Richard Watson on John 3.16–18 and the Impossibility of a Limited Atonement

        “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.” Now, if the world here means the elect world, or the elect not yet called out of it, then it is affirmed that “whosoever,” of this elect body, believeth should not perish; which plainly implies, that some of the elect might not believe, and therefore perish, contrary to their doctrine.[1] This absurd consequence is still clearer from the verses which immediately follow. John iii, 17, 18, “For God sent not his Son into the world, to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already.” Now here we must take the term “world,” either extensively[2] for all mankind or limitedly[3] for the elect. If the former, then all men “through him may be saved,” but only through faith: he therefore, of this world that believeth may be saved; but he of this world that believeth not is condemned already. The sense here is plain and consistent; but if, on the other hand, we take “the world” to mean the elect only, then he of this elect world that “believeth not is condemned;” so that the restricted interpretation necessarily supposes, that elect persons may remain in unbelief, and be lost. The same absurdity will follow from a like interpretation of the general commission. Either “all the world” and “every creature,” mean every man, or the elect only. If the former, it follows, that he of this “world,” any individual among those included in the phase, “every creature,” who believes, “shall be saved,” or, not believing, “shall be damned:”[4] if the latter, then he of the elect, any individual of the elect, who believes, “shall be saved,” and any individual of the elect who believes not, “shall be damned.” Similar absurdities might be brought out from other passages; but if these are candidly weighed, it will abundantly appear, that texts so plain and explicit cannot be turned into such consequences by any true method of interpretation, and that they must, therefore, be taken in their obvious sense, which unequivocally expresses the universality of the atonement.[5]

Richard Watson, Theological Institutes: Or, a View of the Evidences, Doctrines, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity, 2 vols. (New York, NY: Lane & Scott, 1850), 2.291–2, emphases in original

Notes

        1. ‘[T]heir doctrine’, namely strict or high Calvinism’s doctrine of limited atonement. This teaching is commonly referred to as particular (or definite) atonement by its proponents. According to the doctrine of limited atonement, Christ died in a salvational sense exclusively for those God unconditionally elected for salvation prior to the creation of the world. High Calvinistic theology denies that the non-elect (or ‘reprobate’) were ever intended to be made partakers of Christ’s benefits. In simple terms, strict Calvinists deny that Christ died for all persons without exception because God never intended to save the non-elect.
        Limited atonement is closely linked to the doctrine of unconditional election to salvation. Calvinists believe that those who are not saved were unconditionally reprobated (i.e. foreordained to damnation) from eternity as a result of God’s inscrutable, eternal decree.
        2. That is, universally, inclusively.
        3. That is, exclusively, particularly.
        4. Mark 16.15–16 (see also Matt. 28.19–20; Lk. 24.46–47; Acts 1.8).
        5. In the quotation above, it should be evident that Watson seeks to refute a strict Calvinistic understanding of limited atonement by demonstrating its absurdity in the light of scriptural texts such as John 3.16–18 and Mark 16.15–16. The form of argumentation Watson utilises here is referred to as the argumentum ad absurdum (argument to absurdity) or reductio ad absurdum (reduction to absurdity).  —J. D. Gallé

Notes copyright © J. D. Gallé, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2021. All rights reserved.

Addendum (27 Sept. 2022; 29 Aug. 2023).  As from 2018, Lexham Press have published a non-facsimile reprint of Methodist Richard Watson’s significant, nineteenth-century work of systematic theology, Theological Institutes.* Watson’s Theological Institutes is the first systematic theology to have been written from a Wesleyan-Arminian perspective.

        My sole criticism of Lexham Press’ reprint is that, considering the retail price they are commanding for their printed edition, the two volumes ought to be hardbound in format rather than paperback. Nevertheless, in order to view or purchase the aforementioned two-volume set, see the links to the following websites:

• Lexham Press
  
• Books-A-Million (BAM!)
  
• Amazon
  

* Unless otherwise indicated, I do not earn commissions (or favours, for that matter) for the purchase of books recommended or referenced on this website. For further information, see my web page, ‘A Word on The Neo-Remonstrance Blog’.


Latest revisions: 16 November 2016 (added a comma in n. 1); 17 February 2018 (converted seven colons to full stops); 19 and 28 February 2018 (minor emendations); 22 May 2019 (slightly modified nn. 2 and 3); altered one word in first note (23 Jun. 2021); slightly altered scriptural abbreviations in n. 4 (19 Nov. 2021); altered one word in n. 1 (8 Dec. 2021).