Dear Christian Believer,
Do you believe that Jesus is the Saviour of all mankind (without exception); that He came to die for and atone for each and every individual without exception? Do you believe that it is not His will that any should perish (a misinterpretation of 2 Peter 3:9)? If that is what you believe, then you believe that God is a loser Who set out to save each and every individual without exception only to fail miserably. Yes, that is precisely what you believe. Allow me to make my case…
Jesus says to the Father that “I guarded them and not one of them perished” (John 17:12). He said it was “the will of Him who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I lose nothing” (John 6:39). Jesus made it abundantly clear that He will lose none of those whom the Father gave Him, those for whom He died. If it is the Father’s will that Jesus lose none, then He will not lose any because the Father’s will is always established (Ps. 115:3; 135:6; Is. 46:10; Dan 4:35; et al.). If 2 Peter 3:9 means what you erroneously interpret it to mean, then no one will perish because it is the Father’s will that no one perish and His will is always accomplished. These are arguments for Universalism. You cannot thwart the will of God no matter how hard you try!
You will instantly turn to 1 Timothy 4:10 as your proof text for your beliefs, putting all your weight behind that verse. However, if Jesus is the Saviour of all men without exception; if He died for all men without exception (including those already residing in hell); if His atonement covers all men without exception, then all men without exception must and will be saved. In order to be the Saviour of a thing, that necessarily implies that that thing be saved. If that thing is never saved, one cannot rightful be called the Saviour thereof. This is common logical sense; but then common sense is not very common these days. To try and use this verse in this way is a support for Universalism—nothing else; and it is heresy. This verse has to do with common grace, not saving grace.
Jesus declared that “All who the Father has given Me will come to Me” (John 6:37). The giving precedes the coming. Note carefully that it does not say “some,” nor “most,” but “all!” If God has given all men without exception to Jesus, then all men without exception are going to come to Jesus. Again, an argument for Universalism. He also made it clear that “no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44, 65) and that those who are drawn will be raised up to eternal life (v.44). Again, if Jesus is drawing all men without exception to Himself, then all men without exception will be raised to eternal life. Once more, an argument for Universalism. Either limited atonement is true, or the Bible teaches Universalism. Those are the only two options.
I can prove that you already believe in limited atonement. How? Simple. Does the blood of Jesus offer salvation to the fallen angels? Why not? The fact that it does not is proof of limited atonement. It was never meant to apply to them. Therefore, the shedding of His blood and the application thereof is a limited atonement. The question, then, is how far does the application of that atonement reach?
You claim (erroneously and against Scripture) that God gave us a choice, that we can exercise our own “free will” to accept or reject salvation. If this is true, then based on what John 6:37 says (and everything else we have just discussed above), God is not truly sovereign, which means He is not truly God. That means that God is a loser who tries but fails miserably in His attempt to save each and every individual without exception. It also means that we are sovereign over God and that He can do nothing without our say-so. I suggest that you consult Nebuchadnezzar (whom God made to act crazy and eat grass for seven years), Jonah (whose will God overrode with His own), and Romans 6 (which makes it clear that prior to salvation our wills were slaves to sin and the devil, and after salvation they are slaves to God), all of which will rebuke and correct you. Our wills, since the fall, have never been “free.” If it is my choice to be saved, then I get all the glory for having accepted Christ. In other words, I saved myself by merely accepting Jesus’ offer. You see how arrogant that assumption is? Anyone who can believe such a thing clearly does not know their Bible, nor do they understand God.
