Jesus died for every person.
Hi Tony. Thank you for your redirect link for this topic. I'll add my 2cents (or maybe 25cents).
It seems to me that to be thorough, the atonement topic must consider the Intent, Extent, and the Application...
(1) The
intent of the atonement, i.e., what is God's purpose in the atonement?
(2) The
extent of the atonement, i.e., for whose sins did Jesus die?
(3) The
application of the atonement, i.e., when and to whom is the atonement applied?
There can be dispute of the purpose of the atonement. Although, I have found most times there is agreement between Hard Calvinist, Soft Calvinists, and Non Calvinists. Although some Non Calvinists can at time present something that is not in agreement (at least from my experience).
Soft Calvinist and Non Calvinist will hold to the distinction of Atonement Accomplished and Atonement Applied. Each saying that the
extent is universal (not to be confused with Universalism), and that the application is at the moment of faith. This position would be yours, according to what you wrote, in which one asserts that Christ died for
the sins of all mankind. Hard Calvinist (my term) would deny your claim of universal atonement and assert that Jesus died only for the sins of the elect. Further, Hard Calvinists would claim the application was applied at the cross. Thus denying any contingent factor for the atonement to be applied, such as faith.
Where Soft Calvinist and Non Calvinist part ways many times, may be at the 'whom' within the application phase. This disagreement tends to revolve around, in my experience, the concept of Election. Here Soft Calvinist read a more specific, individual concept of election while Non Calvinist may read a more general concept of election that is not individual specific. Of course I have encountered some Non Calvinist that deny the Bible teaches any form of election.
I would like to present two biblical examples of why the Atonement Applied is done at the moment of faith (not at the cross). Thus asserting that Jesus died for the sins of all.
In the NT Jesus is said to be the passover lamb (1Cor 5:7). So we should look into God's example in the OT that He has given us to see what is supposed to represent that which is not seen. In Eco 12:5, it says that the Jewish people are to sacrifice the passover lamb at twilight. When they sacrificed the lamb, Atonement Accomplished; the lamb was slain, the blood paid the price.
However....There was one more contingent step. If the Jewish person would have stopped at the sacrifice, his first born would still die. The Jewish person had to have faith and 'apply' the blood to his home, the door frame and lintel. This is Atonement Applied. The price the blood paid was not applied until the Jewish person had faith to apply it to their home.
Exo 12:13
The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
The blood on the house is the sign, not the fact that a lamb was sacrificed. Although, without the grace of the substituted blood of the lamb, there would be no passing over.
The second example is the OT day of Atonement. One would think that our topic of for who's sin did Christ die, we could find some clarity in this visual picture, or shadow of Christ to come, that God has provided in the OT.
Lev 16:21-22
21 "Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send [it] away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. 22 "The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
The verse clearly states that the priest is to make a blood sacrifice (which is Christ) for “the children of Israel”,
all the children of Israel, for “all their transgressions” and “all their sins”. This is supported in the NT...
(Heb 9:7 NKJV)
7 But into the second part the high priest [went] alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and [for] the people's sins [committed] in ignorance;
Whose sins? The "people's sins". What people?
All the Jewish people. So the Atonement, the sacrifice of the blood, was for
everyone according to these two examples God gives us within His word as guidance.
Keep seeking God's truth as if it were hidden treasure
