FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE?
John Owen
The Father imposed His wrath on, and the Son underwent
punishment for, either:
1. All the sins of all men.
2. All the sins of some men, or
3. Some of the sins of all men.
In which case it may be said:
a. That if the last be true, all men have some sins to answer for,
and so, none are saved.
b. 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.
c. But if the first be the case, why are not all men free from the
punishment due unto 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!"
Editor: You may be interested in reading the Introduction to "The Death of Death" by J. I Packer. The Death of Death is John Owen's magistorial treatment on the biblical justification for particular redemption as found in Vol 10 of his collected works.
A excellent mp3 talk on particular redemption by Albert N Martin