CHAPTER IV – Answer to Second Argument for Universalism
CHAPTER IV – Answer to Second Argument for Universalism Answer to the second general argument for the universality of redemption.
II. Passages that signify Christ died for all, or God wills salvation for all.
The second argument with which our adversaries make no less flourish than with the former, is raised from those passages of Scripture where there is mention made of all men and every man in the business of redemption.
With these bare and naked words, attended with inflated and vain expressions of their own, they commonly proclaim a victory rather than study how to prevail. Their argument does not need not to be drawn into any form, seeing that they pretend to plead from the express words of Scripture. Therefore we will only consider several passages of this kind that are usually produced by them, with such enforcements of their meaning as the ablest of that persuasion have used. The chief passages insisted on are
1Tim. 2:4,6; 2Pet. 3:9; Heb. 2:9; 2Cor. 5:14,15; 1Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:18.
As for the use and meaning of the word "all" in Scripture, so much has been said already by many others that it would be unnecessary for me to insist upon it. Something also to this purpose has been spoken of before, and that was abundantly sufficient to show that no strength of argument can be taken from the word itself; therefore I will apply myself only to the examination of the particular passages urged, and the objections that are raised from them:
1. 1Tim. 2:4,6 The first and chief place is 1Tim. 2:4,6, "God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth . . . . . Christ gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." Hence they draw this argument, Rem.
Act. Synod: "If God will have all men to be saved, then Christ died for all; but God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth: therefore, Christ died for all men."
ANSWER: The whole strength of this argument lies in the ambiguity of the word "all" which has diverse meanings. If it were to be interpreted suitably to the matter in hand and to the things and persons of which this word is spoken, then either the whole argument may be granted, or else several of the propositions may be denied. This depends on whether the word "all" or "all men" always comprehends all and every man that were, are, or will be.
This may be made apparent from the Scripture by nearly five hundred instances of its use. Taking, then, "all" and "all men" distributively, as meaning some of all sorts, we grant the whole of the argument; but taking them collectively, as meaning all men of all sorts, we deny the minor premise, namely, that God would have all of them saved. To make our denial of this an evident truth, and agreeable to the mind of the Holy Ghost in this passage, two things must be considered: 1.What is the will of God by which he wills all to be saved? 2. Who are the "all" whom the apostle is addressing in this passage?
1. The will of God is usually distinguished into his intending will and his commanding will; in other words, "will" is used in reference to God in this twofold notice, (1.) For his purpose, i.e. what he wills to do;
(2.) For his approval of what we do, i.e. what he commands to be done.
Those who oppose our argument may choose how this passage refers to the will of God, or how he wills the salvation of all.
First, if they say he does it "voluntate signi," with his will commanding, requiring, and approving, then the sense of the words is this: "God commands all men to use the means by which they may obtain the end or salvation, the performance of which is acceptable to God in any or all men;" and so it is the same sense as that of the apostle in another place,
"God commands all men everywhere to repent" (Ac 17:3). Now, if this is the way by which God wills the salvation of all who are mentioned here, then certainly those "all" cannot possibly be more than to those to whom he grants and reveals the means of grace; which are indeed a great many, but yet they are not one hundredth the posterity of Adam. Besides, if we take God's willing the salvation of all men in this sense, then we deny the sequel of the first proposition, namely, that Christ died for as many as God wills should be saved. The foundation of God's command to men to use the means granted them is not Christ's dying for them in particular, but the
connection which He himself, by his decree, has fixed between faith and salvation; the death of Christ is abundantly sufficient for holding out that connection to all, there being enough in his death to save all believers.
Secondly, if the will of God is taken for his efficacious will, that is, the will of his purpose and good pleasure, then certainly it must be fulfilled, and all those must be saved whom he would have saved; for whatever God can do and will do, that will certainly come to pass and be effected. Truly, to me it seems exceedingly evident that this is what is intended here, because the will of God is made the ground and the bottom of our supplications; it is as if in our prayers we should say only, "your will be done," – and his will is to have them all be saved: now, we have a promise to receive of God "whatever we ask according to his will," 1John 3:22, v.
14; and therefore this will of God, which is proposed here as the ground of our prayers, must be his effectual or rather efficacious will, which is always accomplished. No one doubts that God can save all (not considering his decree); and that he will save all is affirmed here.
Therefore, if "all" here is everyone, then everyone shall certainly be saved. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
255 "For who has resisted God's will?" Rom. 9:19. "He has done whatever he has pleased,"
Ps. 115:3. "He does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth," Dan. 4:35. If "all", then, is here to be understood as all men universally, one of these two things must of necessity follow: either God fails in his purpose and intention, or else men universally will be saved. That leads us to the second thing to consider in the words, namely, who are meant by "all men" in this place.
