Proper 20 (25) (Year C)
1First of all, then, I ask that requests, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made for all people. 2Pray for kings and everyone who is in authority so that we can live a quiet and peaceful life in complete godliness and dignity. 3This is right and it pleases God our savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5There is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the human Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a payment to set all people free. This was a testimony that was given at the right time. 7I was appointed to be a preacher and apostle of this testimony — I’m telling the truth and I’m not lying! I’m a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Prayer:
Grant us, O God, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love heavenly things; and even now, while we’re placed among things that are passing away, help us to hold fast to those things that endure — faith, hope, and Love; through Jesus the Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
In a galaxy far, far away… I used to be a Calvinist. That is, like a lot of people during this same time (late 1980’s early 1990’s), I started to adhere to the doctrines of the Reformed faith. Specifically, Calvinists believe in the TULIP, an acronym depicting the five foundational and connected points of Calvinism, sometimes referred to as the “Doctrines of Grace.” These five points are:
T — Total Depravity
U — Unconditional Election
L — Limited Atonement
I — Irresistible Grace
P — Perseverance of the Saints
The whole system stands and falls together. Total Depravity (sometimes referred to as Total Inability) means that human nature is so enslaved to sin and death because of Adam’s “Fall,” we’re not inclined to love God or do the things of God; i.e., it’s against our nature to turn to God. “Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to trust God for their salvation and be saved (the term ‘total’ in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as they could be).”[2]
Because all of humanity is in such a state — can’t and won’t “choose to trust God for salvation” — God must choose whom God will save. This is the “U” in the acronym. This point insists that God chooses (elects) from before time immemorial whom will be “saved” — brought into a “right relationship” and given “eternal life” — not based on anything foreseen within those chosen (thus, it’s “unconditional”). The choice remains God’s and God’s alone. God’s decision is final and unchangeable. Those whom God has chosen are predestined to “eternal life.”
But, here’s the kicker — in this view, God doesn’t choose everyone; God only chooses “some.” Now, who fills up that “some,” God only knows. What’s clear, though, is that not everyone is chosen. There will be some who are predestined for “Hell.”[3]
This view was sealed for me when I read Isaiah 53.12 (NIV):[4] “ … he bore the sin of many” (cf., Matthew 20.28; Hebrews 9.28). I remember closing my Bible and thinking to myself, “That doesn’t say, ‘all.’” Now, to be fair, I had already had many conversations with a friend who was a Calivinst, so the seed was already planted. And when I read Isaiah 53.12, I wasn’t even looking for “Calvinist” verses; it was completely different research. But it still shook me to my core and for the first time, my Christian worldview was broken.
So, like so many other times before and since, I dove in and started researching this “truth.” I read countless books from Reformed authors including John Calvin’s, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner, and John Gill’s, The Cause of God and Truth, just to name a few.
I have since left the dark halls of Calvinism and embraced Christian Universalism. But, for our reflection today, I want to focus on Unconditional Election — the “U” of the TULIP. In section XLV of his work, The Cause of God and Truth, Gill makes the following statements:[5]
By all [people] whom God would have to be saved, we are not to understand every individual of [humanity], since it is not the will of God that all [people], in this large sense, should be saved; for it is [God’s] will that some [people] should be damned, and that very justly, for their sins and transgressions; ungodly [people], who were before of old ordained to this condemnation (Jude 4); and to whom it will be said, go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire (Matthew 25.46). Moreover, if it was the will of God that every individual of [humanity] should be saved, then every one would be saved; for who hath resisted [God’s] will (Romans 9.19)? or can do it? Does [God] not do according to [God’s] will in the armies of the heavens, and among the inhabitants of the earth (Daniel 4.35)? Nay, does [God] not work all things after the counsel of [God’s] own will (Ephesians 1.11)? And it is certain that all [people], in this large sense, are not saved, for some will go away into everlasting punishment, when the righteous shall go into eternal life (Matthew 25.46) (adapted; italics in original).
