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REDEMPTION REDEEMED:
A Puritan Defense of Unlimited Atonement
Expanded Edition
BY JOHN GOODWIN, M.A.
Fellow of Queens College, Cambridge
Edited by John D. Wagner
Redemption Redeemed:
A Puritan Defense of Unlimited Atonement
Expanded Edition
by John Goodwin
Edited by John D. Wagner
Copyright © 2001, 2004 by John D. Wagner
ISBN: 1-59244-730-9
ISBN (ebook): 9781532611919
Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 West 8th Ave, Suite 3
Eugene, Oregon 97401
Previously published by:
The Wesleyan Office, London, 1846.
Thomas Tegg, London, 1840.
John Macock, London, 1651.
John Goodwin (1593–1665), the eminent English pastor and Puritan divine, was a man ahead of his time.
Educated at Cambridge University, he was raised and indoctrinated in Calvinistic absolute predestination, the dominant Christian perspective of his day. In the 1640s he began preparing for a series of lectures to refute the doctrines of Arminianism, and entered a thorough investigation of the controversy and its many aspects. The ultimate result was his rejection of Calvinism and adoption of Arminian theology.
He completed Redemption Redeemed in 1650 and published it the following year. The original version was a multi-issue polemic against Calvinism. This edition, replacing a shorter 2001 version, offers the fuller text of the chapters devoted to a comprehensive refutation of the limited atonement doctrine. Goodwin’s writing remains to this day a superb and eloquent defense of the Biblical position of unlimited atonement that Jesus Christ “by the grace of God tasted death for every man.” Considering the heavy writing style so typical of Puritans, I have included some moderate editing to enhance clarity and readability, correct typographical errors in some scriptural references, and translate Greek words into the English-alphabet equivalent.
Goodwin represented an Arminian strand of Puritanism and was a major figure in the decline of Calvinist influence in England. In the contemporary period as Christians enter the 21st Century and Calvinism with its disturbing implications is making a resurgence, Goodwin’s master work is a welcome and much needed contribution to those seeking to understand the truths of God’s word.
John D. Wagner
Editor
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction by Rev. John Bates
CHAPTER I
Four several veins or correspondences of Scriptures, propounded, holding forth the death of Christ for all men, without exception of any. The first of these argued.
CHAPTER II
Wherein several texts of the second sort of Scriptures propounded in Chap. I, as holding forth the Universality of Redemption by Christ, are discussed.
CHAPTER III
The third sort, or consort of Scriptures, mentioned in Chap. I, as clearly asserting the Doctrine hitherto maintained, argued, and managed to the same point.
CHAPTER IV
Wherein the Scriptures of the fourth and last association, propounded in Chap. I, as pregnant also with that great truth hitherto maintained, are impartially weighed and considered.
CHAPTER V
Several other texts of Scripture (besides those formerly produced in ranks and companies) argued to the clear eviction of truth, in the same doctrine, viz. That the redemption purchased by Christ in his death, was intended for all and every man without exception.
CHAPTER VI
Declaring in what sense the former passages of Scripture asserting the universality of redemption by Christ, are, as to this point, to be understood; and, consequently, in what sense the said doctrine of universal redemption is maintained in the present discourse.
CHAPTER VII
Exhibiteth several grounds and reasons whereby the universality of redemption by Christ, or Christ’s dying for all men, without exception, is demonstratively evicted.
CHAPTER VIII
Wherein the sense of antiquity, touching the controversy under discussion, is truly and impartially represented
CHAPTER IX
Declaring the sense and judgment of modern writers from the Reformation onward; and conclusions on the redemption of Christ for the world
Scripture Index
THE following work, which is humbly presented to the public, on the most important subject of the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, was written, or rather completed, in the year 1650; and dedicated to the reverend Dr. BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE, Provost of King’s College, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, together with the rest of the heads of colleges, and students in divinity, in that famous university. It is not my design to enter into any panegyrics, either on the author or his work; the work will speak for itself, and the public must be their own judges of its merit; truth, I believe, was the object he had in view, and this he prosecutes and supports by almost every possible argument.
He appears to have been well acquainted with the weak reasoning used by those of the contrary judgment to himself to support the doctrines of absolute and unconditional election and reprobation, and a limited atonement; and therefore he presents his arguments against those pernicious errors in a masterly manner. Well may those of the Calvinistic persuasion ridicule him and his work in the manner they have frequently done, because he hath so clearly exposed their errors, and made their babel to totter, and I expect no better treatment, for attempting to revive and spread his most valuable work. But let this be as it may, if I can be any ways useful to my fellow creatures, in
