Bible Truth #125 - 1 Timothy 2:1-6

1 Timothy 2:1-6 KJV

1  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

2  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;

4  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.

1 Timothy 2:1-6 NASB
1  First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

2  for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

3  This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

4  who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

5  For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

6  who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

I will not claim all of the following - some of it came out of a book titled THE POTTER’S FREEDOM authored by Dr. James White.

I understand completely what Paul is writing. Do those who believe in decisional salvation actually believe Paul is telling Timothy to start perpetual prayer meetings where Christians would pray for every single person in Ephesus? NO! The very next verse which is part of the same sentence should clear up any misapplication of the idea. Paul was telling Timothy to pray for kings and all who are in authority. Why would Paul direct young Timothy to pray for these?

Christians through the millennia, including the first century, were frequently persecuted and when it happened, it was usually by those who were in positions of power or authority. This is why it is easy to understand why Paul would have believers praying for those who would use their power or authority to persecute these Christians.

So, who are kings and all who are in authority? They are kinds of men or classes of men. For example, he wrote to Titus about the grace of God which brings salvation appearing to “all men” (Titus 2:11). He clearly means all kinds of men because that is the context of the entire passage. In the preceding verses he speaks to such groups as older men (v2), older women (v3), younger women (v4), young men (v6), bondslaves (vv9-10), and in a later verse he again writes of rulers and authorities (3:1). Surely no one would suggest that Paul is referring to EVERY person on the planet because not only were there millions before Christ and millions since who have died without the saving grace of God appearing to them, Paul was telling Titus what to teach “all men.” Are we to teach the lost? Of course not. Paul is writing to Titus about people within a particular group, i.e. Christians. Titus was to teach Christians these things. “Rulers” and “authorities” are obviously generally applied classifications which everyone should understand needs to be applied to specific people at specific times.

Luke literally wrote the same thing at Paul’s commissioning that cannot be applied to every man on the planet: For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard (Acts 22:15). Do you think Paul understood that he would be a witness of Christ to every living soul on the planet? Of course not. Rather, he would have surely understood this to mean all kinds and races of men.

There was also the accusation by some Jews of Asia against Paul that he preached to “all men everywhere” against the Jews, the law and the temple (Acts 21:28). Paul speaks of “kinds of people” in other places too:

A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all (Colossians 3:11).

Is Christ in all? Yes. Is Christ in every human being on the planet? Of course not. “All” in this instance clearly means He is in all believers.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Is Paul writing to all mankind? No. In this case he is writing to Christians in Galatia. So it is perfectly consistent with the immediate and broader context of Paul’s writings to recognize this use of “all men” in a generic fashion. You must look at the passage in context and apply your understanding accordingly.

Returning to 1 Timothy 2, Paul then states that such prayers for all kinds of men 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.” If we are consistent with the preceding context we will see “all men” here in the same manner as “all men” of the preceding verses: all kinds of men, whether rulers or kings (yes, God even saves people who used to persecute Christians, a fact Paul knew all too well). But there is a much more important reason to understand Paul’s statement in this way.

Nearly always, proponents of Arminianism isolate this passage from the two verses that follow. They must do this because the questions that can be asked of the Arminian position based upon verses 5 and 6 are paramount indeed. Verse 5 begins with the word “for,” a conjunction indicating the connection between the statement made in 3-4 and the explanation in 5-6. Why should Christians pray that all men, including kings and rulers, be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth? Because there is only one way of salvation, and without a knowledge of that truth, no man can be saved. Paul says, “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.” This immediately takes us into the meat of the discussion of the atonement, but for now just a few points should be made.

First, if one takes “all men” in verse 4 to mean “all men individually,” does it not follow that Christ of necessity must be mediator for all men as well? If one says, “Yes, Christ mediates for every single human being,” does it not follow that Christ fails as mediator every time a person negates His work by their all-powerful act of free will? I pray that no biblical scholar or any Christian would ever promote such an idea, for anyone familiar with the relationship between atonement, mediation and intercession in the book of Hebrews knows well that to make such an assertion puts the entire argument of Hebrews 7-10 on its head. For the moment, we simply point out that it is far more consistent with biblical theology to recognize that Christ mediates on behalf of the Elect and perfectly and completely saves them, than it is to assert that Christ mediates for all (but fails to save all).

The second point is closely related to the first: the ransom that Christ gives in His self-sacrifice is either a saving ransom or a non-saving one. If it is actual and really made in behalf of all men, then inevitably all men would be saved. But we again see that it is far more consistent to recognize that the same meaning for “all men” and “all” flows through the entire passage, and when we look at the inarguably clear statements of Scripture regarding the actual intention and result of Christ’s cross-work, we will see that there is no other consistent means of interpreting these words in 1 Timothy.

The third point - Why would Paul advocate to Timothy to beseech God that all kinds of men, especially kings and rulers, be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth? Why pray to God for this? Don’t men have a free will? If God “interfered” in the free will of lost men making a decision for or against Christ, that would be a violation of their free will, wouldn’t it? The answer is OF COURSE IT WOULD. That is the whole point of the idea Paul is conveying to Timothy. We ARE to pray to God for the salvation of kings and all those in authority because without God saving them, they would forever be dead and NEVER come into the Light (John 3:20).

Finally, One of the biggest stumbling blocks Arminians have, and anyone who believes in decisional salvation, is that they believe the word “all” in verse 4, translated from the Greek word pas (Strong’s #3956), can only mean individually (each and every) every time it is used. Besides studying the word itself which should clear it up, I give several examples of “all” being used collectively (some of all types) in Bible Truth #330. “All” is used collectively in this passage. The truth may be argued but it can never be refuted.

Bottom Line - God is sovereign and if He wanted each and every man to be saved, they would. God desires all kinds of men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the Truth.