Okay, here's a few Calvin quotes:
"I approve of the ordinary reading, that he alone bore the punishment
of many, because on him was laid the guilt of the whole world. It is
evident from other passages, and especially from the fifth chapter
of the Epistle to the Romans, that 'many' sometimes denotes 'all.'"
Calvin from Isa 53:12.
"For though Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, and
is offered through God's benignity indiscriminately to all,
yet all do not receive him."
He makes this favor common to all, because it is propounded to all,
and not because it is in reality extended to all; for though Christ
suffered for the sins of the whole world, and is offered through
God's benignity indiscriminately to all, yet all do not receive him.
Calvin. Romans 5:18.
Thus all the more ought we groan, seeing that the world is too
perverse to return to God, but rather elects to oppose him. This
seeing how truly the Devil has blinded humankind, we are right to
feel dejected and sad. Why? Because to see souls created in the image
of God move toward their own damnation is hardly a light matter,
especially souls that were redeemed at such a cost by the blood of
God's Son. It ought to make us sad to see them perish so miserably.
Above all, we must keep in mind the purpose for which our Lord
ordained the preaching of the Gospel, that by faith, as Saint Paul
says, we might render to God the obedience and honor that God is due
[1 Timothy 1:17; 6;16], and that humankind might be saved, "for it is
the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" [Romans
1:16]. Consequently, in view of the fact that human malice frustrates
God's intentions, we are justified in raising a lament similar to
Micah's. Calvin, Sermons on Micah, Sermon 25, 7:1-3, p., 371.
Wherefore, if God were to approach his people, whether Jew or Gentile, a
new covenant was needed: one which would be certain, sure, and
inviolable. And to establish and confirm it, it was necessary to have a
Mediator, who would intercede and come between the two parties, to make
concord between them; for without this, man would have had always to
live under the ire and indignation of God, and would have had no means
of relief from the curse, misery, and confusion into which he was snared
and had fallen. And it was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the true
and only eternal Son of God, who had to be sent and given to mankind by
the Father, to restore a world otherwise wasted, destroyed, and desolate.
But when the fullness of time had come and the period foreordained by
God was ended, this great Messiah, so promised and so awaited, came; he
was perfect, and accomplished all that was necessary to redeem us and
save us. He was given not only to the Israelites, but to all men, of
every people and every land, to the end that by him human nature might
be reconciled to God. John Calvin, 'Preface to Olivetan's New
Testament," in _Calvin: Commentaries_, trans., and ed., by Joseph
Haroutian (Philadelphia" Westminster Press, 1958), pp., 61 and 63.
We now see why an oath is interposed, while he pronounces that he will
take care that the Jews should not ridicule any longer. Behold, says he,
all souls are mine; as the soul of the son so the soul of the father,
all souls are mine; the soul, therefore, which has sinned it shall die.
Some interpreters explain the beginning of the verse thus: that men
vainly and rashly complain when God seems to treat them too severely,
since the clay does not rise against the potter. Since God is the maker
of the whole world, we are his workmanship: what madness, then, to rise
up against him when he does not satisfy us: and we saw this simile used
by Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 18:6.) The sentiment, then, is true in itself,
that all souls are under God’s sovereignty by the right of creation, and
therefore he can arbitrarily determine for each whatever he wishes; and
all who clamor against him reap no profit: and this teaching it is
advantageous to notice. But this passage ought to be understood
otherwise; namely, that nothing is more unworthy than that God should be
accused of tyrannizing over men, when he rather defends them, as being
his own workmanship. When, therefore, God pronounces that all souls are
his own, he does not merely claim sovereignty and power, but he rather
shows that he is affected with fatherly love towards the whole human
race since he created and formed it; for, if a workman loves his work
because he recognizes in it the fruits of his industry, so, when God has
manifested his power and goodness in the formation of men, he must
certainly embrace them with affection. True, indeed, we are abominable
in God’s sight, through being corrupted by original sin, as it is
elsewhere said, (Psalm 14:1, 2) but inasmuch as we are men, we must be
dear to God, and our salvation must be precious in his sight. We now see
what kind of refutation this is: all souls are mine, says he: I have
formed all, and am the creator of all, and so I am affected with
fatherly love towards all, and they shall rather feel my clemency, from
the least to the greatest, than experience too much rigor and severity.
Calvin, Commentary, Ezekiel 18:1-4.
