John Owen: FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE?

The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishement 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 punishement 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.”

SOURCE: A summary of the argument from John Owen’s book Death of Death in the Death of Christ. Covenanter Press, Box 48, Strathpine North, 4500, Queensland, Australia.

Author: lifecoach4God

I am the Lead Pastor of Marin Bible Church (Bay Area), born and raised in Huntington Beach, Ca., and currently living in Novato, California. I am married to my best friend of 30 years - Dana - and have five adult children; and seven grand children. I have been a Teaching Pastor for over thirty years. I was privileged to study at Multnomah University (B.S. - 1988); Talbot School of Theology (M.Div. - 1991); Westminster Theological Seminary & Northwest Graduate School (D. Min. - 2003). I founded Vertical Living Ministries in 2008 with the goal of encouraging Christian Disciples and Leaders to be more intentionally Christ-Centered in how they live by bringing glory to God in nine key areas of life: (1) Intimacy with God, (2) marriage, (3) family, (4) friendship, (5) vocationally/ministry , (6) emotional and physical health, (7) stewardship of resources, (8) discipleship, and (9) mentoring. View all posts by lifecoach4God