In the days of the early Christians (the first three centuries), there was a religious group who strongly disputed the Congregation's ("Church's") stance on salvation and works. This religious group taught
If you think the Gnostics were "true Christians," observe what the apostle John said about them: "Many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist" (2 John 7).
If our Evangelical doctrine of salvation is true, we are faced with the uncomfortable reality that this doctrine was first taught by "deceivers and antichrists" before it was taught by Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and others.
Ponder that point promptly.
Scholars have noted that "Calvinism" (a.k.a. "TULIP" or "The Doctrines of Grace") has risen up in popularity four times over the past 500 years. Every single time, it always dies back down. Why do you suppose that is? Well, either God ordained it to be such, or else the system just does not hold any water theologically and/or logically. When Christians actually hold Scripture as their authority rather than what some preacher has told them to believe (or what is dictated in their creeds, confessions, catechisms, constitutions, statements of faith, or systems of theology), they inevitably come to a conclusion that is opposed to these beliefs.
Calvinists teach that Jesus only died for the Congregation and purchased it with His blood. However, Scripture teaches that Jesus died for all (2 Cor. 5:15). Let us see what Scripture and the early Christians (A.D. 90-300) have to say:
"All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him." Isaiah 53:6
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30
"Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house." Matthew 12:29
"So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish." Matthew 18:14
"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28
"He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him." John 1:7
"The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"" John 1:29
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." John 3:16-17
"and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."" John 4:42
"For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world. ... I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." John 6:33, 51
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber." John 10:1
"If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world." John 12:47
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;" Romans 3:23-24
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ... But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many." Romans 5:6, 15
"for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."" Romans 10:13
"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. ... namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 19
"And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—" Colossians 1:21-22
"This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time." 1 Timothy 2:3-6
"For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers." 1 Timothy 4:10
"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men," Titus 2:11
"But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. ... herefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." Hebrews 2:9, 14-15
"By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ... but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD," Hebrews 10:10, 12
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9
"and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." 1 John 2:2
"We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world." 1 John 4:14
"The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost." Revelation 22:17
"Because of the love He had for us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God. He gave His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls." —Clement of Rome
"I mean Him who crucified my sin, along with him [Satan] who was the inventor of it. Christ has condemned all the deceit and malice of the devil under the feet of those who carry Him in their hearts." —Ignatius
"The Father Himself placed upon Christ the burden of our iniquities. He gave His own Son as a ransom for us: the holy one for the transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked. . . . For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? . . . O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors." —Letter to Diognetus
"Jesus Christ "bore our sins in His own body on the tree."" —Polycarp
He Himself purged away their sins, having suffered many trials and undergone many labours. For no one is able to dig without labour and toil. He Himself, then, having purged away the sins of the people, showed them the paths of life by giving them the law which he received from His Father." —Hermas
"The whole human race will be found to be under a curse. . . . The Father of all wished His Christ, for the whole human family, to take upon Him the curses of all, knowing that, after He had been crucified and was dead, He would raise Him up. . . . His Father wished Him to suffer this, in order that by His stripes the human race might be healed." —Justin Martyr
My brothers, do not say any evil thing against the One who was crucified. Do not treat with scorn the stripes by which everyone may be healed, even as we [Christians] are healed." —Justin Martyr
"Corruption became inherent in nature. So it was necessary that He who wished to save us would be someone who destroyed the essential cause of corruption. And this could not be done other than by the life that is according to nature being united to that which had received corruption. For this would destroy the corruption. At the same time, it would preserve the body that had received it with immortality for the future. Therefore, it was necessary that the Word would become possessed of a body. This was so He could deliver us from the death of natural corruption. For if, as you suggest, He had simply warded off death from us by a simple nod, indeed death would not have approached us—on account of his will. However, we would have again become corruptible, for we carried about in ourselves that natural corruption." —Justin Martyr
