I understand the part about you must believe as a condition but what I want you to ponder is if every single sin from every single person past, present and future is atoned for on the cross, how is not believing in Jesus not atoned for considering that not believing in Jesus would be considered unbelief, which is a sin? If all the sins were wiped out, how would the verse, the wages of sin is death be true since all the sins were atoned for on the cross? Where is the death? Is not a person sent to hell because of his sin? If rejection of Jesus Christ is the only thing that damns a person, how are there degrees of torment in hell? What about the book of revelation when the unbelievers stand before God and gives an account and the books were opened and they were judged. What would be the purpose of going over one's life if the only thing they are being judged for is what they did with Jesus Christ, did they believe or not? If Jesus died for every single person's sin and made atonement for them, there would be no sin, but unbelievers are sent to hell because of their sin. They have no person to atone for their sin. All they have is themselves to pay the price for their sin, which is death in hell. Another thing to ponder is the common question of what about the people in the jungles of Africa. If Jesus died for the sins of every single person in the jungle past present and future and the only thing that condemns is not accepting Jesus or not believing in Him you run into a major problem with the jungle question. The problem is this, If Jesus died on the cross and removed their sins forever on the condition that they believe, what happens when they never hear about Jesus atoning work on the cross. If Jesus atoned for their sin on the cross but they never hear of Jesus, how are they lost? They are lost because they are sinners and their sin remains. Again their sin is what sends them to hell, because it was not atoned for. The scripture is very clear that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. What Im saying is that Jesus died and made atonement for those who believe. Their sins are wiped out and the unbeliever's sins remain, which they will pay the price for their sins. Jesus died to save those who believe as in election. the scripture is clear that Jesus redeemed His people, those the Father Gave Him. Did Jesus redeem everyone? Obviously no. Not everyone will be saved but scripture says that Jesus redeemed us. Does us mean every single person? The doctrine of election when understood answers the hard questions. God the Father chooses, Jesus Christ redeems and the Holy Spirit seals. The plan that has been there before creation itself. It is not an easy doctrine to swallow but it is taught in scripture. God wasnt going to wing it and see who would choose Jesus Christ, He chose those who would be given faith to believe.--(Phillipians 1:29) God already had in His mind who was receiving grace and who wasn't. He already chose whom He was given to His son to redeem and the Holy Spirit to seal for the day of redemption. I know this is a long article so I wont tackle the foreknowledge issue but I will leave you with something to ponder with that, It is this, If God looks down the coridor of time and sees who will choose him and then predestinates them on that basis, would that not entail that there was some kind of virtue in yourself to see your need while others dont see it. Would that not mean that God does 99% of the work but you have 1% to do and on that 1% all of your eternity hangs? I hear of this analogy alot that man is drowning in the ocean and God throws him the life ring to save him but the man needs to reach out and grab it. But the scripture says that the man is already dead, he has drowned. if the man is drowning he is still alive, but the metaphor of scripture is that the man is dead in sins and trespasses. He doesnt have the ablility to reach out and grab the ring he is dead, he drowned. God must quicken you, you can not quicken yourself. God quickens some and leaves the rest. Unless a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God. The grek actually means to be quickened, born from above. born, remember the metaphor is you are dead. Born from above. God does it. Does God cause everyone to be born from above? the word UNLESS in unless a man is born again he can not see the kingdom of God answers that question. Obviously it is no. Again it fits hand in hand of Jesus only dying to save those God chooses as in election. Im sorry it is so long I get rolling and I feel there is more to cover and I go on. I will stop here. I really pray that you look at these things and just not dismiss it for I use to struggle with it until I kept going over it and asking question until one day 3 months later it clicked. God willing He shows you the same.
Please carefully ponder this and not just dismiss it. look at it and the context and its audience. Just dont dismiss it because it seems unbiblical. Study it.
Does all mean all as in every single person in the passage-1 timothy 2:1-6? If it does , you and I are in sin because we are not praying for all men. we need to take out the phone book and start praying. If the all in verse 4 is universal then so is verse 1 since it is the same greek word. but the context of the passage is (all) types of men AKA kings and those in authority. It is pretty clear there. If you insist that the all in verse 4 and that is the context then you are forced as well to say the all in verse 1 is also universal and by it we must pray for every single person in the world not just (all) types of people in the world.
1 Timothy 4:10 -- the savior of all men. This is easy to explain because it is a mistranslation. The greek word is the word for deliverer not savior. Do you have a Greek translation an interlinear.
John 3:16-- (world) Does the world in its context in this passage mean every single person past, present and future, or the world in general. If world here means every single person being Jesus removed the sins of every single person on the cross, we have a problem. The problem is NO SIN REMAINS AT ALL, BECAUSE UNBELIEF IS SIN, so someone who doesnt accept Jesus Christ would still be saved because sin is what damns a person--the wages of sin is death. If sin was dealt with on the cross for every person, it no longer exists to damn the soul. You might say there are conditions to having your sin payed for on the cross and that would be that you believe. So if you do not believe your sin still remains. So the question is, was their sin atoned for on the cross and because of their unbelief Jesus put them back on the nonbeliever? Do you see how absurd that sounds, not to mention there is no support for that theory. But when you realize that Jesus died for all those that the Father gave Him from out of the WORLD and not for every single person it fits like a glove. Not to mention That God is perfect in every sense of His being and His ways and His will. So if God wills that every single person be saved His will is flawed because everyone is not saved. But God's will is perfect and always happens because He is Omnipotent. When you realize that God is perfect in all of His ways and will, when you put the fact that all that God brings to Jesus Christ come to Him and Christ dies for all those the Father gives Him, it fits perfectly again. Remember the verse which Jesus said--unless the Father draws you, you can not come to Him. JOHN 6:65
Please dont use the free will issue. that is a lengthy debate but I will leave you a verse you can chew on to show God controls everthing, being sovereign over everything including salvation. Here it is-Proverbs 21:1---The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water He turns it wherever He wishes.
2 Peter 3:9-- Not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance. Question, who is Peter's audience, who is the book written to, who is the (us) in verse 9 believers or nonbelievers? Peter was telling HIS FELLOW CHRISTIANS that If God came right then that those whom God chose for everlasting life, whom He was going to bring into the family of God at their appointed time would be lost and would perish. That is why it says that God is not slow concerning His promise to come back but is waiting for the time He has appointed so all those whom He elects would be saved and not damned. This is not talking about universal salvation for every person, the context and audience being adressed contradicts that theory.
Appointed time--read this verse Acts 13:48-- He appoints people to eternal life at their pre appointed time. Meaning He draws them to Christ and regenerates them and grants them repentance by giving them the ability to believe--Phillipians 1:29-- again If Jesus was to return before their pre apointed time, they would be lost. That is 2 Peter 3:9 in a nutshell, again it fits like a glove.
Pray about this and keep praying that God would cause you to grow in your knowledge of scripture. Like I said previously I fought against the reformed faith and the doctrine of election for 3 months. I was extremely opposed to it but I kept asking questions and studying it. They kept answering my questions but Me and some teachers I knew could not answe their questions, so again it peaked my interest. I wanted to know who was right and I persisted to study it and one day sitting at my dining table studying it, it clicked, it sunk in, and I understood it. What beauty there is in the Biblical view of Election