What does "sufficient for all, efficient for the elect" mean?

Whosoever Will, Bought, Then Perished: The Synod of Dort grants more than most quotations of it let on. The death of Christ, Dort says, “is of infinite value and worth, more than sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world” (II.3). The limitation in Dort is not the size of the payment. It lands one article later, in the will behind it: God willed that Christ “should effectively redeem from every people, tribe, nation, and language all those and only those who were chosen from eternity to salvation” (II.8). So the old line, sufficient for all, efficient for the elect, is a claim about the payment’s worth, and on worth we do not disagree. The question here is design. Not “was the cross enough for all,” but “was it meant for all.” Put that way, the difference is real and it is small enough to name in one sentence: we agree the cross is sufficient for all; we agree only believers are saved; we differ on whether God intended the provision for all, or only for those He had already chosen.

Verified. Every scripture quotation on this page has been checked word-for-word against the King James text. Last reviewed 2026-10-18.