John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
These words in John 6 are helpful in further studying what is meant in Romans 1:16 by Pual’s words to every one that believes. He has just said that salvation is for all those who believe. Obviously not everyone believes in Jesus, so we cannot say that everyone is saved. There are some who would argue for the universal love of God and the general redemption by the death of Christ. These simply mean that God loves all people and that Christ died for all people. These words in John 6 show otherwise. We must first see that Christ came down from heaven to do the will of the Father in John 6:38. We see God the Father gave some to the Son in v37. Christ tells us that all those given to Him by the Father will not be lost v39. Taking all this into account, we have Christ doing the will of God in not losing any that were given to Him. If it be His will that God loved all who ever existed, then Christ would lose none who ever existed. We also cannot say that any can be added to the number that God gave to Christ or that would be all who God willed plus some. Either way, if God willed every single person ever to be saved and one was lost then the will of God was not completed, or if God willed a certain number to the Son and one extra was included, then the will of God was not done. We cannot see the love of God extended to every single man woman and child in the salvation that is the gospel of Christ. Christ would die for those who God the Father gave Him. If one for whom Christ died went to hell then the Father’s will was not performed and Christ was in part a failure to complete the full will of God. This is the problem when one raises the idea of the general redemption of Christ. He either redeemed or He did not. One more verse to illustrate.
John 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
We see here in John 10 Christ speaking to a group of pharisees. He tells them they do not believe because they are not sheep. Look closely at that statement. Christ does not tell them they are not sheep because they do not believe. Believing cannot make you a sheep, you believe because first you are a sheep. It may be difficult to see God in this light as the world would have you see God as extending salvation to every man, woman, and child. The truth in scripture is Christ came to fulfill the will of God in saving all those for whom the Father had given to Him and not a soul more.