paul could say, “Is
there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!” (Rom. 9:14).
God can only do what is right. Because of His nature, He can
only do what is just.
(4) “We are told repeatedly that He will by no means clear the
guilty, Ex. 34:7; Num. 14:18; Nah. 1:3. He hates sin with a
divine hatred; His whole being reacts against it, Ps. 5:4-6; Nah.
1:2; Rom. 1:18. Paul argues in Romans 3:25-26, that it was
necessary that Christ should be offered as an atoning sacrifice for
sin, in order that God might be just while justifying the sinner.
The important thing was that the justice of God should be
maintained” (Berkhoff, 370).
c) God is Holy
(3) God’s infinite holiness causes Him to hate sin with a perfect
hatred. God is so holy that before sinful men can come into His
presence and have fellowship with Him the guilt of their sin
must be removed and they must be clothed with perfect
righteousness.
(6) When God created Adam and Eve, He made them in His
own image (Gen. 1:27). Before they ate the forbidden fruit and
fell into sin, they were holy and righteous. They were without
any ethical spot or blemish. What happened to Adam and Eve
when they disobeyed God’s command and sinned against Him?
They were cast out of God’s presence. Why? Because a thrice
holy God cannot have fellowship with people who are not holy.
God is so infinitely holy that every sin that an individual
commits merits death: physical, spiritual and eternal. God had
warned Adam that the day that he disobeyed Him, he would
certainly die (Gen. 2:17). God’s holiness of intrinsic necessity
set up a separation between Jehovah and all sinners. “Behold, the
LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear
heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you
from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so
that He will not hear” (Isa. 59:1-2).
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(9) Because of who God is (He is holy, righteous and just), and
because of what sinners are (they are unholy, unrighteous and
guilty), people have only two choices. They can remain in their
sin and unholiness and thus be forever cast away from God’s
presence into hell or they can trust in Christ who as a substitute
paid the penalty in full by His death and provided a perfect
holiness or righteousness by His life.
(Gen. 1:26) and thus has the work of the law written upon the
heart (Rom. 2:15).
(2) Why does the law of God necessitate the work of Christ?
Because the law carries with it penal sanctions that also reflect
God’s nature and character. Thus, these sanctions also are
immutable and eternal. Remember, it is God’s holiness that
causes Him to hate sin with a perfect hatred and God’s justice
requires that sin receive its full penalty. And what is the penalty
that God’s law threatens? It is death (Gen. 2:17; Dt. 27:36; Ezek.
18:20; Rom. 1:18,32; 6:23; Jas. 1:15; Rev. 20:14-15).
(3) “Since God is true and cannot lie, these threatenings must
necessarily be executed either upon the sinner himself or upon a
surety”(Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic, 2: 423).
(4) The moment that you sinned against God you incurred real
guilt before Him.
(5) Perhaps you think that you are a good person. That God will
accept you on the basis of your good works. The Bible, however,
says that: “There is none righteous, no, not one...for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:9, 23). “For
there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin”
(Eccl. 7:20).
(7) Since you have broken many of God’s laws, you are guilty
and now have God’s curse (the eternal death penalty) upon you.
“For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in
all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them’”
(Gal. 3:10). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). “And
anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the
lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). If you have not believed in Jesus
Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures, than you are an enemy
of God and His wrath abides upon you this very moment. “He
who believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he who does
not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides
on Him” (Jn. 3:36). Your only hope is the substitute (the Lord
Jesus Christ) that God has provided.
(8) Hodge writes: “If the penalty is an essential part of the law;
if the whole law is immutable; if Christ actually came to fulfill
Christology: The Doctrine of Atonement-part 1 12145
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of 205
the law and not to relax its demands; then it follows, without
doubt, that he suffered the penalty of the law as our Substitute”
(A. A. Hodge, The Atonement, p. 67).
(1) Morey writes: “In order to gain the blessing of God your
obedience must be: (1) personal : ‘If you listen to the
commandment’ (Dt. 11:26); (2) perfect : ‘what does the LORD
your God require from you but to fear the LORD your God, to
walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul’ (Dt. 10:12); (3)
perpetual: ‘Oh, that they had such a heart in them, that they
would fear me, and keep all my commandments always’ (Dt.
5:29). The only obedience acceptable before God is one in which
100% of you keeps 100% of the Law 100% of the time. ‘For
whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he
has become guilty of all’ (Jas. 2:10)” (Robert A. Morey, Studies
in the Atonement, p. 18
Christology: The Doctrine of Atonement-part 1 13146
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1. Introduction
2. Apostolic Fathers
(a) Christ in life and death repeated all the stages of human life
including those which belong to our state as sinners.
(c) This Theory bases the Atonement on the Life of Christ, more
than his Death. As such, it fails to give appropriate significance
to the sacrificial, redemptive and propitiatory aspects of Christ’s
death.
(b) This was the Theory of Origen, Augustine, and many others
of the early Church
(i) Satan thought he could "keep his prey" but didn’t realize the
full power of the resurrection
(b) The ransom was rather paid to God who set the price in the
first place (Heb. 9:22).
(g)
(a) This is called the "dramatic" view because the terms of the
atonement are dramatized as struggle, conflict and victory.
a) Mystical theories
(c) "In the mystical theory salvation properly speaking does not
lie in the cross of Christ but in his person. His divine-human
nature is communicable, and salvation lies in this being
imparted to us. The purpose of the incarnation is said to be the
deification or divinization of man" (Bloesch, op. cit., p. 156).
(h) Maurice (1805-1872) held that Christ was the archetype and
root of humanity, and in His own body offered an acceptable
sacrifice to God for the race. This was not a substitutionary
offering in the commonly accepted sense of the term, but such a
mystical union of the race with Christ, that it could make a
perfect offering through Him. The sacrifice of Christ consisted in
a complete renunciation of that human self-will which is the
cause of all men's crimes and miseries. This he held, was the
meaning of the ancient sacrifices — not as substitutes for the
offerer, but as symbols of his devotion. These found their
fulfillment in Christ, who in His life and death, offered up the
one and only complete sacrifice ever offered, a perfect surrender
to the divine will. Hence in Him, the archetypal man, the race
offered a sacrifice acceptable to God.
(i) Dr. Strong points out, that according to this theory, the glory
of Christ was not in saving others, but in saving Himself, and so
demonstrating the power of man through the Holy Spirit to cast
out sin from his heart and life. — Strong, Syst. Th., II, p. 746.
(l) Thomas Erskine taught that "Christ came into Adam's place.
This is the real substitution....We are separated from each other
by being individual persons. But Jesus had no human
personality. He had the human nature under the personality of
the Son of God. And so His human nature was more open to the
commonness of men; for the divine personality while it separated
Him from sinners in point of sin, united Him to them in love. And
thus the sins of other men were to Jesus what the affections and
lusts of his own particular flesh are to each individual believer.
Page 158 of 205
(b) It leaves no need for his death and it does not deal with the
guilt of man's sin which must be removed.
c) Existential theories
(1) Introduction
(c) This shattering of the ego leads to a reaching out for God's
love.
d) Quasi-objective theories
(vi) It rules out Christ's dying for the penalty of sin and
instead of the sinner. The basis for receiving the benefit
of Christ's death is works.
a) Introduction
(2) This is the theory held by the Reformed churches, and generally
known as the Calvinistic theory.
