1 Timothy 2:4

2:1-7 The disciples of Christ must be praying people; all, without distinction of nation, sect, rank, or party. Our duty as Christians, is summed up in two words; godliness, that is, the right worshipping of God; and honesty, that is, good conduct toward all men. These must go together: we are not truly honest, if we are not godly, and do not render to God his due; and we are not truly godly, if not honest. What is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, we should abound in. There is one Mediator, and that Mediator gave himself a ransom for all. And this appointment has been made for the benefit of the Jews and the Gentiles of every nation; that all who are willing may come in this way, to the mercy-seat of a pardoning God, to seek reconciliation with him. Sin had made a quarrel between us and God; Jesus Christ is the Mediator who makes peace. He is a ransom that was to be known in due time. In the Old Testament times, his sufferings, and the glory that should follow, were spoken of as things to be revealed in the last times. Those who are saved must come to the knowledge of the truth, for that is God's appointed way to save sinners: if we do not know the truth, we cannot be ruled by it.

The apostle produces a clear, convincing reason, that the duty of charity in praying for all men is pleasing to God, from his love extended to all, in his willing their salvation, and their knowledge and belief of the gospel, which is the only way of salvation. From hence our Saviour’s commission and command to the apostles was universal: Go and teach all nations, Matthew 28:19 ; Preach the gospel to every creature, that is, to every man, Mark 16:15 ; he excludes no people, no person. And accordingly the apostles discharged their office to their utmost capacity, Colossians 1:24 . But a question arises, how it can be said that God would have all men saved, when that the most of men perish? For the resolving this difficulty, we must observe, that in the style of Scripture the will of God sometimes signifies his eternal counsel and decree; that things should be done either by his immediate efficiency, or by the intervention of means: or, secondly, his commands and invitations to men to do such things as are pleasing to him. The will of God in the first sense always infallibly obtains its effect, Psalm 115:3 ; thus he declares: My counsel shall stand, I will do all my pleasure, Isaiah 46:10 ; for otherwise there must be a change of God’s will and counsel, or a defect of power, both which assertions are impious blasphemy. But those things which he commands and are pleasing to him, are often not performed without any reflection upon him, either as mutable or impotent.

Thus he declares, that he wills things that are pleasing to him; as, I will not the death of a sinner, but that he should turn and live, Ezekiel 33:11 ; and sometimes that he will not those things that are displeasing to him, as contrary to holiness, though he did not decree the hindering of them: thus he complains in Isaiah 55:12 : Ye did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not. This distinction of the Divine will being clearly set down in Scripture, answers the objection; for when it is said in the text, that God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth; and in the same sense by St. Peter, that God will have none perish, but come to repentance, 2 Peter 3:9 ; we must understand it, not with respect to his decretive will, but his complacential will, that is, the repentance and life of a sinner is very pleasing to his holiness and mercy. And this love of God to men has been declared in opening the way of salvation to them by the Mediator, and by all the instructions, invitations, commands, and promises of the gospel, assuring them that whoever comes to Christ upon the terms of the gospel shall in no wise be cast off; that no repenting believer shall be excluded from saving mercy.

1 Timothy 2:4 . Πάντας ) all , not merely a part, much less a very small part; 1 Timothy 2:3 , note.— ἀνθρώπους , men ) lost in themselves.— θέλει , [‘wills’] wishes ) in serious earnestness of wish: ibid.— σωθῆναι , to be saved ) This is treated of, at 1 Timothy 2:5-6 .— Καὶ εἰς , and unto ) This is treated of, at 1 Timothy 2:6-7 .— ἀληθείας ) of saving truth .— ἐλθεῖν , to come ) They are not forced.

Who will have all men to be saved (ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι) Lit, who willeth all men, etc. As who, or seeing that he, giving the ground of the previous statement. Prayer to God for all is acceptable to him, because he wills the salvation of all. Θέλει willeth, marking a determinate purpose. Come to the knowledge of the truth (εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν) The phrase only here and 2 Timothy 3:7. Ἑπίγνωσις is a favorite Pauline word. See on Romans 3:20; see on Colossians 1:9; see on 1 Timothy 2:4; see on 1 Timothy 4:3. It signifies advanced or full knowledge. The difference between the simple γνῶσις and the compound word is illustrated in Romans 1:21, Romans 1:28, and 1 Corinthians 13:12. In N.T. always of the knowledge of things ethical or divine, and never ascribed to God. For ἀλήθεια truth, see on sound doctrine, 1 Timothy 1:10. It appears 14 times in the Pastorals, and always without a defining genitive. So, often in Paul, but several times with a defining genitive, as truth of God, of Christ, of the gospel. The logical relation in the writer's mind between salvation and the knowledge of the truth is not quite clear. Knowledge of the truth may be regarded as the means of salvation, or it may be the ideal goal of the whole saving work. See 1 Corinthians 13:12; Philippians 3:8; John 17:3. The latter is more in accord with the general drift of teaching in these Epistles.

