Does All Mean All?
How many times have you heard that God will only save those who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?
That what awaits those who’ve died without accepting Him is an infinite amount of time in a torture chamber.
“This is fair!” they proclaim, “non-believers must pay for their finite amount of sins with an infinite amount of punishment!”
It matters not if the non-believers have never heard of Jesus Christ. They should have just chosen to be born LUCKY! Those fools, doomed to suffer forever and ever once they leave this world. They deserve this divine eternal terrorism courtesy of our loving God!
Sounds kind of foolish, doesn’t it?
That’s because it is. Foolish, untrue, and unscriptural.
Keep It Simple
The simplest way to dispel this notion is to listen to who God says He will save. Let’s examine a few scriptures that spell out who the subjects of salvation are, CLEARLY.
1 John 4:14 - And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the [whole] world.
To be the Saviour of the world. Does anyone read this as “to be the Saviour of only Christians in the world”, “to be the Saviour of part of the world”, or “to be the Saviour of a slice of the world”?
What is written in 1 John 4:14? A part of the world or the world? God does not choose His words carelessly. Why do so many insist that He misspoke and meant to say only a part of the world?
For arguments sake, however, let’s pretend the 1 John 4:14 doesn’t exist.
How about the next scripture?
1 Tim 2:14 - Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Is there confusion about which men will be saved? Does anyone read this and think “all men” refers to “only Christian men”? Does it mean only believers? Maybe if you’re being obtuse it does.
Let me make this clear for the doubtful reader with a Venn diagram.
The set of “All Men” contains both subsets: “Christian Men” and “Non Christian Men”. This is one of the most elementary concepts in set theory.
Still not convinced? How about another?
1 Tim 4:10 - …because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially [not exclusively] of those that believe.
It seems pretty clear to me that we are talking about the Saviour of all men, not only those that believe, but especially them.
Does this not also include non-believers? Why say “specially of those that believe” if the prior “all men” didn’t include non-believers?
Do I really need to make another Venn diagram?
Let’s pretend all the prior scriptures don’t exist, how about the following?
John 1:29 - … Behold the Lamb of God [Jesus], which taketh away the sin of the world.
The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world?! The whole world? Not just the sins of the Christians in it? That’s crazy!
“But… but… those who haven’t accepted Christ are sinners and irredeemable!” - someone who’s holier than me, somewhere.
1 John 2:2 - And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Make no mistake, Jesus Christ is the propitation (atonement) for the sins of THE WHOLE WORLD.
Must I drive this point home further?
How did we ever get to a place where the educated among us believe that 2+2=5? Have they always believed such foolishness? Why do they preach such blatant scriptural contradictions? What does God have to say about this?
1 Cor 3:19 - For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
These folks have twisted the word of God into a pretzel and they’ve convinced themselves that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of Christians in the world or that He will have only Christian men to be saved.
Insanity.
What About Those That Reject Christ?
Earlier I mentioned that non-believers who have never heard the word of God, according to many Christians, deserve to burn and be tortured indefinitely.
But what of those who are aware of Christianity and still reject Jesus Christ?
Will our LOVING, JUST, and FAIR God save them as well? SPOILER ALERT: Yes He will.
The only way you can believe He wont is if you think He can’t. He just doesn’t have the power to accomplish His stated will, He can’t save them. He’s just too weak. BLASPHEMY.
No man can reject Christ on his own
If you’re one of those people who believe it’s possible, of your own free will, to reject Christ, then surely you believe the same criteria applies for accepting Christ.
The notion that man can accept or reject Christ on his own is unscriptural. No man has this ability.
If you are a Christian, you did not come to Christ on your own. He came to you.
John 6:44 - No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:
Do not delude yourself, if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ in your heart as your savior that is because your acceptance was God’s will.
You cannot do this on your own. It is only through the grace of God that you can be saved.
Eph 2:8 - For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
If acceptance is predicated on God’s will than so is rejection. You don’t have a say in it. You cannot accept or reject Him on your own.