(4) In the first place, Anseim taught that the sacrifice of Christ secured
such merit as was capable of being imputed to the guilty; while the
Reformers held that the satisfaction of Christ was to be considered in the
sense of a penal substitution for the sinner.
(5) Thus they took over from Anselm the idea of satisfaction but gave it
the meaning of substitution instead of merit. In the second place, the
Reformers included Christ's active obedience as a part of the redemptive
price, as well as His voluntary death, while Anselm maintained that the
satisfaction which Christ offered could not have been His obedience, for
this He owed to God as a man.
(a) Sin for its own sake deserves the wrath and curse of God.
(2) Dr. J. p. Boyce, the eminent Baptist theologian, says that the
Calvinistic theory of the atonement is, that in the sufferings and death of
Christ, He incurred the penalty of the sins of those whose substitute He
was, so that He made a real satisfaction to the justice of God for the law
which they had broken. On this account, God now pardons all their sins,
and being fully reconciled to them, His electing love flows out freely
toward them. The doctrine as thus taught involves the following points:
c) Implications Stated
(2) Dr. Miley makes the charge that ""such an atonement, by its very
nature, cancels all punitive claims against the elect, and by immediate
result forever frees them from all guilt as a liability to the penalty of sin.
We know that such a consequence is denied, though we shall show that it
is also fully asserted” (Miley, Syst. Th., II, p. 151).
(3) “If the claims of justice are satisfied they cannot again be enforced.
This is the analogy between the work of Christ and the payment of a
debt. The point of agreement between the two cases is not the nature of
the satisfaction rendered, but one aspect of the effect produced. In both
cases the persons for whom the satisfaction is made are certainly freed.
Their exemption or deliverance is in both cases, and equally in both, a
matter of justice” (Hodge, Syst. Th., II, p. 472).
(4) Syminton states that “the death of Christ being a legal satisfaction for
sin, all for whom he died must enjoy the remission of their offenses"
(Symington, Atonement and Intercession, p. 190).
Page 170 of 205
(6) “If it is involved in the very nature of the atonement . . . . that all the
legal responsibilities of those for whom he died were laid upon Christ; if
he suffered the very penalty which divine justice exacted of them, then it
follows necessarily that all those for whom he died are absolved, since
justice cannot demand two perfect satisfactions, nor inflict the same
penalty once upon the substitute and again upon the principal” (A. A.
Hodge, Outlines of Theology, p. 313).
Page 171 of 205
1. Introduction
2
satisfied the demands of God's justice upon sin. His death
Page 173 of 205
3
was primarily directed toward God who is the offended party,
Page 174 of 205
4
not man the offender. It is, also, to be noted that while his
death makes salvation available to all it does not guarantee all
will be saved. It is sufficient for all but effective only for those
who, having been appointed for eternal life, believe (Acts
13:48).
j) They are further careful to point out that the active and
passive obedience are both aspects of the same thing and
thus not to be separated. As Bloesch warns, "The difficulty
with this distinction is that it tends to overlook the fact that
Christ was active as well as passive in both his obedience in
life and suffering in death" (op. cit., p. 177, ftnt. 30).
a) Concept of substitution
(1) Christ’s suffering and death were done in the place of His people.
Jesus stood in the place of the sinner, bore his sin and was punished in
the sinner’s stead.
Page 175 of 205
5
(2) But, how was the sinner’s sin placed upon Christ on the cross? The
Bible teaches that whoever believes in Jesus has his sins imputed to Him
on the cross. Paul says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor.
5:21). This does not mean that Christ became a sinner or a wicked person
for such a teaching would contradict the many passages which teach that
Christ was sinless and ethically perfect (e.g. Jn. 8:46; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1
Jn. 3:5; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2:22).
(3) What it means is that “the guilt of sin as liability to punishment was
imputed to Christ [or reckoned to His account]; and this could be
transferred, because it did not inhere in the person of the sinner, but was
something objective” (L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 377).Thus
Peter could say, He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Pet.
2:24).
(4) The doctrine of vicarious sacrifice and the imputation of the guilt of
sin is clearly taught in the Old Testament sacrificial ritual that involved
the sinner laying (or literally in Hebrew, “pressing”) his hand upon the
head of the sacrificial animal immediately prior to its sacrifice. “If his
offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without
blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle
of meeting before the LORD. Then he shall put his hand on the head of
the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted on his behalf to make
atonement for him” (Lev. 1:3-4; cf. 3:2, 8, 13; 4:4, 15, 24; 16:21).
(5) Theological liberals (who always seem to be running from the truth
of God’s infallible Word) argue that this ritual merely symbolizes a
declaration or setting apart of the offerer’s property to God. Their theory,
however, is disproved both from the analogy of Scripture and from the
fact that the laying on and pressing of the hand does not occur in the
bloodless cake or cereal offerings.
(6) The symbolism of the pressing of the hand on the sacrificial victim
indicates both substitution (the clean animal will suffer and die in the
sinner’s place) and the transfer or imputation of guilt (or liability) to the
animal. This interpretation is decisively confirmed by Leviticus 16:21:
“and Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess
over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their
transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the
goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable
man.”
6
with the sins, iniquities and transgressions of the congregation, and
these hands put them all on the head of the victim! Substitution and
imputation cannot be more vividly expressed” (W. G. Moorehead, The
Tabernacle: The Priesthood, Sacrifices and Feasts of Ancient Israel, pp.
188-189.
b) Qualifications of a Substitute
(1) Berkhof writes: “Since man sinned, it was necessary that the penalty
should be borne by man. Moreover, the paying of the penalty involved
suffering of body and soul, such as only man is capable of bearing, John
12:27; Acts 3:18; Heb. 2:14; 9:22. It was necessary that Christ should
assume human nature, not only with all its essential properties, but also
with all the infirmities to which it is liable after the fall, and should thus
descend to the depths of degradation to which man had fallen, Heb
2:17,18)” (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 319).
(2)
(3) Shedd writes: “It is Divine justice that demands satisfaction, and it is
the Divine compassion that makes the satisfaction. God is the one who
holds man in a righteous captivity, and He is the one who pays the
ransom that frees him from it. God is the holy Judge of man who requires
satisfaction for sin; and God is the merciful Father of man who provides
it for him. This fact relieves the doctrine of vicarious atonement of all
appearance of severity, and evidences it to be the height of mercy and
compassion” (William G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, 2:392-393).
(1) Anti. While it does have other legitimate meanings in the New
Testament, its dominant meaning in 1st century Greek is "instead of," "in
the place of," (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45). (H. E. Dana and Julius R.
Mantey, A Manual of the Greek New Testament, p. 100; Cf. J. H.
Moulton and G. Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, p.
46).
(2) Huper. It often means "on behalf of" only, but on occasion clearly
has the same idea as anti, as well. Thus the concepts of benefit and
substitution are sometimes expressed by huper.