4. "Imitate God." Since He wishes that all should be saved, do you also wish it; and if you wish it, pray for it. For prayer is the instrument of effecting such things [Chrysostom]. Paul does not say, "He wishes to save all"; for then he would have saved all in matter of fact; but "will have all men to be saved," implies the possibility of man's accepting it (through God's prevenient grace) or rejecting it (through man's own perversity). Our prayers ought to include all, as God's grace included all. to come—They are not forced. unto the knowledge—Greek, "the full knowledge" or "recognition" (See on [2467]1Co 13:12; Php 1:9). the truth—the saving truth as it is in, and by, Jesus (Joh 17:3, 17).

Verse 4. - Willeth that all men should be saved for will have all men to be saved , A.V.; come to for to come unto , A.V. All men , etc.; to show that it is in accordance with God's will to pray for "all men" (ver. 1). (For the doctrinal statement, comp. ver. 6; Titus 2:11 ; 2 Peter 3:9 , etc.) 1 Timothy 2:4

4 . who will have ] The exact rendering is that of R.V. who willeth that all men should he saved —not the stronger word bouletai , ‘desireth,’ with a definite purpose. Chrysostom’s comment is “if He willed to save all, do thou will it also; and if thou willest, pray for it”: and Theod. Mops, in the Latin translation “evidens est quoniam omnes vult salvari, quia et omnes tuetur, quia est omnium Dominus.” Thus the Greek fathers accepted St Paul’s words in their prima facie sense. The Latin fathers seek to guard their application; and St Augustine actually says “by ‘all’ understand ‘all the predestined,’ because men of all sorts are among them.” The phrase is not “willeth to save all,” which would have been very near to universalism ; but there is implied “the human acceptance of offered salvation on which even God’s predestination is contingent” Alford. be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth ] Notice the order of the words; salvation is according to the N. T. usage, past, present and future .

Past, 2 Timothy 1:9 , ‘God who saved us and called us.’ Titus 3:5 , ‘he saved us through the laver of regeneration.’ Present, Romans 13:11 , ‘work out your own salvation.’ Acts 2:42 , ‘The Lord added … those that were being saved.’ Future, 1 Peter 1:5 , ‘guarded unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.’ 2 Timothy 4:18 , ‘will save me unto his heavenly kingdom.’ And here we are evidently to understand by the two clauses first a rescue from ignorance and sin, from life in untruth, and then an advance from this first knowledge of one’s true self as a sinner to the complete and perfect knowledge of the truth. So far then as the word ‘salvation’ and ‘saved’ are used to describe an experience of the first of these two stages, and are understood to be so limited , the language is Apostolic; and that indeed is a more incorrect usage which refers the word only to final safety, without guarding it as in our collect by a defining epithet “towards the attainment of everlasting salvation,” and without remembering the express statement of the Prayer-Book Catechism that by Baptism we have been now “called to a state of salvation.” At the same time, so far as any teachers or evangelists regard all as finished and completed at conversion , they ignore and contradict the latter clause here; God willeth that all should come to the full knowledge of the truth, and not stay ever resting on a past acceptance of the message of forgiveness.

1 Timothy 2:4 . “The grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men” ( Titus 2:11 ) as was foreshadowed in the O.T.; e.g . Psalm 67:2 , “Thy saving health among all nations”. God is, so far as His inclination or will is concerned, “the Saviour of all men,” but actually, so far as we can affirm with certainty, “of them that believe” ( 1 Timothy 4:10 ). These He saved , ἔσωσεν ( 2 Timothy 1:9 ; Titus 3:5 ), i.e., placed in a state of being saved . But here St. Paul does not say θέλει σῶσαι , but θέλει σωθῆναι ; for by His own limitation of His powers, so far as they are perceived by us, the salvation of men does not depend on God alone. It depends on the exercise of the free will of each individual in the acceptance or rejection of salvation (so Wiesinger, quoted by Alf.; and, as Bengel notes on ἐλθεῖν , non coguntur ), as well as on the cooperation of those who pray for all men; and, by so doing, generate a spiritual atmosphere in which the designs of God may grow. It is also to be observed that since salvation means a state of being saved , there is no difficulty in the knowledge of the truth following it in the sentence, as though it were a consequence rather than a precedent condition. This is indeed the order indicated in the Last Commission: “baptising them … teaching them” ( Matthew 28:19-20 ).