Check out the other video blogs here: Pastor's Video Blog
For the other video blogs in this series and the outline, click here: Answers to So-called Arminian Verses
For a paperback book in outline form which addresses over 150 difficult verses that Arminians use against Sovereign Grace, check out: Problem Texts for Sovereign Grace: Rooting Arminianism Out of Every Verse.
Answers to So-called Arminian Verses
2. 1Jo 2:2 - And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
A. Does this verse teach universal redemption - that Jesus died for the sins of the entire human race without exception?
i. No, it doesn't.
ii. Whoever "the whole world" is in 1 John 2:2, their sins were propitiated by Jesus.
iii. Propitiation n. - 1. The action or an act of propitiating; appeasement, conciliation; atonement, expiation.
a. A propitiation is an appeasement of God's wrath.
b. The only way to appease God's wrath is to take away the sins that caused it.
c. Therefore, propitiation is the act of taking away a man's sins.
iv. Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the "whole world"; He didn't simply attempt, try, offer, or hope to be the propitiation of their sins.
v. Whoever the "whole world" is -- their sins are atoned for.
B. The "whole world" doesn't necessarily have to mean the entire human race.
i. 1Jn 5:19 - And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
ii. Rom 1:8 - First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
C. The "whole world" cannot be the entire human race.
i. The world doesn't always refer to the entire human race (Luk 2:1).
ii. World - The inhabitants of the earth, or a section of them.
iii. What world did Jesus take away the sin of? All the inhabitants of the earth, or a section of them?
a. Jesus did not take away the sin of the entire human race.
b. If Jesus took away the sin of the entire human race, then the entire human race would be saved eternally and be going to heaven since they would have NO SIN for which to suffer in hell.
(i) There are people in hell now (Jud 1:7) and more on the way (Rev 20:15).
(ii) Therefore, Jesus did not take away their sin, for if He did, they wouldn't be in hell.
c. This is the most basic fact of the gospel; remember it if you remember nothing else: if Jesus died for a person's sins, they are redeemed and are going to heaven because they have no sin to die for; if Jesus didn't die for all of a person's sins, they are going to hell because they have sin to die for.
(i) If Jesus died for all of the sins of the entire human race, then the entire human race is going to heaven.
(ii) If any member of the entire human race is not going to heaven, then Jesus didn't die for the sins of the entire human race. Period.
(iii) This isn't hard to understand; it's hard to accept.
d. Jesus did not die for every man that has ever lived.
(i) Jesus died for His sheep (Joh 10:15).
(ii) Many are not His sheep (Joh 10:26).
(iii) Jesus therefore did not die for them and they will go to hell (Mat 25:31-33,41).
iv. Therefore, the "whole world," for whose sins Jesus is the propitiation, is a section of the inhabitants of the earth, not all of them without exception.
D. Jesus only died for and took away the sins of those whom the Father gave Him - His elect.
i. Those whom the Father gave Him were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4).
ii. He was called JESUS because "he shall save HIS PEOPLE from their sins" (Mat 1:21).
iii. Jesus said He was only sent to "give eternal life to AS MANY AS THOU HAST GIVEN HIM" (Joh 17:2), and He actually did it (Joh 17:4).
iv. Jesus will raise up at the last day all that the Father gave Him (Joh 6:37-39).
v. Jesus gave HIS SHEEP eternal life and they shall never perish (Joh 10:27-29).
E. The "whole world" is all the children of God scattered abroad (Joh 11:50-52), not just the nation of Israel.
F. The "whole world," for whose sins Christ is the propitiation, is the world of His elect which is a section of the human race out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation: the "whole world" distributively, not collectively (Rev 5:9).
