you do not understand the atonement which is obvious. Just like the snake Moses held up in the wilderness when the Israelites were bitten- those who looked upon it in faith were healed, those who did not died. Those who look to Jesus sacrifice for their sins in faith have their sins atoned, forgiven and those who remain in unbelief do not. Its exactly what Jesus taught in John in John 3.
hope this helps !!!
You believe that Christ's atonement applies to everybody everywhere in all time (the whole world) which means that you believe Christ atoned for people in hell. I do understand your free-willian philosophy, but you have no way out by to your own initiative.
I'm so glad that you brought up "
the serpent in the wilderness" mentioned by Lord Jesus which He sandwiched between the requirement for man to be born of the Holy Spirit in order to perceive the Kingdom of God (
John 3:3) and God's control of man in doing good even man coming to Christ (
John 3:21)
thus your free-willian philosophy nullifies the Word of God. On to Christ's use of the word "
world" in relation with "
the serpent in the wilderness".
The first order is to look at Lord Jesus' words as recorded by the Apostle John:
"
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that every believing will in Him have eternal life, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that every believing in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." (
John 3:14-16).
The second order is to examine the history of "
the serpent in the wilderness" that Jesus mentions (see
John 3:14):
Then YHWH said to Moses, "Make a fiery [serpent], and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live." And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.
The third order is to listen to the Master.
Jesus sets "
the serpent in the wilderness" "
lifted up" in relation to "
the Son of Man" "
lifted up" (all in
John 3:14).
Jesus then states "
so that every believing will in" Jesus "
have eternal life" (
John 3:15), but He intensifies this statement by repeating it right away.
Jesus continues with "
for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son" (
John 3:16), and here is where Jesus mentions "
world".
Jesus follows up with intensifying his prior declaration (
John 3:15) with "
that every believing in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (
John 3:16).
The fourth order is to acknowledge the Master's words.
Jesus mentioned "
the serpent in the wilderness", so by this He brings up the account of the bronze serpent (
John 3:16 includes
Numbers 21:8-9).
The relation that Jesus set between the bronze serpent lifted up and Himself lifted up bears significance upon the population of persons that Jesus establishes for the word "
world" in
John 3:16.
For the next four paragraphs, we see the Word of God speaking to Moses (
Numbers 21:8) in relation to the Word of God speaking to Nicodemus (
John 3:16).
Notice how "
everyone who is bitten" (
Numbers 21:8) relates to "
world" (
John 3:16).
Notice how "
when he" (
Numbers 21:8) relates to "
that every one" (
John 3:16, note that the singular (not plural) Greek word pas [
Strongs 3956] translates accurately as "
every one" not so much as the unfettered promiscuous "
whosoever" [KJV] or "
whoever" [NASB]).
Notice how "
look" (
Numbers 21:8) relates to "
believing" (
John 3:16).
Notice how "
live" (
Numbers 21:8) relates to "
eternal life" (
John 3:16).
God told Moses that a person bitten by one of the serpents "
will live" when the person looks at "
the serpent in the wilderness".
Based on God's command about "
the serpent in the wilderness" (
Numbers 21:8) and the results of the bronze serpent that Moses set on the standard (
Numbers 21:9), the population of persons that certainly were affected by God's command about "
the serpent in the wilderness" in order to live were ONLY each bitten person that looked at "
the serpent in the wilderness".
In other words, the population of persons associated with living by looking at "
the serpent in the wilderness" was restricted to ONLY the bitten persons that looked at the bronze serpent. For simplicity, I'll call this the "population of bitten look livers".
Furthermore, there is a different population of persons. This population of persons are not in the "population of bitten look livers". For example, this population of persons could include bitten persons that DID NOT LOOK AT "
the serpent in the wilderness" after the "
the serpent in the wilderness" was set on a pole/standard (
Numbers 21:9). As another example, this population of persons certainly includes bitten persons that DID NOT LOOK AT "
the serpent in the wilderness" due to the
many people of Israel (
Numbers 21:6) who were dead before God Almighty commanded Moses to make the "
the serpent in the wilderness" "
and set it on a standard" (
Numbers 21:8). This population of persons I'll call the "population of bitten-non-lookers".
