1 Timothy 2:3-4

‘This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.’

For a world at peace is pleasing and acceptable to God our Saviour Whose one aim is to bring all levels of men, from high to low, from all nations, to Himself. Notice that ‘all men’ has been defined by 1 Timothy 2:1. He wants all levels of men from all nations to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. We know from 1 Timothy 1:15 that ‘saved’ refers to sinners. It is sinners whom God wants to save. Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). Note the equating of ‘being saved’ with ‘coming to the knowledge of the truth’. It is a ‘true spiritual knowledge’ (epignowsis) of the truth that brings about salvation in those who believe and are saved. But the emphasis is on the truth and not on the knowledge. There is a knowledge that is to be refuted and rejected (1 Timothy 1:4; 1 Timothy 1:6). It is the genuine knowledge of the truth that matters.

‘God our Saviour.’ And the Saviour to Whom they must look is no secondary figure. It is God Himself. We are very much in the area here of the clearly stated elsewhere, ‘our God and Saviour Jesus Christ’ ( Tit 2:13 ; 2 Peter 1:1, compare 11). It is not the Father alone Who is the Saviour, it is God in the fullness of His Being.

Some see here a general will of God that desires the salvation of all men. Compare also such verses as ‘God so loved the world --’ (John 3:16), and ‘The Lord is --- not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9), ‘a propitiation for the sins of the whole world’ (1 John 2:2). And certainly there is no reason for denying God’s benevolence towards all men (‘He sends the rain on the just and the unjust’ - Matthew 5:45). Furthermore He does through His servants truly make His offer of salvation open to all men, and He would if it were possible save them all. But that it is not possible is clear from the consequences. No one is more clear than Jesus on the fact that not all men will be saved (e.g. Matthew 7:13-27).

However, we should note that from the beginning God has for a time preserved all men for a period from the judgment that they deserved, preserving them for a time from the fate that awaited them, and offering them salvation if they would respond to Him. In that sense He is the Saviour of all men without distinction. He saves them from wrath for a time. But in the end His full salvation is only for those who believe, and therefore in the final sense His Saviourhood also is only for those who believe (compare 1 Timothy 4:10). Some have distinguished between His potential Saviourhood and His actual Saviourhood which is what 1 Timothy 4:10 appears to infer, and this may be helpful to some, but that is merely to simplify what we have described.