2. By "all men" the apostle here intends all sorts of men indefinitely living under the gospel, or in these latter times, under the enlarged dispensation of the means of grace. In dealing with Perkins about this passage,
Arminius himself acknowledges that only men of these times are intended.
The intended scope of the apostle in addressing the amplitude, enlargement, and extent of grace, in the outward administration of that grace under the gospel, will not allow it to be denied. He lays this down as a foundation of our praying for all, because the means of grace and the habitation of the church is now no longer confined to the narrow bounds of one nation; it is promiscuously and indefinitely extended to all people, tongues, and languages; and to all sorts of men among them, high and low,
rich and poor, one with another. We say, then, that the words "all men" are here intended only to refer to all sorts of men, as suited the purpose of the apostle, which was to show that all external differences between the sons of men is now taken away. We further confirm this ex abundanti by the following reasons:
First, the word "all" in the Scripture is most commonly used in this sense (that is, for "many of all sorts"); there is nothing in the subjectmatter of the passage which would in the least impel another interpretation of the word, especially not a universal collection of every individual. We hold it safe to cling to the most usual sense and meaning of it. Thus, our Savior is said to cure all diseases, and the Pharisees to tithe every herb, Luke 11:42.
Secondly, Paul himself plainly leads us to this interpretation of it; for after he has enjoined us to pray for all, because the Lord will have all saved, he expressly intimates that by "all men" he understands men of all sorts, ranks, conditions, and orders. He does so by dividing "all" into several kinds, expressly mentioning some of them, as "kings and all in authority," not unlike the expression we have in Jer. 29:1-2:
"Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the people captive to Babylon, Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the carpenters, and the smiths;" all the people is interpreted to be some of all sorts, by distributing them into the several orders, classes, and conditions to which they belonged. In the same way, the apostle defines "all men" by giving us the names of some of those orders and conditions whom he intends. "Pray for all men," he says; that is, all sorts of men, such as magistrates, all that are in authority, the time having come in which the Lord will save some of all sorts and nations without those distinctions which formerly were observed.
Thirdly, we are bound to pray for all whom God would have saved. Now, we ought not to pray for everyone, knowing that some are reprobates and sin unto death; concerning these, we are expressly cautioned not to pray for them.
Fourthly, All will be saved whom God wills to save; this we dare not deny, for "who has resisted his will?" Seeing, then, that it is most certain
257, it cannot be that all men universally are intended here. that all will not be saved (for some will stand on the left hand)
Fifthly, God would have no more "saved" than he would have "come to the knowledge of the truth." These two things are of equal latitude and conjoined in the text. But it is not the will of the Lord that everyone, in all ages, should come to the knowledge of the truth. Of old, "he showed his word to Jacob, his statutes and his judgments to Israel. He has not dealt so with any other nation: and as for his judgments, those others have not known them," Ps 147:19, 20. If he would have them all come to the knowledge of the truth, then why did he show his word to some and not others? For without his word, they could not attain to the knowledge of the truth. "He suffered all nations" in former ages "to walk in their own ways," Acts 14:16, and "winked at the time of this ignorance," Acts
17:30. He was hiding the mystery of salvation from those former ages, Col. 1:26, continuing the same dispensation even until this day with regard to some; and he did that because "it seems good in his sight,"
Matt. 11:25-26. It is evident, then, that God does not will that everyone in the world, of all ages and times, should come to the knowledge of the truth, but only all sorts of men without difference; and, therefore, only they are intended here.
These, and similar reasons compel us to understand "all men" in verse 4, those whom God would have saved, refers to men of all sorts. They also prevail for the same interpretation of the word "all" in verse 6 where Christ is said to give himself "a ransom for all." To these you may also add all those reasons we declared before: that it was of absolute necessity and just equity that all those for whom a ransom was paid should have a part and portion in that ransom; and, if that randsom is accepted as sufficient, then they must be set at liberty. Paying and accepting a ransom intimate a commutation of sentence; it sets free all those for whom the ransom is paid and accepted. By "all", then, none can be understood but the redeemed, the ransomed ones of Jesus Christ. These, for Christ's sake and by virtue of the price of his blood, are vindicated into the glorious liberty of the children of God. These children are expressly said to be some of all sorts in Rev. 5:9
(and that passage is interpretative of this one), so that the assertion that it means all men in the world universally is confessedly false.
