I want to revisit my post of a few weeks ago concerning what Scriptures say about God wanting all men to be saved.
Citing 1 Tim. 2:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-9.
In my previous post I noted that Scripture clearly teaches that not all men will be saved, as many will be condemned and spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. Therefore, I think we need to think about the statements of 1 Timothy and 2 Peter (above) in a different light. In my post I cited from a source that spoke of four possible ways to interpret how God "wills" all to be saved.
1) That God will save all humans-Universalism
2) That God was not speaking of all humans-rather all kinds or groups of people.
3) That God has a will of decree that will definitely happen (such as sending the Son to be Savior) and then a will of desire, which may or may not be fulfilled (such as He wants all humans to obey Him, but every human sins), or a will of permitting that allows sinful things to occur, yet He is not the author of sin, nor does He make anyone sin, nor does, He tempt anyone to sin, nor can He ever sin.
4) God has purposes that are higher than and overreaching the desire to save everyone. (As an example, I may wish to spend a day at home to rest, but we have committed to a doctor appt, a visit to a needy friend, and a few other things I purposed to do that day. So, since these commitments take precedence over my desire to rest for the day, I set aside resting for the day and fulfill the commitments. This is certainly not a straight analogy to what God does, though).
After much thought, I will say that I eliminate both positions 1 and 2 and lean towards positions 3 and 4. Perhaps both are true, one is true, or none are true. But I think they make the most logical sense of why God desires to save everyone but does not.
God' wise counsel and good pleasure is the purpose for creation. We may not know what these are as they may be what the Scriptures call the "Hidden Things" that belong to God.
I want to revisit my post of a few weeks ago concerning what Scriptures say about God wanting all men to be saved.
Citing 1 Tim. 2:1-5; 2 Peter 3:3-9.
In my previous post I noted that Scripture clearly teaches that not all men will be saved, as many will be condemned and spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. Therefore, I think we need to think about the statements of 1 Timothy and 2 Peter (above) in a different light. In my post I cited from a source that spoke of four possible ways to interpret how God "wills" all to be saved.
1) That God will save all humans-Universalism
2) That God was not speaking of all humans-rather all kinds or groups of people.
3) That God has a will of decree that will definitely happen (such as sending the Son to be Savior) and then a will of desire, which may or may not be fulfilled (such as He wants all humans to obey Him, but every human sins), or a will of permitting that allows sinful things to occur, yet He is not the author of sin, nor does He make anyone sin, nor does, He tempt anyone to sin, nor can He ever sin.
4) God has purposes that are higher than and overreaching the desire to save everyone. (As an example, I may wish to spend a day at home to rest, but we have committed to a doctor appt, a visit to a needy friend, and a few other things I purposed to do that day. So, since these commitments take precedence over my desire to rest for the day, I set aside resting for the day and fulfill the commitments. This is certainly not a straight analogy to what God does, though).
After much thought, I will say that I eliminate both positions 1 and 2 and lean towards positions 3 and 4. Perhaps both are true, one is true, or none are true. But I think they make the most logical sense of why God desires to save everyone but does not.
God' wise counsel and good pleasure is the purpose for creation. We may not know what these are as they may be what the Scriptures call the "Hidden Things" that belong to God.
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