I'm not understanding your Conclusion. I think the issue for me, is your statement, "[If Hyper Calvinism is true], 'Those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished'". Is this what you're saying? I can't see how the two relate...
Precisely. That is what I Cor 15: 12-19 is very specifically stating.
When Calvinism teaches that Christ Only DIED FOR THE ELECT, it means He died for nobody. Christ either became man, took on our human nature and defeated death for all men, or He did not and Christ becomes just another teacher, good man, and we are all still condemned to death through Adam. If we are still condemned to death, when we die that is final. We will dissolved into dust from whence we came just as animals die.
If this claim is what you're saying, maybe you can explain how Hyper Calvinism causes anyone in Christ to perish. If my understanding of what you said is wrong, please correct me...
What you stated above is correct. Those in Christ perish because Christ saved no one from death. A limited atonement is an impossibility according tothe correct understanding of who Christ is.
Let me put it another way and give you the fall as well, which is why we needed Christ in the first place.
When Adam sinned the consequence of that sin led to condemnation, death, dust to dust. If nothing else takes place in this universe, the world, created order and mankind would live a short existence and die, die permanently, dust to dust. We were created both body and soul. So both would die/
Thus to overcome this condemnation, God told Adam and Eve in Gen 3:15 that He in time would send man a remedy for fallen state.
Just to give you some texts: Rom 5:12 explains the fall. Rom 5:18 tells us of the correction, though not how the correction comes about.
Only in Heb 2:9 and Heb 1:14-15 is it explained that Christ would become like man in every respect, take on our human nature, so that by His own death, our mortal nature, He could raise that mortal to life, thus defeating death. This is summarized in the text of I Cor 15:12-22 and vs 52-53.
How much did God give to Christ? Col 1:20 states very clearly, unequivocally EVERYTHING. The John 10:39 says He will lose none that was given to Him but raise it in the last day. This is why we will have a new heaven, a new earth and man will become immortal and incorruptible.
Now the question Calvinist don't want to answer is. If Christ took on our fallen (mortal) human nature, and that body which He possessed was a human body and that same body was resurrected, who did He miss, who did He lose? What other kind of creature does not exist in this created order that was missed in Col 1:20?
The only options Calvinist have is that Christ was not Incarnated, did not become man but somehow saved the elect from death, but they have never explained just how Christ even accomplished such a feat. That is why they need to deny I Cor 15:12-22.
One doctrine not mentioned so far in this thread is doctrine of Original Sin. Unfortunately both RC and. I think most Protestants hold to this view. It actually denies that death was the consequence of Adam's sin, and that man actually bear the sin and guilt of Adam. Thus you don't need a resurrection. All one needs is a death of a perfect sacrifice which becomes Christ for the Calvinist. Thus you can have a sacrifice for sin. You can then postulate for some, those that believe will have their sins forgiven and the sacrifice was sufficient for any who believe. While for others, the elect will have their sins forgiven because they were the ONLY ones that Christ died for.
Thus, without the Incarnation and the Resurrection all else is meaningless.
That should help, but if not ask any question.
