Acts 20:28
Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer, writes: “But does the Bible actually teach that Christ died only for the elect? Here are some of the passage used to show that Christ came for the specific purpose of payment a ransom only for those whom God had chosen: … Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock of God which He purchased with His own blood. (Acts 20:28)” (The Doctrines That Divide, pp.185-186, emphasis mine)
4-Point Calvinist, Ron Rhodes, explains: “As a basic principle of biblical interpretation, it is critical to recognize that the Scriptures do not always include all aspects of a truth in any one passage. Consider the fact that Christ is called the Savior of the Israelites in a number of verses. If it is legitimate for particular redemptionists to cite certain verses in isolation to ‘prove’ that Christ died only for the elect, then it could be argued with equal logic from other isolated passages that Christ died only for Israel (cf. John 11:51; Isaiah 53:8), or that He died only for the apostle Paul (for Paul declared that Christ ‘loved me, and gave himself for me’--Galatians 2:20, emphasis added). Related to this, it is highly revealing that Matthew 1:21 says that Jesus ‘will save his people from their sins.’ Throughout the Old Testament God speaks of the Israelites as ‘My people.’ For example, seven times God tells the Pharaoh, ‘Let My people go’ (Exodus 5:1; 7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, 13; 10:13). (I urge the reader to check a concordance to verify that God continues to refer to the Israelites as ‘My people’ throughout the entire Old Testament.) The last occurrence is Zechariah 13:9, where God affirms, ‘They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, “they are my people,” and they will say, “The LORD is our God.”’ Now in Luke 1:68 Zechariah said in regard to Jesus, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people’ (emphasis added). Zechariah here uses the phrase ‘his people’ in the standard Old Testament sense of ‘Israelites.’ In Matthew 1:21, when an angel told Joseph, ‘She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins,’ the words ‘his people’ are referring specifically to the people of Israel, not the entire company of God’s elect (which includes non-Israelites or Gentiles). Yet, as Norman Douty asks, ‘Who believes that the Jewish people have a monopoly on Christ’s saving grace? All hold that it goes beyond their confines to the Gentiles world as well.’ All of this is simply to say that, in like manner, when Christ is said to have purchased the church with His blood (Acts 20:28), we cannot limit Christ’s atoning work to the church alone. Simply because a particular verse only mentions God’s salvation to one group does not mean that God’s salvation is to be restricted to only that group.” (The Extent of the Atonement: Limited Atonement Versus Unlimited Atonement (Part Two), emphasis mine)
Calvinist, William MacDonald, answers: “Here we should pause to remind ourselves that while these false teachers to whom Peter refers had been bought by the Lord, they had never been redeemed. The NT distinguishes between purchase and redemption. All are purchased but not all are redeemed. Redemption applies only to those who receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, availing themselves of the value of His shed blood (1 Pet. 18, 19).” (Believer’s Bible Commentary, p.2295, emphasis mine)
John Calvin comments: “God bought the church so that we may know that he wants it to remain complete for himself, for it is right that he should possess those he has redeemed.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.338, emphasis mine)
Agreed. However, as previously mentioned, God, for His part, desires that all be in the Church.
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer, writes: “If it is true that Christ died to redeem a specific number of people, namely those whom the Father had given him, it follows that all believers were redeemed at the cross two thousand years ago. They were cleared of all charges then, for God accepted the ransom payment. The certificate of our canceled debt was then given to us when we trusted in Christ. Paul said that the reason no one can bring a charge against the elect is that Christ has died for them (Rom. 8:24).” (The Doctrines That Divide, p.185, emphasis mine)
If a person was redeemed at the cross two thousand years ago, then they were redeemed apart from the basis of believing in Christ. However, Jesus said at John 3:18: “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” How can someone be secretly “cleared of all charges” while simultaneously being “judged already”? Redemption in Christ is contingent upon believing in Christ. For unless you believe in Christ, you remain under condemnation as “judged already.”
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians explains: “When a person is united with Christ, only then is he said to share in Christ’s death. Through union with Christ, a person comes to experience Christ’s death and resurrection.” (SEA, emphasis mine)
Question: Where does this verse say that Jesus died “only” for the Church?
Answer: It doesn’t. Calvinist logic dictates that since Jesus died for the Church, it must mean “only” the Church. Calvinists conspicuously do not use the same logic when dealing with Galatians 2:20, in which Paul states, “the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Obviously that would mean that Jesus died for only one single person, namely Paul. One could argue that Paul can say this only because he is part of the Church, but you can also say that the Church comes out of the world, and Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29) The concept of Jesus dying for the Church is shared at Titus 2:14 which states: “Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” The idea is that since only those who believe receive the benefit of the atonement, you can say that Jesus died for the Church, which is where the atonement finds its ultimate fulfillment. However, it is equally true that God desires that everyone be in the Church, insomuch that He desires “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1st Timothy 2:4) Obviously this makes sense because God commands repentance of all men, and He will judge those who don’t.
Question: Who did Jesus purchase?
Answer: Everyone. The purchase was universal, but redemption is unique to believers. Having purchased all is how He is Lord of all, Judge of all, and Savior all, having given Himself “as a ransom for all.” (1st Timothy 2:6) This is confirmed by 2nd Peter 2:1, which states: “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” So everyone was purchased, even those who perish. But they were purchased so that they could be saved.
2nd Peter 2:1 seems to reinforce the accuracy of this point.
