There is one passage more than any other which is appealed to by those who believe in universal redemption, and which at first sight appears to teach that Christ died for the whole human race. We have therefore decided to give it a detailed examination and exposition.
"And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).
This is the passage which, apparently, most favors the Arminian view of the Atonement, yet if it be considered attentively it will be seen that it does so
only in appearance, and not in reality. Below we offer a number of conclusive proofs to show that this verse
does not teach that Christ has propitiated God on behalf of all the sins of all men.
In the first place, the fact that this verse opens with "and" necessarily links it with what has gone before. We, therefore, give a literal word for word translation of 1 John 2 :1 from Bagster’s Interlinear: "Little children my, these things I write to you, that ye may not sin; and if any one should sin, a Paraclete we have with the Father, Jesus Christ (the) righteous". It will thus be seen that the apostle John is here writing
to and
about the
saints of God. His immediate purpose was two-fold: first, to communicate a message that would keep God’s children from sinning; second, to supply comfort and assurance to those who might sin, and, in consequence, be cast down and fearful that the issue would prove fatal. He, therefore, makes known to them the provision which God has made for just such an emergency. This we find at the end of verse 1 and throughout verse 2. The ground of comfort is twofold: let the downcast and repentant believer (1
John 1:9) be assured that, first, he has an "Advocate with the Father"; second, that this Advocate is "the propitiation for our sins". Now
believers only may take comfort
from this, for they alone have an "Advocate", for them alone is Christ the propitiation, as is proven by
linking the Propitiation ("and") with "the Advocate"!
In the second place, if other passages in the New Testament which speak of "propitiation," be compared with 1 John 2:2, it will be found that it is
strictly limited in its scope. For example, in Romans 3 :25 we read that God set forth Christ "a propitiation
through faith in His blood". If Christ is a propitiation "through faith", then He
is not a "propitiation" to those who have no faith! Again, in Hebrews 2:17 we read, "To make propitiation for the sins of
the people"
(Heb. 2:17, R. V.).
In the third place,
who are meant when John says, "He is the propitiation for
our sins"? We answer,
Jewish believers. And a part of the proof on which we base this assertion we now submit to the careful attention of the reader.
In Galatians
2 :9 we are told that
John, together with James and Cephas, were apostles "unto the circumcision" (i.e.
Israel). In keeping with this, the Epistle of James is addressed to "the twelve tribes, which are scattered abroad" (1:1)
. So, the first Epistle of Peter is addressed to "the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion" (1 Pet.1:1, R. V.). And John also is writing
to saved Israelites, but
for saved Jews
and saved Gentiles.
Some of the evidences that John
is writing
to saved Jews are as follows.
(a) In the opening verse he says of Christ, "Which
we have seen with
our eyes . . . . and
our hands have handled". How impossible it would have been for the Apostle Paul to have commenced any of
his epistles to
Gentile saints with such language!
(b) "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which
ye had
from the beginning"
(1 John 2 :7). The "beginning" here referred to is the beginning of the public manifestation of Christ—in proof compare 1:1; 2:13, etc. Now these believers the apostle tells us,
had the "old commandment"
from the beginning. This was true of
Jewish believers, but it was not true of
Gentile believers.
(c) "I write unto you, fathers, because
ye have known Him from the beginning" (2:13). Here, again, it is evident that it is
Jewish believers that are in view.
(d) "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye
have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
They went out from
us, but they were not of us" (2:18, 19).
These brethren to whom John wrote
had "heard" from Christ Himself that Antichrist should come (see Matt. 24). The "many antichrists" whom John declares "went out
from us"
were all
Jews, for during the first century none but a
Jew posed as the Messiah. Therefore, when John says "He is the propitiation for
our sins" he can only mean for the sins of
Jewish believers.
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In the fourth place, when John added, "And not for ours only, but also for the whole world", he signified that Christ was the propitiation for the sins of Gentile believers too, for, as previously shown, "the world" is a term contrasted from Israel. This interpretation is unequivocally established by a careful comparison of 1 John 2:2 with John 11:51,52, which is a strictly parallel passage: "And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad". Here Caiaphas, under inspiration, made known for whom Jesus should "die". Notice now the correspondency of his prophecy with this declaration of John’s: