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For the other video blogs in this series and the outline, click here: Answers to So-called Arminian Verses
For a paperback book in outline form which addresses over 150 difficult verses that Arminians use against Sovereign Grace, check out: Problem Texts for Sovereign Grace: Rooting Arminianism Out of Every Verse.
Answers to So-called Arminian Verses
5. 1Ti 2:4-6 -
A. "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6) Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
i. Do these verses teach that God desires to have the entire human race to be eternally saved and that Jesus gave Himself a ransom for them?
ii. Do these verses teach that God shall save the entire human race eternally?
B. Who are the all men whom God will have to be saved? (1Ti 2:4)
i. The all men are the all for whom Jesus was the ransom (1Ti 2:6).
a. Ransom - 1. The action of procuring the release of a prisoner or captive by paying a certain sum, or of obtaining one's own freedom in this way; the fact or possibility of being set free on this condition; the paying of money to this end.
b. If the "all" in 1Ti 2:6 is understood to be the entire human race, then that means that Christ freed the entire human race from their bondage under sin (Rom 6:18).
c. In other words, it would mean that He eternally saved the entire human race from their sins.
d. The verse actually says: "Who gave himself a ransom for all..." It doesn't say that he offered to be a ransom for all, or that He was a potential ransom for all; it says he GAVE himself a ransom for all.
e. Whoever the "all" are in the verse were ransomed by Christ.
f. Was the entire human race ransomed from their captivity of sin and death? No. (Rev 20:15)
g. So then if the entire human race are not saved from their sins, then that necessarily means that the "all" for whom Christ was the ransom are some other group than the entire human race.
h. So who is the "all" for whom Jesus was the ransom? Jesus told us:
(i) The "all" is all that the Father gave him; "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." (Joh 6:39)
(ii) The "all" are the sheep for whom Jesus gave his life (a ransom - Mat 20:28): "As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep." (Joh 10:15)
(iii) Jesus died for the sheep, not the goats (Mat 25:33,41).
(iv) Had Jesus died for the goats, they would be justified by His blood, saved from wrath, and reconciled to God, not going to the lake of fire (Rom 5:8-10).
(v) The "all" are as many as God gave Him (the elect): "As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." (Joh 17:2 c/w Eph 1:4)
ii. The all for whom Jesus was the ransom are those for whom Jesus is the mediator (1Ti 2:5).
a. Jesus is the mediator for "they which are called" (Heb 9:15).
b. "The called" (Rom 8:28) are the elect who were foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified (Rom 8:29-30).
iii. Since 1Ti 2:4 is connected to 1Ti 2:5-6 by the word for, therefore the all men whom God will have to be saved are the elect whom God gave to Christ for Him to be the ransom and the mediator.
iv. "All men" doesn't always mean "the entire human race without exception" (2Co 9:13; Joh 3:26).
a. Jesus died for all men distributively, not collectively.
b. The all men are men out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, "all men" distributively, not collectively (Rev 5:9).
c. They are all kinds of men such as kings and all that are in authority for whom Paul told Timothy to pray (1Ti 2:1-2).
d. The all men whom God will have to be saved is no more every human being without exception than the all things a mature believer can eat are hammers, nails, and battery acid (Rom 14:2).
C. What does it mean that God will have all men (the elect) to be saved?
i. It doesn't mean that God desires to have all of the elect eternally saved.
a. This interpretation would be superfluous.
b. All of the elect shall be eternally saved; therefore it doesn't make sense to say that God desires to have something happen which is an accomplished fact (Rom 5:10; 2Ti 1:9; Heb 9:12; Heb 10:14; 2Co 5:18).
ii. It doesn't mean that God desires to have all of the elect temporally saved because the context is eternal salvation, as was proved above.
iii. It doesn't mean that God shall have all of the elect to be temporally saved.
a. First of all the context is eternal salvation.
b. Secondly, all of the elect will not be temporally saved (Mar 10:21-23; Rom 11:28-29; 1Co 10:1-5).
iv. It does mean God shall have all of the elect to be eternally saved.
a. All of the elect shall be saved eternally.
b. They are saved, reconciled, and redeemed already by the death of Christ (2Ti 1:9; 2Co 5:18; Rev 5:9).
c. Because of that they shall be saved from the wrath to come (Rom 5:9-10; Rom 9:27-29; Act 15:11; Heb 9:28).
