> "It actually saves none. Therefore, none are actually saved."
Correct. This is what I also used to argue. If Jesus died for all men, but all are not saved, then the atonement only makes salvation possible, it doesn't actually save. Also, if Jesus atoned for the sins of every single individual, that means that there are souls in hell whose sins have been atoned for! How can that be? Thus, I agreed with Murray, Owen, et al. that Jesus died only for the elect.
But, after I became an Arminian, I wondered about verses such as 1 John 2:2 where it says that Jesus is "the atoning sacrifice [or propitiation] for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world". How did propitiation take place for the non-elect? And the previous questions came back: Did Jesus' death merely make salvation possible, or did it actually save? Norman F. Douty answered all of these questions for me in his book, "The Death of Christ: Did Christ die only for the elect?" So I will briefly quote from his work:
"[1 John 2:2; 3:5; 4:10] This means that Christ suffered for every sort of sin ever committed by human kind. For example, He suffered for the violation of every one of the Ten Commandments. There is, in fact, no transgression of any of God's laws for which Christ did not suffer. Name it - He bore its punishment.
THIS IS DIFFERENT from saying that Christ suffered so much for this man's sins, and so much for that man's. When He suffered for any particular sin, He suffered for a sin of which millions have been guilty. Since the value of His suffering for that one sin was infinite (because of His own infinity), provision was thereby made for all instances of that sin whenever committed.
From this it is evident that Christ suffered for the sins of both the elect and the non-elect when He bore the punishment of any particular sin, since both groups of persons have been guilty of that sin... He could not suffer for the sins of the elect without suffering for those of the non-elect, because both companies have sinned the same sins... Away then with the foolish talk of wasting Christ's suffering if He suffered for those who are damned; He suffered for all, or He suffered for none." (pp. 29-30)
Therefore, Christ has certainly made atonement for the sins of the world, dying for all men, but propitiation is only applied "through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:25).