From this we see that Gill believed that God does not want everyone to be “saved;” that it’s not God’s will to save everyone. In fact, he believed that God wills that “some [people] should be damned” in “everlasting fire.”[6] He goes on to show how one should interpret “all people”:
The exhortation of the apostle, in ver. 1, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all [people]. But surely by all [people], is not meant every individual [person], that has been, is, or shall be, in the world; millions of [people] are dead and gone, for whom prayer is not to be made; many in hell, to whom it would be of no service; and many in heaven, who stand in no need of it; nor should we pray for such who have sinned the sin unto death (1 John 5.16). Besides, giving of thanks, as well as prayers, were to be made for all [people]; but certainly the apostle’s meaning is not that the saints should give thanks for wicked [people], and persecutors, and particularly for a persecuting Nero; nor for heretics or false teachers, such as Hymeneus and Alexander, whom [Paul] had delivered to Satan; the phrase is therefore to be taken in a limited and restrained sense, for some only, as appears from ver. 2, for kings, and for all in authority; that is, for [people] of the highest, as well as of the lowest rank and quality.
According to Gill, what “Paul”[7] means by “all people,” is really just “kings and everyone who is in authority.” That really doesn’t make sense, though, now does it? Gill says that “certainly the apostle” doesn’t mean we’re to pray for “wicked [people], persecutors, and particularly for persecuting Nero.” But isn’t Nero a “king” and one who was “in authority”? Of course. So Paul’s not even really meaning “kings and everyone who is in authority,” he’s meaning we should only pray for “good” kings and “good” people in authority.
It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad. It’s appalling how we twist scripture to fit into our own views; how we twist “all people” to actually mean just “good people in authority.” This view doesn’t line up with other scripture, though. Jesus didn’t just pray for “good people,” he prayed for those who crucified him (Luke 23.34). And Paul didn’t reprimand the followers of Jesus in Corinth for allowing some people to be “baptized for the dead,” which, by its very nature, would include praying for those same dead people (1 Corinthians 15.29; cf., 2 Maccabees 12.38ff; 2 Timothy 1.16-18).[8]
So, then, what are we to make of this passage?
First, we have to acknowledge that Paul emphasised “all people” three times in this passage — vv. 1, 4, and 6. He tells Timothy that “requests, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving [should] be made for all people” (verse 1). That God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (verse 4). And Christ “gave himself … to set all people free” (verse 6). To me, it’s quite clear that Paul meant just what he wrote — “all people.” “All people” are the focus of who God wants to save and, because of that, Christ died for “all people.” Because of this, it makes sense, then, that Paul would encourage us to pray — in all of its forms — for “all people.”
Second, and to sharpen the point, the word translated “wants” is θέλει (thelei) and it means “to exercise the will; to desire, wish, will.” In other words, God “wills” all people to be saved and, as Gill pointed out, no one can resist God’s will (Romans 9.19). So, if God wills “all people” to be saved, then it would make sense that Christ would die to set “all people free.” That is to say, that “all people” are (in one sense of it)[9] already “saved.” As Gill points out in another place —
The salvation which God wills that all [people] should enjoy, is not a mere possibility of salvation, or a mere putting them into a salvable state; or an offer of salvation to them; or a proposal of sufficient means of it to all in [God’s] word; but a real, certain, and actual salvation, which [God] has determined they shall have; and is sure from [God’s] own appointment, from the provision of Christ as a Saviour for them, from the covenant of grace, in which everything is secured necessary for it, and from the mission of Christ to effect it, and from its being effected by [Christ]: wherefore the will of God, that all [people] should be saved, is not a conditional will, or what depends on the will of [people], or on anything to be performed by [people] … but it is an absolute and unconditional will respecting their salvation, and which infallibly secures it … (adapted; emphasis added).[10]
The “real, certain, and actual salvation” of “all people” was “a testimony … given at the right time” (verse 6). And, my friends, that’s a testimony which must continually be given.
~~~
In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
[1] Scripture quotations marked (CEB) are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.
[3] This is known as “double-predestination.” You can read more about it here from the late Reformed theologian and pastor, Dr. R. C. Sproul.
[4] Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
[6] A lot can be said (and probably should be said) about the mistranslation of the word αἰώνιον (aiōnion) which means “age-long.” From HELPS Word-studies: “aiṓnios (an adjective, derived from aiṓn (‘an age, having a particular character and quality’) — properly, ‘age-like’ (‘like-an-age’), i.e. an ‘age-characteristic’ (the quality describing a particular age).”
[7] Traditionally, Paul was thought to be the author of 2 Timothy (along with the other pastoral letters — 1 Timothy and Titus). However, modern critical scholars don’t believe Paul wrote this letter. I’ll just stick with tradition on this one, friends, for, you know, reasons!
[8] See “4 Biblical Proofs for Prayers to Saints and for the Dead.” National Catholic Register, 16 June 2018, http://bit.ly/2M1Fq06.
[9] Or all people “will be saved” in another sense.
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