All men will be saved

At this point it is necessary to make the positive case that all men will be saved. This case is built on the foundation of God's sovereign choice which has already been presented. The two key texts are the following:

For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. (Romans 11:32 NIV)

This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. Command and teach these things. (1 Timothy 4:9-11 NIV)

If God's sovereign choice is true (and it is) and God desires to save all men (and He does) then all men will be saved. Who can resist God's will?

Note the following in Romans 11:32. There is no question that God sovereignly handed all men, without exception, over to disobedience, therefore God will sovereignly save all men without exception. One cannot make the first half of the verse a sovereign universal act of God (which it obviously is) and make the second half of the verse anything but a sovereign universal act of God. The context leading up to Romans 11:32 was the elect enemies of the Gospel, the Jews. They were a special case of the more general teaching of Ro 11:32 which applies to all men.

As mentioned previously Romans 9-11 is a complete unit of text dealing primarily with God's sovereign election of the Jews. In Romans 9 Paul introduces the theme of God's sovereign choice and responds to the complaint that this is an unfair doctrine.

His response in Romans 9 is simply that we are not to question God.

I think that many Calvinists would like to end the discussion right there. But Paul, operating under the inspiration of God, doesn't end there. He presses on to show that God TEMPORARILY rejected the Jews, because of their lack of faith and for our benefit (to bring salvation to the Gentiles) but that even so, they remain part of the elect even if they are enemies of the Gospel (Ro 11:25-28). But Paul doesn't even stop there. In Romans 11:32 he pushes on to extend the doctrine of God's sovereign mercy on His enemies to all mankind.

God sovereignly handed all men over to disobedience so that He could reveal His true self-sacrificial nature by redeeming us all. His rejection but ultimate redemption of ancient Israel was a special case of this universal redemption.

So looking at the big picture, what we see at first is the apparently arbitrary God of Romans 9 hardening whoever He pleases and having mercy on whoever He pleases, doing what He will with those who are powerless to resist His will and have no right to complain. But at the end of that story (at the end of Romans 11) we find a victorious God who self sacrificially reveals Himself as a God of infinite love and mercy toward His entire creation.

God handed us all over to disobedience. He opened the door and allowed us to rebel knowing that we would rebel. He allowed us to bring unmeasurable misery on ourselves individually and collectively. He allowed us to become His enemies and hate Him. Why? So that He could reveal to us who He was, the self sacrificial God of infinite love and mercy. (John 3:16) By that example He also revealed what we should be, what His perfect maturity looks like and what we should try to emulate.

God has the whole world in His sovereign hands. They aren't the hands of a sadistic monster but the hands of an infinitely loving God, a God who IS love.

In the 1Timothy 4:9-11 text we find Paul again confirming that God is the sovereign savior of all men. Some try to make this text read that God is the potential savior of all men but only if they believe. The word "especially" never means "but only if".

If I say that I like ice cream, especially if it's vanilla, I don't mean that I like ice cream but only if it's vanilla. I mean that I like ice cream in general but that I especially like vanilla ice cream.

In a similar way, Paul is saying that God is the sovereign savior of all men without exception but that there is a special, greater salvation for those who are "in Christ" part of the bride of Christ.

Here is the end of the story concerning the work of the Lord:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Col 1:15-20 NIV)

Ultimately God will reconcile all of His creation to Himself. He didn't create the vast majority of mankind to spend a short, relatively miserable life, in this world and then be fried alive for all eternity. His is a positive plan that is ultimately redemptive for all mankind. Even his judgments are redemptive in purpose.

Now one might ask at this point what value there is in being a believer in this age if all men are going to be saved. The answer is that there is differentiation in election. Paul points to the superior nature of our salvation when he says that God is the savior of all men and especially those who believe.

Clearly believers are offered promises not offered to unbelievers in this age.

The promise of being part of the bride of Christ, having the assurance of salvation and avoiding Hell altogether. Personally I don't want to spend 30 seconds in Hell.

We have already seen that enemies of the Gospel are elected Romans 11:28. But they aren't the Church of this age. There is only one unique body of believers "In Christ", the true Church. There is more than one elect group. All men will be saved but not all men are part of the one unique group called the Church.

Men who would ask about the value of faith, given that all men will be saved, need to soberly reflect on what it means to to be a believer. If all one sees is avoiding Hell, He has missed out on some of the great and precious promises of God. The salvation offered to those in Christ is indeed a great salvation.

I fear that much of the problem is that men have perverted the truth in a way that turns being a believer in Jesus into a heavy burden almost impossible to bear. That is not the salvation Jesus came to offer:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11 NIV)

If what one is being taught in the name of Jesus doesn't fit comfortably with that text then one needs to carefully and critically consider what he is being taught in the name of Jesus.

But what of God's judgments? What about Hell? That is the subject of the next section of this essay.

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