These are some of the notes for my debate with Turretinfan on the whether the Holy Bible teaches limited atonement. I will be citing Calvinist scholars, including John Calvin, all of whom acknowledge that the texts which I quote conclusively prove that Christ died for the sins of the entire human race, for every single individual, and not just for the elect. All emphasis is mine.

2 PETER 2:1

“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 (kai ton agorasanta autous despoten ‘arnoumenoi), bringing swift destruction upon themselves.”

JOHN CALVIN

Even denying the Lord that bought them. Though Christ may be denied in various ways, yet Peter, as I think, refers here to what is expressed by Jude, that is, when the grace of God is turned into lasciviousness; for Christ redeemed us, that he might have a people separated from all the pollutions of the world, and devoted to holiness and innocency. They, then, who throw off the bridle, and give themselves up to all kinds of licentiousness, are not unjustly said to deny Christ BY WHOM THEY HAVE BEEN REDEEMED. Hence, that the doctrine of the gospel may remain whole and complete among us, let this be fixed in our minds, that we have been redeemed by Christ, that he may be the Lord of our life and of our death, and that our main object ought to be, to live to him and to die to him. He then says, that their swift destruction was at hand, lest others should be ensnared by them. (164) (Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible (John Calvin), Chapter 2; bold and capital emphasis mine)

Calvin was alluding to the following verse from Jude:

“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (kai ton monon Despoten kai Kyrion hemon ‘Iesoun Christon ‘arnoumenoi).” Jude 1:4

And here’s what he wrote in respect to this text:

The only Lord God, or, God who alone is Lord. Some old copies have, “Christ, who alone is God and Lord.” And, indeed, in the Second Epistle of Peter, Christ alone is mentioned, and there he is called Lord. (194) But He means that Christ is denied, when they WHO HAD BEEN REDEEMED BY HIS BLOOD, become again the vassals of the Devil, and thus RENDER VOID as far as they can THAT INCOMPARABLE PRICE. That Christ, then, may retain us as his peculiar treasure, we must remember that he died and rose again for us, that he might have dominion over our life and death. (Chapter 1; bold and capital emphasis mine) 

GALATIANS 5:12

“I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!”

CALVIN

Would that they were even cut off. His indignation proceeds still farther, and he prays for destruction on those impostors by whom the Galatians had been deceived. The word, “cut off,” appears to be employed in allusion to the circumcision which they pressed. “They tear the church for the sake of circumcision: I wish they were entirely cut off.” Chrysostom favors this opinion. But how can such an imprecation be reconciled with the mildness of an apostle, who ought to wish that ALL SHOULD BE SAVED, and that NOT A SINGLE PERSON SHOULD PERISH? So far as men are concerned, I admit the force of this argument; for it is the will of God that we should seek the salvation OF ALL MEN WITHOUT EXCEPTION, AS CHRIST SUFFERED FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. But devout minds are sometimes carried beyond the consideration of men, and led to fix their eye on the glory of God, and the kingdom of Christ. The glory of God, which is in itself more excellent than the salvation of men, ought to receive from us a higher degree of esteem and regard. Believers earnestly desirous that the glory of God should be promoted, forget men, and forget the world, and would rather choose that the whole world should perish, than that the smallest portion of the glory of God should be withdrawn. (Chapter 5) 

COLOSSIANS 1:14

“in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

CALVIN

14. In whom we have redemption. He now proceeds to set forth in order, that all parts of our salvation are contained in Christ, and that he alone ought to shine forth, and to be seen conspicuous above all creatures, inasmuch as he is the beginning and end of all things. In the first place, he says that we have redemption (300) and immediately explains it as meaning the remission of sins; for these two things agree together by apposition (301) For, unquestionably, when God remits our transgressions, he exempts us from condemnation to eternal death. This is our liberty, this our glorying in the face of death — that our sins are not imputed to us. He says that this redemption was procured through the blood of Christ, for by the sacrifice of his death ALL THE SINS OF THE WORLD HAVE BEEN EXPIATED. Let us, therefore, bear in mind, that this is the sole price of reconciliation, and that all the trifling of Papists as to satisfactions is blasphemy. (302) (Chapter 1)