Having thus made evident the meaning of the words, our answer to the objection (whose strength is a mere fallacy, from the ambiguous sense of the word "all") is easy and facile. For if by "all men", you mean the "all" in the text, that is, all sorts of men, we grant the whole, namely, that Christ died for all; but if by "all men", you mean all men universally, then we absolutely deny the minor premise, having sufficiently proved that there is no such "all" in the text.
In his "Universality of Free Grace," Thomas Moore makes his objection from this passage the subject of one whole chapter. It is also one of two passages he uses to lay the foundation of the whole building, and to which he always retires at a dead lift.
259 Therefore, I thought to have considered that chapter of his at large; but, upon second consideration, I have laid aside that resolution, and done so for three reasons:
First, because I desired not actum agere, to do what has already been done, especially because the thing itself is not such as deserves to be meddled with at all. Now, about the time that I was proceeding in this response, the learned work of Mr Rutherford 260, about the death of Christ and the drawing of sinners thereby, came into my hand; in this work, he has fully answered that chapter of Mr. Moore's book; I remit the reader to it.
Secondly, I find that he has not once attempted to respond to any of those reasons and arguments by which we confirm our answer to the objection from the passage, and by which we prove undeniably that by "all men" is meant only men of all sorts.
Thirdly, because, setting aside those bare naked assertions of his own by which he seeks to strengthen his argument from and his interpretation of this passage, the remainder with which he flourishes is but a poor fallacy running through the whole of it; the strength of all his argumentations consists in this, that the "all" we are to pray for does not mean only all who are at present believers, which no man in his right wits will affirm; so the one who concludes from there, that because they are not just all present believers, therefore they are all the individuals of mankind, is not to be esteemed very sober. We proceed then to the next passaged urged for the general ransom, from the word "all", which is,
2. 2Pet. 3:9,
"The Lord is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." "The will of God," say some, "for the salvation of all, is here set down both negatively, that he would not have any perish, and positively, that he would have all come to repentance; now, seeing there is no coming to repentance nor escaping destruction, except by the blood of Christ, it is manifest that his blood was shed for all."
ANSWER: Not many words need be spent in answer to this objection wrested from the misunderstanding and palpable corrupting of the sense of these words of the apostle. It is a rule in the opening of the Scripture that indefinite and general expressions are to be interpreted in proportion to the things of which they are affirmed. See, then, of whom the apostle is speaking here. "The Lord," he says, "is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish." Will not common sense teach us that "us" is to be repeated in both the following clauses, to make them complete and full, namely, "Not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance?" Now, who are these of whom the apostle speaks, those to whom he writes? Those who had received his "great and precious promises," chap. 1:4; those whom he calls "beloved," chap. 3:1; those whom he opposes to the "scoffers" of the "last days," verse 3; those to whom the Lord has respect in the disposal of these days; those who are said to be "elect," Matt. 24:22.
Now, truly, it comes just short of extreme madness and folly to argue that, because God would have none of those perish, but would have all of them come to repentance, he therefore has the same will and mind towards everyone in the world (including those to whom he never makes known his will, and never calls to repentance if they have never heard of his way of salvation). Nor is it of any weight to argue the contrary, that those to whom
Peter wrote were not all elect: for in the judgment of charity he esteemed them so, desiring them "to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure," chap. 1:10; He implicitly calls them elect even as he expressly calls those to whom he wrote his former epistle "elect", 1Pet. 1:12, and a "chosen generation," as well as a "purchased people," 1Pet. 2:9.
I need not add anything concerning the contradictions and inextricable difficulties with which the opposite interpretation is accompanied (e.g. that God should will those to come to repentance whom he cuts out of the covenant in their infancy; those he hates from eternity and from whom he
hides the means of grace; those to whom he will not give repentance, and yet knows that it is utterly impossible for them to have it unless he bestows it). The text is clear, that it is all and only the elect whom he would not have perish. We have a passage supposedly parallel to this one in Ezek. 18:23,
32, which will be considered afterward. The next is, 3. Heb. 2:9, "That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."
