Chewing on the Truth Part 4

Why did Christ have to die? The death of Christ was a necessity because God is just and there had to be recompense for sin. Therfore the cross was the necessary vindication of the righteousness of God in justifying the ungodly by faith. So Jesus goes to calvary and bears the curse for sin which we were supposed to bear so that we can be justified before a holy God and vindicated, not held accountable.

All Christians can agree that Jesus paid it all as the song sings but who did He pay it all for? For everyone? I have to again steal what Piper says about this Truth of Scripture because it is put so clearly:

If you say that he died for every human being in the same way, then you have to define the nature of the atonement very differently than you would if you believe that Christ only died for those who actually believe. In the first case you would believe that the death of Christ did not actually save anyone, it only made men savable. It didn't actually remove God's punitive wrath from anyone, but instead created a place where people could come and find mercy--IF they could accomplish their own new birth and bring themselves to faith without the irresistible grace of God.

If Christ died for all men in the same way then he did not purchase regenerating grace for those who are saved. They must regenerate themselves and bring themselves to faith. Then and only then do they become partakers on the benefits of the cross. So if you believe that Christ died for all men in the same way then the benefits of the cross can't include the mercy b which we are brought to faith because then all men would be brought to faith, but they aren't. But if the mercy by which we are brough tot faith is not part of what Christ purchased on the cross, then we are left to save ourselves from the bondage of sin, the hardness of heart, the blindness of corruption and the wrath of a holy God.

In the cross God had in view the actual redemption of his children. And we affirm that when Christ died for these, He did not just create the opportunity for them to save themselves, but really purchased for them all that was necessary to get them saved, including the grace of regeneration and the gift of faith. We do not deny that all men are the intended benefciaries of the cross in some sense, but we do deny that all men are intended as the beneficiaries of the death of Christ in the same way. All of God's mercy toward unbeleivers from the rising of the sun to the worldwride preaching of the Gospel is becuase of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The answer is that Christ's death so clearly demonstrates God's just abhorrence of sin that he is free to treat the world with mercy without compromising his righteousness. In this sense He is the savior of all men. He did not die for all men in the same sense. The intention of the death of Christ for the children of God was that it purchase far more than the rising sun and the opportunity to be saved. The death of Christ actually saves from ALL evil those for whom Christ died...

"I lay down my life for the sheep...you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep." -John 10:15

The "whole world" as talked about in many passages is referring to the children of God who are scattered throughout the world. John 11:51-52 says, "He prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad". If we really believed that in verses like 1 John 2:2 "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" that the whole world was referring to EVERY INDIVIDUAL in the entire world, we would have to believe that John thinks/taught everyone would be saved, which obviously isn't what He teacehs at all. Sins that were propitiated can't be punished. IF He died and propiated all sins then we would say John taught universialism, which He didn't. We must realize that it was rather for some that He gave His life, as Mark 10:45 says, "For the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life for many". In fact JESUS Himself said, "This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28).

If that doesn't make it clear enough look at Ephesians 5:25-27 where Paul says that the intended beneficiary is the church! "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her!" Think about this for a moment from Piper, "If God gave His own Son for unbelievers who in the end are lost then he cannot as Romans 8:32 says, say that the giving of the Son guarantees all things for those for whom he died. But this is what he does say. If God gave His son for YOU, then He most certainly will give you all things. The structure of Paul's thought here is simply destroyed by introducing the idea that Christ died for all men in the same way. If Christ died for the sin of all men then is unbelief not a sin that is covered by the blood of Jesus? Then people must be saved without having all their sins atoned for in Jesus. He died for the unbelief of th eelect so that God's punitive wrath is appeased toward them and HIs grace is free to draw them irresistibly out of darkness into His marvelous light."