Who gave himself a ransom for all, this to be a testimony at the proper time.
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Cyril of Jerusalem
AD 386
Do not wonder that the whole world was redeemed, for it was no mere man but the Onlybegotten Son of God who died for it. The sin of one man, Adam, availed to bring death to the world; if by one man’s offense death reigned for the world, why should not life reign all the more “from the justice of the one?” If Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise because of the tree from which they ate, should not believers more easily enter into paradise because of the Tree of Jesus? If the first man, fashioned out of the earth, brought universal death, shall not he who fashioned him, being the Life, bring everlasting life? If Phinees by his zeal in slaying the evildoer appeased the wrath of God, shall not Jesus, who slew no other, but “gave himself a ransom for all,” take away God’s wrath against man? Catechetical Lectures
Was Christ then a ransom for the Heathen? Undoubtedly Christ died even for Heathen; and you cannot bear to pray for them. Why then, you ask, did they not believe? Because they would not: but His part was done. His suffering was a Testimony, he says; for He came, it is meant, to bear witness to the truth of the Father, and was slain. Thus not only the Father bore witness to Him, but He to the Father. For I came, He says, in my Father's name. John 5:43 And again, No man has seen God at any time. John 1:18 And again, That they might know You, the only true God. John 17:3 And, God is a Spirit, John 4:24 And He bore witness even to the death. But this, in due time, means, In the fittest time.
