What did Jesus Christ do for the salvation of all?

(Vv. 6, 7). Thirdly, this Mediator gave Himself a ransom for all. If God is to be proclaimed as a Saviour God, who will have all men to be saved, His holiness must be vindicated and His glory maintained. This has been perfectly accomplished by the propitiatory work of Christ. God's majesty, righteousness, love, truth, and all that He is, have been glorified in the work wrought by Christ. He is a propitiation for the whole world. All has been done that is needed. His blood is available for the vilest whoever he may be. Hence the gospel to the world says, “Whosoever will, let him come.” In this aspect we may say Christ died for all, gave Himself a ransom for all, an available sacrifice for sin, for whosoever would come. These are the great truths to be testified in due time — the grace of God proclaiming forgiveness and salvation to all on the ground of the work of Christ, who has given Himself a ransom for all. When Christ had ascended to glory, and the Holy Ghost had come down to earth to dwell in the midst of believers, thus forming them into the house of God, the due time had come. From that house the testimony was to flow forth, the Apostle being the one used of God to preach grace, and thus open the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27). He can thus speak of himself as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles in the faith and in the truth.

God Himself, has clearly demonstrated His desire for the salvation of all in that Christ has given His life a ransom for all. He has died, the testimony has now to be maintained, God is one — the Mediator between God and men one — the Man Christ Jesus. This proves the utter worthlessness of all men, for only Christ can bring men to God, and all need so to be brought. The Mediator is great enough to put His hand upon the throne of God. In taking Manhood and going into death He stooped low enough to put His hand upon the sinner that He might bring such righteously to God.

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be rendered in due time." Judaism was the revelation and testimony of the one God. Christianity reveals also the true God, but brings forth the equally great truth that there is but one mediator, as there is but one God. And this one mediator is the Man Christ Jesus, who came into the world and who gave Himself a ransom for all.

(1) The price paid, or the ransom money. Speaking to the disciples, our blessed Lord said, "The Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). In another scripture we read that Christ "gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time" (1 Tim. 2:6). That is, He gave Himself in death — corresponding so far with the other scripture quoted, "gave His life." The significance of these statements will be explained by a passage from the Old Testament "The life of the flesh is in THE BLOOD: and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls: for it is THE BLOOD THAT MAKES AN ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL" (Lev. 17:11). Hence, "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 11:22). It was therefore the blood of Christ (for the life is in the blood) that constituted our ransom money: this was the price paid for our redemption. Hence Paul says, "In whom we have redemption through His blood" (Eph. 1:7); and Peter, in the scripture we have before cited, that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. It is no wonder that he terms it "precious," since it availed to meet all the claims of a holy God upon us, so that on that foundation he could proclaim salvation to all. For, in truth, it not only satisfied God's claims, but so infinite was its value that the Lord Jesus, by the shedding of His own blood, glorified God in all that He was, — in every attribute of His character, — and thus He can righteously justify every one that believes in Jesus. Yea, more, He glorifies Himself, in bringing every believer to Himself, in making him His child, and if a child, then an heir, an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17).

81 When I turn to the New Testament, I find Christ stating that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). The Lord's supper - the standing institution of Christianity - is the sign of His blood shed for many, for the remission of sins. John the Baptist points Him out as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; John 1:29. Paul tells us that God hath set Him forth as a propitiation, through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25); Peter, that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18-19); John, that He is the propitiation for our sins and the whole world (1 John 2:2); Peter, again, that He bare our sins in His own body on the tree; 1 Peter 2:24. The Hebrews enlarges on it fully as a doctrine. He must offer for sins (chap. 9). He offers one sacrifice for sins, and then sits down (chap. 10). We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins; Eph. 1:7. We are justified by His blood; Rom. 5:9. Without shedding of blood is no remission; Heb. 9:22. He gave Himself for our sins; Gal. 1:4. It is when He had made the purification of our sins that He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens; Heb. 1:3. Cleansing, justification, forgiveness, peace, redemption, are all attributed to His blood. He bare our sins, gave Himself for our sins, makes propitiation for the world, is delivered for our offences.