HEBREWS 9:28

“so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”

CALVIN

To bear, or, take away sins, is to free from guilt by his satisfaction those who have sinned. He says the sins of many, THAT IS, OF ALL, as in Romans 5:15. It is yet certain that all receive no benefit from the death of Christ; but this happens, BECAUSE THEIR UNBELIEF PREVENTS THEM. At the same time this question is not to be discussed here, for the Apostle is not speaking of the few or of the many to whom the death of Christ may be available; but he simply means that he died for others and not for himself; and therefore he opposes many to one. (161) (Chapter 9)

HEBREWS 10:29

“How much worse punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as defiled the blood of the covenant by which HE was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

CALVIN

The blood of the covenant, etc. He enhances ingratitude by a comparison with the benefits. It is the greatest indignity to count the blood of Christ unholy, by which OUR holiness is effected; this is done by those who depart from the faith. For our faith looks not on the naked doctrine, but on the blood by which our salvation has been ratified. He calls it the blood of the covenant, because then only were the promises made sure to us when this pledge was added. But he points out the manner of this confirmation by saying that WE ARE sanctified; for the blood shed would avail us nothing, except we were sprinkled with it by the Holy Spirit; and hence come OUR expiation and sanctification. The apostle at the same time alludes to the ancient rite of sprinkling, which availed not to real sanctification, but was only its shadow or image. ⁽¹⁸⁵⁾

(185) The words “covenant,” and “sanctified,” and “unclean” or “unholy,” are derived from the old dispensation. “The blood of the covenant” was the blood shed on the cross; and the reference to it is not as sprinkled for the ratifying of the covenant, but as the blood of atonement, as “the blood of the New Testament, or rather covenant, “shed for many for the remission of sins,” Matthew 26:28. Then “sanctified” HAS THE SAME MEANING HERE AS IN Hebrews 10:10 and in Hebrews 2:11, expiated or atoned for; “by which he has expiated.” HE WHO PROFESSES the Christian faith, PROFESSES TO BELIEVE IN the atoning sacrifice of Christ, that Christ shed his blood for many for the remission of sins. As to “unholy,” or rather unclean, such was the blood of a malefactor or impostor, and as such Christ was counted by the Jews and by every Jew who returned to Judaism. — Ed. (Chapter 10; bold and capital emphasis mine)

THOMAS SCHREINER

We should also note that the author speaks of the blood “by which” the readers were “sanctified” (hegiasthe). Here is powerful evidence that those addressed are truly believers, confirming what was argued in 6:4-5 for Jesus by his once-for-all offering “perfected forever those who are sanctified” (10:14). Sanctification here is definitive and positional rather than progressive. It is AWKWARD AND UNNATURAL to see a reference to Jesus in the pronoun instead of believers, for it makes little sense to say Jesus was sanctified by his own blood. Jesus is the one who sanctifies in Hebrews (2:11), not the one who is sanctified. Indeed, in chapters 10 and 13 the author clearly states three times that the death of Jesus sanctifies believers (10:10, 14; 13:12). Nor is it persuasive to say that the sanctification is not saving, comparing it to the sanctification under the old covenant (9:13), which only sanctified externally. The argument fails to persuade, for the point in Hebrews is that Jesus’ sacrifice stands in contrast to the sacrifices of the old covenant. His sacrifice is effective and truly brings sanctification. To say that his sacrifice only sanctifies externally, like the sacrifices of the old covenant, misses one of the major themes of the letter. Contrary to OT sacrifices, Jesus’ sacrifice truly cleanses the conscience. (Schreiner, Commentary on Hebrews (Biblical Theology for Christian Proclamation) [B&H Publishing, Nashville, TN 2015], p. 327; bold and capital emphasis mine)

These two Reformers emphatically identify the one sanctified by the blood as those individuals whom the Lord set apart, not to Christ himself. And they both readily acknowledge that v. 29 has the meaning as the following passages, both of which identify the one being set apart as the believers, not Christ:

“For he who sanctifies and those WHO ARE sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,” Hebrews 2:11

“And by that will WE have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10

LUKE 19:41-44

“When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation (episkopes).’” Luke 19:41-44

