In our last issue, we discussed that only the blood of Jesus can save. We now move to the question of who can be saved. There are those that believe a person must be chosen by God for salvation. This is one of the core beliefs of a doctrine known as Calvinism. This doctrine teaches, among other things, that one is unconditionally elected. In other words, a person has no control over the choice of God, whether to be saved or to not be saved. Calvinism also teaches the idea that Jesus died for just a few people. This is their belief known as limited atonement. What does the Bible say about who can be saved by the blood of Jesus?
The idea that Jesus only died for a certain few people is a rejection of clear Bible passages. 2 Peter 3:9 states about God that He is “longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Paul told Timothy that God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” In both cases, the word all means “anyone and everyone.” God’s word has been given for every man or woman to believe and obey. There is not anyone that God wants to be lost. There will be those that will be lost. Not because of God, but because of their refusal to be do what He says (Matthew 7:21).
It is also unbelievable false to say that Jesus died for only a few. Read what John had to say about this idea: “And He is the propitiation (appeasement – BW) for our sins: and not four ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Nowhere in this passage does it even hint that Jesus died for only a few. Jesus died for all mankind. You can think of the worst sinner you have ever heard about and Jesus died for that person. Jesus died for the very ones who killed Him and chanted “crucify Him” at His death. We know this because we are told that Peter accused, by inspiration, the ones who heard the first gospel sermon recorded in Acts 2. He told them, “God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Then some of those very people obeyed the will of God and became obedient to the One they had murdered.
Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that Christ only shed His blood for a few people or that some have been unconditionally elected to be saved and others elected to be lost. The Bible refutes that as we have shown by just looking at a few verses. You can be saved if you come into contact with the blood of Jesus. As we are told in the last chapter of the Bible, “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).