JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR ALL 

2 Corinthians 5:14, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:  15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” In each of these verses, we are told that Jesus died for all. The end of verse 14 also says "then were all dead" as the reason He died for all. This is consistent with Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned". The small Greek word pas translated as 'all' in theses verses is translated in Scripture as 'all' a total of 748 times, 'every' 117 times, 'whosoever' 31 times, 'every one' 28 times, and a few other ways. It should be obvious that Jesus died for all who are spiritually dead because of Adam's sin!  He did not just die for a few! However, that is not what Reformed Theology (Calvinism) believes or teaches.

Reformed Theology claims that prior to the foundation of the world God sovereignly chose who He would save and who would never have a chance to be saved. Those chosen became His elect and were at that time given to Jesus with the understanding that they would be the only ones He would die for on the cross. In their acronym TULIP, the middle letter L stands for "Limited Atonement". In other words, they believe the atonement Jesus provides is limited to the elect who were chosen before the foundation of the world. Therefore, they believe the possibility of being saved is limited to them.

In addition to the two verses used for this devotional, there are many others teaching that Jesus died for all and salvation is available to all. Only a few will be given here due to lack of space: "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2), "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9), and "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11), Of course, there is also John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." However, the Reformed Theology rejects what these verses are clearly teaching.

Dr. John MacArthur prepared "The MacArthur Study Bible" with footnotes on most verses that is widely used by most Calvinists, and unfortunately by other pastors as well. I hated to give him any of my money, but I found a cheap copy on Amazon that had a damaged cover, so I bought it to get his explanations. For "sins of the whole world" in 1 John 2:2, he wrote, "This is a generic term, referring not to every single individual, but to mankind in general." Hebrews 2:9 states Jesus "tasted death for every man", but MacArthur interprets that as, "Everyone who believes, that is." For the phrase in Titus 2:11 that God's grace "hath appeared to all men", he wrote, "This does not teach universal salvation". No one believes it teaches universal salvation, but it certainly states that the grace of God that brings salvation is available to all men! In John 3:16 he wrote 'the world' is only referring to the world of mankind. Explaining his belief in limited atonement, he wrote, "Most of the world will be eternally condemned to hell to pay for their own sins, so they could not have been paid for by Christ." He is totally oblivious to the fact that Jesus paid the price for all the sins of all the people who would ever be a part of Adam's race, but when sinners reject Him they will pay for their own sins in Hell.

As the beliefs of the Calvinist are very sad to me, there are some verses that have some humor in them considering their beliefs. One of them is Romans 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." They say the ungodly that Jesus died for are the elect. Does that men the non-elect are not ungodly? Another verse is Luke 19:10, "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." They will tell you the lost who Jesus came to seek and to save are the elect, but does that mean the non-elect are not lost?

The blood of Jesus Christ is SUFFICIENT to save anyone and everyone, but it is only EFFICIENT to save those who will repent of their sins and place their faith in Him. We are warned in Scripture to be careful how we live before the lost lest what they see in us would cause them to turn away from the One who died for them: "But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died" (Romans 14:15), and "And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?" (1 Corinthians 8:11). Knowing that Jesus died and paid the price to save all the sinners around us should motivate us to live before them daily as good representatives of Jesus Christ.

How important is it to believe that Jesus died for everyone? How important do you think it is to Him? He said that only a few would find the strait way (Matthew 7:14), and only a few of those who are called will become His elect (Matthew 22:14). So, how do you think He feels when some ministers are teaching that there will only be a few saved because that is all He died for? I cannot stress how important it is for me to believe that salvation is available to everyone. When presenting the plan of salvation to many lost people, I used Romans 3:10, 23 to show them why they were lost, and verse 4:5 to show them good works will not save them. Verse 6:23 reveals the wages of their sin is death, but God will give them the gift of eternal life. Then, I would ask if they knew who paid for that gift before reading Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." I would tell that person with assurance that Jesus died for him. I would tell him that Jesus not only died for the world, but He died just for him as if he was the only person in the world. Jesus died for everyone, but He also died for each one! A Calvinist cannot give that assurance to anyone!