"When our Lord arose from the place of the dead, and trampled death under foot, and bound the strong one, and set man free, then the whole creation saw clearly that for man’s sake the Judge was condemned." —Melito
"He suffered for the sake of those who suffer, and He for the sake of Adam’s race, which was imprisoned." —Melito
"In place of Isaac the just, a ram appeared for slaughter, in order that Isaac might be liberated from his bonds. The slaughter of this animal redeemed Isaac from death. In like manner, the Lord, being slain, saved us. Being bound, He loosed us. Being sacrificed, He redeemed us." —Melito
"When He became incarnate and was made man, he began anew the long line of human beings. And He furnished us . . . with salvation—so that what we had lost in Adam (namely, to be in the image and likeness of God), we might recover in Christ Jesus." —Irenaeus
"Christ fought and conquered. That is because He was man, contending for the fathers. Through obedience, He completely did away with disobedience. For He bound the strong man and set free the weak. He endowed His own handiwork with salvation, by destroying sin. For He is a most holy and merciful Lord, and He loves the human race. Therefore, as I have already said, He caused man to cleave to and to become one with God. For unless man had overcome the enemy of man, the enemy would not have been legitimately conquered." —Irenaeus
"For by no other means could we have attained to incorruptibility and immortality, unless we had been united to incorruptibility and immortality. But how could we be joined to incorruptibility and immortality—unless, first, incorruptibility and immortality had become that which we also are, so that the corruptible might be swallowed up by incorruptibility." —Irenaeus
"For at the first, Adam became a vessel in his [Satan's] possession, whom he did also hold under his power. That is, by bringing sin on him unjustly, and under color of immortality, he brought death upon him. For, while promising that they should be as gods, which was in no way possible for him to be, he created death in them. For that reason, he who had led man captive, was justly captured in his turn by God. But man, who had been led captive, was loosed from the bonds of condemnation." —Irenaeus
"Abraham, according to his faith, followed the command of the Word of God. With a ready mind, he delivered up, as a sacrifice to God, his only-begotten and beloved son. This was to demonstrate that God also might be pleased to offer up for all his seed His own beloved and only-begotten Son, as a sacrifice for our redemption." —Irenaeus
"By means of our first [parents], we were all brought into bondage, by being made subject to death. So at last, by means of the New Man, all who from the beginning were His disciples, having been cleansed and washed from things pertaining to death, can come to the life of God." —Irenaeus
"In the last times, the Son was made a man among men, and He re-formed the human race. However, He destroyed and conquered man's enemy. So He gave to His handiwork victory against the adversary." —Irenaeus
"How will man pass into God, unless God had first passed into man? . . . Yet, how could He have subdued him who was stronger than men, who had not only overcome man, but also retained him under his power? How could He have conquered him who had conquered, while he set free mankind, who had been conquered? To do these things, He had to be greater than man who had been conquered in this manner." —Irenaeus
"This very thing was proclaimed beforehand: that a new thing should come to renew and quicken mankind." —Irenaeus
"In no other way could we have learned the things of God, unless our Master, existing as the Word, had become man. For no other being had the power of revealing to us the things of the Father." —Irenaeus
"Redeeming us by His own blood in a manner in harmony with reason, He gave Himself as a redemption for those who had been led into captivity. . . . The apostasy tyrannically and unjustly ruled over us. And it alienated us contrary to nature (for we were by nature the property of the omnipotent God), rendering us its own disciples. However, the Word of God, powerful in all things (and not defective with regard to His own justice) did righteously turn against that apostasy, and redeem His own property from it. For the apostasy had obtained dominion over us at the beginning, when it insatiably snatched away what was not its own. Now, Christ did not do this by violent means, but by means of persuasion. This is becoming to a God of counsel, who does not use violent means to obtain what He desires. In this manner, neither would justice be infringed upon, nor would the ancient handiwork of God go to destruction." —Irenaeus
"In this manner, the Lord has redeemed us through His own blood, giving His soul for our souls, and His flesh for our flesh. He has also poured out the Spirit of the Father for the union and communion of God and man, actually imparting God to men by means of the Spirit. On the other hand, He has joined man to God by His own incarnation. And He will truly and lastingly bestow immortality upon us at His coming—through communion with God." —Irenaeus
"The Word of the Father and the Spirit of God had become united with the ancient substance of Adam's formation. So it rendered man living and perfect, receptive of the perfect Father, in order that as in the natural [Adam] we all were dead, so in the spiritual [Adam] we may all be made alive." —Irenaeus
