Twisse:

5. Austin professes lib. 1, De Gen. Contr. Manich. cap. 3. “That all men may believe if they will,” and justifies it in his Retractations. But if the will of man be corrupt, and averse from believing. We justly say, such a man cannot believe as our Savior says, “How can you believe that receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God,” Joh. 5:44, yet this is an impotency moral only, which is to be distinguished from impotency natural. For notwithstanding this, it may be truly said, “All men may believe if they will” and herein consists the natural liberty of the will. The moral liberty consists, rather in a sanctified inclination unto that which is good, whereby it is freed from the power of sin and Satan; and then in a power to do good if they will, and not otherwise. But I never find that Arminians do distinguish these.

William Twisse, The Riches of God’s Love, (Oxford: Printed by L.L and H.H. Printers to the University, for Tho. Robinson, 1653), 1:1.72. [That is, Book 1, Part 1, page 72] [Some minor reformatting; some spelling modified, and underlining mine.]

To be continued . . .

[Note: Ironically, the Second Helvetic Consensus (1675), authored by Heidegger, Turretin and Gernler, if taken absolutely, condemns the first president or chairman of the Westminster Assembley not only on the grounds of his affirmation of Hypothetical Universalism but also for his affirmation of the classic moral-natural distinction, which Twisse sources in Augustine, no less.]

Hooker:

Redemption Price for All:

1) XLIX.
Prayer that all men
may find mercy,
and the will of God,
that all men might
be saved.

In praying for deliverance from all adversity we seek that which nature doth wish to itself; but by entreating for mercy towards all, we declare that affection wherewith Christian charity thirsts after the good of the whole world, we discharge that duty which the Apostle himself does impose on on the Church of Christ as a commendable office, a sacrifice acceptable in God’s sight, a service according to his heart whose desire is “to have all men saved,” ⁵⁴ a work most suitable with his purpose who gave himself to be the price of redemption for all, and a forcible mean to procure the conversion of all such as are not yet acquainted with the mysteries of that truth which must save their souls. Against it there is but the bare show of this one impediment, that all men’s salvation and many men’s eternal condemnation or death are things the one repugnant to the other, that both cannot be brought to pass; that we know there are vessels of wrath to whom God will never extend mercy, and therefore that wittingly we ask an impossible thing to be had.⁵⁵ Richard Hooker, The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, (London: Clarendon Press, 1874), 2: 213-214. [Some spelling modernized; some reformatting, footnote values and content original; bracketed inserts original; some marginal references not included; and underlining mine.] [Note, some footnoting in the original is incorrectly sequenced.]

Life and Death of Christ Sufficient for All:

1) This life and this resurrection our Lord Jesus Christ is for all men as touching the sufficiency of that he has done; but that which makes us partakers thereof is our particular communion with Christ, and this sacrament a principal mean as well to strengthen the bond as to multiply in us the fruits of the same communion. . . . Richard Hooker, The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, (London: Clarendon Press, 1874), 2: 380. [Some spelling modernized; and underlining mine.]

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Schreiner:

3:9 The first part of v. 9 draws an implication from v. 8. If God does not reckon or indeed experience time as we do, then it follows that he is not slow about keeping his promise (cf. Hab. 2:3). The promise (epangelia), of course, hearkens back to v. 4 and refers to the promise of the Lord’s coming. God, that is, the Father, is not dilatory in fulfilling the promise uttered about his Son’s coming again. The Son will come as promised, but the apparent slowness should not be misunderstood. The phrase "as some understand slowness" could possibly refer to those in the churches wavering under the influence of the false teachers.⁵⁰ More likely the reference is to the false teachers themselves, referring to them negatively as "some" who lack an understanding of God’s ways.⁵¹ The verse may be highly ironic. The false teachers use God’s patience as an argument against God, when it should lead them to repentance.⁵²