Scripture repeatedly informs us that God can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, to whomever He wants, however He wants. He answers to no one! God is sovereign over the universe (Ps. 103:19; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:11); nature (Ps. 135:6-7; Matt. 5:45; 6:25-30); angels and Satan (Ps. 103:30-31; Job 1:12); nations (Ps. 47:7-9; Dan. 2:20-21; 4:34-35); human beings (1 Sam. 2:6-7; Gal. 1:15-16); animals (Ps. 104:21-30; 1 Kings 17:4-6); “accidents” (Pr. 16:33; John 1:7; Matt. 10:29); free acts of men (Ex. 3:21; 12:25-36; Ez. 7:27); sinful acts of men and Satan (2 Sam. 24:1; 1 Chr. 21:1; Gen. 45:5; 50:20); seemingly random things (Prov. 16:33); the heart of the most powerful person in the land (Prov. 21:1); our daily lives and plans (Prov. 20:24; 19:21; James 4:13-15); salvation (Rom. 9:15-16; Acts 13:48; Rom. 8:29-30); life and death (Deut. 32:39; 1 Sam. 12:6); disabilities (Ex. 4:11); the death of God’s Son (Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; Is. 53:10); evil things (Amos 3:6; Is. 45:7; Job 1:21-22; 2:10; Ps. 105:17; Gen. 50:21); and all things (Eph. 1:11; Ps. 115:3; Job 42:2; Dan. 4:35).
You would turn to Romans 8:29-30, claiming that God elects us based on His foreknowledge of those who will accept Him. However, your interpretation of this passage is in grave error. It does not say God looked into the future and elected us based on our choosing Him. That is false, and any teachers who propagate this are liars who have never studied their Bibles! We chose Jesus because He chose us first! We love Him because He loved us first! To state that God elects us based on our acceptance of Him declares that we are sovereign over and above God and that He can do nothing without our say-so. Once again, I suggest you consult Nebuchadnezzar, Jonah, and Romans 6 (among others). Look at the order in this passage: “Those whom He foreknew [having an intimate personal knowledge in saving relation to Himself], he also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son . . . and these whom he predestined, he also called [unto salvation]; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
Pay close attention to what the passage is actually saying. Those whom He has called to salvation have also been justified and they will also be glorified. If Jesus has called all men without exception, then all men without exception have been
justified and will be glorified. Yet again, we have another argument for Universalism. The Greek word for “foreknew” has nothing to do with our faith! It says “those whom” not “that which.” It is knowledge of a person, not an object. It means that God had an intimate personal knowledge of us in saving relation to Himself.
Ephesians 1:4 says that “[God] chose us in [Jesus] before the foundations of the world.” Revelation states clearly that there are those “whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundations of the world” (17:8; cf 13:8). Scripture states that these men “were before of old ordained to this condemnation” (Jude 1:4; cf 2 Peter 2:3). The Bible clearly states that Pharaoh had been raised up specifically for the purpose of destroying him in order that God’s power would be demonstrated (Rom. 9:17). Likewise, Judas was ordained to betray Jesus in order that Scripture might be fulfilled (John 17:12). Before the foundations of the universe were laid, there were certain individuals whose names were written in the book of life and certain individuals whose names were not written in the book of life. Scripture says that Christ was “slain from the foundations of the world” (Revelation
13:8). Before God ever began the foundations of the universe, Jesus’ blood had already purchased a people for Himself. Time had to wait for the revealing
of that purchase; just as it waits for the revealing of each believer in his/her own time. I was chosen by God, given to Christ, and purchased by Christ’s
blood unto salvation in eternity past; not for anything I had done or would do. It was solely because God chose to have mercy and compassion on me, even though I did not deserve it (Ex. 33:19; Rom. 9:15).
Matthew 1:21 says, “He will save His people from their sins.” Not everyone! Now, you would turn to John 1:29 and claim that Jesus “takes away the sin of the world,” meaning each and every individual without exception. Let us think about this logically. If Jesus takes away the sin of the whole world, of each and every individual without exception, you have once again created an argument for Universalism because there no longer remains any sin for anyone. By such a misrepresentation of the word “world” you would have to read John 6:33 to say that He gives eternal life to each and every individual without exception, yet again giving support to the heresy of Universalism. If the word “world” means each and every individual without exception, then what do we say about John 17:9?