"To do away with that disobedience of man that had taken place at the beginning by means of a tree, "He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." He thereby rectified that disobedience that had occurred by reason of a tree, through that obedience that was upon the tree [i.e., the cross]. . . . In the first Adam, we had offended God Himself. For Adam did not perform God's commandment. However, in the second Adam, we are reconciled to God, being made obedient even unto death. For we were debtors to no one else but to Him whose commandment we had transgressed at the beginning. . . . By transgressing [God's] commandment, we became His enemies. Therefore, in the last times, the Lord has restored us into friendship through His incarnation. He has become "the Mediator between God and men," propitiating indeed for us the Father against whom we had sinned. He has cancelled our disobedience by His own obedience. He also conferred upon us the gift of communion with, and subjection to, our Maker." —Irenaeus
"He is the God who is proclaimed in the Scriptures, to whom we were debtors, having transgressed His commandment. . . . Since He is the same One against whom we had sinned in the beginning, He is the One who grants forgiveness of sins in the end. . . . And in what way can sins be truly forgiven, unless it be that He against whom we have sinned has Himself granted forgiveness "through the bowels of mercy of our God," in which "He has visited us" through His Son? [Luke 1:78]." —Irenaeus
"In His work of recapitulation, He has summed up all things. He has waged war against our enemy. He has crushed him who had in the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head." —Irenaeus
"Therefore, the Lord declares himself to be the Son of man. For He comprised in Himself that original man out of whom the woman was fashioned. He did this so that, as our species went down to death through a conquered man, so we may ascend to life again through a victorious one." —Irenaeus
"[After Satan tempted Him,] Christ spurned Satan . . . as having been conquered out of the Law. So, by the commandments of the Law, which the Son of man observed, there was done away with that breaking of God's commandment that had occurred in Adam." —Irenaeus
"It was necessary that through man himself Satan would, when conquered, be bound with the same chains with which he had bound man. This was so that man, being set free, could return to his Lord, leaving to Satan those bonds by which man himself had been fettered—that is, sin. For when Satan is bound, man is set free. For "no one can enter a strong man's house and spoil his goods, unless he first binds the strong man himself."" —Irenaeus
"Satan is justly led captive, for he had led men unjustly into bondage. At the same time, man, who had been led captive in times past, was rescued from the grasp of his possessor, according to the tender mercy of God the Father. For He had compassion on His own handiwork, and gave salvation to it." —Irenaeus
"By His own passion, He rescued us from offenses and sins." —Clement of Alexandria
"[CHRIST SPEAKING:] For you I contended with Death, and I paid your death, which you owed for your former sins and your unbelief towards God." —Clement of Alexandria
"About to be offered up and giving himself a ransom, he left for us a new testament: My love I give unto you. And what and how great is it? For each of us, He gave His life—the equivalent for all." —Clement of Alexandria
"Christ became man in the midst of men, to recreate our Adam through Himself. [He is Lord of] things under the earth, because He was also reckoned among the dead, preaching the Gospel to the souls of the saints. By death, he overcame death." —Hippolytus
"As a young bull, . . . such was Christ in submitting voluntarily to the death of the flesh. Yet, He was not overcome by death. Although as man He became one of the dead, He remained alive in the nature of divinity. For Christ is the bull—an animal, above all, strong, neat, and devoted to sacred use. And the Son is Lord of all power, who had no sin, but rather offered Himself for us, a savor of a sweet smell to his God and Father." —Hippolytus
"He passed through every stage in life in order that he Himself might serve as a law for persons of every age, and that, by being present among us, He might demonstrate His own manhood as a model for all men. He also did this so that by himself He could prove that God made nothing evil and that man possesses the capacity of self-determination. For he is able to both will and not to will. And he is endowed with to do both." —Hippolytus
"God therefore sent down into the virgin's womb His Word, as the good brother, who would blot out the memory of the evil brother. Hence, it was necessary that Christ should come forth for the salvation of man in that same condition of flesh into which man had entered ever since his condemnation." —Tertullian
"You have already been ransomed by Christ—and that at a great price!" —Tertullian
"Should you ransom with money a man whom Christ has ransomed with His blood? . . . Being numbered with the transgressors, He was delivered up to death, nay, the death of the cross. All this took place so that He might redeem us from our sins. The sun ceded to us the day of our redemption. Hades gave back the right it had on us." —Tertullian
"When that which was delivered with so much authority has come to pass, it shows that God—having really become man—delivered to men the doctrines of salvation." —Origen
"We were not helped by His original life, sunk as we were in sin. Therefore, He came down into our deadness in order that, He having died to sin, we might then receive that life of His that is forever. For we bear about in our body the dying of Jesus." —Origen
