Free said:
Bick said:
For example: Christ's sacrifice on the cross is for all mankind:
John 1:29 "...John seeth Jesus...and saith, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETHAWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD." KJV, etc.
John 12:32 "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
John 12:47 ..."I came not to judge the world, but to save the world."
1Tim 2:3,
4 "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."
1 Tim 4:10 "...we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe."
1 John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
These are just a few that tell me that God's grace is greater than all our sins.
If you think the Bible teaches that everyone will eventually saved, it doesn't. And don't promote that on these forums as it is a violation of the TOS. The Bible makes it abundantly clear that not everyone will be saved.
Could you help me then. What do the verses mean thst I quoted, if not as they read?
Firstly, any doctrine of salvation
must take into account
all that the Bible says, and make sense of all of it. This is the larger context. We cannot say that such verses as you have given above somehow override all other verses that show otherwise. So the first thing we must do is consider all passages on this subject, such as the following (not exhaustive; all ESV):
Joh 1:11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Joh 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh 3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Joh 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Joh 12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Joh 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
Joh 20:31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Mat 25:30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Mat 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Mat 25:32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Mat 25:33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
...
Mat 25:41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
...
Mat 25:46 And these will go away into
eternal punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life."
Just as an aside, Matthew uses the same word for "eternal" for both punishment and life. The only conclusion then is that
if the punishment isn't eternal, and there will very clearly be punishment for those who reject Christ in this life,
then the life for believers isn't eternal either.
2Th 1:5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—
2Th 1:6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
2Th 1:7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
2Th 1:8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
2Th 1:9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
There are, of course, many other passages that need to be considered as well.
So when we then consider the passages you have given, we need to make sense of all of it. We cannot say that the passages you have given somehow override the ones I have given, or vice versa. But let's consider what we do know to be true:
1. There will be punishment in hell.
2. The punishment is not the same for all in hell.
3. That punishment will last as long as life for the believers.
When we look at John 12:32, is there a way in which we can understand it and be consistent with the points above? Sure. Looking at the context, we see in verse 20 that there were Greeks as well as Jews in Jesus' audience. We can see then that "all people" likely means "all
kinds of people," that is, people from every nation and of every status. And I think this would be the same for verse 47. The early passages in John that I provided support this idea quite strongly.
Regarding 1 Tim. 2:3-4, it cannot mean that all will be saved, none of the verse you have provided can, as this would contradict the other passages that show not all will be saved. The ESV renders those verses as follows:
1Ti 2:3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
1Ti 2:4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
And it is important to note that throughout the rest of 1 Tim., Paul strongly suggests that not all will be saved:
1Ti 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
1Ti 5:24 The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.
1Ti 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
As to 1 Tim. 4:10, there are several possible understandings of that verse, none of which is that it teaches all will be saved. For instance, it could be saying that salvation is made available to all but that only some will receive it. Or, a legitimate translation could be "the Savior of all people,
namely, those who believe" (from the study notes in my ESV Study Bible).
And similarly for 1 John 2:2. It likely means that although Jesus' sacrifice is made available to the whole world, only those who believe and repent will be saved. There are several other passages in 1 John that indicate only those who repent will be saved, which supports the previous point.