7
referring to substitution. Caiaphas (like Balaam's ass) did not
understand the full significance of his statement, but he certainly
meant that it was better for Jesus to die 'for [instead of, huper]
the people' than for all the nation to be slaughtered by the
Roman legions. It was not merely a question of benefit; it was
also a question of one instead of many (substitution)" (W. Robert
Cook, The Theology of John, p. 81).
(1) We must not overlook the fact that while God' s love may have
longed to save the sinner the immutable demands of his justice would not
allow him to do so until those demands be met in a satisfactory way.
(3) Since the "wages of sin is death" and since Jesus Christ had no sin of
his own (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:8) it is clear that he
died for the sins of others. Many scriptures witness to this truth but some
of them are Isaiah 53:5-6; Mark 10:45; John 10:11; Romans 5:8; 1
Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18.
(b) Some would object to this saying "that satisfaction and for-
giveness are mutually exclusive. It is held that if a substitute
pays the debt we owe, God cannot collect the debt also from us
but is morally bound to let us go free; that is, on this theory God
does not exercise mercy in forgiving us, but merely does his
duty" (Thiessen, op. cit., pp. 236-37).
Page 178 of 205
8
(c) Thiessen continues by answering,”But this objection is
likewise removed by the fact that the one who pays the debt is
not a third party, but the judge himself. Forgiveness, therefore,
is still optional with him and may be offered upon terms
agreeable to himself. The terms which God has laid down are
repentance and faith. The obedience of Christ, therefore, does
not make ours unnecessary, but still requires us to meet the
terms before we can become the beneficiaries of his atoning
death” (ibid.).
(a) At the same time, as our substitute, Christ gave us the gift
of eternal life together with the imputation of the righteousness
of God.
(1) The efficacy of the sacrifice, and of the sacrificial act, is directly
related to the worth of the one who suffered and died. Because of His
infinite worthiness the sacrifice was of infinite value.
(2) Thus it is not only the fact of the death but who it was who died that
is significant. The very nature of the substitute, then, demands that the
atonement be unlimited in its sufficiency while the sovereign choice of
God has determined that it will be effective only for some.
(b) the Father agreed to sustain the Son and accept the work of
the cross;
9
b) The Old Testament concept of redemption.
(b) Must be able to redeem, that is, he must have the resources
(Ruth 2:1).
(c) Must be willing to redeem, that is, the action was not
compulsory (Ruth 3:10-11).
(d) Must be free of the predicament which has befallen the one
to be redeemed. A slave could not redeem a slave.
(1) The need (Rom. 7:14; Gal. 3:13). Mankind is sold into the bondage
of sin and under the curse of the law.
10
(ii) They may be distinguished in that agoradzo
views the transfer of a slave from one master to another,
while exagoradzo views a transition from slavery to
freedom.
(c) Lutroo, manumit (Tit. 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18). This verb means to
release; to liberate upon payment of a ransom; to set free.
(a) The ransom price is the blood of Christ, i.e., his life given
up.
(c) While the Bible does not specifically say to whom the price is
paid, Hebrews 9:22 would suggest that it is to God who set the
price.
(d) "The ransom is not paid to Satan, but to God. The debt that
requires canceling is due to God's attribute of justice; Satan has
no legal claims against the sinner, and so does not need to be
paid before the sinner can be set free" (Thiessen, op. cit., p.
240).
(a) Deliverance from the obligation and curse of the law (Gal.
4:5, 3:13)
Page 181 of 205
11
(b) Forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14))
(d) The basis for glorification provided (Eph. 1:14; Rom. 8:23).
4. Reconciliation of Sinners
b) The terminology
(1) The blood of Christ, that is, his life given up, is the basis for
reconciliation.
(3) Rather, it is to say that a barrier which had been erected by sin
between God and man has been removed. “Leon Morris rightly reminds
us that we can speak of God being reconciled only in a qualified sense,
since God' s love is ever present (Cf. The Apostolic
Preaching_of_the_Cross pp. 220-21" (Bloesch, op. cit., p. 175).
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12
(4) It is directed manwardly in that he is the focus of the reconciling
work. Man is the one who has been alienated, who has changed, and
must be changed completely to be brought back to fellowship with God.
As noted above this does not exclude God from reconciliation but it is
here that the New Testament emphasis lies.
(3) Those who believe are given peace with God (Eph. 2:13-18; Col.
1:20).
(5) A basis is given for the future restoration of the universe to God'
s
favor (Col. 1:20). This refers to the removal of the curse.
5. Propitiation of God.
13
(2) The relationship between propitiation and wrath in the Old
Testament
14
(i) If we understand Romans 3:25 (translated "a
propitiation" by the NASB and "a sacrifice of atonement"
by the NIV) in the same way as Hebrews 9:5 (translated
"mercy seat" by the NASB and "place of atonement" by
the NIV) Christ is considered in his death as such a one
whose sacrifice on the cross fully satisfied God.
(iv) In this case note that God makes provision for that
which he knew would be satisfactory.
(iv) his love desired to meet that need and in his grace
he acted to meet the demands of his own justice by
providing a substitute for us which fully satisfies those
demands.
15
(vii) With the God of reality the problem lies in his
nature--i.e., he is unable to accept us apart from
propitiation. Propitiation enables God, in keeping with
his holiness, to do what he was never unwilling to do
V. The Atonement
1. Introduction
a) Historical Background
(a) Whether the work of Christ is sufficient for all -- Most agree
that it is
(b) Whether all saving benefits are applied to all-- Most agree
that they are not
(3) Positions
b) Particularism Defended
2
(v) Rom 8:32- "for us"
3
c) Arminianism Defended
(c) I Jn 4:14
(e) Jn 3:16
(i) Lk 19:10
(e) I Jn 2:2
(f) I Jn 4:10
4
(k) Universal Results Presuppose Universal Application
(Thiessen)
d) Amyraldianism
(1) Definition: Christ died to make the salvation of all men possible and
the salvation of the elect certain
5
(b)Christ died equally for all in order to make a
universal offer of salvation to all.
6
(c)Hypothetical Universalism acknowledges
that the Cross purchases many benefits
including "natural benefits." Why limit the
benefits to just one consideration.
(2) Arminianism, on the other hand, entails that God’s saving grace is
experienced equally by all—a condition contrary to Scripture and
experience
2. Excursus:
b) AMYRALDIANISM
. This word is derived from the Latin form of the name of Moise
Amyraut (1596-1664), perhaps the most eminent and influential
professor of the French Protestant Academy of Saumur. This
was established in 1598 by a decision of the national synod of
the French Reformed Churches. It enjoyed the special favour
of Philippe Duplessis-Mornay (1549-1623), governor of Saumur
and one of the noblest and most influential Protestant leaders
Page 192 of 205
7
at the turn of the century. Achieving wide acclaim in France
and in foreign countries for the brilliance of its faculty, it
attracted a very considerable number of students until it was
abolished by order of King Louis XIV at the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes in 1685.
(New Dictionary of Theology, article on Amyraldianism by
Roger Nicole, page 16.)
(1) His view of the covenants (He taught that there were 3 covenants)
8
(ii) A conditional part
This was between God and all mankind and was based
on universal grace.
9
(ii) Subjective grace
This grace is for the elect only and results in their
salvation.
