1 John 2:2 – Calvinists claim that this verse says that Jesus died only for the sins of those who would believe.
I have included this verse because calvinists don’t like it; if they had their way, it would have been cut out of their Bible, because it cannot be misinterpreted without distorting and twisting the Scriptures somewhere. That it means “the whole world” literally is so clear that to oppose this interpretation is to have a serious need to have it read something other than it does! Read on! And if you think MacArthur is infallible, then here’s proof that he isn’t!
1 John 2:2 – And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
The key to deciphering the calvinist heresy is to look at the context of 1 John 2:2.
In 1 John 2:1-2, John is writing to all those who have an Advocate with the Father, that is, all those who will believe.
1 John 2:1-2 – 1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
That is, Vs 1 already covers all those who will ever be believers for all time.
Note the words “we”, “our”, “ours” in Vs 1 & 2 above. They all apply to the same group of people, clearly those who are all the believers for all time, which means that “also for the sins of the whole world” must apply to those who are not believers. Thus, if “we” have an Advocate, then it’s that same group that is represented by “our” and “ours”. Grammar and logic clearly demonstrate that “the whole world” must apply to those who do not belong to the group labelled already as “we”, “our” and “ours”.
Yet calvinists prefer to teach that the smaller group is just those to whom John is writing, and that the “the whole world” refers to all the other believers from all the world who are not part of the group John is writing to (John Piper subscribes to this view), or that it was just Jewish Christians that John was writing to, so the “the whole world” refers to those Christians who weren’t Jews (John MacArthur subscribes to this view). Either view is grammatically and logically incorrect!
Of course, they’ll continue to claim that John was writing to the Christian Jews. Yes, it does appear that he was! Then 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. must also mean that “we”, “our”, “us” here only apply to the Christian Jews to whom John is writing? Does MacArthur teach that this truth only applies to the Christian Jews? Of course not! Just check out his message on August 18, 2002 – Total Forgiveness and the Confession of Sin (1 John 1:8-10). In this presentation he applies this forgiveness to all Christians.
However, if we used his logic in interpreting 1 John 2:2, we would have to dismiss just about all of the teaching in 1 John as irrelevant to all except the Christian Jews to whom John was writing (including 1 John 1:9)! Be consistent, calvinists! Not only that; we would have to dismiss probably most of the Bible as not relevant to us because we weren’t a part of the group to whom it was written! And then most of the Bible would be unprofitable, yet 2 Timothy 3:16 says that “All Scripture is given by inspiration (breath) of God and is profitable for …….” Note well that “All Scripture is … profitable”.
Piper says – “The “whole world” refers to the children of God scattered throughout the whole world.” (John Piper “What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism” Revised March 1998) This has apparently been reviewed and changed in his 2014 revision, but still appears as above in “For Whom Did Christ Die? & What Did Christ Actually Achieve on the Cross for Those for Whom He Died?” (Piper) “The “whole world” refers to the children of God scattered throughout the whole world.“ https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/piper/piper_atonement.html
MacArthur – “So, we look at the term “world” and we always qualify it. There’s another passage – two more – that need our brief attention. I’m just going to comment briefly. First John 2. First John 2. “Jesus Christ the righteous – ” verse 1. Verse 2. “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” What is that saying? That “He is a propitiation not only for our sins – ” again this is very Jewish in its context “ – but for the whole world.” It’s making the same point that John made over and over and over again, the same point that they made in the book of Acts, the same point that Paul makes in Romans 11: That the gospel is not limited to the Jews.” https://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-278/the-doctrine-of-actual-atonement-part-2?term=90-278
Presumably the promise in 1 John 1:9 is limited to the Jews? And also the promise of an Advocate in 1 John 2:1? But wait, MacArthur says “we” (in 1 John 2:1) applies to all Christians.
For tonight I want to focus on that last statement, “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Jesus Christ is introduced here as our Advocate, our parakletos, the one who comes alongside to help. …. He is the defender of all who belong to His Kingdom.
(“Our Divine Defense Attorney” on 1 John 2:1 Code: 62-9, MacArthur)
If it were just the Jewish Christians (or just a small group of believers) that John meant by “our” & “ours”, then it’s also only the Jewish Christians who are the ones (“we”) who have an Advocate with the Father! Calvinists therefore would have to teach that the Advocate is only for Jewish Christians, and not for the Christian church in general. So, when is the last time you heard a preacher (even a calvinist one!) teach that the Advocate (Jesus Christ the Righteous) was only for the Jewish Christians that John was writing to? Thus, the context has to mean that “we”, “our” and “ours” all apply to Christian believers in general and thus the sins of “the whole world” (holos kosmos – 1 John 2:2) cannot mean believers at all, but instead all those who are not believers! When MacArthur claims that the sins of “the whole world” (holos kosmos) applies to only believers, then it makes nonsense of the context preceding this. If only people would test all things! If only people would test all things!
