John, how can election be true when 1 Timothy 2:4 clearly says that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”?

Thanks for your question. This is usually the follow up question after people ask about 2 Peter 3:9 which I dealt with if we take a deep breath and summon up the courage to ask the simple question, “what does the context tell us about the use of the word “all” here?”, I believe we will come away with the correct interpretation. Actually, it is absolutely vital we do this because context tells us how a word is being used.

Sometimes the word “all” refers to all people everywhere, in fact, many times it does. On other occasions it means “all kinds” or “all classes or types” or “all within a certain type or class.”

We use the word “all” in the exact same way in the English language. When a school teacher is in a classroom and is about to start the class and asks the students, “are we ALL here?” or “is EVERYONE here?” he is not asking if everyone on planet earth is in the classroom. Because of the context in which the question is framed we understand that he is referring to all within a certain class or type – in this case, all the students in the class. To say that he is referring to all people on planet earth would be to grossly misinterpret the intended meaning of his question.

As we look at 1 Timothy 2:4, I believe the word “all” is being used to refer to all types of people. I say this based on the context. Here is the passage in 1 Timothy 2:1-4: Continue reading →