Therefore, there are separate populations of persons identified in Jesus' words as recorded by the Apostle John (
John 3:14-16). There was the "population of bitten look livers"; meanwhile, there was the "population of bitten-non-lookers".
Jesus utilized a comparator in which a group of many persons in the "population of bitten-non-lookers" were incapable of looking at the "
the serpent in the wilderness" because that subset of people were dead prior to Moses fashioning the
bronze serpent (
Numbers 21:9), so Jesus sets the same standard for a subset of persons in the "
world" (
John 3:16) because that group of people are incapable of seeing King Jesus (
John 3:3-8).
God requires for persons to believe in Jesus in order to be granted eternal life by God (
John 3:15,
John 3:16).
So, it follows, when Lord Jesus says "
God so loved the world" (
John 3:16), then specifically He is saying God loves the ones who will believe in Jesus whom the Father has sent (
John 6:29).
This relation set by Jesus establishes that the word "
world" as used by Jesus in
John 3:14-16 includes ONLY the population of persons that currently believe in Jesus or will in the future believe in Jesus.
The Word of God conclusively proves that the context establishes the "
world" as the population of God's chosen persons ONLY.
Before and after saying "
world", Jesus establishes the requirement of believing in Jesus in order for persons to be in the population of persons granted eternal life by God.
Jesus, the Word of God, says "
This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (
John 6:29).
Jesus defines righteous faith/belief such that a person believing in Jesus whom the Father has sent is the work of God (
John 6:29).
Jesus attributes a complete package, a whole gift, a finished work which He refers to as "
that you believe in Him whom He has sent".
God deposits "
that you believe in Him whom He has sent" in a person as a complete, sufficiently functioning work by God unto salvation of the person with nothing additional by the person as necessary, no choice by the person, no work of a decision by the person, no acceptance by the person, nothing by the person to achieve salvation.
So, "
that you believe in Him whom He has sent" is a complete thing with nothing more to add by the person to the righteous faith/belief deposited by God unto being saved from the wrath of God.
Jesus clearly explains that the "
believe in Him whom He has sent" is locked inside of the "
you" specified by Jesus (
John 6:29).
This "locking" is "
the work of God" for God secures all of God's own persons unto eternal life (
John 10:27-29).
The whole pagkage is done, finished, and complete.
There is nothing more "to be done" by the "
you" with the finished package in order to obtain the gift of eternal life in God.
Thus, the only persons with righteous faith/belief implanted by God for a person's salvation are in the population of persons with eternal life in God (
John 6:29,
John 3:16).
The Word of God conclusively proves that the context establishes the "
world" as the population of God's chosen persons ONLY.
When self-willed persons (
2 Peter 2:9-10) define the "
world" in
John 3:16 as everyone everywhere without exception, then such persons assert that the Truth (Jesus -
John 14:6) tells a lie. The deception results because such persons have Jesus losing persons eternally in spite of Him saying "
I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand" (
John 10:28).
The "
no one" in "
no one will snatch them out of My hand" means no one, not the devil, not the person himself or herself, not another person. The "
no one" means absolutely NO ONE.
If the word "
world" in
John 3:16 includes the population of persons who die while in disbelief/unfaith, then God lost some persons to eternal punishment instead of eternal life.
Since believing in the Son of God whom God the Father has sent is the work of God (John 6:29) and no one will snatch a God rooted believer out of Jesus' hand (
John 10:28), then the population of persons represented by the word "
world" by Jesus as recorded by the Apostle John (
John 3:16) must of necessity be only persons who currently believe in Jesus or will in the future believe in Jesus unto eternal life in God.
The Word of God conclusively proves that the context establishes the "
world" as the population of believers, God's chosen persons, existing or yet to be ONLY.
The word "
world" in
John 3:16 is the population of persons who currently are or in the future will be imparted the work of God unto salvation that is faith/belief in Lord Jesus Christ whom the Father has sent (John 6:29).