(a) #1
Reformed theologians from all sides have put
forth numerous benefits of the atonement which
accrue to all men. One of the more well known is
Common Grace. There is a sense in which
Common Grace flows freely from God by His
very nature. But since Man is fallen and
deserves instant and eternal wrath, there must
have been something else necessary for God to
provide the bounties of Providence rather than
instant wrath. That something else was the
death of Christ. In other words, as C.H.
Spurgeon said, "Christ hath bought some good
things for all men - the common mercies of life."
Page 195 of 205
10
(b) #2
This is to say that all that every man receives
that is good can be traced back to the
atonement. He has Christ to thank for the
sunshine he sees, the food he eats, the family
he has, and so on. He deserves none of these,
but Christ purchased them for him.
(c) #3
Next, all men deserve immediate wrath and
judgment. Not only do they receive some
providential good, but they do not receive the
wrath they deserve immediately. Christ
purchased a delay of judgment for them. The
very fact that all men are not yet in Hell is due to
the blood of Christ. Christ purchased a "stay of
execution" for them. Whether HE purchased an
actual pardon is another question, but it is
obvious that He purchased a stay of execution.
Some live longer in this delay than others, and
some even come to Christ during the interim.
But all have Christ and His atonement to thank
for being still alive and not in Hell. Few,
however, thank Him for it.
11
(iv) · There is no place in Scripture that
speaks of the death of Christ as
purchasing a stay of execution for all
men.
(d) #4
This related to yet another universal benefit.
Rom. 14:9, "For to this end Christ died and lived
again, that He might be Lord of both the dead
and the living." By His death and Resurrection,
Christ is now Lord of all men, both the elect and
the reprobate. This is also brought out in Phil.
2:5-11. Because of Christ’s work, and not simply
because of His person and dual nature, He is
Lord of all - believer and unbeliever.
(e) #5
Lastly, Calvinists usually ground the universal
offer of the Gospel in the infinite sufficiency of
the atonement. This is why the strictest views of
the atonement tend to restrict or even deny the
free offer, as in Hyper-Calvinism. Because there
is more than enough food on the table, all are
invited to partake, even though only a few do.
(More will be said on this point later). Some
Calvinists mention other benefits in relation to
the special benefits for the elect only.
12
also applies to the depravity of man. If
every man not only cannot come to
Christ, but does not want to come to
Christ, then how can any offer of the
gospel be a sincere offer? The Scriptural
answer is that God is not like us, God
does determine all things and man is
responsible for his eternal destiny.
1 Corinthians 2:14, Romans 9:19
13
10. For instance, let me think of myself in this way:...that God has bestowed grace upon the human race (in
general) but that he has shown his grace to me (in particular), with the result that I am especially obligated to him.
Sermons on 2 Samuel, p. 357
11. So, as it says in the Psalm [Ps. 51?], our Lord Jesus Christ has paid the debts of all sinners. That is what I have
mentioned from Isaiah: that all the chastisements were laid upon him (Isa. 53:4). What is this chastisement, if not
satisfaction for all the sins that we have committed? Sermons on 2 Samuel, p. 576
12. True it is that the effect of [Christ'
s] death comes not to the whole world. Nevertheless, forasmuch as it is not in
us to discern between the righteous and the sinners that go to destruction, but that Jesus Christ has suffered his death
and passion as well for them as for us, therefore it behoves us to labour to bring every man to salvation, that the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be available to them. Sermons on Job, p. 548 (later interpolation deleted)
13. Let us fall down before the face of our good God...that it may please Him to grant His grace, not only to us, but
also to all people and nations of the earth, bringing back all poor ignorant souls from the miserable bondage of error
and darkness, to the right way of salvation... Sermons on Job, p. 751 (Calvin' s usual end of sermon prayer).
14. The sinner, if he would find mercy, must look to the sacrifice of Christ, which expiated the sins of the world,
glancing, at the same time, for the confirmation of his faith, to Baptism and the Lord' s Supper; for it were vain to
imagine that God, the Judge of the world, would receive us again into his favour in any other way than through a
satisfaction made to his justice. Comment on Psalm 51:9
15. Diligent as [David] was, therefore, in the practice of sacrifice, resting his whole dependence upon the
satisfaction of Christ, who atoned for the sins of the world, he could yet honestly declare that he brought nothing to
God in the shape of compensation, and that he trusted entirely to a gratuitous reconciliation. Comment on Psalm
51:16
16. Hitherto he addressed the Jews alone, as if to them alone salvation belonged, but now he extends his discourse
farther. He invites the whole world to the hope of salvation, and at the same time brings a charge of ingratitude
against all the nations, who, being devoted to their own errors, purposely avoided, as it were, the light of life; for
what could be more base than to reject deliberately their own salvation?...the Lord...invites all without exception to
come to him...Now, we must ' look to him'with the eye of faith, so as to embrace the salvation which is exhibited to
all through Christ; for ' God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
may not perish.'(John 3:16). Comment on Isaiah 45:22
17. Yet I approve of the ordinary reading, that he alone bore the punishment of many, because on him was laid the
guilt of the whole world. It is evident from other passages, and especially from the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans, that ' many'sometimes denotes ' all'
. Comment on Isaiah 53:12
18. Yet I approve of the common reading, that He alone bore the punishment of many, because the guilt of the
whole world was laid upon Him. It is evident from other passages...that ' many'sometimes denotes ' all'
...That, then,
is how our Lord Jesus bore the sins and iniquities of many. But in fact, this word ' many'is often as good as
equivalent to ' all'
. And indeed, our Lord Jesus was offered to all the world. For it is not speaking of three or four
when it says: ' God so loved the world, that He spared not His only Son.'But yet we must notice what the Evangelist
adds in this passage: ' That whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but obtain eternal life.'Our Lord Jesus
suffered for all and there is neither great nor small who is not inexcusable today, for we can obtain salvation in Him.
Unbelievers who turn away from Him and who deprive themselves of Him by their malice are today doubly
culpable. For how will they excuse their ingratitude in not receiving the blessing in which they could share by faith?
