1 Tim. 2:6--"Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." It is for this reason, as the context of this passage shows, that we may pray for all men. If all men were not capable of being saved, how then could we pray to that end? 2. FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL MAN. This is but a detailed statement of the fact that He died for the whole world. Not a single individual man, woman, or child is excluded from the blessings offered in the atonement. Heb. 2:9--"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." Leo the Great (461) affirmed that "So precious is the shedding of Christ's blood for the unjust, that if the whole universe of captives would believe in the Redeemer, no chain of the devil could hold them." General Booth once said: "Friends, Jesus shed His precious blood to pay the price of salvation, and bought from God enough salvation to go around." 3. FOR THE SINFUL, UNJUST, AND UNGODLY. Sinners of all sorts, degrees, and conditions may have a share in the redemptive work of Christ. Greece invited only the cultured, Rome sought only the strong, Judea bid for the religious only. Jesus Christ bids all those that are weary and heavy-hearted and over-burdened to come to Him (Matt. 11:28). Rom. 5:6-10--"Christ died for the ungodly...While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us...When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." 1 Pet. 3:18--"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." Christ died for _sinners_--those in open opposition to God; for the _unjust_--those who openly violate God's laws; for the _ungodly_--those who violently and brazenly refuse to pay their dues of prayer, worship, and service to God; for _enemies_ --those who are constantly fighting God and His cause. For all of these Christ died. 1 Tim. 1:15--"Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." Paul was a _blasphemer_, a _persecutor_, _injurious_ (v. 13), a _murderer_ (Acts 22 and 26), yet God saved him; he was included in the atonement. Note also that it is in this very connection that the apostle declares that the reason God saved him was in order that his salvation might be a pattern, or an encouragement to other great sinners, that God could and would save them, if they desired Him to do so. 4. FOR THE CHURCH. There is a peculiar sense in which it may be said that Christ's death is for the Church, His body, the company of those who believe in Him. There is a sense in which it is perfectly true that Christ's death avails only for those who believe in Him; so in that sense it can be said that He died for the Church more particularly. He is "the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe" (1 Tim. 4:10). Herein lies the truth that is contained in the theory of a limited atonement.