AN UNWARRANTED ASSUMPTION
John Owen attempts to counter such scriptures about unlimited atonement with the following commentary upon 1 Tim. 1.15, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners":
Now, if you will ask who these sinners are towards who he hath this gracious intent and purpose, himself tells you, Matthew 20.28, that he came to "give his life a ransom for many;" in other places called us believers distinguished from the world: for he "gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world..." Gal. 1.4... Eph. 5.25-27, "He loved the church, and gave himself for it..." Tit. 2.14, "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity..." for through him "we have access into the grace wherein we stand," Rom. 5.2, etc.
In response to Owen, we can say obviously the multitude of verses that state clearly that God loves all and is merciful to all and that Christ died for all are not nullified by other verses declaring that Christ died for the church, that His death was a ransom for many, or the assurance that He died for us, etc. These verses do not say Christ died only for many sinners, only for the church, only for us, etc. By that interpretation, statements such as, "For if through the offense of one [Adam] many be dead...by one's man's disobedience many were made sinners" (Rom. 5.15,19), etc., would indicate that only a limited number were made sinners and died through Adam's disobedience.
Of course, the apostles, writing to believers, would remind them that Christ died for them-but that statement cannot void the many clear declarations that He died for all. Yet this same argument is offered repeatedly by Calvinists to this day. Piper quotes the same inapplicable verses which it is said that Christ was a "ransom for many," that He "bare the sin of many," and He "loved the church and and gave himself for her," etc. as a "proof" that Christ's death was not propitiatory for all.
By such reasoning, Paul wouldn't have been able to use "you," "ye," etc. in writing to the Corinthians because that would mean the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection were only for them. By the same argument, for David to say, "The LORD is my shepherd..." (Ps. 23.1) would mean that this was true only for God. Or when Israel's prophet wrote, "O God of Israel, the Saviour...their redeemer is strong, the LORD of hosts is his name..." (Is. 45.15; Jer. 50.34), it meant that God was the God and redeemer of only Israel.
Equally absurd, for Paul to say "the Son of God who loved me" (Gal. 2.20) would mean that Christ loved only Paul.
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