And let us realize that if we come flocking to our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall not hinder one another and prevent
Him being sufficient for each of us...Let us not fear to come to Him in great numbers, and each one of us bring his
neighbours, seeing that He is sufficient to save us all. Sermons on Isaiah 53, pp. 136, 141-4
19. ...Not only were the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ sufficient for the salvation of the world, but that
God will make them efficacious and that we shall see the fruit of them and even feel and experience it. Sermons on
Isaiah 53, p. 116
20. For God, who is perfect righteousness, cannot love the iniquity which he sees in all. All of us, therefore, have
that within which deserves the hatred of God...Our acquittal is in this - that the guilt which made us liable to
punishment was transferred to the head of the Son of God [Isa. 53:12]...For, were not Christ a victim, we could have
no sure conviction of his being...our substitute-ransom and propitiation. Institutes II. xvi. 3, 5, 6
21. Now we must see how God wishes all to be converted...But we must remark that God puts on a twofold
character: for he here wishes to be taken at his word. As I have already said, the Prophet does not here dispute with
subtlety about his incomprehensible plans, but wishes to keep our attention close to God' s word. Now what are the
contents of this word? The law, the prophets, and the gospel. Now all are called to repentance, and the hope of
salvation is promised them when they repent: this is true, since God rejects no returning sinner: he pardons all
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without exception; meanwhile, this will of God which he sets forth in his word does not prevent him from
decreeing before the world was created what he would do with every individual... Comment on Ezekiel 18:23
22. I contend that, as the prophet [Ezekiel] is exhorting to penitence, it is no wonder that he pronounces God willing
that all be saved. But the mutual relation between threats and promises shows such forms of speech to be
conditional...So again...the promises which invite all men to salvation...do not simply and positively declare what
God has decreed in His secret counsel but what he is prepared to do for all who are brought to faith and
repentance...Now this is not contradictory of His secret counsel, by which he determined to convert none but His
elect. He cannot rightly on this account be thought variable, because as lawgiver He illuminates all with the external
doctrine of life. But in the other sense, he brings to life whom He will, as Father regenerating by the Spirit only His
sons. Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp. 105-6
23. ...God had chosen the family of Abraham, that the world' s redeemer might be born of it...although we know that
from the time that God made a covenant with Abraham, the Redeemer was particularly promised to his seed, we also
know that from the very fall of man He was needed by all, as indeed He was from that time destined for all the
world...It would have done us no good for Christ to have been given by the Father as the author of salvation, if He
had not been available to all without distinction...We should know that salvation is openly displayed to all the
human race, for in all reality He is called son of Noah and son of Adam... Comment on Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3: 23-
38
24. He says, For...he...shall save his people from their sins...We must determine that the whole human race was
appointed to destruction, since its salvation depends on Christ...Doubtless, by Christ' s people the angel intends the
Jews, over whom He was set as Head and King, but as soon after the nations were to be ingrafted into the race of
Abraham, this promise of salvation is extended openly to all who gather by faith into the one body of the Church.
Comment on Matthew 1:21
25. When the Father calls Him the Beloved...He declares that He is the Mediator in whom He reconciles the world
to Himself. Comment on Matthew 17:5
26. From this it follows that our reconciliation with God is free, for the only price paid for it is Christ' s
death...'Many'is used, not for a definite number, but for a large number, in that He sets Himself over against all
others. And this is the meaning also in Rom. 5:15, where Paul is not talking of a part of mankind but of the whole
human race. Comment on Matthew 20:28
27. Seeing that in His Word He calls all alike to salvation, and this is the object of preaching, that all should take
refuge in His faith and protection, it is right to say that He wishes all to gather to Him. Now the nature of the Word
shows us that here there is no description of the secret counsel of God - just His wishes. Certainly those whom He
wishes effectively to gather, He draws inwardly by His Spirit, and calls them not merely by man' s outward voice. If
anyone objects that it is absurd to split God' s will, I answer that this is exactly our belief, that His will is one and
undivided: but because our minds cannot plumb the profound depths of His secret election to suit our infirmity, the
will of God is set before us as double. Comment on Matthew 23:37
28. ...The Son of God went to face death of His own will, to reconcile the world to the Father...the spontaneous
sacrifice by which all the world' s transgressions were blotted out... Comment on Matthew 26:1-2
29. [Christ' s] grave would be of sweet savour to breathe life and salvation upon all the world. Comment on Matthew
26:12
30. Christ offered Himself as a Victim for the salvation of the human race. Comment on Matthew 26:14-20
31. ...The sacrifice [of Christ] was ordained by the eternal decree of God, to expiate the sins of the world. Comment
on Matthew 26:24
32. [Christ was] burdened with the sins of the whole world... Comment on Matthew 26:39
33. Christ...won acquittal for the whole human race. Comment on Matthew 27:12
34. God had ordained [Christ] to be the...(sacrificial outcast) for the expiation of the world' s sins. Comment on
Matthew 27:15
35. The word many does not mean a part of the world only, but the whole human race: he contrasts many with one,
as if to say that he would not be Redeemer of one man, but would meet death to deliver many from their accursed
guilt...So when we come to the holy table not only should the general idea come to our mind that the world is
redeemed by the blood of Christ, but also each should reckon to himself that his own sins are covered. Comment on
Mark 14:24
36. Happy Mary, to have embraced in her heart the promise of God, to have conceived and brought into the world
for herself and for all - salvation...God offers His benefits to all without distinction, but faith opens our arms to draw
them to our bosom: lack of faith lets them fall, before they reach us. Comment on Luke 1:45
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37. Though the angel only addresses the shepherds, he means that the message of salvation which he brings them
extends farther, not for their ears alone, but for others also to hear. Understand that the joy was open to all the
people, for it was offered to all without distinction. For He is not the God of this one or of that, but He had promised
Christ to the whole family of Abraham. That, in great measure, the Jews have lost the joy that was theirs to hold,
resulted from their failure to believe. Today also, God invites all men alike to salvation through the Gospel, but the
world' s ingratitude makes only a few enjoy the grace, which is set out equally for all. While the joy, then, has been
confined to a small number, in respect of God, it is called universal. And though the angel is speaking only of the
chosen people, yet now with the partition wall gone the same tidings are presented to the whole human race.
Comment on Luke 2:10
38. Since Christ desired nothing more than to do the work appointed Him by the Father and knew that the purpose of
His calling was to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, He wished His coming to be the salvation of all. This
was why He was moved by compassion and wept over the approaching destruction of Jerusalem. For when He
considered that it had been divinely chosen as the sacred abode, in which should dwell the covenant of eternal
salvation, the sanctuary from which salvation should come forth for all the world, He could not help grieving bitterly
over its destruction. Comment on Luke 19:41
39. First, whence could that confidence in pardon have sprung, if [the thief] did not sense in Christ' s death...a
sacrifice of sweet odour, able to expiate the sins of the world? Comment on Luke 23:42
40. [Christ] must be Redeemer of the world...He was there, as it were, in the place of all cursed ones and of all
transgressors, and of those who had deserved eternal death. Sermons on Christ' s Passion, p. 95
41. [God] willed that [Christ] be the sacrifice to wipe out the sins of the world...Sermons on Christ' s Passion, p. 123
42. ...Our Lord made effective for [the pardoned thief on the cross] His death and passion which He suffered and
endured for all mankind... Sermons on Christ' s Passion, pp. 151.
43. The Lord Jesus [was] found before the judgement-seat of God in the name of all poor sinners (for He was there,
as it were, having to sustain all our burdens)...The death and passion of our Lord Jesus...served...to wipe away the
iniquities of the world... Sermons on Christ' s Passion, pp. 155-6
44. And when he says the sin of the world he extends this kindness indiscriminately to the whole human race, that
the Jews might not think the Redeemer has been sent to them alone...John, therefore, by speaking of the sin of the
world in general, wanted to make us feel our own misery and exhort us to seek the remedy. Now it is for us to
embrace the blessing offered to all, that each may make up his mind that there is nothing to hinder him from finding
reconciliation in Christ if only, led by faith, he comes to Him. Comment on John 1:29
45. Christ...was offered as our Saviour...Christ brought life because the heavenly Father does not wish the human
race that He loves to perish...But we should remember...that the secret love in which our heavenly Father embraced
us to Himself is, since it flows from His eternal good pleasure, precedent to all other causes; but the grace which He
wants to be testified to us and by which we are stirred to the hope of salvation, begins with the reconciliation
provided through Christ...Thus before we can have any feeling of His Fatherly kindness, the blood of Christ must
intercede to reconcile God to us...And He has used a general term [whosoever], both to invite indiscriminately all to
share in life and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers. Such is also the significance of the term ' world'which He
had used before. For although there is nothing in the world deserving of God' s favour, He nevertheless shows He is
favourable to the whole world when He calls all without exception to the faith of Christ, which is indeed an entry
into life.
