1 John 2:2b-Jesus Christ is the Propitiatory Sacrifice For the Sins of the Entire World

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (NASB95)

“And not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kai (καί), “and” (2) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “not” (3) preposition peri (περί), “for” (3) articular genitive first person feminine singular form of the adjective hēmeteros (ἡμέτερος), “ours” (4) adjective monos (μόνος), “only” (5) conjunction alla (ἀλλά), “but” (6) conjunction kai (καί), “also” (7) preposition peri (περί), “for” (8) genitive masculine singular form of the adjective holos (ὅλος), “whole” (9) articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun kosmos (κόσμος), “the world.”

The post-positive conjunction de is emphatic since the word is introducing a correlative clause which advances upon and intensifies the previous statement that Jesus Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of every believer.

This correlative clause asserts that Jesus Christ is by no means the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of every believer only but also for the sins of every non-believer.

Therefore, this conjunction is used to introduce emphatically the concept that Jesus Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice for the personals sins of every non-believer in human history-past, present and future.

This correlative clause emphatically states that He is by no means the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of every believer only but also for the sins of every non-believer.

The advancement and the intensification is obvious, namely Christ not only died for the believer but the non-believer as well.

The adverb monon is employed with emphatic negative objective particle ou in order to state in emphatic terms that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross which propitiated the Father is “not limited” to the believer.

It emphatically negates this idea.

The expression alla kai, “but…also” is used “ascensively” meaning they introduce an “additional” group of people who benefit from Christ’s death that serves to advance upon the previous description that His death benefits the believer.

Therefore, these two words indicate that in addition to Jesus Christ’s death propitiating the Father for the sins of the believer, His death was for the sins of the non-believer as well.

The emphatic objective negative particle ou “emphatically’ rejects the limited atonement since it negates in emphatic terms the idea that Christ died for believers only.

This word emphatically makes clear that Christ died for the entire human race without exception and without distinction.

John could not be any more emphatic by using this word.

He does not employ the negative particle me but rather he employs the strongest negative he could use in the Greek.

Together, they express in emphatic terms the relationship between Jesus Christ as the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of believers and as the propitiatory sacrifice for the personal sins of unbelievers.

The adverb monon is employed with emphatic negative objective particle ou in an emphatic correlative clause.

Together, these two words emphatically state that that Jesus Christ died on the cross for only believers.

The strong adversative conjunction alla marks an emphatic contrast between those who are believers in Jesus Christ and thus regenerate and those who are not and are thus unregenerate.

It is used to contrast emphatically two fundamentally different groups of people.

The conjunction kai is adjunctive meaning it is introducing non-believers as benefiting from Jesus Christ propitiating the Father with His death on the cross which is in addition to believers.

So, with these four words, John is saying that Jesus Christ is by no means the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of every believer only but also for the sins of every non-believer as well.

The adjective hēmeteros means “our” and refers to John and his fellow believers in Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John to employ the articular construction of the possessive adjective hēmeteros in order to emphasize that Jesus Christ by no means died on the cross for believers only.

There is a contrast that John is making here by using hēmeteros and that contrast is between believers and non-believers, between those who are regenerate and the unregenerate.

The noun kosmos means “the world” and refers to the world in its arrangement of the inhabitants of the earth in tribes and nations or peoples (; ; ; ; ).

The adjective holos is employed here instead of pas since John is emphasizing that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was the propitiatory sacrifice for the “entire” world-past, present and future, without exception and without distinction.

The noun kosmos is the object of the preposition peri, which is employed here as a marker of benefaction indicating that the non-believer benefits from the Father being propitiated by His Son’s death on the cross which paid the penalty for these sins.

My dear children, I am presently writing these things for the benefit of each of you in order that each of you would not enter into committing a sin. However, if anyone enters into committing a sin, we possess an advocate with the Father, namely, Jesus, who is the Christ, who is a righteous person. 2 For you see, He Himself is, as an eternal spiritual truth the propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Indeed, by no means for ours only, but in fact also for the entire world. (My translation)

The emphatic correlative clause which follows the explanatory clause in advances upon and intensifies this explanatory clause.

It asserts that Jesus Christ is by no means the propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of every believer only but also for the sins of every non-believer.

Therefore, this correlative clause is emphatic that Jesus Christ is the propitiatory sacrifice for the personals sins of every non-believer in human history-past, present and future.

The advancement and the intensification is obvious, namely Christ not only died for the believer but the non-believer as well.

This emphatic correlative clause is therefore, describing the extent of Jesus Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on the cross.

What John asserts here with this correlative clause refutes the doctrine of the “limited” atonement which contends that Christ died for only the elect or in other words, believers whereas “unlimited” atonement contends that Christ died for “all” people.

His death was all-inclusive, without exception and without distinction.

Our Lord’s substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross were on behalf of all of sinful humanity.

This is called the “unlimited” atonement, which is taught by Paul in .

This doctrine states that Jesus Christ died for every sin committed by every single member of the human race-past, present and future (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ).

The “limited” atonement doctrine contends that Christ died for only the elect or in other words, believers whereas the “unlimited” atonement contends that Christ died for “all” people, all-inclusive, without exception and thus “without racial, sexual or social distinction.”