The Bible doesn’t say Christ died for all men: Owen’s 5th Argument against Universal Atonement
Owen’s Argument 5: The Bible doesn’t say Christ died for all men
P1: The bible doesn’t say Christ died for all men
P2: The bible is our only source of truth on who Christ died for
C1: Therefore, Christ died not for all men
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/deathofdeath.i.ix.ii.html
Scriptures Cited by Owen
None.
Refutation
P1 is interesting. There are several passage that say Christ died for all, implying all men. In two case the implication is so strong that the KJV translates them all men & every man.
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
But the word “men” is not in the Greek. Other passages with a similar implication are 1 Tim 2:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:14-15. So while the scriptures might not say P1 in the lingo of P1, that’s what it means.
There is one passage that says all men in the Greek.
Romans 5:18 says:
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
So P1, which was built on a technicality, is technically false. But while the passages don’t say “all men” but mean it, Romans 5:18 may well have an implied qualification. I don’t think it does. I think it’s saying justification is available for everyone. But a strict reading implies too much.
In any case, Owen’s argument is interesting but in the end doesn’t hold up. Owen is relying on there being only one way to communicate Christ’s death for everyone. Saying Christ died for all (in the right context), or the world, or the whole world works just fine. For more, see reason 2 of the top ten reasons Christ died for all, where I go over 2 Tim 2:6 in detail.
http://danchapa.blogspot.com/2007/12/2-all-means-all.html
Comments
John MacArthur, for example, takes his limited atonement view to the Scriptures and therefore does what he so often preaches against and that is he reads into the text his own doctrine despite the clear reading of the text (for example see his notes on 1 John 2:1-2).
God be with you,
Dan
By the way, just so you are aware, that paper is about 5 years old. I have an upcoming debate with Turretinfan on Romans 9-11 and as part of the process, I plan on updating (hopefully improving) the paper. But the basics haven't changed.
God be with you,
Dan
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."), or John 10:26,27("because ye are not of my sheep...")? And then in connection with these passages and for the sake of debate, wouldn't "all men", "every man", etc simply refer then to all believers, all levels of society (kings and servants, bondman and free, etc), the Creation in general, or all men as coming from all races and parts of the world? depending on the context?
Wow that's a lot to cover! I have blogged on many of these passages in the past so probably the best thing to do would be to direct you to few past posts.
Romans 9:
http://www.arminianchronicles.com/2010/01/index-to-posts-on-romans-9-11.html
John 10:26:
http://www.arminianchronicles.com/2009/05/sheepkeeper.html
Acts 13:48:
http://www.arminianchronicles.com/2009/07/wesley-on-acts-1348.html
Hopefully those are enough to get started as a general approach. If you have more specific questions, please let me know.
As for all men, well, that needs to be examined case by case. All believers certainly is an option if the context calls for it. I am not convinced "all levels of society is valid". That either refers to the catigory itself (i.e. greenness) or all individuals who make up the catigory (i.e. all green people). If it's the green people, then unlimited atonement is still established (there are non-elect of every kind). If it's the catigory, well, I don't think Christ died for the abstract catigory the color green. He died for people.
God be with you,
Dan