Where does faith come from? Faith does not come from within us. If it did, then we can boast in ourselves because our faith saved us. Ephesians condemns this (Eph. 2:5, 8). Faith is a gift from God: We are saved “BY grace THROUGH faith,” we are not saved by faith; faith is merely the instrument God has chosen to usher in salvation, which is received entirely through God’s grace alone as He chooses to bestow it. The truth is, whether you like it or not, we can do nothing to effect our salvation because we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). What does it mean to be dead? The Valley of Dry Bones illustrates a great truth with regard to our spiritual state. God can command the dead to repent and believe all He wants and they will never be able to because they are dead. Until God makes them alive, they will never respond; but once they are made alive, they will respond by repenting and believing.
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the [preaching of the] word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). That is the method that God chose to establish. Those individuals whom He has chosen unto salvation (John 6:37; 15:16; Rom. 8:29-30; 9:20-24; Eph. 1:4; et al), when they hear, because He has changed and opened their heart to what they hear (Acts 16:14), will freely exercise faith. If God did not first work in them, then they would never receive what they are hearing and thus never receive salvation. God first changes our hearts so that we will accept what we hear and be saved. There is not a single individual whom God has changed their heart toward Himself who will reject Him! There is no spiritually alive individual who has ever rejected Jesus! You will find no such teachings in Scripture!
Dead men cannot save themselves, or even help in the salvation process. Salvation is all of God’s work—alone. The disciples understood precisely what Jesus was saying when they asked “Then who can be saved?” (Matt. 19:25; cf. Mark 10:26), to which Jesus replied, “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26; cf. Mark 10:27). Salvation is impossible with men! It is a work of God alone, whether you like it or not. The fact you think you contributed in the least to your salvation makes you ignorant*, arrogant, and pig-headed. If you want to see what your profession of faith amounts to, read Matthew 7:21-23. These men and women all made a profession of knowing Jesus and did many good works, but He never knew them. Salvation has nothing to do with us because “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). John 3:27 says “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” This includes salvation.
John 1:13 says we are born again “not of blood [natural descent] nor of the will of the flesh [human decision] nor of the will of man [human declaration], but of God.” Romans 9:16 echoes this sentiment with the fact that salvation “does not depend on the man who wills [self-determination] or the man who runs [self-effort], but on God who has mercy.” Unless we are born from above we cannot see let alone enter the kingdom (John 3:3, 5); we must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). John 10:11 says “the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep,” and 10:15 says “I lay down My life for the sheep” –not the goats. Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:25-27 tell us that Jesus shed His blood and gave Himself for the Church—His bride. Scripture never mentions mediation for any other except His own! Jesus said, “You do not believe because you are not part of my flock” (John 10:26). The common sense logic of this verse is that if they belonged to His flock, they would believe.
You would quote 2 Peter 2:1 in an attempt to claim Jesus bought each and every individual without exception with His blood, but the immediate context and the context of the entire chapter contradict your understanding of this verse. Immediately after “denying the Lord who bought them” it says “bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” You like to focus on the first part of that verse, but you deliberately ignore the second part of it. The purchase by blood is redemption. If Jesus bought them by redeeming them with His blood, how is it that destruction befalls them? If they are bought, if they are purchased, if they are redeemed by Christ, they cannot go to destruction! Hebrews tells us He secured an “eternal redemption.” Since being “bought” implies redemption, how is it that your beliefs make invalid the “eternal” claim of that redemption? We are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Your understanding of 2 Peter 2:1 is flawed. Verses 20-21 shed some light on the issue. These men professed to be bought by the Lord, but their actions (Titus 1:16) and the passing of time proved otherwise (1 John 2:19). Rather than merely grabbing a verse and trying to run with it to your own detriment, I suggest you try reading the Bible in its proper context.
