I edited my previous post whilst you were posting my last one. Please reread and reply, if I am not clear enough....
that does help. Thanks
ETA....what I mean is at conversion, the soul is clothed in Christ's righteousness. The physical body still has the stain of sin all over it, and it dies due to that. The converted soul never dies, it's taken to God to never taste death.
No, Willis. The soul is not "clothed" in the righteousness of Christ. Read Hebrews 9-10. Christ came for a better ministry. The blood of bulls and goats "clothed" or covered sins. But the blood of Jesus REMOVES sin.
Hebrews 10:
4 - For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to
take away sins.
11 - Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins
14 - For by one offering
He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.
22 - let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
Jesus' blood washes away our sins. The inner man is washed in regeneration (Titus 3:5)
However, the Greek word for regeneration in Titus 3:5 is used in one other place - Matthew 19:28, where Jesus says "
in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne..."
He is clearly talking about the resurrection, for it is when He returns that we will be resurrrected, and He sits on His glorious throne.
The point is that Titus 3:5 says that regeneration as a washing. In that context, the inner man is already saved by this washing
But Matt 19:28, speaking of the resurrection, uses the same word - regeneration, a washing.
The physical body will be washed at the resurrection, just like the inner man is at conversion.
We don't have to wait for the inner man to be cleansed, it has been perfected for all time. That is why Paul said "It is no longer I who do it, but sin in me, that is, in my flesh....Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to Christ Jesus..."
Wouldn't universal atonement fall under that umbrella?
I think you're asking if universal atonement would mean that every man was given to Christ? Not at all. 1Timothy 4:10 says:
we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
How dies this make any sense at all, that He is the Savior of all men? And what about the phrase "especially of believers" ??
He died to save every man. Even unbelievers will be saved in one sense - in physical resurrection, they will be saved from annihilation. And this redemption of their physical body required the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Nobody is simply "given" a resurrection body apart from atonement. It is this same sin-wrecked body which dies, that will be raised and washed.
Our bodies will be cleansed, not simply "changed"
Thus, His atonement is not limited to believers only, because the atonement is not limited to the inner man. It is only because of His atonement that the body is redeemed - believer and unbeliever alike