Ronnie W. Rogers, “Taking every thought captive…”

One of the weakest links in Calvinism is the teaching that Christ died only for the elect.  The Scripture seems lucidly clear in proclaiming that Christ died for everyone who is lost–the world, which reality has caused many to wear the label “four point Calvinsit”.  Here are my thoughts on what the Bible teaches concerning whom Christ died for.

I affirm that “world” means all people i.e. individuals; further that the “all”¹ that have sinned (Romans 3:23) is the same “all” that He offers rest to (Matthew 11:28), the same “all” He died for (2 Corinthians 5:14-15), the same “all” He gave Himself as a ransom for (1Tim. 2:6), the same “all” He tasted death for ( Heb. 2:9) and paid for sins of (1 John 2:2); which is also the same group that God loves (John 3:16), whom the Holy Spirit convicts (John 16:8), whom the commission of Matthew 28:18-20 is for, and the “all” in disobedience and “all” to whom God may show mercy (Romans 11:32).²

I disaffirm that “world”, “all”, always means merely and/or exclusively all people groups…thereby signifying that some individuals do not have a choice to believe,³ or nations meaning that some in the nation have no choice, but others do; I disaffirm the legitimacy of transforming the words “world”, “all”, and “every man” into meaning “the elect” as Calvinists must do in order to support Calvinism even though these words as well as others are limited at times; further, I disaffirm that God’s “first and great requirement of all men everywhere is that they repent from seeking their joy in other things and begin to seek it only in him”⁴ is predetermined by God to be forever unavailable to all; finally, that the Great Commission mandate “make disciples of all nations” simply means all “people groups.”⁵

1. “All” in Romans 3:9 - does this mean every Jew and Greek, or Jews and Greeks as a group? We all agree that it means everyone. Other examples of “all” meaning all of the entire genre are all angels in Matthew 25:31 and all apostles in Matthew 26:31. [↩]
2. If one says that “all” means all classes of men, but not all men in every class, then why does it not mean all classes of men but not all men in every class in Romans 3:23 where it says, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God?” [↩]
3. This is a distinction used by Calvinists to transform words like “world” or “all” to mean groups of people or the elect, rather than meaning all individuals, both elect and non-elect, in the world. While it is true that words like “world” or “all” sometimes have a limited meaning based upon context, it is also true that at times they mean everyone everywhere. An example of using the word nations in this way is John Piper’s book entitled, “Let the Nations Be Glad”, which actually, according to Calvinism, means let some in the nations be glad since some will never get the opportunity to do as he says, “seek their own best interest”, ibid. p33, or be saved. Consequently, I believe, based on his strong Calvinism, He should change the title to “Let some in the Nations be Glad”. [↩]
4. Piper, Let the Nations, p33. [↩]
5. John Piper makes this argument in “Let the Nations Be Glad” p203-204. He gives 10 reasons why ἔθνη should be understood as “people group” rather than individuals for whom Christ died since Piper believes that salvation will happen to some throughout the world, but does not believe that everyone throughout the world can be saved by faith. In his arguments, he admits that the very form of the word used here “can mean either Gentile individuals or people groups.” Further, concerning the exact phrase used in this passage, “all the nations” he says, “Only once must it mean Gentile individuals. Nine times it must mean people groups. The other eight times are ambiguous.” Consequently, by his own admission, both the word and the phrase are used both ways, which fits fine with what I am presenting but does not work for a Calvinist. Referring to usages in the Old Testament of the phrase, he says “Virtually all” there again demonstrating that grammar does not prove the Calvinist point. His conclusion, after laying out his 10 reasons to prove his position, which actually does the opposite, is “Therefore in all likelihood Jesus did not send his apostles out with a general mission merely to win as many individuals as they could, but rather to reach all peoples of the world” (italics added), a point he surely did not prove. That these words “all”, “nations”, and “world” are used at times to mean the elect and at times to include everyone is the point I am making, but that does not fit in Calvinism; hence, they must artificially allow key passages to say only the elect, and some to say peoples, etc. They must shift meanings so that “all have sinned” means everyone has sinned, but when referring to salvation, “all” or “world” does not mean individuals. It is also important to note that context determines the way a word is used, and if not for their system, one would not have to make non-context necessitated modifications. [↩]