If Jesus purchased each and every individual without exception by the shedding of His blood, then each and every individual belongs to Him and will not perish because His blood redeemed them. If He died for each and every individual’s sin without exception, then no one (without exception) is or will be condemned because their sins have all been forgiven and cast away as far as the east is from the west. Here you have even more arguments for Universalism. Again, either limited atonement is true or the Bible teaches Universalism. This is what your beliefs are declaring about the Bible. You cannot have Jesus die for the forgiveness of all men’s sins, be the Saviour of all men, and then have all men not saved and even condemned by their sins for which Jesus supposedly died for. Your beliefs make you “a double-minded man, unstable in all [your] ways” (James 1:8).
Finally, God does not choose who goes to hell. You err on that assumption, falsely attributing hyper-Calvinism to biblical teaching (what you call “Calvinism”). We are all already destined for hell (John 3:18– “is already condemned” –not “will be”). God merely chooses whom He will save for His glory, because otherwise none of us would be saved. God is under no obligation to save any of us, and He certainly is not obligated to save all of us. If God chooses to save some and pass over the rest, He has done nothing wrong. None of them deserve salvation. If he passes over everyone, and everybody goes to hell, God has done nothing wrong. Your belief that God must make an offer of salvation to all men equally comes from the presumption that mankind is basically good, which Scripture repudiates over and over again. God does not have to offer salvation to anyone! God can do whatever He wants with any one of us according to His own will (Is. 29:16; 64:8; Jer. 18:4, 6; Rom. 9:19-23).
Remember, it is man who cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14); is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23); does not seek for God (Rom. 3:11); is lawless, rebellious, unholy, and profane (1 Tim. 1:9); is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), and is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). If it were left up to man, no one would ever be saved. Hence, once again, the disciples asking Jesus “Then who can be saved?” (Matt. 19:25), and Jesus’ response, “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 26). God, in His loving predestination, assured to Himself His people, the ones whom He called and predestined: “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5). God’s own words—predestination is a loving doctrine: “In love He predestined us ... according to the kind intention of His will.”
Jesus will accomplish 100% what He came for. If He came to save each and every individual without exception, then each and every individual without exception will be saved, which means that Universalism is true. But, if He came to save His people, those select few that the Father gave Him, then He will save each and every one of those whom the Father gave Him and will not lose a single one, which means limited atonement is true. Before the foundations of the world were laid, God the Father chose a remnant of individuals to give to Jesus for His own people. God the Son died for those people given to Him by the Father, purchasing them with His blood. God the Holy Spirit sealed those people for the day of redemption and sanctifies them in order to conform them to the image of Christ Jesus. Like it or not, these are the things that the Bible says and teaches, but you choose not to believe them.
We may be free moral agents (being able to choose between right and wrong, although our motives are often tainted by sin), but we are not free spiritual agents. We cannot make ourselves born again or even contribute to our salvation. The belief that Jesus shed His blood to forgive the sins of all men without exception and to redeem all men without exception flies in the face of everything that the Scriptures teach. The blood is only applied to those who have been born again; it is not applied to everyone equally. If it was, then everyone, without exception, would be forgiven their sins and redeemed unto eternal life. This belief is called Universalism and it is a heresy! The belief that man and God co-operate in order to achieve man’s salvation is known as semi-Pelagianism, and it is also a heresy!
If you truly believe what your Bible says, then you will believe everything I have shared with you in this letter because it is exactly what the Bible teaches. If you do not believe it, then you have made a god in your own image to suit your own feelings and opinions, which make you an idolater. As such, you need to repent.
Matthew 1:21 says, “He will save His people from their sins.” Not everyone! Now, you would turn to John 1:29 and claim that Jesus “takes away the sin of the world,” meaning each and every individual without exception. Let us think about this logically. If Jesus takes away the sin of the whole world, of each and every individual without exception, you have once again created an argument for Universalism because there no longer remains any sin for anyone. By such a misrepresentation of the word “world” you would have to read John 6:33 to say that He gives eternal life to each and every individual without exception, yet again giving support to the heresy of Universalism. If the word “world” means each and every individual without exception, then what do we say about John 17:9?
