This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)

There is a strong emphasis in the New Testament that, in a specific sense, the gospel is for “all men” and that God intends to save “all men.” And it is clear in what sense this is meant. However, this emphasis has been often misrepresented because many people are careless and dishonest in handling the Scripture, so that they fail to respect the contexts of the passages and to take into account the biblical motifs that are relevant to their proper interpretation.

To illustrate, the Bible teaches that God’s arm is not short. It would be naïve to infer from this that God has a physical arm, or even a physical body. Such an inference does not take the text of Scripture seriously, but rather disrespects the whole testimony of Scripture about the nature of God, that he is spirit, and that he is without physical form and substance. When the text is read in relation to the whole of Scripture, it becomes obvious that the expression is only a metaphor to say that God’s power is strong and his influence extensive.

We are now interested in two details in Paul’s statement. The first is his mention of God’s desire, and the second is the meaning of “all people.” We cannot settle all the details in this brief reflection on the text, but we can come to a conclusion that is clear enough to enable us to grasp its main lesson.

The Bible teaches that God decrees all that he desires, and performs all that he decrees. In other words, if God desires something, it will surely happen. No one can withstand his power. Nothing can thwart his plan. Therefore, if God desires to save “all people” in this sense – that is, in the sense that he decrees it – then “all people” shall surely be saved.

Another possible interpretation for God’s desire in this verse is that Paul is referring to God’s moral command. A moral command is only a definition of right and wrong, and of obligation. It does not specify what God has decided shall happen or what he will cause to occur. When Paul told the Athenians that God now commands all men everywhere to repent, he did not mean that God now causes all men everywhere to repent, but that God demands all men everywhere to repent. Of course, repentance had been a demand since the beginning, but until then God had not caused the demand to be published to all men everywhere.

Then, there are also two possible meanings for “all people.” Paul could be referring to all individuals, or every single person in all of history. Or, he could be speaking in line with the rest of the Bible and thus refers to all kinds of individuals, that is, individuals of each race, gender, class, and other classifications. What he means here also affects the possible meaning for God’s desire. In particular, if Paul is referring to all individuals, then he cannot be referring to God’s decree when he says that God desires to save all men. This is because God’s decree is always effective. If God decrees to save all individuals, then all individuals will be saved. But many passages of Scripture inform us that thousands upon thousands of individuals will not be saved; therefore, if Paul is referring to all individuals, then he cannot also be referring to God’s decree. This combination is impossible.

If Paul is referring to all individuals, then when he mentions God’s desire, that must refer to God’s moral command. That is, if Paul is referring to all individuals, then he is making the point that it is God’s command that all individuals believe the gospel. This is true in itself because God indeed demands every person to believe the gospel. However, the combination is unlikely in this verse, because this is not the language that Paul uses. He does not say that God “desires” all men to believe, but that he “desires” all men to be saved. If he has in mind a moral obligation, then the language of faith and repentance would be more fitting, and this is the language that he used with the Athenians. Since it is unlikely that Paul is referring to God’s moral command, it is unlikely that he is saying here that God now demands all kinds of people to be saved.

The only combination that fits the text is that Paul is referring to God’s decree, not God’s moral demand, and that he is referring to his decree about all kinds of people, not all individuals. In other words, it is God’s decree that all kinds of people will be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Because this is his decree, this is what shall happen, and indeed this is what has been happening since the time of the apostle. This not only fits the emphasis of the rest of the New Testament, but it is also consistent with the immediate context. When Paul says that believers should pray “for everyone,” he means all kinds of people, not only the poor and oppressed, but also “for kings and all those in authority.” Then, a few verses later Paul writes that he is a teacher to the Gentiles, which is consistent with his constant emphasis that the truth is not taught only to the Jews.

The New Testament repeatedly opposes the restrictions that people placed on the scope of salvation, and compels them to enlarge their thinking. They harbored these restrictions in their minds because of prejudice, elitism, tradition, and so on, but they were not applied to individuals as such, but to entire groups of people defined by race, gender, class, or some such thing. In other words, when the Bible teaches about the breadth of God’s mercy, it does not have in mind a “some individuals vs. all individuals” debate, but a “some groups vs. all groups” debate.

In fact, when it comes to individuals, the Bible insists that God does not desire and has not decreed to save all individuals. In Romans 9, it even says that God has deliberately created some individuals for destruction, and has individually decreed their damnation. So the “some individuals vs. all individuals” contrast is not in consideration in our passage, and is never in view when it is said that God wants “all” to be saved.

Many people are out of touch with the way that the biblical writers think, and thus impose their own categories into the text. Their own thinking is always taken up with the salvation of individuals, and they assume that when the Bible says “all men,” it means all individuals. In hijacking Scripture to advance their private agenda, they subvert its true intention and meaning, robbing it of its force and wisdom, and all the while think that they are doing God a service by promoting the false doctrine that he wishes to save all individuals. On the other hand, the real concern of the apostles is to tear down the prejudices of men, and to correct their attitude about the kinds of people that God has decided to save by his Son Jesus Christ.