Luke’s Gospel explains what Jesus meant by the time of Israel’s visitation:

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited (epeskepsato) us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant—… And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit (episkepsetai) us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:68-69, 76-79

CALVIN

41. And wept over it. As there was nothing which Christ more ardently desired than to execute the office which the Father had committed to him, and as he knew that the end of his calling was to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, (Matthew 15:24,) he wished that his coming might bring salvation to ALL. This was the reason why he was moved with compassion, and wept over the approaching destruction of the city of Jerusalem. For while he reflected that this was the sacred abode which God had chosen, in which the covenant of eternal salvation should dwell — the sanctuary from which salvation would go forth to the whole world, it was impossible that he should not deeply deplore its ruin. And when he saw the people, who had been adopted to the hope of eternal life, perish miserably through their ingratitude and wickedness, we need not wonder if he could not refrain from tears. (Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible, Chapter 19; bold and capital emphasis mine)

42. O if even thou hadst known! The discourse is pathetic, and therefore abrupt; for we know that by those who are under the influence of vehement passion their feelings are not more than half-expressed. Besides, two feelings are here mingled; for not only does Christ bewail the destruction of the city, but he likewise reproaches the ungrateful people with the deepest guilt, in rejecting the salvation WHICH WAS OFFERED TO THEM, and drawing down on themselves a dreadful judgment of God. The word even, which is interwoven with it, is emphatic; for Christ silently contrasts Jerusalem with the other cities of Judea, or rather, of the whole world, and the meaning is: “If Even thou, who art distinguished by a remarkable privilege above the whole world, — if thou at least, (I say,) who art a heavenly sanctuary in the earth, hadst known ” This is immediately followed by another amplification taken from the time: “Though hitherto thou hast wickedly and outrageously rebelled against God, now at least there is time for repentance.” For he means that the day is now at hand, which had been appointed by the eternal purpose of God FOR THE SALVATION OF JERUSALEM, and had been foretold by the prophets. Thus (says Isaiah) is the accepted time, this is the day of salvation, (Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2.) (Ibid.; bold and capital emphasis mine)

43. For the days shall come upon thee. He now assumes, as it were, the character of a judge, and addresses Jerusalem with greater severity. In like manner the prophets also, though they shed tears over the destruction of those about whom they ought to feel anxiety, yet they summon up courage to pronounce severe threatenings, because they know that not only are they commanded to watch over the salvation of men, but that they have also been appointed to be the heralds of the judgment of God. Under these terms Jesus declares that Jerusalem will suffer dreadful punishment, because she did not know the time of her visitation; that is, because she despised the Redeemer who had been exhibited to her, AND DID NOT EMBRACE HIS GRACE. Let the fearful nature of the punishments which she endured now alarm us, that we may not, by our carelessness, extinguish the light of salvation, but may be careful to receive the grace of God, and may even run with rigor to meet it. (Ibid.; bold and capital emphasis mine)

ISAIAH 53:6

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”

CALVIN

We see that here none are excepted, for the Prophet includes “all.” THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE would have perished, if Christ had not brought relief. He does not even except the Jews, whose hearts were puffed up with a false opinion of their own superiority, but condemns them indiscriminately, along with others, to destruction. By comparing them to sheep, he intends not to extenuate their guilt, as if little blame attached to them, but to state plainly that it belongs to Christ to gather from their wanderings those who resembled brute beasts.

Every one hath turned to his own way. By adding the term every one, he descends from A UNIVERSAL STATEMENT, IN WHICH HE INCLUDED ALL, to a special statement, that every individual may consider in his own mind if it be so; for a general statement produces less effect upon us than to know that it belongs to each of us in particular. Let “every one,” therefore, arouse his conscience, and present himself before the judgment­seat of God, that he may confess his wretchedness. Moreover, what is the nature of this “going astray” the Prophet states more plainly. It is, that every one hath followed the way which he had chosen for himself, that is, hath determined to live according to his own fancy; by which he means that there is only one way of living uprightly, and if any one “turn aside” from it, he can experience nothing but “going astray.”

