Redemption: Owen’s 11th Argument against Unlimited Atonement

Owen’s Argument 11: Redemption

P1: Christ’s death redeemed those He died for
P2: Those who are redeemed by Christ are freed from sin
P3: Not all are feed from sin
C1: Therefore, Christ didn’t die for all

http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/deathofdeath.i.ix.v.html

Scriptures Cited by Owen

“justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” Rom. iii. 24;
“in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,” Eph. i. 7
13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: - Galatians 3:13

Refutation

This is similar to the justice argument (#6). It also leads to a denial of justification by faith. Romans 1:7 relates redemption to forgiveness, so if Christ’s death at 33 redeemed us, we were forgiven at 33 AD and not when we come to faith.

I disagree with P1. Christ can redeem all, but He does not. Christ wants to redeem all, and His offering is able to be the basis of redemption for all, but He doesn’t actually redeem all. Justification, the declaration that we are not guilty, is through the redemption in Christ. Only those that come to faith are redeemed and declared righteous.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Responsibility - Evaluation of Arminian Grounds for LFW

Outline of Edwards Arguments in part V.I Arminians say if something causally predetermines our choices, we are not responsible. But responsibility is not the cause of choices, it’s in the nature of choices If responsibility is in the cause of choices, we search through an infinite regression of causes, and nothing is ever responsible. My Response Point 1 is close, but not quite accurate. While our actions can be predetermined, our choices cannot be. Choice cannot be predetermined, else it’s not choice. Predeterminism leave us with only one possible action, but choice requires alternatives (i.e. more than one). A “predetermined choice” is self-contradictory, implying we can choose something we can’t choose. So we think Calvinists are inconsistent for saying we can choose. Also, Arminians agree that we are responsible for our choices. Even though we deny we are responsible for things we are causally predetermined to do, we are not saying responsibility lies in the cause of choices,
Read more

John Owen - Death of Death in the Death of Christ

For those who may have suffered through my review of John Owen's classic work the Death of Death in the Death of Christ, I have wonderful news. You get to do it all over again!!! I compiled it into 5 articles available here . I also added a link on the left side of my blog. I also now have a left side of my blog. :-) God be with you, Dan
Read more

The Equivocation of Regeneration

In the order of salvation, which comes first, faith or regeneration? Before we can answer that, don't we first need to understand what regeneration is? In this post I plan on contrasting Hodge's view with Arminius'. Hopefully, in the process we can clarify the issue of monergism vs. synergism. Hodge’s Order of Salvation Common Grace – a “moral suasion” that brings good works, but is insufficient to enable justifying faith Regeneration – God’s supernatural and immediate change of a person’s nature Vocation – same Gospel as the one in common grace, but it’s effectual on the changed man. Conversion – faith and repentance “first conscious exercise of the renewed soul” Justification Two Definitions of Regeneration Hodges provides two alternative definitions of regeneration. Sometimes regeneration means just the imparting of life, other times it means the whole process including the things coming before and after the imparting of life. 1 Hodge says these two difference sense
Read more