Ware:

Objection 3

Unconditional election stands directly opposed to God’s own desire that all be saved. Out of his universal love for all, God has a universal desire for the salvation of all sinners. Ezekiel 18:23; 1 Timothy 2:4; and 2 Peter 3:9 all teach, in their own ways, that God does not desire the wicked to perish but rather that he wills that all be saved. Since this is taught in Scripture, it simply cannot be the case that God unconditionally wills that others certainly perish. Election, then, must be conditional upon the freewill choices of human beings who reject God’s loving desire that all be saved.

Reply. My reply must be far briefer than this objection deserves, but thankfully other fine and more extensive treatments are available.⁴⁰ The heart of the answer here is much like what we saw in the previous discussion. On the question of the will of God regarding salvation, the Bible represents God’s saving will in two ways, not one. Yes, Arminians are correct to point to passages teaching the will of God that all be saved. And many Calvinists, including myself, will grant that these texts teach the universal saving will of God, much as I also am fully convinced that the Bible teaches the universal love of God for all people. But the Bible’s teaching does not stop here. Rather, Scripture teaches also the specific and inviolable will of God that some surely and certainly be saved along with its teaching that God wills the salvation of all.⁴¹ The particular will of God surely and certainly to save some (i.e. the elect), stands alongside the universal saving will of God that all be saved. How can it be both ways? Consider just one pair of passages that illustrates these “two wills” of God, and then I’ll offer a few summary comments.

First Timothy 2:3-4 (HCSB) states, “This is good, and it pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (italics added), and 2 Timothy 2:24–26 (HCSB) says, “The Lord’s slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance to know the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape the Devil’s trap, having been captured by him to do his will” (italics added). One feature common to both of these passages is that for people to be saved, they need to come to the knowledge of, or to know, “the truth.” Yet, while they share this in common, they differ insofar as in 1 Timothy 2:4 (HCSB) God “wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,” but in 2 Timothy 2:25 (HCSB), God must “grant them repentance” for them “to know the truth” and be saved.

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