Let me enlarge upon this topic:
1/. “we” (Vs 1) and “our” & “ours” (Vs 2) must apply to the same group of people. It is grammatically absurd to make “we” one group (that is, all Christians), yet declare (as MacArthur suggests) that “our” and “ours” refer to the Jews only.
“John was an Apostle to the Jews. The recipients of his epistles would be predominantly, if not completely, Jewish.” (The Sacrifice that Satisfied – 1 John 2:2, Code 62-10, MacArthur)
2/. If “we” is to refer to all Christians of all time (which MacArthur teaches in his message “Our Divine Defense Attorney”) –
“Jesus Christ is introduced here as our Advocate, our parakletos, the one who comes alongside to help. In this case the word is used to refer to someone who is a defender. And that’s why we’ve called the message, “Our Divine Defense Attorney. There are surely lawyers in heaven, but only one practicing. There’s only one practicing attorney in heaven and He is the defender of all who belong to His Kingdom.”
– then “our” and “ours” in Vs 2 must also be all those who belong to Christ’s kingdom, also noted by MacArthur – “It is the “we” who are the little children, it is the “we” who have an Advocate, it is the “we” who have a propitiation.” (Our Divine Defense Attorney – 1 John 2:1, Code 62-09, MacArthur).
3/. And here’s something to check out!! 1 John 1:1-2 are the same sentence. Why does MacArthur teach on each verse independently of the other? He taught on 1 John 2:1 in “Our Divine Defense Attorney” on 25/08/2002 and on 1 John 2:2 in “The Sacrifice that Satisfied” the following week on 2/09/2002. Has MacArthur separated the two verses because to put them together would demonstrate his teaching in 1 John 2:2 to be lie?? The answer does appear to be a resounding “Yes”!
MacArthur teaches in his message “The Sacrifice that Satisfied – 1 John 2:2” that “our” and “ours” were John’s Jewish audience – “John was an Apostle to the Jews. The recipients of his epistles would be predominantly, if not completely, Jewish. ….. First John 2:2, that He is the propitiation for our sins as a nation, Israel. But not for ours (that is, the sins of Israel) only but also for all the sins of the world, or the sins of the whole world (that is, for those who would repent and believe – see point 3 below).” (The Sacrifice that Satisfied – 1 John 2:2, Code 62-10, MacArthur)
MacArthur is saying that He (Jesus) is the propitiation for “our sins“, that is, for the sins of Israel, but not only for the sins of Israel, He is also the propitiation for all other Christians in the whole world! (Thus he is teaching that “for the sins of the whole world” is all the other Christians for all time.)
However, just three verses earlier, in 1 John 1:9, John (the apostle) uses exactly the same two words “our sins” as he does in 1 John 2:2. Yet in not one of MacArthur’s studies covering 1 John 1:9 does he dare even suggest that “If we confess our sins…” is a Jewish situation where “our sins” only applies to the sins of Israel. If they did, then only Israel might benefit from the confession of their sins as required in 1 John 1:9, yet MacArthur applies it to all Christians including those of today. So can any thinking calvinist please explain how this is logical in any way? Please note also that the original epistles were written without the chapter and verse divisions that we have added later on. Truly MacArthur is so inconsistent; he bends with every gust of wind (see James 1:6-8)!
4/. If “we“, “our” and “ours” refer to the same group of people (which is the only grammatical possibility), that is, all Christians of all time, then “the whole world” must include more than just all believers of all time. This makes an atonement limited to just believers an impossibility. Limited atonement is a logical absurdity based upon 1 John 2:1-2!
Note the following from “One Perfect Life: The Complete Story of the Lord Jesus” excerpts from Pages 509 & 510 – By John MacArthur. “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. …..” (Footnote) FOR THE WHOLE WORLD. This is a generic term, referring not to every single individual, but to mankind in general. Christ actually paid the penalty only for those who would repent and believe.”
Note that this time it isn’t a Jewish context, but instead “all” simply means a part of “all” now! However, that would still make Jesus Christ the Advocate for only the recipients of this epistle, and not for all believers of all time!?
Add many other proofs from 1 John of what the “world” (kosmos) means, such as “Love not the world, neither the things {that are} in the world.” (1 John 2:15); “therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not.” (1 John 3:1); “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” (1 John 3:13); “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4); “God sent his only begotten Son into the world” (1 John 4:9); “the Father sent the Son {to be} the Saviour of the world.” (1 John 4:14); “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, {even} our faith.” (1 John 5:4); “{And} we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” (1 John 5:19)
There are even more times the word “kosmos” = “world” is used in 1 John, but this is more than sufficient to demonstrate that “world” in 1 John 2:2 cannot mean believers only unless specified clearly, which it most certainly isn’t. Note “whole world” (holos kosmos) is used in both 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 5:19, where the only logically consistent interpretation has to be the world of all people, and not just a group called “believers”.
For further reference, please follow this link to “The Big Lie of the Calvinists – Limited Atonement”.
So when are the calvinists going to start thinking about what they believe instead of blindly following the guidance of those who pretend to know better but don’t? Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. (Matthew 15:14)
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