1 Timothy 2.4-The Father Desires All People To Be Saved And To Come To An Experiential Knowledge Of The Truth
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 16, 2011
1 Timothy: 1 Timothy 2:4-The Father Desires All People To Be Saved And To Come To An Experiential Knowledge Of The Truth
Lesson # 37
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:1.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2:4 teaches that it is according to the Father’s will that the Ephesians intercede in prayer for the entire human race because He desires all men to be saved and come to an experiential knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (NASU)
“Who desires all men to be saved” is composed of the nominative masculine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) (oce), “who” and the accusative masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” which is modifying the accusative masculine plural form of the noun anthropos (ἄνθρωπος) (ahn-throe-poce), “men” and the third person singular present active indicative form of the verb thelo (θέλω) (theh-low), “desires” and the aorist active infinitive form of the verb sozo (σῴζω) (so-zoe), “to be saved.”
The antecedent of the relative pronoun hos is the masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce) which appears at the end of verse 3 and refers to God the Father.
That the Father is in view and not the Son is indicated in that Paul is speaking in the context of urgently requesting that the Ephesians pray for all people and the Scriptures teach that all prayer by the Christian is to be addressed to the Father and not Jesus Christ, His Son (Luke 11:1-2).
Therefore, the relative pronoun hos in verse 4 refers to the Father.
The noun anthropos denotes a “person, human being” and is used in a generic sense for the human race and in the plural means “people.”
It is modified by the adjective pas, which is used attributively emphasizing the totality of the human race and specifically refers to unregenerate humanity.
The adjective is used here in a distributive sense meaning that the word denotes that God the Father desires “each and every” member of the human race without exception, both Jew and Gentile to be saved and come to an experiential knowledge of the truth.
This expression πάντας ἀνθρώπους in verse 4 is picked up from verse 1 where we translated it in a distributive sense meaning “each and every member of the human race.”
Thus, as we noted in verse 1 Paul taught that it is the Father’s will that the Ephesians intercede in prayer for all people or each and every member of the human race.
Now in verse 4 he teaches that the Father wants the Ephesians to do this because it is His will that each and every member of the human race be saved and to come to an experiential knowledge of the truth.
This expression πάντας ἀνθρώπους in verse 4 refers to “common” or “universal grace.”
God the Holy Spirit, in common or universal grace, makes the Gospel understandable to unbelievers, so that they may make a decision to either accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared [the Lord Jesus Christ], bringing salvation to all men. (NASU)
The verb thelo refers to the exercise and expression of the Father’s sovereign will that each and every member of the human race without exception be saved and come to an experiential knowledge of the truth.
The present tense of the verb thelo is a “gnomic present,” which indicates that the Father “as an eternal spiritual truth” desires that each and every member of the human race be saved and come to an experiential knowledge of the truth.
The verb sozo is used of the Father’s desire of delivering each and every member of the human race without exception from personal sin, the sin nature, Satan, his cosmic system, condemnation from the Law, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
So in 1 Timothy 2:4 Paul teaches that the Ephesians were to intercede in prayer to the Father for each and every member of the human race without exception because it is the Father’s will that each and everyone be saved.
This statement teaches the “unlimited” atonement and refutes those who adhere to a “limited” atonement.
The latter is a false doctrine that is actually an attack instigated by Satan upon the integrity of God.
The “limited” atonement doctrine contends that Christ died for only the elect or in other words, believers whereas the “unlimited” atonement contends that Christ died for “all” men, all-inclusive, without exception and thus “without racial, sexual or social distinction.”
This doctrine states that Jesus Christ died for every sin committed by every single member of the human race-past, present and future (John 1:29; Rom. 5:6-8; 1 Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:11; 1 John 2:2).
1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. (NASU)
The “limited” atonement doctrine contends that Christ died for only the elect or in other words, believers whereas the “unlimited” atonement contends that Christ died for “all” people, all-inclusive, without exception and thus “without racial, sexual or social distinction.”
The apostle Paul taught the Roman believers in Romans 5:6-10 that Christ died for the ungodly, which refers to unbelievers and reconciled us meaning believers, while we were God’s enemies.
Therefore, if Christ reconciled the believer to God while he was an enemy of God, then Christ died for unbelievers as well.
Thus, in order for God’s desire for all men to be saved to ever have any chance of becoming a reality, He would have to send His Son into the world to die for all men.
In Romans 1:16, Paul teaches that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to “everyone” who believes.
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (NASU)
1 Timothy 2:4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (NASU)
“And to come to the knowledge of the truth” is composed of the conjunction kai (καί) (keh), “and” which is followed by the preposition eis (εἰς) (eece), “to” and the accusative feminine singular form of the noun epignosis (ἐπίγνωσις) (ehpeeg-no-seese), “the knowledge” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun aletheia (ἀλήθεια) (ahlee-theeah), “the truth” and the aorist active infinitive form of the verb erchomai (ἒρχομαι) (air-koe-meh), “to come.”
The verb erchomai means “to enter into a particular state or condition, which implies a process” indicating that the Father desires for the Christian to enter into the state of possessing an experiential knowledge of the truth.
The noun epignosis means an “experiential knowledge” of the Word of Truth in the sense of personally encountering through the process of fellowship the mind of Christ as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture and prayer and being affected by this encounter with the mind of Christ.
Fellowship with God is experienced by obeying the Father’s will as it is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God.
This encounter results in the gaining of practical spiritual wisdom and more of the character of Christ.
The noun is not used with respect to conversion experience but rather it is used with respect to the Christian’s post-conversion experience since the word is used in relation to aletheia, which is always used in the pastorals with regards to the teaching of the church or the body of doctrine that the church taught.
So Paul is saying in 1 Timothy 2:4 that in addition to the Father desiring all men to be saved He also desires that after becoming Christians, they come to an experiential knowledge of the truth, i.e. the Word of God.
The noun epignosis is the object of the preposition eis, which functions as a marker of entrance into a particular state or condition.
This indicates that the Father in addition to being saved, desires that the entire human race enter into the state of possessing an experiential knowledge of the truth.
The noun aletheia means “truth” and refers to the revelation of the Father’s character, ways and will.
Therefore, the word refers to the truth of God in an objective sense as a body of knowledge containing the revelation of God’s character and nature, His ways and His will for His children.
Consequently, Paul is using aletheia with respect to the Christian’s post-conversion experience.
Thus, when Paul says that the Father desires that people come to an experiential knowledge of the truth after conversion, he is rebuking certain pastors in Ephesus, who he does not identified except for Alexander and Hymenaeus, for not communicating his gospel.
His gospel would produce in the church an experiential knowledge of the truth.