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refers to the state Christ’s death proved them to be in, in a state of nature. To make it a consequence of Christ’s death is, I judge, an utter blunder.” The object of Christ’s death was all, not some, though only some get the benefit of it. |
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One must remember that when Christ died he bought the field - see Matthew 13:44 and verse 38 indicating that the field is the world. Christ has thus got rights to all as a result of his death. If we say that Christ did not die for all we could not say that he has a claim over all. To him every knee should bow (Philippians 2:10). It is not optional. Elsewhere it speaks of the master that bought them (2 Peter 2::2), though the context shows that the persons spoken of were not genuine Christians. When however we speak of redemption it is only his true followers that are spoken of - the treasure hid in the field (Matthew 13:44) - see also Revelation 5:9 where the redeemed are “out of every tribe...” In Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14 redemption is equated with the forgiveness of offences/sins and this clearly only applies to God’s chosen ones - see also John 10:14. |
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What the above amounts to is this: we need to avoid the extremes of either making the value of Christ’s death apply to every man, effectively making all men the subjects of blessing, or making his work only available to those whom God has predestinated, which would effectively negate the statement that God desires that all men should be saved. |
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December 2003 |