"A Ransom For
Many"
Mark
Those who teach that Christ died for all,
for the damned as well as the saved, belittle our Lord's sacrifice upon the
cross, blaspheme the name of our God, and preach a gospel that offers no hope
to helpless sinners. Universal atonement is not the doctrine of Holy Scripture.
The Word of God emphatically and constantly teaches that the sin-atoning death
of Christ was a ransom price paid to the offended justice of God, not for all
sinners, but for many, and that the many for whom Christ paid the ransom price
of his blood must inherit "the glorious liberty of the sons of God."
If Jesus Christ died to redeem and save
all and all are not saved, then the determining factor in salvation is not the
sin-atoning sacrifice of Christ, but the will and work of man. That means that
Christ died in vain for some, that in the end the cross of Jesus Christ shall
be discovered a miscarriage, that the cross is of
none-effect! It also means that man is his own savior. Those things the Word of
God flatly deny.
If Christ died on the cross to redeem and
save all men and all are not saved, then (if salvation is to be accomplished)
the sinner must do something to be added to the blood of Christ to put away his
sin,make himself righteous, and accomplish his own salvation, which he cannot
do! That means that salvation and eternal life are vain dreams, superstitious
delusions, impossible hopes! Can lost, helpless,
spiritually dead sinners, by an act of their depraved hearts, put away sin,
satisfy justice, and make themselves righteous?
Nonsense! If there is one thing left which fallen man must do for himself to
secure salvation, none can ever be saved.
If Jesus Christ died to redeem and save
the whole human race and the entire race is not saved, then the Jews are right,
Jesus of Nazareth was not God and was not the Christ. That Savior who was
promised in the Old Testament is one of whom it is written, "He shall not
fail!" If Christ died to save any who are not saved, he is a failure. That
means he is not God. God almighty cannot be a failure!
Don Fortner