John 12:31-33. The voice was, moreover, a warning that the death and resurrection of Christ, which brings glory to the Father, will bring judgment to the world as such. If the hour had come to glorify the Son and glorify the Name of the Father, so, too, had come the hour of the judgment of this world and the casting out of its prince. The world that rejected Christ is condemned by the Cross, while the power of its prince is broken. On the other hand, the Cross is the manifestation of the Saviour Who becomes the Centre of attraction for "all men". On earth He was here in connection with Israel as their Messiah, as He could say, "I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"; but, "lifted up from the earth", the efficacy of His Person and work is open to Jew and Gentile alike. "He gave Himself a ransom for all." Nor are we left to draw our own conclusions that the Cross is in view, for we are definitely told that, in so speaking, the Lord was "signifying what death He should die". Thus the Cross was suffering for the Lord (John 12:27), glory for the Father (John 12:28), judgment for the world (John 12:31), destruction of the devil's power (John 12:31), and salvation for all (John 12:32).

But, let one suppose that what the Lord Jesus suffered at the hands of men secured redemption for us. When it says that He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, we must think deeper than of His flesh torn and bruised by the nails and thorns, and if we can say, "by His stripes we are healed," we must think of something other than the scourging to which Pilate so unjustly condemned Him. "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him," i.e. instead of the unsparing judgment of God coming with its crushing weight upon us, God chose that it should fall upon Him and He gave Him to be our Substitute and to bear it in our stead. He was lifted up by men, the object of their hatred and derision, but when they had done their worst, the sixth hour came, tolling in the darkness that was denser than that that enshrouded Egypt, and such as creation had never seen before; then there took place what no creature mind will ever fully understand, His soul was made an offering for sin, and God made Him, our sinless Substitute, to be sin for us, and He bore our sins in His own body on the Tree. "Through the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God." It is this that explains — what is, indeed, beyond all our comprehension — that cry that will never be forgotten, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which being interpreted is, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" The more we consider that, and the more its meaning enters our souls, the greater will be our wondering appreciation of our great text and the love of God which it reveals to us.

The death of Jesus was an atoning death; there never was, there never will be another like it. He suffered, the Just One, for us the unjust, to bring us to God, and that is why we shall sing to Him, "Thou art worthy, for Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue and people and nation." For the efficacy of His atoning blood extends to the whole world, and whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

In connection with this care is needed, for it is very easy here to speak unscripturally. Nowhere are we authorized by Scripture to speak of Christ dying for the sins of everybody in the sense that He was everybody's substitute. On the other hand, we are nowhere authorised to limit the bearing of His sacrifice viewed as propitiation. In this connection its scope is nothing less than the whole world.

We must turn now to consider the sense in which Christ is propitiation in relation to the sins of the whole world. I must first observe that the apostle does not imply that there is any need now of propitiation being made for the sins of the whole world. Since the cross, it is no more a question of making propitiation concerning sins. That was done then, done once for all, and it was done for the sins of all. Now it must not be inferred from this that all are saved from the due of their sins. That is not the fact. The making propitiation for the sins of all does not by itself save anybody. It provides a righteous basis on which salvation can be bestowed on all — on all who submit to the one condition on which it is offered, faith. Only believers are actually saved; but the propitiation concerning sins made at the cross was the ransom-price paid in behalf of all. It is not now the time of making propitiation, but the time of testimony. The gospel, which is for all, is a proclamation of an accomplished propitiation as a righteous basis of an offer of salvation, received by the believer. So, then, during this time of testimony God is not imputing sins to men. He is, by us, beseeching them to be reconciled (2 Cor. 5:20).

Now by the sacrifice of Christ a way of salvation has been opened up for all. Just as Adam’s one act of disobedience had a death and condemnation aspect toward all, so the one act of Christ’s obedience to death has a justifying and life-giving aspect toward the whole human race; but only those who submit to the gospel are partakers of that righteousness and life which are found in Him. “Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins,” tells us the worldwide aspect of the sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of men; and “By Him all that believe are justified from all things,” tells of the application of the benefits of that death upon the believer (Acts 13:38-39). The righteousness of God which is “unto all, and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22), is a parallel Scripture with this. And as to life, we read in John 5:24. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment); but is passed from death unto life.”