WAS JESUS CHRIST A FAILURE?

Does that question shock you? It should. Yet, there is a notion commonly accepted by devoted religious people which asserts the Son of God to be a failure! The notion is that Christ died to redeem and save all people, that he died in vain for many.

The Bible speaks of the redemptive work of Christ as an accomplished, effectual work, a sacrifice made for a particular, elect people (Isa. 53:8; Matt. 1:21; Gal. 3:13; Heb. 9:12; Rev. 5:9). Nowhere in the Bible is there even a hint of universal atonement.

To say that Christ died to redeem and save all men is to declare that man is his own savior! If Christ died for everyone, those who perish as well as those who are saved, the difference between the saved and the lost is not the blood of Christ, but the decision of the sinner. If so, salvation cannot be attributed to Christ alone. The sinner himself must be given an equal share of praise.

To say that Christ died to redeem and save all men is to deny that Jesus Christ is God. If he died to save all and some are not saved, then he is a failure, and a failure is not God! One may as well deny the virgin birth of Christ as deny the efficacy of his redemptive work!

The doctrine of Holy Scripture is this: Christ died to redeem those who actually are redeemed and saved by his blood. Do you know and worship this Christ? He alone is the Christ of Holy Scripture, the Savior of sinners.

Don Fortner, Pastor

Grace Baptist Church of Danville

Danville, Kentucky 40422-9438 U.S.A