Thus, John Calvin himself is very clear here. He believed in unlimited atonement because a limited atonement would not make sense in light of his statement about John 3:16 that ‘he has employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers’.
If unbelievers were destined for eternal destruction by the predestination of God, they would have an excuse, ‘God destined it that way, so I have no alternative but to go to eternal condemnation’. Calvin’s language is unequivocal in his John 3:16 commentary, that the ‘whosoever’ meant ‘all indiscriminately’ and that no unbeliever would have an excuse before God.
So, when push comes to shove, John Calvin did not believe in limited atonement. It is an invention of Calvinists in the post-Calvin era.
Oz
A sloppy argument I think, though I know that there are people who make them. Arminians are far too obsessed about attacking persons instead of dealing with arguments. Calvin's own views are not even his own, but come from Luther, and Luther from Augustine, and Augustine from the scripture. Calvin held a distinction between the overt will of God, and the secret counsel of God which saves some, but not all. For example, from his commentaries:
"
The word of God, indeed, in itself and by its own nature, brings salvation, and invites all men indiscriminately to the hope of eternal life; but as
all are not inwardly drawn, and as God does not pierce the ears of all—in short, as they are not renewed to repentance or bent to obedience, those who reject the word of God render it, by their unbelief, deadly and destructive.
While God foresees that this will be the result, he purposely sends his prophets to them,
that he may involve the reprobate in severer condemnation, as is more fully explained by Isaiah in Isaiah 6:10. This, I acknowledge, is very far from being agreeable to the reason of the flesh, as we see that unholy despisers of God seize on it as a plausible excuse for barking, that God, like some cruel tyrant, takes pleasure in inflicting more severe punishment on men whom, without any expectation of advantage, he knowingly and willingly hardens more and more." (John Calvin, Commentary on Matthew 23:34.)
Again, from the previous chapter:
"Again, when the sophists seize on this passage, to prove free will, and to set aside the secret predestination of God, the answer is easy. “God wills to gather all men,” say they; “and therefore all are at liberty to come, and their will does not depend on the election of God.”
I reply: The will of God, which is here mentioned, must be judged from the result. For since by his word he calls all men indiscriminately to salvation, and since the end of preaching is, that all should betake themselves to his guardianship and protection, it may justly be said that he wills to gather all to himself. It is not, therefore, the secret purpose of God, but his will which is manifested by the nature of the word, that is here described; for, undoubtedly, whomsoever he efficaciously wills to gather he inwardly draws by his Spirit, and does not merely invite by the outward voice of man.
If it be objected, that it is absurd to suppose the existence of two wills in God, I reply, we fully believe that his will is simple and one; but as our minds do not fathom the deep abyss of secret election, in accommodation to the capacity of our weakness, the will of God is exhibited to us in two ways. And I am astonished at the obstinacy of some people, who, when in many passages of Scripture they meet with that figure of speech" (Ibid., Commentary on Matthew 23:37).
In a debate with a universalist:
"“I should like to know how the wicked can eat the flesh of
Christ which was not crucified for them, and how they can drink the blood which was not shed to expiate their sins.” (Calvin, Treatise on the Lord’s Supper)
Thus Calvin, and we Reformed say, that the Gospel is offered universally to all, which is to the condemnation of those who willingly disbelieve; but faith itself is not given universally to all, but only to those, through no merit of their own, God has decided to reveal Himself. As Christ Himself says when he explains to the unbelievers why it is that they do not believe:
"But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
(Joh 6:64-65)