ANSWER: All acknowledge that "for every man," is intended here to mean "for all," by an enallage 261 of the number. The whole question is who these
"all" are, whether it refers to all men universally, or all those of whom the apostle is speaking. It cannot be denied that this expression, "every man", is commonly used in the Scripture to signify men under some restriction. So it is in that expression of the apostle, "Warning every man, and reaching every man," Col. 1:28; that is, warning and reaching all those to whom he preached the gospel, those of whom he is speaking there. "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with," 1Cor. 12:7; namely, the Spirit is given to every one of those who were endowed with the gifts mentioned there, whether in the church at Corinth or elsewhere. I have frequently encountered the present passage produced by those who support universal redemption, but never once have I had the happiness to find any endeavor to prove from the text, or in any other way, that "all" here is to be taken for everyone; surely they know that the usual acceptance of the word is against their purpose. Mr. Moore spends a whole chapter about this passage, which I seriously considered, to see if I could pick out anything which might in the least measure prove that the apostle intended everyone, but found only deep silence. With an abundance of smooth words, he does nothing in that chapter but humbly and heartily beg the thing in question; though he is exceedingly earnest, we cannot consent to his petition for the following reasons:
First, to taste death, which is to drink the cup due to sinners, certainly for whomever our Savior tasted of it, is to leave not one drop for them to drink after him; he tasted or underwent death in their stead, so that the cup might pass from those who did not have it pass from him. Now, the cup of death passes only from the elect, from believers; for whomever our Savior tasted death, he swallowed it up into victory.
Secondly, we see an evident cause which moved the apostle here to call those for whom Christ died "all", namely, because he wrote to the Hebrews; they were deeply tainted with an erroneous persuasion that all the benefits purchased by Messiah belonged to men of their nation alone, excluding all others. To root out this pernicious opinion, it behoved the apostle to mention the extent of free grace under the gospel, and to show the universality of God's elect throughout the world.
Thirdly, the present description of the "all" for whom Christ tasted death by the grace of God will not suit any but the elect of God. For in verse 10, they are called "many sons to be brought to glory;" in verse 11, they are those who are "sanctified," his "brethren;" in verse 13, they are the "children that God gave him;" in verse 15, they are those who are
"delivered from the bondage of death;" – none of these can be affirmed as those who are born, live, and die the "children of the wicked one."
Christ is not a captain of salvation, as he is styled here, to any but those who "obey him," Heb. 5:9; righteousness comes by him "to all and upon all those who believe," Rom. 3:22. For these and similar reasons we cannot be induced to hearken to our adversaries' petition, being fully persuaded that by "every one" here is meant all and only God's elect, in whose stead Christ tasted death by the grace of God.
4. 2Cor. 5:14-15 Another passage is 2Cor. 5:14-15, "For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that if one died for all, then all were dead; and that he died for all, so that those who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto the one who died for them." "Here," they say, "in verse 14, you have two "all's" which must both be of equal extent. If all were dead, then
Christ died for all, that is, for as many as were dead. Again, he died for all those who must live unto him; but that is the duty of every one in the world: and therefore he died for them all. Further, it is clear from verse 10 that "all" are "all individuals", where they are affirmed to be all those who must
'appear before the judgment-seat of Christ'; none will be exempted from that appearance."
ANSWER:
1. Even taking the words in the same sense that some of our adversaries take it, yet it does not appear from the texture of the apostle's arguing that
the two all's of verse 14 are of equal extent. He does not say that Christ died for all those who were dead, but only that all were dead for whom Christ died. That proves no more than this, that all those for whom Christ died were dead, with that kind of death of which he speaks. The extent of the words is to be taken from the first "all", and not the latter. The apostle affirms that all those for whom Christ died were dead; not that Christ died for all those who were dead. The words plainly teach us this: "If he died for all, then all were dead," – that is, all he died for were dead; so that all those who were dead can give no light as to the extent of the "all" for whom
Christ died, being merely regulated by this.
2. We deny that everyone is morally bound to live to Christ, virtute praecepti 263; only those to whom he is revealed are bound to live to him; indeed, only those who live by him, who have a spiritual life in and with him, are bound: all others are under previous obligations.
3. It is true that everyone must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, and that he is ordained to be the judge of the world; but it is not true that everyone is intended in verse 10. The apostle speaks of us all, of all believers, especially of all preachers of the gospel; neither of these apply to all men. Notwithstanding anything that has been said, then, it in no way appears that "all" here means any but the elect of God, all believers; and I prove that they are the only ones intended here using the following reasons, as drawn from the text:
First, the resurrection of Christ is conjoined with his death here: "He died for them, and rose again." Now, for whomever Christ rises, he rises for their
"justification," Rom. 4:25; and they must be justified, Rom. 8:34. Indeed, our adversaries themselves have always confessed that the fruits of the resurrection of Christ are specific to believers.
Secondly, He speaks only of those who, by, virtue of the death of Christ, "live unto him," 2Cor. 5:15; who are "new creatures," verse 17; "to whom the Lord does not impute their trespasses," verse 19; who "become the righteousness of God in Christ," verse 21; these are only believers. All do not attain to these things.
Thirdly, the article joined with "all" evidently restrains that "all" to "all of some sort". "Then were they all dead" (or rather "all these"). These all; what all? All those believers of whom he speaks, as argued above.
