What Does God Want?

In the debate between Calvinists and Arminians, the hottest point of contention has to be the concept of “limited atonement” - the idea that God did not send his son to die for every person without exception, but rather that he sent him only for the elect. And although the Calvinist may bring many verses to the table in support of his position, he must still deal with the "all" passages - passages which seem to indicate that God loves all men without distinction, and that His desire is that all come to him in belief.

One of the most commonly quoted of these "all" passages is 1 Timothy 2:1-4.

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.

In dealing with this and other such passages, Calvinists spend a great deal of time attempting to convince their Arminian friends that the word "all" does not mean all people without exception, but that it refers to a subset of mankind. There are, after all, numerous verses in scripture where even the Arminian would agree that all does not mean all without distinction (for example Matt. 2:3, 3:5, 4:8). Regardless of whether the Calvinist is correct in his assertion, the Arminian is not likely to "buy into it", given the seemingly explicit nature of this passage. After all, who can argue that the statement "who desires all men to be saved" actually means that God does not want all to be saved? To do so would be ludicrous!

It is not my intention in this article to convince Arminians that God loves a particular set of people (the elect) differently than he loves all people, even though I believe this. It is not my plan to present passage after passage that supports this assertion, although I can do so. Instead, my goal is to demonstrate to the Arminian that 1 Timothy 2:4 cannot be used to argue that it is God's ultimate desire that all men without exception be saved, and I will use beliefs shared by both the Arminian and the Calvinist to accomplish this.

Before I get into these common beliefs, let me be sure that you understand exactly the point I am making. Please notice that in stating my goal I refer to God's ultimate desire that all men be saved. The qualifier "ultimate" is important to see here. I have no problem stating that God (in some sense) loves all men without exception. However, it is not God's ultimate desire that all be saved. My goal here is to show that 1 Timothy 2:4, when taken in conjunction with the forthcoming beliefs, cannot be used to show that it is.

Exactly what beliefs do Arminian believers hold to that are common with Calvinists? Omnipotence, for one. Omnipotence is the power to do whatever one desires. As an omnipotent being, God has the power (or ability) to do anything he wants to do. Another belief that both sides share is that of the non-universal nature of belief in Jesus Christ. Verses such as Matt. 7:14 and Luke 16:19-31 convince both the Calvinist and Arminian alike that not all people believe, and therefore not all people are saved.
What impact do these two common beliefs have on the universal nature of God's "desire" as expressed in 1 Timothy 2:4? What argument can possibly be made that would convince an Arminian that God's ultimate desire is something other than that all men be saved? Possibly the best way to illustrate this is to present a hypothetical discussion between an Arminian and a Calvinist.

Calvinist: Is it God's desire that all be saved?

Arminian: Yes, read 1 Timothy 2:4.

Calvinist: Then why aren't all saved?

Now, I want to stop here because I want you to see that this is technically the end of the argument. Given the beliefs that are common between the Calvinist and Arminian, the Calvinist has successfully made his point. However, as this may not be apparent to all, I will continue the illustration further.

Calvinist: Then why aren't all saved?

Arminian: Because not all believe.

Calvinist: But why do people need to believe in order to be saved?

Arminian: Because it wouldn't be real love if people didn't willingly believe.

Calvinist: But why does it need to be "real love" in order for people to be saved? If God ultimately wants to save people, he can just save them, right? If God is omnipotent, then couldn't he just bring everyone to heaven if that is what he desires?

Arminian: Sure, he certainly could bring everyone to heaven, but then there would be people in heaven who didn't willingly choose to be there.

Calvinist: Then it sounds to me like there is a condition on being saved.

Arminian: Of course - unless a man be born-again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Being born-again involves a belief in Jesus Christ as saviour.

Calvinist: Yes, I agree with you. But who made up that rule?

Arminian: I don't understand.

Calvinist: Who is the one who determined that you must be born-again in order to spend eternity in heaven?

Arminian: Well God did.

Calvinist: So if it is God's ultimate desire that all men are saved, why did he put a condition on their salvation?

Arminian: If God were to simply bring everyone into heaven, then there would be people there who didn't love him. God only wants people in heaven who truly love him.

Calvinist: But why does God only want people in heaven who truly love him?

It might be good to stop our illustration at this point and reflect upon the hypothetical discussion so far. Although it may not be clear, the sticking point here between the Calvinist and Arminian has to do with the reason why God has chosen to introduce a condition to salvation. Neither one is questioning the fact that a belief in Jesus Christ is necessary to salvation. However, the Calvinist is pressing the point that this condition only exists because God has put it in place. If God ultimately desired all men to be saved, then he could do it. God could sanctify, justify, and glorify every single person if this was what he ultimately desired, but he doesn't do this. He only does so to people who come to him in faith.

Let's continue.

Calvinist: But why does God only want people in heaven who truly love him?

Arminian: Would you want to spend an eternity with someone who didn't willingly desire to be with you?

Calvinist: If it were my ultimate desire to do this, then the answer is yes.

