Jesus……Actual or Potential Savior?

Jesus…A Potential Savior or a Real Savior?

The Cross….Makes Salvation Possible? Or Actually Insures Salvation?

 

Christ’s atonement was either actual or potential in accomplishing its purposes.

 

If Christ potentially accomplished His purposes the only option is:

1. Christ died for some who will not be saved.

 

If Christ actually accomplished His purposes the four options are:

1. Christ died for all of the sins of all men (actual universalism)

2. Christ died for some of the sins of all men (hypothetical universalism)

3. Christ died for all of the sins of some men (Reformed particularism)

4. Christ died for some of the sins of some men (hypothetical particularism) 

 

Let’s take this one at a time.  The first question leads us in the direction of an actual atonement or a possible atonement.  Let us focus first on the option of “possible atonement.”

 

Did Jesus satisfy God’s justice on the cross?  Or do we satisfy God’s justice when we believe? 

 

If your answer is “at the cross,” then you believe that everyone for whom Christ died is cleared of all charges before God. 

If your answer is “when we believe,” you have to answer then… “who is the real savior then?”

If it all hinges on the faith of us people, there are a few problems that surface:

 

1. Christ died for some who will not be saved.

 

If Christ died for some who will be in hell, can His work then be considered a saving work? 

It didn’t accomplish what it intended.  There is no “power in the blood.”  Rather, the power is in the will of the person, which leads me to problem number two.

 

2. We ultimately save ourselves by our faith. (Which is a bit hard to imagine happening when we are blind and DEAD in our sin!)

 

This leads us to another tough question:    If Christ died for every single individual, then our two alternatives are:

1. Every person will be saved.

2. There is one sin for which Christ’s death did not atone, namely, unbelief.

 

What is the common response?   “Christ wipes away our sin  we choose to accept His gift of salvation.  If we don’t accept it, we are not saved.”  The implications of this statement are that our  “accepting it” becomes a work in which we save ourselves.  If we don’t accept it, then there is one sin for which Christ did not die – unbelief. 

 

Think hard….study….see……what exactly DID Jesus accomplish at the cross? 

 

What Biblical support do these views have? 

Who did Jesus die for?

What did he actually and truly accomplish?

Is Jesus our ACTUAL Savior or a POTENTIAL Savior?