Fourthly, All those of whom the apostle speaks are proved to be dead, because Christ died for them: "If one died for all, then all were dead." What death is it which is spoken of here? It is not speaking of a natural death, but of a spiritual death; and of those deaths which come under that name – not what is in sin, but what is unto sin. For,
First, the great champions of the Arminian cause, such as Vorstius and Grotius (on this particular passage), were convinced by the evidence of truth. They acknowledge that it is a death unto sin that is spoken of here, by virtue of the death of Christ; and accordingly they held out that sense of the passage.
Secondly, it is apparent from the text that the intent of the apostle was to prove that those for whom Christ died are dead to sin, and that they should no longer live unto sin, but unto the one who died for them. The subject he has in hand is the same one that he handles more at large in Rom. 6:5-8.
There we are said to be "dead unto sin," by being "planted together in the likeness of the death of Christ;" and there as here, he then presses them to "newness of life." These words, then, "If Christ died for all, then were all dead," concern the death unto sin of those for whom Christ died, at least the death of those of whom he speaks there; and what has this to do with the general ransom?
Fifthly, the apostle speaks of the death of Christ with regard to application.
What he insists upon is the effectualness of that death towards those for whom Christ died, so as to cause them to live unto Christ. It has not yet been affirmed by any that Christ died for all with regard to such an application. If there is any virtue or efficacy in his applied oblation for that end, then all must live unto him, indeed, live with him for evermore. In sum, there is no mention here of Christ's dying for anyone but those who are dead to sin, and who live to him.
5. 1Cor. 15:22
A fifth passage urged to prove universal redemption from the word "all", is 1Cor. 15:22, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."
ANSWER: There is another passage to be considered after this in which the whole strength of the argument usually drawn from these words is contained. I will not need to speak much to this, nor will I turn at all from
the common exposition of the passage. Those concerning whom Paul speaks in this chapter are called "all" in this verse. Those are the ones who are implanted into Christ, joined to him as the members to the head, receiving a glorious resurrection by virtue of his resurrection; thus are they described by the apostle. It is manifest from the arguments which Paul brings to confirm it that, throughout this chapter, Paul expounds on the resurrection of believers, and as such, his arguments have force only with regard to believers: they are taken from the resurrection of Christ, the hope, faith, customs, and expected rewards of Christians. All of these arguments have unconquerable power to confirm and establish believers in the faith of the resurrection; so they would have been, every one of them, exceedingly ridiculous had they been held out to the men of the world to prove the resurrection of the dead in general.
Further, the very words "shall be made alive" denote living again to a good life and to glory, a blessed resurrection, and do not denote the quickening of those who are raised to a second death. The Son is said in John 5:21 to "quicken" and make alive (not all, but) "whom he will." So he uses the word again in chap. 6:63, "It is the Spirit that" (thus) "quickens;" and in like manner in Rom. 4:17. Nowhere is it used to show that common resurrection which all will have at the last day. All, then, who by virtue of the resurrection of Christ will be made alive, are all those who are partakers of the nature of Christ; they are those who, in verse 23, are expressly called
"those who are Christ's," and of whom, in verse 20, Christ is said to be the "first-fruits;" and certainly Christ is not the first-fruits of the damned.
Indeed, though it is true that everyone died in Adam, yet it is not true that it is being asserted here (the apostle is speaking of none but believers); and yet, if it were to be taken so here, it could not prove the thing which is intended because of the express limitation of the sense of it in the following clause. Lastly, granting all that can be desired, namely, the universality of the word "all" in both places, yet I am in no way able to discern a medium that may serve for an argument to prove the general ransom.
6. Rom. 5:18
This is the last passage urged in this kind, and by some, it is the one most insisted upon: "As by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men unto condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." It might suffice for us to briefly declare
that by "all men" in the latter half of the verse, it cannot be understood to mean any but those whom the free gift actually comes upon unto justification of life. These are the ones who, in verse 17, are said to "receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness," and so to "reign in life by one, Jesus Christ;" these are the ones who, by his obedience, are to be
"made righteous," verse 19; 264 which certainly, if anything is true and certain in the truth of God, all are not made righteous. Some do not believe;
"all men do not have faith;" "the wrath of God abides" on some, John 3:36; upon these, surely, grace does not reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ as it does upon all those on whom the free gift comes unto justification, Rom 5:17-18.
