The main objection to the clear scriptural teaching of particular redemption comes from those who put logic in the place of the Scriptures. They reason like this: premise A—Christ died for sinners (Rom. 5:8); premise B—all men are sinners (Rom. 3:23); logical conclusion—therefore Christ died for all men. Both premises A and B, by themselves, are true, but the conclusion is false because (1) it contradicts the clear teaching of other Scriptures concerning Christ dying for the elect only, and (2) the premises, although true in themselves when standing alone, are not true in the format as set forth above. That Christ died for sinners as opposed to dying for good people, and all men are sinners because there are no good people, has nothing to do with how many sinners Christ did or did not die for. The formula mixes apples and oranges. That is like saying, all men have two legs; that bird has two legs; therefore, that bird is a man.

Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,” contradicts this conclusion. This shows that Christ must save all, without exception, that he seeks. Christ does not effectually seek all and only manage to save some. No, no, he saves all that he seeks.

Matthew 9:10-13 shows that (1) Christ did not come to save all men; (2) he does not call all men; and (3) not all men acknowledge themselves “sinners,” but some are (in their own minds) righteous and therefore need no one to atone for them. Look at what the text says:

And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 

John 17:9 certainly contradicts the logic that attempts to establish universal atonement. “I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Why would Jesus die for men and then not pray for them? His work of intercession must be co-extensive with his atoning work on the cross. When Aaron went into the holy place on the Day of Atonement, he carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his breastplate. The Philistines, Caananites, and Jebusites were not included among those for whom the blood was shed or among those for whom Aaron interceded in the most holy place. He, like our Lord (John 17:9), prayed only for those for whom he offered the sacrifice.

IX. Some Problems for Universal Redemption to Solve 

Here are some clear texts of Scripture that can only be understood in “particular” terms. I have yet to see a satisfactory Arminian universalist explanation of these texts.

(1) John 10:11, 15. Christ died for his sheep, not for his sheep and the goats. Compare John 17:9.

(2) Ephesians 5:25. Christ gave himself for the church, not the church and those who perish.

(3) Romans 5:12-21. See Appendix Two.

(4) Hebrews 2:10-17. Many “sons” cannot mean all men without exception. “Abraham’s seed” is a particular people.

A second problem for the universalists is the successful travail of Christ. It “pleased the Lord to bruise him”—“he [the Father] put him to grief” (Isa. 53:10). Is God just as loving, kind, and just to his only begotten Son as he is to sinners? Is God honest and fair with sinners, but not with his Son? Will the Father give his Son all that he earned by his death?

A third difficulty is that Christ’s office of shepherd becomes a failure. Free-will Arminianism would have us believe that some of those for whom Christ suffered and died will nonetheless perish. If he loses some of the sheep for whom he was made responsible, then he fails in his job as the shepherd. The following verses, as they respect Christ’s work as the shepherd of the sheep, would have to be rewritten if universal atonement were true.

I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)

I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. (John 10:14)

That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Of them whom thou gavest me have I lost none. (John 18:9)

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. (Heb. 13:20)

Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls. (1 Pet. 2:24, 25)

Yet another dilemma is that Christ’s priestly work becomes a proposition that contradicts itself. He refuses to pray for the very people for whom he supposedly died. “I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them whom thou hast given me; for they are thine” (John 17:9). “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Notice that this last text says men (specific men) and not man (mankind indiscriminately). The world has no mediator, but the sheep have one whose mediatorial work never fails. Would Christ die for men and then not intercede for them?

The argument that convinced me that Christ could not have died for all men was Spurgeon’s argument that there were already sinners in hell when Christ died. Can anyone honestly believe that the Father would punish Christ on the cross for men who were at that moment lost in hell? Who can believe that at the very moment Christ was suffering on the cross,s he could look into hell and see men there for whom he was being punished? Did the Father punish Christ for Ahab when Ahab was already in hell?

The very foundation of God’s righteousness is destroyed by the doctrine of universal atonement. The ground of a believer’s assurance is that God will not, yea, cannot, punish sin twice. Free-will universalism must hold that God punishes sin in Christ and then punishes the sinner in hell. The false idea that all sin is paid for except the sin of unbelief has been more than adequately answered by A.W. Pink and J.I. Packer.^[1]

It does not seem to occur to the proponents of a universal atonement that the whole biblical plan of salvation is distorted by their system. In the Scriptures, the Trinity works in total unison in the purposes of salvation. The Son redeems all of those chosen by the Father, and the Holy Spirit regenerates all of the chosen and redeemed ones. In universal atonement, the persons of the Trinity work in different directions with varying degrees of success. At every turn the Holy Spirit cannot effect the gracious desires of the Father and the Son until the mighty free will of the sinner is willing to give God a chance.

Finally, the foundation of assurance of salvation must either collapse or be placed squarely on man’s faith alone. If God did the same thing for Judas, and every other Christ-rejecter, that he did for Peter and the rest of the elect, how can we be sure that we will not eventually perish as Judas did? The religion of free will answers: because I am willing. I have faith! I used my free will to accept God’s offer of grace. Such a system makes faith, not Christ’s death, to be the grounds of assurance and the only vital difference between a lost man and a saved man. This teaches that all men are truly redeemed by Christ’s blood, but it is the sinner’s faith that makes the sole difference between him and those who perish. What happens when we doubt? Are we lost?

Conclusion: Read Exodus 28:6–12; 21–29

Consider the Old Testament Day of Atonement. Aaron wore only the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his shoulders and breast as he stood before God. The blood shed on the altar and then sprinkled on the mercy seat was not for the heathen nations, but only for the nation of Israel. Just as the high priest carried the names of the tribes on his shoulder and heart as he stood before God on the Day of Atonement, so our High Priest had our names on his shoulders and heart as he endured God’s wrath, went into the tomb, and ascended into heaven. He breathes our individual names to the Father and pleads his merits on our behalf. He does this for every sinner that comes to him! He turns no one away that comes! If I am such a sinner, in need of such a Redeemer, I dare believe he died for even me! 

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