The CatechismGlobal Methodist Church
Question 57 of 77 · Wesleyan Characteristics

Is Christ's atoning sacrifice for all humanity?

Yes. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.

Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 57

Session 10How do you know you're forgiven?Opens at 8:41, where question 57 begins.
Commentary

Christ died for everyone. Article VIII of the Confession of Faith says: "The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world." ΒΆ102.1 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline says that the church "celebrates the universal love of God in affirming that Christ died for all people with the result that the gift of salvation is available to all persons." Here Wesleyan theology parts from any doctrine of a limited atonement.

Scripture teaches this universality from the first promise to the last epistles. God told Abraham, "in you all the families of the land shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). John the Baptist called Jesus "the Lamb of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Jesus said, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17), and that when he was lifted up he would "draw all to myself" (John 12:32). Paul writes that "one died for all" (2 Corinthians 5:14) and that Christ "gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). John writes that "he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2).

The sacrifice is "perfect and sufficient." Christ "had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins" and then "sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). No priest and no penitent can add anything to it. It is sufficient for all, and it is received by those who believe; the same chapter of John that says God loved the world also says eternal life belongs to "everyone who trusts in him" (John 3:16).

For a Methodist this doctrine shapes evangelism and pastoral care. The church can say honestly to anyone that Christ died for him. No sin lies outside the reach of the cross, so confession is met with forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9). And no one has ground for despair about his own standing, because the promise is to whoever follows him: Whoever follows me will certainly not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).