Peter explained why the coming is delayed. God is patient with his people. Notice that the verse says "patient with you (eis hymas). The reason for his patience is then explicated. He does not want "anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." The idea that God is patient so that people will repent is common in the Scriptures (Joel 2:12-13; Rom. 2:4). That he is "slow to anger" is a refrain repeated often (Exod 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Psa 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jonah 3:10; 4:2; Nah 1:3), but he will not delay forever (see esp. Sir 35:18). We should note at the outset that perishing (apolesthai) refers to eternal judgment, as is typical with the term. Repentance (metanoia), correspondingly, involves the repentance that is necessary for eternal life. Peter did not merely discuss rewards that some would receive if they lived faithfully. He directed his attention to whether people would be saved from God’s wrath. We must also ask who was in view when he spoke of "anyone" (tinas) perishing and "all" (pantas) coming to repentance. One option is that he considered every person without exception. Some understand 1 Tim 2:4 similarly, "God . . . wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."⁵³ We do not have space to comment on the text is 1 Timothy here, but we should note that debate exists over the meaning of "all men" in 1 Tim 2:4 as well. Or we can think of Ezek 18:32: "For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!" (cf. also 18:23) In this latter instance God’s regret over the perishing of anyone is clear. Nevertheless, we have to ask whether the verse in 2 Peter has the same meaning as the texts in Ezekiel. If it does, how does this fit with the teaching that God has ordained and decreed that only some will be saved? Many scholars, of course, doubt that the Scripture teaches that God ordains that only some will be saved, but in my estimation the Scriptures teach that God ordains that only some will be saved, but in my estimation the Scriptures do clearly teach such an idea (cf. John 6:37, 44-45, 65; 10:16, 26; Acts 13:48; Rom 8:29-30; 9:1-23; Eph 1:4-5, 11, etc.).⁵⁴ Space does not permit a full answer to this question, but an answer that has a long pedigree in church history suffices. We must distinguish between two different senses in God’s will. There is a decretive will of God and a desired will of God. God desires the salvation of all in one sense, but he does not ultimately ordain that all will be saved. Many think this approach is double-talk and outright nonsense.⁵⁵ Again, space forbids us from answering this question in detail, but this view has been recently and convincingly argued by J. Piper.⁵⁶ He demonstrates that such distinctions in God’s will are not the result of philosophical sleight of hand but careful biblical exegesis.

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Costley:

My friend Tony Byrne (whose most excellent blog, Theological Meditations, I highly recommendrecently posted some criticisms of Dr. James White, which garnered a response from White. The point in dispute is the proper interpretation of 2 Peter 3:9. White has objected to some aspectsof Byrne’s logical analysis of the categories involved, (believers, unbelievers, elect, etc.) and Byrne is well able to defend himself on those points. In this post, I seek to analyze White’s approach to hermeneutics and the proper understanding of the context of the verse.

The Verse in Dspute is 2 Peter 3:9:

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Or as it is translated by the NASB:

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

White advocates the idea that “any” and “all” of 2 Peter 3:9 refers to “any elect person” and “all elect persons.” The process of thought that leads to this conclusion is suspect and most certainly has led many to bad ideas about the verse. I will respond to White’s two main arguments and make a positive case for seeing “any” and “all” as addressed to all men generally, believers and unbelievers, elect and non-elect.

Some Passages Are More Equal Than Others

White’s first argument is that 2 Peter 3:9 occurs in a context that is primarily eschatological, not soteriological. Since the verse is not primarily soteriological, it is "illogical," he says, to "demand deep specificity and great depth of information" about salvation from the verse. That is, White believes it is illogical to make deep inquiries about soteriology in this passage that primarily teaches eschatology. I have always thought this concept to be destructive to good reading. In my opinion, it is illogical to impose restrictions on possible meanings–provided the meanings are legitimately drawn from the text–because of the topic of the context of the statement. Context may be king, but White’s rule makes context a wicked tyrant, depriving statements of their rights.

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