5pt Notes

Home Articles Study Library History Heresy Blogs

Notes:

1. Editor's note: Here Dabney appears to speak carelessly. Christ did not love the young man for the sake of good that he saw in him, but because it is the divine nature to love (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). Scripture is clear in stating that "they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8), so the ground of our Savior's love of this young man could not have been anything in the young man himself.
(Back to text.)

2. The thrust of Dabney's argument is this: The price the Savior paid for sin is infinite in its sufficiency. Had one more sinner been elect, Christ would not have had to suffer another stroke or endure any more of God's wrath. This is in perfect harmony with the Canons of the Synod of Dordt (2nd head, art. 3): "The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world."
We might quibble, however, with Dabney's interpretation of 1 John 2:2. It's one thing to say that Christ's death is sufficient to expiate a world of guilt. It is quite another to imply (as Dabney's use of 1 John 2:2 does) that propitiation has been made—and thus God's wrath has actually been satisfied—on behalf of the whole world. Again, it is our opinion that Dabney spoke carelessly here.
A better explanation of 1 John 2:2 is this: "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours [the Jewish nation's] only, but also for the sins of [the elect from every nation in] the whole world." Elsewhere the apostle clearly uses parallel expressions in precisely this sense: " . . . that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:51-52).
(Back to text.)

3. See 1 John 3:9: "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
(Back to text.)

4. 2 Corinthians 1:22: "Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts"; 2 Corinthians 5:5: "Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit"
(Back to text.)

5. Ephesians 1:14: "Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory."
(Back to text.)

6. Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
(Back to text.)

7. John 10:27: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
(Back to text.)

8. Matthew 24:24: "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."
(Back to text.)