"[Christ] was made like a lamb who is dumb before her shearer, so that we might be purified by His death. For His death is given as a sort of medicine against the opposing power and also against the sin of those who open their minds to the truth. For the death of Christ reduced to weakness those powers that war against the human race. And it set the life of each believer free from sin through a power beyond our words. He takes away sin until every enemy will be destroyed and death last of all—in order that the whole world may be free from sin. Therefore, John pointed to Him and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." . . . His taking away sin is still going on. He is taking it away from every individual in the world until sin is taken away from the whole world." —Origen
"Christ is our Redemption because we had become prisoners and needed ransoming." —Origen
"I submitted to death, purchasing us back by His own blood from him who had got us into his power, sold under sin." —Origen
"As death came through one man, so also the justification of life is through one man. Had He not assumed humanity, we could not have received such a benefit we have from the Logos." —Origen
"A man could not give anything as an exchange for his own life, but God gave an exchange for the life of us all, "the precious blood of Christ Jesus." Accordingly, "we were bought with a price," "having been redeemed, not with corruptible things as silver or gold, but with precious blood."" —Origen
"The Son also gave Himself to death for us, so that He was delivered up—not only by the Father—but also by Himself." —Origen
"There is in the nature of things (for certain mysterious reasons that are difficult to be understood by the multitude) such a virtue that one just man—dying a voluntary death for the common good—might be the means of removing wicked spirits who are the cause of plagues, famine, storms, or similar calamities. Let those persons, therefore, who would disbelieve the statement that Jesus died on the cross on behalf of men, tell us whether they also refuse to accept the many accounts prevalent among both Greeks and barbarians of persons who have laid down their lives for the public advantage—in order to remove those evils that had fallen upon cities and countries?" —Origen
"Christ is to be contemplated in our captive brethren. He, who redeemed us from the peril of death, is to be redeemed from the peril of captivity. He took us out of the jaws of the devil. He abides and dwells in us. And He redeemed us by His cross and blood. Now, He Himself can be rescued and redeemed by a sum of money from the hands of barbarians. . . . The Lord in His Gospel says, "I was sick, and you visited me."" —Cyprian
"He who is freed owes obedience to his Deliverer." —Cyprian
"This gift of His mercy He confers upon us—by overcoming death in the trophy of the cross, by redeeming the believer with the price of His blood, by reconciling man to God the Father, by quickening our mortal nature with a heavenly regeneration." —Cyprian
"This is Christ, who, as the Mediator of the two, puts on man so that He may lead them to the Father. What man is, Christ was willing to be—so that man may also be what Christ is." —Cyprian
"The Son was willing to be sent and to become the Son of man, so that He could make us sons of God. . . . He underwent death so that He could present immortality to mortals. . . . At His coming, the Lord cured those wounds that Adam had borne. He healed the old poisons of the serpent. Thereafter, He gave a law to the sound man and bade him to sin no more, lest a worse thing should befall the sinner. . . . Those sins that had been previously committed are purged by the blood and sanctification of Christ." —Cyprian
"He desired to re-create that Adam by means of the week, and to bring aid to His entire creation. He accomplished these things through the birth of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord." —Victorinus
"For man's salvation, He was made man in order to overcome death and to set all men free. In that He offered himself as a victim to the Father on our behalf, he was called a calf." —Victorinus
"The devil, the traitor angel, thought that all men alike would perish by death. However, because Christ was not born of [human] seed, He owed nothing to death. Therefore, the devil could not devour Him—that is, detain Him in death. For on the third day, He rose again." —Victorinus
"With this purpose, the Word assumed the nature of man so that, having overcome the serpent, He might by himself destroy the condemnation that had come into being along with man's ruin. For it was fitting that the Evil One should be overcome by none other than man, whom he had deceived and of whom he was boasting that he held in subjection. For in no other way was it possible for sin and condemnation to be destroyed except by creating anew that same man on whose account it had been said, "Dust you are and to dust you will return." Only in this way could the sentence be undone that had gone forth on all because of [Adam]. So that "as in Adam" at first "all die," so like- wise "in Christ," who assumed the [nature and position of] Adam, should "all be made alive."" —Methodius
"The Word descended into our world and was incarnate of our body. He did this so that—having fashioned it to a more divine image—He might raise it incorruptible (even though it had been dissolved by time)." —Methodius
"In the teaching of the church, He gave Himself up for the remission of sins." —Alexander of Lycopolis
Recapitulation refers to the "summing up" of all things in Christ through the incarnation. By becoming human and living a perfect life, the Son restored fallen mankind to communion with God and undid the evil caused by Satan in the Garden of Eden. Irenaeus particularly developed this theme in his writings. See Ephesians 1:10.
