The Extent Of The Atonement

One of the components of Calvinism is the notion that the death of Jesus did not atone for the sins of anyone other than the "elect," or those who would be saved.  The extent of the atonement is a crucial soteriological matter, and yet seemingly few Christians can even show where the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus died on behalf of anyone else to begin with.  Romans 5:8 is one of the only verses that is both relevant to the issue and somewhat familiar to casual theologians.

On its own, though, Romans 5:8 does not specify the extent of the atonement.  It does not indicate whether or not the atonement applies to anyone beyond the "elect," as Paul might only be referring to present and future Christians when he says that "Christ died for us."  It is 1 John 2:2 that clarifies that the death of Jesus does not leave anyone without the potential to be saved and that no human is excluded from the possibility of redemption.

Christ died for the elect, yes; however, that he died for the sake of those who would become saved in no way means he did not die or could not have died for the world as a whole.  After all, the elect are only a subgroup of the people in the world!  Jesus could not have done anything at all on behalf of the world without also doing that work for the elect.  It is this simple fact that far too many theologians fail to acknowledge--especially Calvinists.

There is therefore nothing contradictory about saying that Christ died for the elect and for the world, just as there is nothing contradictory about saying that a given city and a specific house within that city are in the same country.  Calvinists nevertheless often treat the two groups as if they do not overlap.  Despite the widespread debate about the issue, it should not take anyone a particularly long amount of time to realize that the elect can only be a specific category contained in the world.

Nothing a Calvinist says can change the fact that Calvinism rests upon nothing but a foundation of assumptions, sophistry, and contradictions, and Calvinism's stance on the atonement is no exception.  To say that the atonement inherently excludes some people is the same as denying that God wants all people to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), something which contradicts the plain teachings of the Old Testament and New Testament alike.  Ironically, Calvinists must deny clear Biblical statements in order to embrace their illogical tenets.