Moreover, let us remember that although life is promised generally to all who believe in Christ, faith is not common
to all. Christ is open to all and displayed to all, but God opens the eyes only of the elect that they may seek Him by
faith...And whenever our sins press hard on us, whenever Satan would drive us to despair, we must hold up this
shield, that God does not want us to be overwhelmed in everlasting destruction, for He has ordained His Son to be
the Saviour of the world. Comment on John 3:16
46. As also it is said in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him to
death for our sakes. Sermons on Christ' s Passion, p. 48.
47. Again, when they proclaim that Jesus is the Saviour of the world and the Christ, they have undoubtedly learned
this from hearing Him...And He declared that the salvation He had brought was common to the whole world, so that
they should understand more easily that it belonged to them also. Comment on John 4:42
48. It is no small consolation to godly teachers that, although the larger part of the world does not listen to Christ, He
has His sheep whom He knows and by whom He is also known. They must do their utmost to bring the whole world
into Christ' s fold, but when they do not succeed as they would wish, they must be satisfied with the single thought
that those who are sheep will be collected together by their work. Comment on John 10:27
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49. Christ...offers salvation to all indiscriminately and stretches out His arms to embrace all, that all may be the
more encouraged to repent. And yet He heightens by an important detail the crime of rejecting an invitation so kind
and gracious; for it is as if He had said: ' See, I have come to call all; and forgetting the role of judge, my one aim is
to attract and rescue from destruction those who already seem doubly ruined.'Hence no man is condemned for
despising the Gospel save he who spurns the lovely news of salvation and deliberately decides to bring destruction
on himself. Comment on John 12:47
50. For [by Christ' s death] we know that by the expiation of sins the world has been reconciled to God... Comment
on John 17:1
51. He openly declares that He does not pray for the world, for He is solicitous only for His own flock [the disciples]
which He received from the Father' s hand. But this might seem absurd; for no better rule of prayer can be found than
to follow Christ as our Guide and Teacher. But we are commanded to pray for all, and Christ Himself afterwards
prayed for all indiscriminately, ' Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.'I reply, the prayers which we
utter for all are still limited to God's elect. We ought to pray that this and that and every man may be saved and so
embrace the whole human race, because we cannot yet distinguish the elect from the reprobate...we pray for the
salvation of all whom we know to have been created in God' s image and who have the same nature as ourselves; and
we leave to God' s judgement those whom He knows to be reprobate. Comment on John 17:9
52. ...Moreover, we offer up our prayers unto Thee, O most Gracious God and most merciful Father, for all men in
general, that as Thou art pleased to be acknowledged the Saviour of the whole human race by the redemption
accomplished by Jesus Christ Thy Son, so those who are still strangers to the knowledge of him, and immersed in
darkness, and held captive by ignorance and error, may, by Thy Holy Spirit shining upon them, and by Thy gospel
sounding in their ears, be brought back to the right way of salvation, which consists in knowing Thee the true God
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent... Forms of Prayer for the Church Tracts, Vol. 2, p. 102.
53. The draught appointed to Christ was to suffer the death of the cross for the reconciliation of the world. Comment
on John 18:11
54. And surely there is nothing that ought to be more effective in spurring on pastors to devote themselves more
eagerly to their duty than if they reflect that it is to themselves that the price of the blood of Christ has been
entrusted. For it follows from this, that unless they are faithful in putting out their labour on the Church, not only are
they made accountable for lost souls, but they are guilty of sacrilege, because they have profaned the sacred blood of
the Son of God, and have made useless the redemption acquired by Him, as far as they are concerned. But it is a
hideous and monstrous crime if, by our idleness, not only the death of Christ becomes worthless, but also the fruit of
it is destroyed and perishes... Comment on Acts 20:28
55. For we ought to have a zeal to have the Church of God enlarged, and increase rather than diminish. We ought to
have a care also of our brethren, and to be sorry to see them perish: for it is no small matter to have the souls perish
which were bought by the blood of Christ. Sermons on Timothy & Titus, p. 817
56. Because God does not work effectually in all men, but only when the Spirit shines in our hearts as the inward
teacher, he adds to every one that believeth. The Gospel is indeed offered to all for their salvation, but its power is
not universally manifest...When, therefore, the Gospel invites all to partake of salvation without any difference, it is
rightly termed the doctrine of salvation. For Christ is there offered, whose proper office is to save that which had
been lost, and those who refuse to be saved by Him shall find Him their Judge. Comment on Romans 1:16
57. Faith is the beginning of godliness, from which all those for whom Christ died were estranged...[God] loved us
of His own good pleasure, as John tells us (John 3:16)...We have been reconciled to God by the death of Christ, Paul
holds, because His was an expiatory sacrifice by which the world was reconciled to God... Comment on Romans 5:
6-10
58. Paul makes grace common to all men, not because it in fact extends to all, but because it is offered to all.
Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all
men, yet not all receive him. Comment on Romans 5:18
59. ...the price of the blood of Christ is wasted when a weak conscience is wounded, for the most contemptible
brother has been redeemed by the blood of Christ. It is intolerable, therefore, that he should be destroyed for the
gratification of the belly. Comment on Romans 14:15
60. For one can imagine nothing more despicable than this, that while Christ did not hesitate to die so that the weak
might not perish, we, on the other hand, do not care a straw for the salvation of the men and women who have been
redeemed at such a price. This is a memorable saying, from which we learn how precious the salvation of our
brothers ought to be to us, and not only that of all, but of each individual, in view of the fact that the blood of Christ
was poured out for each one...If the soul of every weak person costs the price of the blood of Christ, anyone, who,
for the sake of a little bit of meat, is responsible for the rapid return to death of a brother redeemed by Christ, shows
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just how little the blood of Christ means to him. Contempt like that is therefore an open insult to Christ. Comment
on 1 Corinthians 8:11
61. ...God was in Christ and then that by this intervention He was reconciling the world to Himself...Although
Christ' s coming had its source in the overflowing love of God for us, yet, until men know that God has been
propitiated by a mediator, there cannot but be on their side a separation which prevents them from having access to
God...[Paul] says again that a commission to offer this reconciliation to us has been given to ministers of the
Gospel...He says that as He once suffered, so now every day He offers the fruit of His sufferings to us through the
Gospel which He has given to the world as a sure and certain record of His completed work of reconciliation. Thus
the duty of ministers is to apply to us the fruit of Christ's death. Comment on 2 Corinthians 5:19
62. ...when Christ appeared, salvation was sent to the whole world... Comment on 2 Corinthians 6:2
63. Pighius speaks...that Christ, the Redeemer of the whole world, commands the Gospel to be preached
promiscuously to all does not seem congruent with special election. But the Gospel is an embassy of peace by which
the world is reconciled to God, as Paul teaches (2 Cor. 5:18); and on the same authority it is announced that those
who hear are saved. I answer briefly that Christ was so ordained for the salvation of the whole world that He might
save those who are given to Him by the Father, that He might be their life whose head He is, and that He might
receive those into participation of His benefits whom God by His gratuitous good pleasure adopted as heirs for
Himself. Which of these things can be denied?...Even those opposed to me will concede that the universality of the
grace of Christ is not better judged than from the preaching of the Gospel. But the solution of the difficulty lies in
seeing how the doctrine of the Gospel offers salvation to all. That it is salvific for all I do not deny. But the question
is whether the Lord in His counsel here destines salvation equally for all. All are equally called to penitence and
faith; the same mediator is set forth for all to reconcile them to the Father - so much is evident. But it is equally
evident that nothing can be perceived except by faith, that Paul' s word should be fulfilled: the Gospel is the power of
God for salvation to all that believe (Rom. 1:16). But what can it be for others but a savour of death to death? as he
elsewhere says (2 Cor. 2:16).