Where does faith come from? Faith does not come from within us. If it did, then we can boast in ourselves because our faith saved us. Ephesians condemns this (Eph. 2:5, 8). Faith is a gift from God: We are saved “BY grace THROUGH faith,” we are not saved by faith; faith is merely the instrument God has chosen to usher in salvation, which is received entirely through God’s grace alone as He chooses to bestow it. The truth is, whether you like it or not, we can do nothing to effect our salvation because we are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1). What does it mean to be dead? The Valley of Dry Bones illustrates a great truth with regard to our spiritual state. God can command the dead to repent and believe all He wants and they will never be able to because they are dead. Until God makes them alive, they will never respond; but once they are made alive, they will respond by repenting and believing.
“Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the [preaching of the] word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). That is the method that God chose to establish. Those individuals whom He has chosen unto salvation (John 6:37; 15:16; Rom. 8:29-30; 9:20-24; Eph. 1:4; et al), when they hear, because He has changed and opened their heart to what they hear (Acts 16:14), will freely exercise faith. If God did not first work in them, then they would never receive what they are hearing and thus never receive salvation. God first changes our hearts so that we will accept what we hear and be saved. There is not a single individual whom God has changed their heart toward Himself who will reject Him! There is no spiritually alive individual who has ever rejected Jesus! You will find no such teachings in Scripture!
Dead men cannot save themselves, or even help in the salvation process. Salvation is all of God’s work—alone. The disciples understood precisely what Jesus was saying when they asked “Then who can be saved?” (Matt. 19:25; cf. Mark 10:26), to which Jesus replied, “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26; cf. Mark 10:27). Salvation is impossible with men! It is a work of God alone, whether you like it or not. The fact you think you contributed in the least to your salvation makes you ignorant*, arrogant, and pig-headed. If you want to see what your profession of faith amounts to, read Matthew 7:21-23. These men and women all made a profession of knowing Jesus and did many good works, but He never knew them. Salvation has nothing to do with us because “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). John 3:27 says “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.” This includes salvation.
John 1:13 says we are born again “not of blood [natural descent] nor of the will of the flesh [human decision] nor of the will of man [human declaration], but of God.” Romans 9:16 echoes this sentiment with the fact that salvation “does not depend on the man who wills [self-determination] or the man who runs [self-effort], but on God who has mercy.” Unless we are born from above we cannot see let alone enter the kingdom (John 3:3, 5); we must be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). John 10:11 says “the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep,” and 10:15 says “I lay down My life for the sheep” –not the goats. Acts 20:28 and Ephesians 5:25-27 tell us that Jesus shed His blood and gave Himself for the Church—His bride. Scripture never mentions mediation for any other except His own! Jesus said, “You do not believe because you are not part of my flock” (John 10:26). The common sense logic of this verse is that if they belonged to His flock, they would believe.
You would quote 2 Peter 2:1 in an attempt to claim Jesus bought each and every individual without exception with His blood, but the immediate context and the context of the entire chapter contradict your understanding of this verse. Immediately after “denying the Lord who bought them” it says “bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” You like to focus on the first part of that verse, but you deliberately ignore the second part of it. The purchase by blood is redemption. If Jesus bought them by redeeming them with His blood, how is it that destruction befalls them? If they are bought, if they are purchased, if they are redeemed by Christ, they cannot go to destruction! Hebrews tells us He secured an “eternal redemption.” Since being “bought” implies redemption, how is it that your beliefs make invalid the “eternal” claim of that redemption? We are sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. Your understanding of 2 Peter 2:1 is flawed. Verses 20-21 shed some light on the issue. These men professed to be bought by the Lord, but their actions (Titus 1:16) and the passing of time proved otherwise (1 John 2:19). Rather than merely grabbing a verse and trying to run with it to your own detriment, I suggest you try reading the Bible in its proper context.