We might, I say, answer with only this. But there are some, contrary to the clear and manifest intention of the apostle, who compare Adam and Christ in the efficacy of the sin of the one unto condemnation, and the efficacy of the righteousness of the other unto justification and life; and they do so with regard to those who are the natural seed of the one by propagation, and the spiritual seed of the other by regeneration. They have labored to wrest this place to maintain the error we oppose with more than ordinary endeavors and confidence of success; thus it may be necessary to consider what is brought by them to this end and purpose:
Verse 14. Adam is called the type and "figure of the one who was to come."
It is not that he was an instituted type, ordained for that sole end and purpose; but it is only that in what he was and what he did, and what followed from it, there was a resemblance between him and Jesus Christ.
Hence, by what he was and what he did, and by reason of the resemblance, many things may be well represented by juxtaposing them to the obedience of Christ and the efficacy of his death. What the apostle prosecutes here in this resemblance (by showing the many comparisons, in all of which he exalts Christ above Adam's type) is this: that there is a similar though not equal efficacy between the two. For there is more merit and efficacy required to save someone than to lose ten thousand. There is an efficacy of the demerit, sin, disobedience, guilt, and transgression of the one to condemn, or to bring the guilt of condemnation upon all those in whose stead he was a public person. He is the head and the natural fountain of them all; they are wrapped up in the same condition with him by divine institution. Then there is the efficacy of the righteousness, obedience, and
death of the other, to bring the absolution, justification, and salvation of all those to whom he was a spiritual head by divine institution, and in whose stead he was a public person. This is what Paul in various particulars has asserted. There is not the least mention that these last ones spoken of were the same "everyone" spoken of in the first part of the verse. The comparison is to be solely considered intensively, with regard to their efficacy, and not extensively, with regard to their objects. The "all" of Adam are called his "many", 265 and the "many" of Christ are called his
"all", 266 as indeed they are, for they are all the seed which is given to him.
Thomas Moore, in his "Universality of Free Grace," chap. 8, p. 41, lays down this comparison instituted by the apostle between Adam and Christ as one of the main foundations of his universal redemption. After premising some strange mixtures of truth and errors, which, to avoid tediousness, we will let pass, he affirms this to consist in four things:
First, "That Adam, in his first sin and transgression, was a public person, in the stead and place of all mankind by virtue of the covenant between God and him; so that whatever he did with regard to that covenant, all alike were sharers with him. So also was Christ a public person in his obedience and death, in the stead and place of all mankind whom he represented, including every one of the posterity of Adam."
ANSWER: As to what concerns Adam, we grant that he was a public person with regard to all his that were to proceed from him by natural propagation; and we grant that Christ was also a public person in the stead of his, and in this he was prefigured by Adam. But to say that Christ in his obedience, death, and sacrifice, was a public person, and stood in the place and stead of everyone in the world, of all ages and times is to us such a monstrous assertion as cannot once be apprehended or thought on without horror or detestation; it asserts he stood in the stead not only of his elect and those who were given to him by God, but also of reprobate persons, hated by God from eternity; of those whom he never knew, concerning whom, in the days of his flesh, he thanked his Father that he had hid from them the mysteries of salvation; of those whom he refused to pray for; who were, the great part of them, already damned in hell, and irrevocably gone beyond the limits of redemption before he actually yielded any obedience.
I suppose this is a doctrine that will scarce be owned among those who strive to preserve the witness and testimony of the Lord Jesus: that anyone should perish in whose place or stead the Son of God appeared before his
Father with his perfect obedience; that any of those for whom he is a mediator and advocate, to whom he is a king, priest, and prophet, should be taken from him, plucked out of his arms, and his satisfaction and advocacy in their behalf be refused (for he is all these for them, being a public person, sponsor, surety, and undertaker for them).
But let us a little consider the reasons by which Mr. Moore undertakes to maintain this strange assertion; which, as far as I can gather, are these, page
44:
First, Christ did not stand only in the stead of the elect, because Adam did not lose election, not being entrusted with it.
Secondly, if Christ did not stand in the stead of all, then he came short of his figure.
Thirdly, it is said Christ was to restore all men lost by Adam, Heb. 2:9.
Fourthly, he took on flesh, was subjected to mortality, came under the law, and bore the sins of mankind.
Fifthly, he did it in the stead of all mankind once given to him, Rom. 14:9; Phil. 2:8-11.
Sixthly, because he is called the "last Adam" – and, Seventhly, He is said to be a public person, in the stead of all, ever since the "first Adam," 1Cor. 15:45, 47; 1Tim. 2:5; Rom 5.