Further, since it is clear that out of the many whom God calls by His external voice very few believe, if I prove that
the greater part remain unbelieving because God honours with illumination none but those whom He will, then I
draw another conclusion. The mercy of God is offered equally to both kinds of men, so that those who are not
inwardly taught are rendered only inexcusable.... Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p. 102-3
64. It is not enough to regard Christ as having died for the salvation of the world; each man must claim the effect
and possession of this grace for himself personally. Comment on Galatians 2:20
65. God commends to us the salvation of all men without exception, even as Christ suffered for the sins of the whole
world. Comment on Galatians 5:12
66. And he contenteth not himself to say, that Christ gave himself for the world in common, for that had been but a
slender saying: but (sheweth that) every of us must apply to himself particularly, the virtue of the death and passion
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas it is said that the Son of God was crucified, we must not only think that the same
was done for the redemption of the world: but also every of us must on his own behalf join himself to our Lord Jesus
Christ, and conclude, It is for me that he hath suffered...But when we once know that the thing was done for the
redemption of the whole world, pertaineth to every of us severally: it behoveth every of us to say also on his own
behalf, The Son of God hath loved me so dearly, that he hath given himself to death for me...we be very wretches if
we accept not such a benefit when it is offered to us...Lo here a warrant for our salvation, so as we ought to think
ourselves thoroughly assured of it. Sermons on Galatians, p. 106-7
67. Christ is in a general view the Redeemer of the world, yet his death and passion are of no advantage to any but
such as receive that which St Paul shows here. And so we see that when we once know the benefits brought to us by
Christ, and which he daily offers us by his gospel, we must also be joined to him by faith. Sermons on Ephesians, p.
55
68. Also we ought to have good care of those that have been redeemed with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we
see souls which have been so precious to God go to perdition, and we make nothing of it, that is to despise the blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sermons on Ephesians, p. 521
69. For the wretched unbelievers and the ignorant have great need to be pleaded for with God; behold them on the
way to perdition. If we saw a beast at the point of perishing, we would have pity on it. And what shall we do when
we see souls in peril, which are so precious before God, as he has shown in that he has ransomed them with the
blood of his own Son. If we see then a poor soul going thus to perdition, ought we not to be moved with compassion
and kindness, and should we not desire God to apply the remedy? So then, St. Paul' s meaning in this passage is not
that we should let the wretched unbelievers alone without having any care for them. We should pray generally for all
men... Sermons on Ephesians, p. 684-5
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70. He says that this redemption was procured by the blood of Christ, for by the sacrifice of His death all the sins
of the world have been expiated. Comment on Colossians 1:14
71. For although it is true that we must not try to decide what is God' s will by prying into His secret counsel, when
He has made it plain to us by external signs, yet that does not mean that God has not determined secretly within
Himself what He wishes to do with every single man.
But I pass from that point which is not relevant to the present context, for the apostle' s meaning here is simply that
no nation of the earth and no rank of society is excluded from salvation, since God wills to offer the Gospel to all
without exception...For as there is one God, the Creator and Father of all, so, he declares, there is one Mediator,
through whom access to God is not given only to one nation, or to few men of a particular class, but to all, for the
benefit of the sacrifice, by which He has expiated for our sins, applies to all...The universal term ' all'must always be
referred to classes of men but never to individuals. It is as if he had said, ' Not only Jews, but also Greeks, not only
people of humble rank but also princes have been redeemed by the death of Christ.'Since therefore He intends the
benefit of His death to be common to all, those who hold a view that would exclude any from the hope of salvation
do Him an injury. Comment on 1 Timothy 2:3-5
72. ...no one unless deprived of sense and judgement can believe that salvation is ordained in the secret counsel of
God equally for all...Who does not see that the reference [1 Tim. 2:4] is to orders of men rather than individual men?
Nor indeed does the distinction lack substantial ground: what is meant is not individuals of nations but nations of
individuals. At any rate, the context makes it clear that no other will of God is intended than that which appears in
the external preaching of the Gospel. Thus Paul means that God wills the salvation of all whom He mercifully
invites by the preaching of Christ. Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p. 109
73. So then, seeing it is God his will that all men should be partakers of that salvation which he hath sent in the
person of his only begotten Son...yet we must mark that Saint Paul speaketh not here of every particular man, but of
all sorts, and of all people: Therefore, when he saith, that God will have all men to be saved, we must not think that
he speaketh here of Peter, or John, but his meaning is this, that whereas in times past he chose out one certain people
for himself, he meaneth now to show mercy to all the world...but when Jesus Christ came to be a common Saviour
for all in general, he offered the grace of God his father, to the end that all might receive it...Let us see now, whether
God will draw all the world to [the Gospel] or not. No, no: for then had our Lord Jesus Christ said in vain No man
can come to me, unless God my Father teach him (Jn. 6:44)...
It followeth then, that before the world was made, (as Saint Paul saith in the first to the Ephesians) God chose such
as it pleased him: and it pertaineth not to us to know, why this man, more than that man, we know not the
reason...Saint Paul speaketh not here of every particular man, (as we shewed already) but he speaketh of all
people...now God showeth himself a Saviour of all the world...Saint Paul speaketh not in this place, of the strait
counsell of God, neither that he meaneth to lead us to this everlasting election & choice which was before the
beginning of the world, but only sheweth us what God his will and pleasure is, so far forth as we may know it. Truth
it is, that God changeth not, neither hath he two wills, neither does he use any counterfeit dealing, as though he
meant one thing, but would not have it so. And yet doth the Scripture speak unto us after two sorts touching the will
of God...God doeth exhort all men generally, thereby we may judge, that it is the will of God, that all men should be
saved, as he saith also by the Prophet Ezekiel I will not the death of a sinner, but that he turn himself and live (Ezek.