Arminian: Come on - you would want to spend eternity with someone who didn't love you?

Calvinist: If it were my ultimate desire to do this, then obviously the answer is yes. It wouldn't matter to me what the person felt. It wouldn't matter whether they loved me, or whether they hated me. If it were my ultimate desire to save this person and bring them to heaven, then I would simply do it, as I have the power to do so. Just as soon as I start introducing conditions, it should become apparent that my desire is not unconditional, and therefore not ultimate. Just as soon as I start introducing conditions, it should become apparent that my ultimate desire is that those conditions be met.

Rather than proceed to carry on this illustration any longer, I think it is helpful to interject an analogy.

Let's say you and I are used to conversing by sending emails to one another. In my latest email to you, I tell you I have found the house of my dreams. It has everything I ever wanted in a house - including a great location. I have more than enough money to purchase it, and I also have all the political clout necessary to overcome any issues that may arise. I tell you flat out that it is my desire to purchase this house. The next week you send me an email, and you ask me about the house. In my response to you, I state "I decided not to buy it".

"What changed?" you ask in your response. You were sure, based on what I had to say about the house, that I loved it, and that I would own it. There was, after all, nothing standing in the way of me getting what I wanted - not money, not political influence, not anything. So you are curious (and rightly so) as to why I don't own that house. It does not seem reasonable to you that I don't own it, based on my expressed desire to own it and combined with my ability to secure it.

In my reply I tell you that I decided not to purchase it because the current owners did not want to sell regardless of how much I offered them. I tell you that even though I could have forced them to sell I decided not to do so because I wouldn't personally be happy living in a house under those conditions. You now understand (and rightly so) that there was an even greater desire in me than to simply own the house - my greatest desire, my most ultimate desire, was to own the house without forcing the current owners out.

Now, I have chosen this specific analogy because I feel it will appeal to Arminians. It draws a parallel between purchasing a house and saving a person's soul, with the (seemingly) ultimate choice being up to the current house owner. Don't be fooled, however. Analogies prove nothing - they only serve to make a person's point of view clear by expressing it in terms which are easily understood. So although the analogy proves nothing as to how a person is actually saved, what it does (hopefully) do is demonstrate the different aspects of people's desire - specifically my desires about owning the house.

It may seem like I am taking the long way around the block in meeting my goal, but at this point I feel I have laid all the groundwork that is necessary to prove my point. When we state that it is God's desire that all are saved, as 1 Timothy 2:4 most definitely states, we must consider everything else the Bible says. We must consider the fact that all are not saved, and we must ask ourselves why this is, given that God has the ability to save everyone despite their disbelief. Simply put, if God wants all to be saved, and God can save all without condition, then why aren't all saved?

The answer should be obvious - there is something else God desires even more than for all to be saved. There is a more ultimate desire that God has, than the unconditional universal salvation of all mankind. We have a hard time seeing this at first glance, because we tend to think of God within the context of ourselves. We don't stop to think about the fact that God has the power to save all unconditionally, because we don't have the same kind of power ourselves. But once we are reminded of God's omnipotence, there is no excuse to to continue to argue that it is God's ultimate desire that all are saved.

It is a human trait to universalize statements, often out of necessity. Human discourse would become just too complicated if we continually qualified the scope of everything we said by adding the necessary words in our dialogue. So, we rely upon context to make this qualification for us. This includes both the immediate context of the current conversation, as well as the broader context of shared experiences and past discussion. So it is no surprise that many would take 1 Timothy 2:4 to mean it is God's ultimate desire that all (in a universal, unqualified sense) are saved, until such time as they are challenged with the question "then why aren't all saved?"

Although this seems like a perfect time to investigate the nature of God's ultimate will, it is not my desire to do so here and now. My only goal at this point is to show that 1 Timothy 2:4 (or any of the other "all" passages) does nothing by itself to support the idea that God truly desires that all (in a universal sense) be saved.

If God ultimately wants all to be saved, and if God is able to accomplish this, then all will be saved. Since all are not saved, there must be some more ultimate desire that God has. The difference between Arminians and Calvinists over the issue of Limited Atonement comes down to what each side sees as this more ultimate desire. The fact that some more ultimate desire than that unconditional salvation of all exists is not where the dispute lies. The dispute lies in what that more ultimate desire actually is.

Arminians feel that it is the self-determined free will choice of human beings, Calvinists feel it is the sovereignty and right of God to determine the choices of human beings according to his plan and to his own glory. But let one thing be completely clear - 1 Timothy 2:4 does not provide the answer to this dispute. 1 Timothy 2:4 does not indicate what God's most ultimate will is, it only states that it is the desire of God that all be saved. And this is where I feel my goal has been met.

Since 1 Timothy 2:4 does not address the more ultimate desire of God, we must look elsewhere in scripture to find it. We must look at other passages to determine whether the Calvinist is correct, or whether the Arminian is. And because we must look elsewhere, 1 Timothy 2:4 by itself does nothing to support the Arminian's position against the Calvinist, or vice versa.

-- BK