I affirm that Christ’s sacrifice paid the price for the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2, 4:14); further, not only is the Atonement of Christ unlimited in its value, but also in its provision; further, the benefit of His atonement is offered to everyone, not merely all people groups or nations, but rather individuals; therefore, the Holy Spirit is presently working to convict the world—all men (John 16:8,9) of sin whereby all men can believe and be saved as is God’s desire (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4). Hence, the Father desires that every individual repent and be saved, and therefore the Son, whose desire is one with the Father, died for all so that they could be saved according to the Father’s desire; consequently, the Holy Spirit, whose desire is one with the Father and the Son, convicts all of sin thereby allowing every person to have a real chance to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Moreover, the mandate to the church to go and take the gospel into the entire world is not merely to provide the means of salvation to a select few and a good faith offer to everyone else, but rather a real offer that can either be accepted or rejected.
I disaffirm that God’s desire for everyone to experience eternal life, knowing that some will not trust Christ, in any way diminishes His sovereignty since He without constraint or coercion chose to grant man that opportunity; further, that people rejecting Christ’s death on the cross for them and His payment for their sin somehow makes Christ’s unused sacrifice wasted; it is not wasted since Christ’s death on the cross accomplished precisely what God desired, which is to provide every person, by mercy, an opportunity to be saved (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 2:9; 1 John 1:2, 4:14), and to save forever all who believe (John 3:16).
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