Today’s devotion comes from 1 Timothy 2:1-7.
“First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-7.
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Does God desire all men to be saved, in the sense of every person who ever lived or in the sense of every one of His elect?
When we look at the context of this phrase “who desires all men to be saved“, we see other uses of the word “all” that lead us to conclude that Paul was “all” to refer to a group of men rather than to every single possible man who ever lived.
First, in today’s Scripture, Paul urges “entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,”. Is Paul urging us to pray for every person? No, the context is important. Paul is referring to prayer “for kings and all who are in authority”.
Second, in today’s Scripture, we see “Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all“. If one would maintain that God desire all men to be saved, in the sense of every person who ever lived, then that person would also have to maintain that Christ gave Himself as a ransom for every person who ever lived, in order to be consistent.
We recognize that there are some who do actually believe that Christ gave Himself as a ransom for every person who ever lived, but it is a point a lot harder to defend.
The purpose of this daily devotion is not to give a full defense to the point that Christ died only for the elect which is called “Limited Atonement”, the “L” of “TULIP”, the Five Points of Calvinism, the Reformed Doctrine of Salvation. Rather, the purpose of this devotion is to identify this and issue and point out just three of my insights today (two within today’s Scripture and one from another Scripture) which indicate that when Paul was referring to “all men”, he was referring to all of the elect, rather than to every person who ever lived.
For a fuller treatment, I refer to the article “Limited Atonement” by Rev. G Van Baren. This article also considers verses which also use the words “all” and “world.” Here is a link to it – Click here: Limited Atonement For more on this issue, there is an article “Does God Really Desire to Save the Reprobate” by Rev. Angus Stewart. Here is a link to it – Click here: Does God Really Desire to Save the Reprobate?
Third, there is Jesus’ parable of wheat and tares to show that God’s concern is for the wheat, not the tares. It also helps illustrate that prayers for kings and all who are in authority, is not a concern for peace for all men, the wicked and the righteous, but rather that “we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity“. Verse 2.
“Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” Matthew 13:24-30.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 