ANSWER: Never, surely, was a rotten conclusion based upon more loose and tottering principles, nor the word of God more boldly corrupted for the maintenance of any error, since the name of Christian was known. A man would think the effort quite wasted, except that it is so very easy a labor to remove such hay and stubble. I answer, then,
To the first, that though Adam did not lose election, and the eternal decrees of the Almighty are not committed to the keeping of the sons of men, yet in Adam all the elect were lost, whom Christ came to seek, and whom he found, and in whose stead he was a public person.
To the second, Christ is nowhere compared to Adam with regard to the extent of the object of his death, but only with regard to the efficacy of his obedience.
The third is a false assertion; see our foregoing consideration of Heb.
2:9.
Fourthly, as to his taking on flesh, etc., it was necessary he should do all this to save his elect. He took flesh and blood because the children were partakers of the same.
Fifthly, No such thing is once affirmed in whole book of God, that all the sons of men were given to Christ to redeem, so that he should be a public person in their stead. No, Christ himself plainly affirms the contrary in John 17:6, 9.
269 Only some are given him out of the world, and those he saved; not one of them perishes. The passages urged hold out no such thing, nor anything like it. They will also afterward come under further consideration.
Sixthly, He is called the "last Adam" with regard to the efficacy of his death for the justification of the seed promised and given to him, just as the sin of the "first Adam" was effectual to bring the guilt of condemnation upon the seed propagated from him; this does not at all prove that he stood in the stead of all those to whom his death was never known, nor was his death in any way profitable to them.
Seventhly, it is confessed that he was a public person; but it is not proved that he was a public person in the stead of all men, whether by what has been already said, or by the texts which follow, all of which have been considered.
This is all that is produced by Mr. Moore to justify his assertion; it may be an instance of what weighty inferences he usually asserts from such weak, invalid premises. We cannot also but take notice, by the way, of one or two strange passages which he inserts into this discourse. The first of which is that, by his death, Christ brought all men out of that death into which they were fallen by Adam. Now, the death into which all fell in Adam is a death in sin, Eph. 2:1-3, and the guilt of condemnation which rests upon that sin.
If Christ frees all from this death, then everyone must be made alive with spiritual life, which is to be had and obtained only by Jesus Christ; the gospel has already declared, and God will one day determine, whether that
is so or not, and whether to live by Christ is the specific privilege of believers. Another strange assertion is his affirming that the purpose of the death of Christ is to present himself alive and just before his Father, as though it were the ultimate thing intended by him. The Holy Ghost expressly affirms that "he loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church," Eph. 5:25-27.
The following parallels which he draws between Adam and Christ, have nothing of proof in them to the business in hand, namely, that Christ was a public person, standing in his obedience in the place of everyone concerned in the disobedience of Adam. There is, I say, nothing at all of proof in these parallels. They are a confused medley of some truths and various unsavory heresies. I will only give the reader a taste of some of them by which he may judge the rest, not troubling myself or others with the transcribing and reading of such empty vanities that in no way relate to the business in hand.
First, then, in the second part of his parallel he affirms, "That when Christ finished his obedience, in dying and rising, and offering himself as a sacrifice, and making satisfaction, it was, by virtue of the account of God in Christ, and for Christ with God (that is, accepted by God for Christ's sake), the death, resurrection, the sacrifice and satisfaction, and the redemption of all, that is, of all and every one." In this he compares Christ to Adam in the performance of the business undertaken by him. Now, though I consider with trembling what the apostle affirms in 2Thes. 2:11-12,
270 I am still exceedingly amazed that any man in the world would be so far forsaken of sense, reason, faith, and all reverence of God and man, as to publish, maintain, and seek to propagate, such abominable, blasphemous, senseless, and contradictory errors. [Consider the following contradictions]:
That the death of Christ should be accepted by and accounted before God as the death of all, and yet the great part of these for whom he supposedly died will all be personally adjudged to eternal death by the same righteous God; That everyone should arise in and with Jesus Christ, and yet most of them continue dead in their sins, and die for sin eternally;
That satisfaction should be made and accepted for those who are never spared, and not one penny of their debt shall be satisfied by it;
That atonement should be made by sacrifice for those who will ever lie undelivered under wrath; That when Christ died, suffered, made satisfaction, and rose again, all the reprobates such as Cain, Pharaoh, Ahab, and the rest who were actually damned in hell and under death and torments, that all these would be esteemed by God to have died, suffered, made satisfaction, and risen again with Christ;
That such senseless contradictions, horrid errors, and abominable assertions, should be thus nakedly thrust upon Christians, without the least trace, pretence, or show of proof, except by the naked authority of one who has already embraced such things as these, is enough to make any man admire and be amazed; but we know the judgments of God are ofttimes hid, and far above, out of our sights.