If Jesus purchased each and every individual without exception by the shedding of His blood, then each and every individual belongs to Him and will not perish because His blood redeemed them. If He died for each and every individual’s sin without exception, then no one (without exception) is or will be condemned because their sins have all been forgiven and cast away as far as the east is from the west. Here you have even more arguments for Universalism. Again, either limited atonement is true or the Bible teaches Universalism. This is what your beliefs are declaring about the Bible. You cannot have Jesus die for the forgiveness of all men’s sins, be the Saviour of all men, and then have all men not saved and even condemned by their sins for which Jesus supposedly died for. Your beliefs make you “a double-minded man, unstable in all [your] ways” (James 1:8).
Finally, God does not choose who goes to hell. You err on that assumption, falsely attributing hyper-Calvinism to biblical teaching (what you call “Calvinism”). We are all already destined for hell (John 3:18– “is already condemned” –not “will be”). God merely chooses whom He will save for His glory, because otherwise none of us would be saved. God is under no obligation to save any of us, and He certainly is not obligated to save all of us. If God chooses to save some and pass over the rest, He has done nothing wrong. None of them deserve salvation. If he passes over everyone, and everybody goes to hell, God has done nothing wrong. Your belief that God must make an offer of salvation to all men equally comes from the presumption that mankind is basically good, which Scripture repudiates over and over again. God does not have to offer salvation to anyone! God can do whatever He wants with any one of us according to His own will (Is. 29:16; 64:8; Jer. 18:4, 6; Rom. 9:19-23).
Remember, it is man who cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14); is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23); does not seek for God (Rom. 3:11); is lawless, rebellious, unholy, and profane (1 Tim. 1:9); is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3), and is dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). If it were left up to man, no one would ever be saved. Hence, once again, the disciples asking Jesus “Then who can be saved?” (Matt. 19:25), and Jesus’ response, “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (v. 26). God, in His loving predestination, assured to Himself His people, the ones whom He called and predestined: “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Eph. 1:4-5). God’s own words—predestination is a loving doctrine: “In love He predestined us ... according to the kind intention of His will.”
Jesus will accomplish 100% what He came for. If He came to save each and every individual without exception, then each and every individual without exception will be saved, which means that Universalism is true. But, if He came to save His people, those select few that the Father gave Him, then He will save each and every one of those whom the Father gave Him and will not lose a single one, which means limited atonement is true. Before the foundations of the world were laid, God the Father chose a remnant of individuals to give to Jesus for His own people. God the Son died for those people given to Him by the Father, purchasing them with His blood. God the Holy Spirit sealed those people for the day of redemption and sanctifies them in order to conform them to the image of Christ Jesus. Like it or not, these are the things that the Bible says and teaches, but you choose not to believe them.
We may be free moral agents (being able to choose between right and wrong, although our motives are often tainted by sin), but we are not free spiritual agents. We cannot make ourselves born again or even contribute to our salvation. The belief that Jesus shed His blood to forgive the sins of all men without exception and to redeem all men without exception flies in the face of everything that the Scriptures teach. The blood is only applied to those who have been born again; it is not applied to everyone equally. If it was, then everyone, without exception, would be forgiven their sins and redeemed unto eternal life. This belief is called Universalism and it is a heresy! The belief that man and God co-operate in order to achieve man’s salvation is known as semi-Pelagianism, and it is also a heresy!
If you truly believe what your Bible says, then you will believe everything I have shared with you in this letter because it is exactly what the Bible teaches. If you do not believe it, then you have made a god in your own image to suit your own feelings and opinions, which make you an idolater. As such, you need to repent.
* Ignorance does not in any way, shape, or form denote or connote stupidity. The literalness of a word is its denotation; the broader associations we have with a word are its connotations. "A person can be ignorant (not knowing some fact or idea) without being stupid (incapable of learning because of a basic mental deficiency). And those who say, ‘That’s an ignorant idea’ when they mean ‘stupid idea’ are expressing their own ignorance." (Paul Brians, Common Errors in English Usage, posted on <http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/ignorant.html>).