God our Saviour… desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.
1 timothy 2:3–6
This is a marvellous statement of God’s redeeming purpose in Jesus Christ. Does “all” mean “every single person”? Or “all kinds of people”? It seems clear that “all” means “all kinds of people.” Here are three reasons:
- That’s what all means in verse 1. God does not expect us to pray for every single person in the world but for all kinds of people.
- The Bible never suggests that every person will be saved. Some will enter everlasting life and others everlasting destruction.
- The word ransom (2:6) means the payment of a price. If Christ paid for the sins of every single person, hell would be filled with people whose sins had already been paid for.
Christ gave His life to ransom “all kinds of people.” There will be people like you in heaven. So why not you? There will be people of your personality type, so why not you? There will be people from your race and language group, so why not you? There will be people who were once caught up in every kind of vice but who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. So why not you?
“There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (2:5). That means that Christ is the mediator for you.
God wants people like you to be saved. Christ gave His life as a ransom for people like you.
If you have not yet trusted Christ as your Redeemer, why not do so today? If you come to Christ, He will never turn you away (John 6:37).
