@brightfame52
EXACTLY!
As those of us supporting Universal Atonement have been saying to Dave in hundreds of posts now (all ignored).
What makes the difference? Faith.
For one to have personal justification, TWO things are necessary: The Cross and Faith. Jesus supplies it by the Cross, it is applied to/apprehended/embraced by the individual person by faith. BOTH are the work of God. BOTH are the gift God. BOTH are necessary for personal justification. One without the other does not result in justification.
+ Universal Atonement stands with the Bible and the history and faith of the church in believing what the Bible so clearly, so often, verbatim states: Jesus died for all.
+ Universal Atonement stands with the Bible and the faith of the church in believing what the Bible so clearly, so often, verbatim states: He who has faith receives this atoning work. And thus that individual is saved/personally justified.
Dave has insisted that if Jesus died for all, then all have personal justification. Why? Because he rejects faith, ALL that matters is the Cross, faith is irrelevant, moot to personal justification. When ask to give the verses that state, "Jesus did NOT die for all but ONLY for some unknown few" well, since he can't, he just keeps stating the question "If Jesus died for all, then all are saved" (and of course we all know not all are saved). The apologetic he has for this radical Calvinist theory (rejected by every Calvinist I know) is: Since faith doesn't matter (only the Cross, the Cross alone), then if Jesus died for all then all are saved. His premise is wrong. The Cross is not alone. Faith is not irrelevant. The Cross (while critical and essential) is not all that matters. He simply has repudiated faith part of the biblical, classic teaching of personal justification. By repudiating the FAITH part, the ONLY reason for why some aren't saved is the Cross. Thus all we hear from him is "If Jesus died for all then all would be saved." It's a wrong conclusion because it's based entirely on a wrong premise, that ALL that matters is if Jesus died for you, faith is irrelevant.
Jesus died for everyone. EXACTLY what the Bible states.
Not everyone has faith. EXACTLY what the Bible states.
Since BOTH the Cross and Faith are essential to personal justification (neither is "ALONE") then the reason some don't have personal justification is not because the Bible is wrong when it states Jesus died for all but because the Bible is right when it says He died for all but not all have faith and thus not all apprehend/apply the Cross to self via the divine gift of faith.
Now, your theory that God gives faith to all for whom He died is simply Universalism (an off shot of radical Calvinism). And is nowhere stated in Scripture, as you've shown. Historically, Election has always been regarded as MYSTERY (we don't know why) and connected to FAITH. Yes, God gives faith to His elect. But this by no means creates a contradiction because (the church has always believed) predestination applies to those who will be given faith, NOT to those for whom Jesus would die. Thus, all the Scriptures are correct, we don't have to repudiate and denounce a whole set of clear Scriptures: the ones that teach Jesus died for all and the ones that teach God gives faith to whom he chooses. These few radical Calvinists, by re-directing predestination to the Cross instead of faith, got themselves in a real mess -one that requires repudiating a LOT of very clear Scriptures Christians have always believed.
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