If God wants all people saved - why aren't they?

There is a verse that crops up frequently in a question from those who are exploring the Scriptural teaching that God elects who will be saved. This doctrine logically and disconcertingly means that some are not chosen.

Usually, the objection to this teaching is an emotional one: “How can God choose some and not all? That’s unfair for those not chosen, that makes us who are chosen robots without free will, and that takes away our responsibility and lays it squarely on God.” That’s a natural response. In fact, it is exactly what Paul says you will think if you understand what he is teaching (see Romans 9:10-24, “you will say to me…”).

But even after the objector has submitted his emotion to what he sees the Bible clearly teaches, there are still a few Scriptures that need explanation.

Assuming Paul contradicts neither himself nor John (John 1:13) nor the words of Jesus (Matthew 13:10-12; John 6:44), then what does Paul mean by this statement:

“…God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” –1 Timothy 2:3-4; if God desires all to be saved, then why aren’t they all saved?

Good question. I get it all the time. So here is my stab at an answer that I gave to someone recently, in 500 words…

Let me start my response by posing a related question to augment yours: Does God always get what he wants?

God states that he desires for you not to gossip, lust, covet, be impatient, lose your temper, be discontent with your finances, etc. God expresses his will that people abstain from immorality, love their neighbor as themselves, and love him with all their heart, mind, and strength. So, again, I ask: does God always get what he desires? Obviously not.

We need to clarify that God has a will/desire which he states or expresses (called his revealed will), and a will/desire that he accomplishes or ordains (sometimes called his decreed will or “secret will”). The former, his expressed will for us, he doesn’t always get; but the latter, his ordained plan for the world, he certainly will accomplish. This ordained will is what we refer to when we say, “It was God’s will that I got robbed” (even though God revealed that his will is that people not steal). Or “If God wills it, then I shall go to such and such a city…”

In 1 Timothy 2:4 Paul describes the revealed desire of God’s heart: he wants all people to be saved by hearing the truth. And yet, clearly, not all people hear the truth, nor do all who hear it accept it, so not all people are saved, which apparently is what he ordains.

There are two common ways people try to make sense of this:

One is by supposing that God doesn’t get what he wants because he can’t override man’s free will. This still doesn’t explain why many people never hear the truth and aren’t given a chance to believe in him (Matt 13:10-12). This view also contradicts many Scriptures, for example, Romans 9:10-24.

The other explanation is that God has more than one desire and some desires are higher than others.

We all experience this ourselves: I desire my kids to be happy, but my higher desire is for them to be safe. So, even though they are happier when they eat Cheetos and cake all day and sit without a seatbelt in the car, my higher desire for their well-being means I enforce that they eat their broccoli, use a seatbelt. Likewise, you may desire to play golf all day but your higher desire is to remain employed…and married. We all have expressed desires that we overrule for a greater purpose we desire more.

In the same way, God desires all people to know the truth and be saved. But his higher desire is to put all aspects of his variegated glory on display, including his justice, wrath, holiness, and mercy. This is Paul’s hard-to-swallow answer in Romans 9:20-23, that God makes “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.”

It is still accurate to say that God desires all to be saved.

It’s not a comfortable answer, but I believe it’s the biblical one.

Hope that helps. Author Cripplegate