18:23)...For Jesus Christ is not a Saviour of three or four, but he offereth himself to all...And is he not the Saviour of
the whole world as well? Is Jesus Christ come to be the Mediator between two or three men only? No, no: but he is
the Mediator between God and men... Sermons on Timothy and Titus, pp. 149-60
74. Repentance and faith must needs go together...God receiveth us to mercy, and daily pardoneth our faults through
his free goodness: and that we be justified because Jesus Christ hath reconciled him unto us, inasmuch as he
accepteth us for righteous though we be wretched sinners: in preaching this, it behoveth us to add, how it is upon
condition that we return unto God: as was spoken of heretofore by the prophets. Sermons on Timothy and Titus, pp.
1181-2
75. Indeed the death of Christ was life for the whole world... Comment on Hebrews 8:2
76. He suffered death in the common way of men, but He made divine atonement for the sins of the world as a
Priest. Comment on Hebrews 8:4
77. To bear the sins means to free those who have sinned from their guilt by his satisfaction. He says many meaning
all, as in Rom. 5:15. It is of course certain that not all enjoy the fruits of Christ's death, but this happens because
their unbelief hinders them. Comment on Hebrews 9:27
78. He brought His own blood into the heavenly sanctuary in order to atone for the sins of the world. Comment on
Hebrews 13:12
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79. So we must beware, or souls redeemed by Christ may perish by our carelessness, for their salvation to some
degree was put into our hands by God. Comment on James 5:20
80. It was not a common or a small favour that God put off the manifestation of Christ to their time, when He had
ordained Him by His eternal counsel for the salvation of the world...a remedy for mankind...He ordained that Christ
should be the Redeemer, who would deliver the lost race of man from ruin...[but] the manifestation of Christ does
not refer to all indiscriminately, but belongs only to those whom He illumines by the Gospel. Comment on 1 Peter
1:20
81. We have the Gospel in its entirety, when we know that He who had long been promised as Redeemer came
down from heaven, put on our flesh, lived in the world, experienced death and then rose again; and secondly when
we see the purpose and fruits of all these things in the fact that He was God with us, that He gave us in Himself a
sure pledge of our adoption, that by the grace of His Spirit He has cleansed us from the stains of our carnal iniquities
and consecrated us to be temples to God, that He has raised us from the depths to heaven, that by His sacrificial
death He has made atonement for the sins of the world, that He has reconciled us to the Father, and that He has been
the source of righteousness and life for us. Whoever holds to these things has rightly grasped the Gospel. Comment
on 2 Peter 1:16
82. Christ redeemed us to have us as a people separated from all the iniquities of the world, devoted to holiness and
purity. Those who throw over the traces and plunge themselves into every kind of licence are not unjustly said to
deny Christ, by whom they were redeemed. Comment on 2 Peter 2:1
83. This is His wondrous love towards the human race, that He desires all men to be saved, and is prepared to bring
even the perishing to safety...It could be asked here, if God does not want any to perish, why do so many in fact
perish? My reply is that no mention is made here of the secret decree of God by which the wicked are doomed to
their own ruin, but only of His loving-kindness as it is made known to us in the Gospel. There God stretches out His
hand to all alike, but He only grasps those (in such a way as to lead to Himself) whom He has chosen before the
foundation of the world. Comment on 2 Peter 3:9
84. He put this in for amplification, that believers might be convinced that the expiation made by Christ extends to
all who by faith embrace the Gospel. But here the question may be asked as to how the sins of the whole world have
been expiated. I pass over the dreams of the fanatics, who make this a reason to extend salvation to all the reprobate
and even to Satan himself. Such a monstrous idea is not worth refuting. Those who want to avoid this absurdity have
said that Christ suffered sufficiently for the whole world but effectively only for the elect. This solution has
commonly prevailed in the schools. Although I allow the truth of this, I deny that it fits the passage. For John' s
purpose was only to make this blessing common to the whole church. Therefore, under the word ' all'he does not
include the reprobate, but refers to all who would believe and those who were scattered through various regions of
the earth. For, as is meet, the grace of Christ is really made clear when it is declared to be the only salvation of the
world. Comment on 1 John 2:2
85. Georgius thinks he argues very acutely when he says: Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world;
and hence those who wish to exclude the reprobate from participation in Christ must place them outside the world.
For this, the common solution does not avail, that Christ suffered sufficiently for all, but efficaciously only for the
elect. By this great absurdity, this monk has sought applause in his own fraternity, but it has no weight with me.
Wherever the faithful are dispersed throughout the world, John [1 Jn. 2:2] extends to them the expiation wrought by
Christ's death. But this does not alter the fact that the reprobate are mixed up with the elect in the world. It is
incontestable that Christ came for the expiation of the sins of the whole world. But the solution lies close at hand,
that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but should have eternal life (Jn. 3:15). For the present question is
not how great the power of Christ is or what efficacy it has in itself, but to whom He gives Himself to be enjoyed. If
possession lies in faith and faith emanates from the Spirit of adoption, it follows that only he is reckoned in the
number of God' s children who will be a partaker of Christ. The evangelist John sets forth the office of Christ as
nothing else than by His death to gather the children of God into one (Jn. 11:52). Hence, we conclude that, though
reconciliation is offered to all through Him, yet the benefit is peculiar to the elect, that they may be gathered into the
society of life. However, while I say it is offered to all, I do not mean that this embassy, by which on Paul' s
testimony (2 Cor. 5:18) God reconciles the world to Himself, reaches to all, but that it is not sealed indiscriminately
on the hearts of all to whom it comes so as to be effectual. Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp. 148-9
86. He again shows the cause of Christ' s coming and His office when he says that He was sent to be the propitiation
for sins...For propitiation strictly refers to the sacrifice of His death. Hence we see that to Christ alone belongs this
honour of expiating for the sins of the world and taking away the enmity between God and us. Comment on 1 John
4:10
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87. Certainly, in 2 Pet. 2:1, there is reference only to Christ, and He is called Master there. Denying...Christ, he
says, of those who have been redeemed by His blood, and now enslave themselves again to the devil, frustrating (as
best they may) that incomparable boon. Comment on Jude 4
88. [Him God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for
the sins of the whole world...But though he died for all, all do not receive the benefit of his death, but those only to
whom the merit of his passion is communicated... (Articles III, IV of the Sixth Session of the Council of Trent)]
The third and fourth heads I do not touch... Antidote to the Council of Trent, Tracts, Vol. 3, pp. 93, 109
89. ...Christ, who is the salvation of the world,... Catechism of the Church of Geneva, Tracts, Vol. 2, p. 47
90. I John Calvin, servant of the Word of God in the church of Geneva, weakened by many illnesses...thank God
that he has not only shown mercy to me, his poor creature...and suffered me in all sins and weaknesses, but what is
more than that, he has made me a partaker of his grace to serve him through my work...I confess to live and die in
this faith which he has given me, inasmuch as I have no other hope or refuge than his predestination upon which my
entire salvation is grounded. I embrace the grace which he has offered me in our Lord Jesus Christ, and accept the
merits of his suffering and dying that through him all my sins are buried; and I humbly beg him to wash me and
cleanse me with the blood of our great Redeemer, as it was shed for all poor sinners so that I, when I appear before
his face, may bear his likeness. Calvin' s Last Will (April 25, 1564) Letters of John Calvin,