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All aboard the universalism train! Everyone's getting saved!
it isn't a universalism argument, you've presented a strawman. as the rest of your post is arguing against the strawman you've set up, I don't need to really address it in detail.
there is no limit to who the group may include in John 17. Up to verse 19 He is speaking about the apostles, and then as you point out He is speaking about anyone who will believe. You stopped too soon -
why does He ask the Father for unity? "So that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." This is a witness, not a rejection of those. The unity is to be witnesses to the world. Why would it matter to witness to those who were not called? it's nonsense.
there's so much richness you've missed by smooshing together atonement, intercession, salvation.
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we know Christ doesn't intercede for all people, only those who are in Christ
we know nothing of the sort! the high priest of Israel did not intercede only for Israel. Israel wasn't some insular group, special, and pulled out for their own end. Israel was formed as part of a redemptive plan to save the world, and was God's special portion, a nation created from nothing to save the world. Israel was a nation of priests who allowed God to dwell among men. Israel interceded for all nations every year at the feast of booths - seventy bulls for seventy nations (see the table of nations in Genesis 10).
much the same Christ is the high priest who represents all mankind. a priest has two roles - one is to represent Man to God. you seem to be thinking in this vein. But there is a second role, equally vital, and that is to represent God to Man. And Christ serves both roles perfectly, the perfect high priest, God and Man. He is the express image of the Father, which is why He said "If you have seen Me you have seen the Father". Israel was a light to the nations, as was Christ - "I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
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we know in the Old Testament, The Day of Atonement was not for all people, but for God's people.
the shadow is the type - the revelation is found in the fulfillment. we know that Christ atoned for the whole world because He made the whole world clean.
Atonement, which is a made up word to translate a one-off Hebrew word for "cover," was done once a year to remove the residual taint and defilement of sin in the camp. not just the individual sins of the people - they were routinely handled - but for the overall stain. the "covering" of blood "atoned" (covered) the altar, the space, the priest, the people. the sins were placed on the goat and sent out into the wilderness - back to the world, to Azazel, where they came from. That is the goat who takes away sin. The other goat, which had no blemish and was pure, was sacrificed to the Lord. Christ is both goats, and not just for the sins of Israel, but for all mankind. How do I know? Because He removed the barrier between the clean and unclean. This is why the Lord tells St Peter, referring to Gentiles, "What God has cleansed, you do not call unholy." This is why at the council of Jerusalem St Peter testifies - "He made no distinction between us and them, for He cleansed their hearts by faith."
The shadow was effectual only for Israel, for the camp. Christ's once-for-all sacrifice dealt with Sin (make careful note of the difference between Sin and sins in St Paul's writing!) once and for all. As St Paul says - "just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time,
not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him." This is why Christ "became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him."
He tore down the wall, and all nations were placed under His authority. All of this happened through the atonement, the covering, the cleansing of all sin, all at once, for the whole world. As St Isaac the Syrian said so beautifully, "As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh as compared with the mind of God." Again, St John makes this abundantly clear when he says "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world." And it is precisely in this that we find His love, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins." Who's sins? "Not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world." Who is He? "The lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." Who did God love, then?
The world. How do we know? Because He gave His only Son so that ANYONE who has faith in Him might come to eternal life. This is flatly impossible without correctly understanding atonement, the once-for-all sacrifice that dealt with sin once and for all.
He as mercy on whom He will have mercy - and His perfect judgment and justice is to take away the sins of the whole world. And this is exactly why "where sins have been forgiven, an offering for sin is no longer needed."
Anyone who comes to Him can be made perfect for all time because of this single offering. This is the gospel, this is the meaning of "all authority on heaven and earth has been given to me." That is precisely what atonement did.
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You post John 3:16, but your interpretation requires us to interpret the verse "For God so loved all people, he sacrificed his Son for believers only" creating contradiction in the Word.
Completely misreading this. God so loved all people, that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in Him should not perish but have eternal life. He did it all, unilaterally, and opened the door to each and every human being. This is exactly the same as St Paul - He became the source of salvation for all who obey Him, and everyone who is faithful to Him will have eternal life. As St Paul puts it, the "obedience of faith."
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How can I apply a universalist application to that verse? You can't. It has no consistency in Scripture.
this isn't universalism at all.
who did Christ save from death? All mankind. "all those in the tombs will hear His voice" "there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked" "Before him will be gathered all the nations."
what sin did Christ deal with on the cross? All sin. There is no longer sacrifice necessary for sin, because Christ's blood cleansed and covered (the meaning of atonement) the taint of all sin. Ultimate life met death and conquered. As St John Chrysostom said, and we read every Pascha, death took a body, and met God face to face - and it was annihilated.
and yet what is salvation? is that the end? absolutely not. because man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment. Salvation from death is universal and final. forgiveness of sins is offered to all, and the victory over sin is absolute and complete. But not all will be saved, because not all will be faithful. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil."
Again, Christ God is the lover of mankind.
"The love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that
one has died for all, therefore all have died; and
He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised...All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ
God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them."
Christ is the lover of mankind, because He did all this when the all the people of the world were His enemies, forgiving them as they crucified Him, because His sacrifice was voluntary. He came to save sinners, and died for you and me and all men when we were His enemies that through this reconciliation - the ministry entrusted to us now as a kingdom of priests to represent God to Man as witnesses - all might be saved.
You can keep ignoring it, but the point remains. He wants all mankind to repent, He wants all mankind to be saved, He is the savior of all mankind, and He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, He died for all, because He was reconciling the world to Himself. And in the end, He is going to come and count talents. This is the gospel.
