Luke 2:10
Luke 2:10 (see also Genesis 22:18)
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.”
This is indeed “good news” and it is “for all
the people” because Jesus means salvation,
and He is for anyone who wants Him. Calvinists
will agree with that statement, but add that not
everyone wants Him, due to Total Depravity,
but the fact remains that Jesus is nonetheless
given by God to the world, and hence, “for all
the people,” so that whosoever among all the
people (larger group) that believes in Him
(smaller group) will experience the benefits of
that good news. The problem for Calvinism
is that it teaches that Jesus was not given for all
the people, and did not die for all the people but
only an elect people secretly in the Father, which
is thus incongruent to the angel’s proclamation.
Dave Hunt: “Paul preached the same ‘good tidings of great joy...to all people’ announced by the angel of the Lord (Luke 2:10). Yet those predestined to eternal torment find no ‘joy’ in knowing that Christ came to save others--but not them! Calvinism limits to an elect the joy the angel said was for all. ... The Calvinist claims that the angel didn’t mean ‘all people’ but ‘all kinds of people.’” (Debating Calvinism, p.365, emphasis mine)
Dave Hunt: “All of the apostles’ hearers surely understood that the good news of salvation was offered to every one of them: ‘We declare unto you [all] glad tidings.’ (Acts 13:32) But if Calvinism is true, how could the gospel be ‘glad tidings’ to anyone who didn’t know that he was one of the elect?” (Debating Calvinism, p.364)
Question: If the angel’s announcement was literally for everyone, then how would it be “good news” and “great joy” for wicked people like King Herod?
Answer: Because the good news of a Savior was just as much for him, as it was for anyone else, and only he excludes himself from it. He could have become saved. He could have repented. He can’t blame God for perishing. He also can’t blame God for not getting an Irresistible Grace because no one gets an Irresistible Grace; Calvinists just made that up. Jesus is for all people, and God is a God who tests, and who values choices, which is why the angels were tested, and which is why man was tested in the Garden of Eden, and continues to be tested to this day. God tests, but He doesn’t tempt, because God desires that we pass the test, whereas when the devil tempts, he hopes that people fail, so there is a big difference. The benefit of our tests is that the experience gives us an opportunity to connect with God.
