For Whom Did Christ Die?

In our discussion of Faith and Works, we noticed a passing statement from Paul in Rom. 2:4: "Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" That statement suggests that God is working on all people with influences that lead toward salvation, influences that will actually save everyone who responds to them. We also found strong support for this idea in Jesus' words recorded in John 6. 44, 65. We have now seen from Paul that God gave Christ to die so that the justification of believers would be consistent with His own justice. This means that without the death of Christ, salvation — and therefore these divine influences leading toward salvation — would have been impossible. If that is true, then these influences, and the salvation that comes through them to all who believe the Gospel, were part of the purpose for which God gave His Son to die. In other words, the purpose of Christ's death included the entire human race.

There is much more teaching in the New Testament that confirms this universal purpose in the death of Christ.

The Epistle to the Hebrews on the Death of Christ

Closely connected to Paul’s letters, yet almost certainly written by someone else, the Epistle to the Hebrews stands as one of the most striking and instructive writings in the New Testament. What makes it especially notable is how directly and powerfully it presents the death of Christ as the divinely intended means by which humanity is saved from sin — even more explicitly, in some ways, than Paul’s own writings.