He does not speak of works only, but of nature itself, which always leads us astray; for, if we could by natural instinct or by our own wisdom, bring ourselves back into the path, or guard ourselves against going astray, Christ would not be needed by us. Thus, in ourselves we all are undone unless Christ (John 8:36) sets us free; and the more we rely on our wisdom or industry, the more dreadfully and the more speedily do we draw down destruction on ourselves. And so the Prophet shows what we are before we are regenerated by Christ; for ALL are involved in the same condemnation. “There is none righteous, none that understandeth, none that seeketh God. All have turned aside, and have become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good; no, not one.” (Psalms 14:3) All this is more fully explained by Paul. (Romans 3:10) (Chapter 53; bold and capital emphasis mine)

ISAIAH 53:12

“Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many, And He will divide the spoil with the strong; Because He poured out His soul to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.
 

CALVIN

I have followed the ordinary interpretation, that “he bore the sin of many,” though we might without impropriety consider the Hebrew word Mybr (rabbim,) to denote “Great and Noble.” And thus the contrast would be more complete, that Christ, while “he was ranked among transgressors,” became surety for every one of the most excellent of the earth, and suffered in the room of those who hold the highest rank in the world. I leave this to the judgment of my readers. Yet I approve of the ordinary reading, that he alone bore the punishment of many, because on him was laid the guilt of THE WHOLE WORLD. It is evident from other passages, and especially from the fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, that “many” sometimes denotes “all.” (Ibid.; bold and capital emphasis mine)

MARK 14:24

“And He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’”

CALVIN

his is my blood. I have already remarked that, when we are told that the blood is to be shed–according to the narrative of Matthew–for the remission of sins, these words direct us to the sacrifice of the death of Christ, without the remembrance of which the Lord’s Supper is never observed in a proper manner. And, indeed, it is impossible for believing souls to be satisfied in any other way than by being assured that God is pacified towards them.

Which is shed for many. By the word many he means not a part of the world only, BUT THE WHOLE HUMAN RACE; for he contrasts many with one; as if he had said, that he will not be the Redeemer of one man only, but will die in order to deliver many from the condemnation of the curse. It must at the same time be observed, however, that by the words for you, as related by Luke–Christ directly addresses the disciples, and exhorts every believer to apply to his own advantage the shedding of blood Therefore, when we approach to the holy table, let us not only remember in general that the world has been redeemed by the blood of Christ, but let every one consider for himself that his own sins have been expiated. (Chapter 14; bold and capital emphasis mine)

MATTHEW 26:39

“And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.’”

CALVIN

It comes now to be inquired, what advantage did Christ gain by praying? The apostle, in writing to the Hebrews, says that he was heard ( ἀπὸ τὢς εὐλαβείας ) on account of his fear: for so ought that passage to be explained, and not, as it is usually explained, on account of his reverence, (Hebrews 5:7.) That would not have been consistent, if Christ had simply feared death; for he was not delivered from it. Hence it follows, that what led him to pray to be delivered from death was the dread of a greater evil. When he saw the wrath of God exhibited to him, as he stood at the tribunal of God CHARGED WITH THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD, he unavoidably shrunk with horror from the deep abyss of death. And, therefore, though he suffered death, yet since its pains were loosed —as Peter tells us, (Acts 2:24,)—and he was victorious in the conflict, the Apostle justly says, that he was heard on account of his fear. Here ignorant people rise up and exclaim, that it would have been unworthy of Christ to be afraid of being swallowed up by death. But I should wish them to answer this question, What kind of fear do they suppose it to have been which drew from Christ drops of blood? (Luke 22:44) For that mortal sweat could only have proceeded from fearful and unusual horror. If any person, in the present day, were to sweat blood, and in such a quantity that the drops should fall to the ground, it would be reckoned an astonishing miracle; and if this happened to any man through fear of death, we would say that he had a cowardly and effeminate mind. Those men, therefore, who deny that Christ prayed that the Father would rescue him from the gulf of death, ascribe to him a cowardice that would be disgraceful even in an ordinary man. (Chapter 26; bold and capital emphasis mine) 

In the next segment I will address a couple of objections typically raised by proponents of limited atonement: TURRETIN ATONEMENT DEBATE PT. 2.

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