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Pilgrim said:
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xyz said:
These quotes show that remission is, in effect, operative through faith, and releases the conscience to allow the Holy Spirit to operate to produce good works. Neither of them (nor any other of the quotes) indicates that faith is the trigger for remission as far as God is concerned. As far as He is concerned, justice was a 'done deal' when Jesus cried, "It is finished." As far as human conscience is concerned, there is remission, blotting out of the consciousness of sin, only when there is repentance and faith. That is because to fail to repent and believe is to place (or retain) one's own conscience under law, and inescapably so. So while God's sovereignty cannot be impugned because Jesus accounted for sin against Him, and God's whole legal requirement is satisfied, the obstinate human conscience is not.
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Christ's death was intended specifically for a specific number of individuals.
It is quite true that, had God known that there would be none of His creation who loved the truth, creation of the cosmos and the crucifixion would have been pointless. But the existence of some who would love the truth made necessary that creation, with its ample opportunity for rebellion against God. And because all would rebel, all would have to have their rebellion accounted for, with not one claiming impunity. So the Christ had to die for all, though for the sake of only those who would treat that death as their salvation.