For Whom Did CHRIST Die? by John Owen (1616-1683)

• For Whom Did CHRIST Die?

For Whom Did CHRIST Die?

The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for, either:

I. All the sins of all men.
II. All the sins of some men, or
III. Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

I. If the last be true, some of the sins of all men, then have all men some sins to answer for, and so shall no man be saved; for if God entered into judgment with us, though it were with all mankind for one sin, no flesh should be justified in his sight: “If the LORD should mark iniquities, who should stand?” Ps. cxxx. 2. We might all go to cast all that we have “to the moles and to the bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty,” Isa. ii. 20, 21.
II. That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of all the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth.
III. But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto all their sins?

You answer, "Because of unbelief."

I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!"