Resurrection - 1 John 2:2

Resurrection

Common
Trinity
Soul
Heaven
Hell
Satan/Demons
"Saved"
Baptism
Resurrection
  Psalm 50:5
  Matthew 2:17,18
  John 5:28,29
  1 Cor. 7:14
  1 Cor. 15:22
  1 Cor. 15:52
  Philippians 4:3
  Hebrews 13:20
  1 John 1:9
  1 John 2:2
  Revelation 20:5
Antichrist

Unique
Catholic
Mormon
SDA
JW
British Israel
Church
of Christ
Pentecostal
Islam

Science
Miracles
Evolution
Creation
Carbon Dating

Inspiration
Partial
Contradictions
& Inaccuracies

1 John 2:2: "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Problem:: This passage is cited by J.W.'s in proof of their doctrine that God will raise those who are ignorant of his great salvation to a life of opportunity in the paradise-like conditions on the earth.¹
Solution:

The redemption effected by the sacrifice of Christ is now available to all the world, but for it to have benefit for an individual, faith and belief are required. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Those who do not believe - "perish", or are destroyed.
Scripture states that the Gentiles who perish have their "understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart". (Eph. 4:18). They perish, "without Christ", "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel", "strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world". (Eph. 2:12).
Those who come forth at the resurrection do so for judgment unto "life" (if they have done good) or unto "damnation" (if they have done evil). (John 5:29). There is no opportunity for a third group of ignorant individuals to come forth since they cannot be commended for having done good. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). Therefore, only those responsible, who do "good" or "bad" will rise for judgment.
There are many statements in Scripture which either state or imply that those ignorant of God's salvation will sleep a "perpetual sleep" in the grave. See Isa. 26:13,14 cf. with believers vs. 19; Jer. 51:39, 57; 1 Thess. 4:13.
The divine purpose today requires the visiting of the Gentiles to take out of them a "people for his [Yahweh's] name". (Acts 15:14). The "taking out" has been made possible by the sacrifice of Christ, but his propitiation "for the whole world" does not require the resurrection of those who have their "understanding darkened". (Eph. 4:18). It is difficult for religionists to understand that in the Divine appraisal "all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field" for "surely the people is grass". (Isa. 40:6, 7). "All nations before him are as nothing: and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity." (Isa. 40:17).

Footnotes:

"The Watchtower," (Feb. 1, 1965), No. 3, Vol. LXXXVI, pp. 85-87; also (Aug. 1, 1962), No. 15, Vol. LXXXIII, p. 475. Return