Roger Olson, a contemporary Arminian, answers this question without hesitation: “Arminians believe that Christ’s death on the cross provides a universal remedy for the guilt of inherited sin.” In other words, Christ died for all. So why isn’t everyone saved? The answer is: Because the application of the remedy provided by God no longer depends on God, according to Arminianism, but on the sinner. In Arminian theology Christ dies to make possible the salvation of all, but that death does not really and effectively save anyone. It is the sinner who makes it effective by accepting Christ through faith. The Scriptures, however, present the case in reverse: we came to believe because we were chosen by God to be believers, and Christ died on Calvary’s cross to make that salvation effective in our lives.
The Lord Jesus Christ clearly teaches that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him because they are His, not because they become His by hearing His voice and following Him. In other words, faith is not the cause of choice, rather choice produces faith.
“Truly I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, is a thief and a robber. But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The goalkeeper opens for him, and the sheep hear his voice; he calls the sheep by his name and leads them outside. When he brings out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. I am the good shepherd; The good shepherd gives his life to the sheep I am the good shepherd, and I know My sheep and they know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I give my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring those too, and they will hear My voice.and they shall be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:1-4, 11, 14-16).
This last verse is particularly illuminating on the subject we are dealing with. The Lord claims to have other sheep that do not belong to the nation of Israel, but that did belong to Him. And precisely because they are His, the Lord is committed to seeking them out and bringing them into the fold. “I have (present tense) other sheep that are not of this fold” (not yet in the fold, but His); “those also I must bring” (future tense), “and they will hear My voice, and they will be one flock with one shepherd.”
During his missionary work in the city of Corinth, the Lord appears to Paul in a vision and tells him: “Do not be afraid, keep talking and keep quiet; because I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you, because I have many people in this city”, referring to the unbelieving Corinthians who were to be brought to salvation through Paul’s preaching. Christ has promised to bring all his sheep into the fold through the preaching of the gospel.
And how did all those sheep come to be His? Because God the Father sovereignly chose them to be Christ’s. “My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all,” says the Lord in John 10:29. That is the same idea that we find in the discourse of the bread of life (Jn 6:35, 37-39, 44) and in Christ’s intercessory prayer on behalf of the disciples (Jn 17:6-10, 20).
Those who are not sheep of Christ have their ears open to many other voices, except the voice of the Lord (Jn 10:24-27). Christ’s sheep, on the other hand, manifest that they are His because they listen to his voice and follow him. It may be that for a while they wander from here to there; but sooner or later they will recognize the voice of his shepherd and come to him with repentance and faith.
It was for those sheep that Christ gave His life on the cross of Calvary. “The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it to the full. I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. But he who is an employee and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away, then the wolf snatches them up and scatters them. The hireling flees because he only works for pay and does not care about the sheep” (Jn 10: 10-13).
There is a contrast here between Christ, as the good shepherd, and the hired shepherds who do not love the sheep because they are not their own. Jewish law stipulated that if a wolf attacked the flock, the hired shepherd’s duty was to defend them. But if the attack was perpetrated by two wolves, it was assumed that there was nothing to do anymore; those shepherds could flee without having to answer for the sheep that suffered the damage. The good shepherd, instead, laid down his life for the sheep (Jn 10:15).
What would happen to a flock of sheep if the wolf attacked and killed the shepherd? That the sheep were at the mercy of the wolf and, therefore, would be eaten. But in this case, the death of the good shepherd resulted in the life of the sheep. So Christ did not die on Calvary’s cross to make it possible for anyone to be saved but to ensure the salvation of no one. Christ gave his life for his sheep, those the Father gave him and whom He knows by his name, he says in this passage. By dying for his sheep, Christ ensured the salvation of each one of them. That is the message we find time and time again in the pages of Scripture:
“Surely He bore our diseases, and bore our pains. Nevertheless, we considered him whipped, wounded by God and afflicted. But He was wounded (pierced) for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The punishment for our peace fell on Him, and by his wounds (sores) we have been healed. We all stray like sheep, we stray each one into his way; but the Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him Because of the anguish of his soul, He will see it and be satisfied. By the knowledge of him, the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many, and bear their iniquities ”(Isaiah 53: 4-6, 11).
“And she will give birth to a Son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Not to make it probable that some might be rescued, but to rescue many, by giving his life for them. “Take care of yourselves and of the whole congregation, in the midst of which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops (overseers) to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20:28 ).
“He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2Co 5:21). Christ was made sin in our place, and God poured out on Him the wrath that we deserved. If He had done that for the whole world, the whole world would be saved because it would not be fair to punish the same sin twice. But Christ did that for his sheep, to which he also imputed his perfect righteousness through faith (Rom 4:1-12).
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, to sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, in order to present her to himself, a church in all its glory, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but was holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:25-27). Christian spouses must show a certain kind of love for all people; but there is a type of love, and a type of relationship, that we must have exclusively towards our wives and towards no one else. And so is the relationship of Christ with his church. He gave himself up for her to sanctify her and to present her on that day as a glorious church.
So Christ did not give His life on the cross to put us all in the “forgivable” category. He died to save His people from their sins, to give His life as a ransom for many, to win a church, “to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a people for His possession, zealous for good works” (Tit 2: 14). That is why in his high priestly prayer, in John 17, Jesus does not intercede for the world, but for His own: “I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those you have given me; for they are Yours” (Jn 17:9; cf. v.20).
1. Cited by Hansen, C. (2008). Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. (Weathon: Crossway Books), p. 39.