Secondly, in the third of his parallels he goes one step higher, comparing Christ with Adam in regard to the efficacy, effect, and fruit of his obedience. He affirms, "That as by the sin of Adam all his posterity were deprived of life, and fell under sin and death, from which judgment and condemnation passed upon all, though this is done secretly and invisibly, and in some sort inexpressibly, 271 so," he says, "by the efficacy of the obedience of Christ, all men without exception are redeemed, restored, made righteous, justified freely by the grace of Christ, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, the 'righteousness that is by the faith of Jesus Christ' being, 'unto all,' Rom. 3:22." This is where the impostor wickedly corrupts the word of God like the devil in Matthew 4, by cutting off the following words, "and upon all that believe;" both all's refer to believers. [Moore continues,] "What remains now but that all should also be saved? The Holy Ghost expressly affirms that those 'whom God justifies, he also glorifies,' Rom. 8:30. 'Solvite mortales animas, curisque levate.'"
273 upon us such assertions as these, without any trace of proof. [He asserts] that men should be restored and yet they continue to be lost; that they should be made righteous and yet remain detestably wicked and wholly abominable; that they should be freely justified by the grace of God and yet always lie under the condemning sentence of the law of God; that the righteousness of God by the faith of This author labors to obtrude
Jesus Christ should apply to all un-believers. These are not only diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but so absolutely at variance and distance one with another, that the poor salve of Mr. Moore's following cautions will not serve to heal their common wounds. I fear that it would be tedious and offensive to rake any longer in such a dunghill. Let those who have a mind to be captivated by error and falsehood by the corruption of Scripture, and to be denied of common sense and reason because they cannot receive the truth in the love of that Scripture, delight themselves with such husks as these.
How weak are the arguments we have heard, to maintain that Christ in his obedience unto death was a public person in the place of everyone, has already been demonstrated. I will now, by the reader's leave, transgress the rule of disputation a little, and, taking up the opposite part of the arguments, produce a few reasons and testimonies to demonstrate that our Savior
Christ, in his obedience unto death, in the redemption which he wrought, and satisfaction which he made, and sacrifice which he offered, was not a public person in the place of all and every man in the world, elect and reprobate, believers and infidels (or unbelievers). Briefly, they are these:
First, the seed of the woman was not to be a public person in the place, stead, and position of the seed of the serpent. Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman; all the reprobates, as was proved before, are the seed of the serpent: therefore, Jesus Christ was not, in his oblation and suffering, when he broke the head of the father of the seed, a public person in their stead.
Secondly, Christ, as a public person, represents only those for whose sake he set himself apart to that office and employment in which he was such a representative; but upon his own testimony, which we have in John 17:19, he set himself apart to the service and employment in which he was a public person, only for the sakes of some who were given him out of the world, and not for everyone: therefore, he was not a public person in the stead of all.
Thirdly, as a public person, Christ was a "surety," Heb. 7:22; but he was not a surety for all; for, first, all are not included in that covenant of which he was a surety, the conditions of which are effected in all the covenantees, 274 as stated before; secondly, none can perish for whom
Christ is a surety, unless he is not able to pay the debt: therefore, he was not a public person in place of all.
Fourthly, he suffered for those for whom he was a public person, in their places, and he made satisfaction for them, Isa. 53:5-6; 275 but he did not suffer in the stead of all, nor did he make satisfaction for all; for, first, some must suffer themselves, which makes it evident that Christ did not suffer for them, Rom. 8:33-34; 276 and, secondly, the justice of God requires satisfaction from themselves, to the payment of the last penny
(Mt 5:6).
Fifthly, Jesus Christ, as a public person, did nothing in vain with regard to any of those for whom he was a public person; but many things Christ did perform as a public person were altogether in vain and fruitless for the great part of the sons of men; they were incapable of receiving any good from anything he did; specifically, this refers to all those who then were actually damned; with regard to these men, redemption, reconciliation, satisfaction, and the like, cannot possibly be anything other than empty terms.
Sixthly, if God were well-pleased with his Son in what he did as a public person in his representation of others (as he was, Eph. 5:2
278), then he must also be well-pleased with those whom he represented, either absolutely or conditionally; but God could not have been well-pleased with many of the sons of men, neither absolutely nor conditionally – as with Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, Ahab, and others who were dead and damned before: therefore, Christ did not represent all as a public person,.
Seventhly, for further testimonies, see John 17:9; Matt. 20:28, 26:26-28; Mark. 10:45; Heb, 6:20; Isa. 53:12; John 10:15; Heb. 13:20; Matt. 1:21;
Heb. 2:17; John 11:51, 52; Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:2, 23-25; Rom. 8:33-34.