Some Thoughts on Limited Atonement

I just finished up preparing a sermon on Colossians 2:6-15, which I will be preaching this coming Sunday. As I've been reflecting on this passage with its focus on "union with Christ," it struck me that this doctrine has implications for the doctrine of Limited (Definite) Atonement. This struck me like a mac truck as I had never thought about all of this before. As I continue to dive into the doctrine of "union with Christ," I am all the more struck in awe and wonder at the glory of God's divine plan in His Son, Jesus Christ, and what it presently means for me, a redeemed sinner. So here is my attempt at some theologizing about Union With Christ and Limited Atonement.

In verse 13-14 of this passage, Paul tells the Colossian believers that because they are "united with Christ" (literally "in Him" or "in whom"), God has forgiven all of their sins in Christ and made them alive in Christ. This forgiveness of sins and being alive in Christ involves God erasing the record/certificate of debt that stood against us (there is minor debate but I think this record of debt is the condemnatory/curse aspects of the Law as it stands accusing us of having broken God's holy law). This record/certificate of debt has been nailed to the cross (with an implied "in Christ"). In other words, the condemnation/curse of the Law which stood as our accuser was nailed "in Christ" to the cross--Christ having taken the punishment of the accuser upon Himself. So here is Paul's logic in a nutshell:
If you are "in Christ", then all of your sins were nailed to the cross and have been forgiven by God.

Now, in the Arminian system, Christ paid for the sins of the world (with perhaps the exception of the sin of unbelief) and all one has to do is accept that payment and receive it.  However, Paul's logic implies a definite connection between being "in Christ" and having one's sins forgiven. If the Arminian system on this point is the case, then all people in the world are in some way "in Christ" and have been "made alive in Christ." However, being "in Christ" means one receives all the benefits and blessings of Christ and His work (regeneration, justification, sanctification, perseverance, glorification). One cannot be partially "in Christ"; it is all or nothing. So in the Arminian system, all people would be "in Christ" [given Paul's argument here], in which case nobody will be in hell. Yet we know that is not the case. There are people in hell. So these people must not be united with Christ. Therefore, their sins were not nailed to the cross. Thus, Christ did not pay the penalty for the sins of those not "in Him."  The converse of which would be, Christ paid the penalty for the sins of those "in Him." Ergo, you wind up with the doctrine of Limited Atonement.

To put it in a simple syllogism: 
All the sins of those "in Christ" were nailed to the cross.
No unbeliever is "in Christ."
Therefore all of the sins of all unbelievers were not nailed to the cross "in Christ." QED

So, even if we set aside those verses that clearly support the doctrine of Limited Atonement, I believe we still have it through this passage in Colossians and the doctrine of Union With Christ.

Soli Deo Gloria