Why pretend otherwise? I fail to understand how in one breath someone can say “no man can come to Christ on his own” and in the very next “but man can reject Christ on his own”. It makes my head spin!
Are you familiar with the Parable of the Lost Sheep?
Matt 18:12-14 - How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
Does anyone really believe it’s the sheep’s responsibility to find the shepherd? Laughable.
John 10:11 - I [Jesus] am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
God will come for all His sheep. It is impossible for the sheep (you, me, and everyone else in the world) to go to Him.
Isa 45:23 - …That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear
Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. EVERY KNEE. EVERY TONGUE.
It WILL happen when God wills it.
Every single person will accept Him.
Even Murderers?
Yes, even murderers. The following scripture speaks of the salvation of the worst sinner that has ever existed and will ever exist.
1 Ti 1:15 - This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I [Paul] am chief.
Paul is the chief of all sinners - the worst sinner.
Gal 1:13 - For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it
The degree to which Paul persecuted the church of God was immeasurable. So exceedingly high that none other can measure up.
There is no one above him in terms of sin and God turned Paul in a matter of seconds.
Acts 9:3-6 - And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
No murderer, terrorist, thief, rapist, or blasphemer is beyond God’s salvation and God chose Paul for a reason.
[KJV] 1 Ti 1:16 - Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.
[MEV] 1 Ti 1:16 - But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, first, Jesus Christ might show all patience, as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.
I included two versions above to more easily show what the KJV is communicating. The reason Paul was chosen was to make a display of him - to show that no one is beyond salvation.
Everyone Shall Have Forgiveness
Every sinner shall have forgiveness because it is God’s will. Jesus prayed for as much.
Luke 23:34 - Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Do you understand the power of this prayer? Jesus prayed this DURING His crucifixion - forgiveness for the world that was crucifying Him out of ignorance.
Wait, let me guess! You’re special and not part of the group that needs forgiveness (“them”, also known as “the world”)?
Fine, let’s pretend it’s just the literal crucifiers being talked about here. Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of His crucifiers BEFORE they had accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. This means forgiveness CAN BE HAD PRIOR TO ACCEPTANCE.
Was this prayer in vain? Did Christ do this just for show? Just where did these words come from?
John 14:10 - … the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He [God] doeth the works.
Wow, so this was not just a hail Mary! These are God’s words! What do we know about God’s words?
Isa 55:11 - So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please…
God’s words do NOT return void. God wanted, wants, and WILL HAVE have forgiveness for the world, even those who don’t yet believe.
There has been NO change in that regard from the time this prayer was prayed until today.
Mal 3:6 - For I am the Lord, I change not….
and
Heb 13:8 - Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
These scriptures speak volumes (unless you don’t have ears to hear).
But It’s Not Fair!
If you are one of those Christians who thinks it’s unfair - ask yourself why?
Jesus spoke about this exact sentiment in The Parable of the Hired Labourers (Matt 20:1-16) which can be summarized as follows.
A landowner wants to hire labourers to work in his field.
The landowner goes to the marketplace in the early morning and offers labourers 1 penny for the days works. The labourers accept.
The landowner goes to the marketplace at noon and makes the same offer to a different group of labourers, which they accept.
The landowner goes to the marketplace late in the evening and makes the same offer to a different group of labourers, which they accept.
When the day is over and the landowner pays each labourer the agreed upon reward of 1 penny.
Those who worked since the early morning are unhappy with their penny because they perceived that they worked much longer.
These unhappy morning and afternoon labourers are the Christians who think they deserve a special reward for knowing God before the others.
Imagine being so blessed to know God in this life, right now, and how much easier your life is because of Him, and still being upset that others could receive the same?
God’s love is not just for you. His love is for all His children.
We should want salvation for all our brothers and sisters.
All Means All
The whole world is to be saved, believers and non-believers alike.
Jesus Christ died for the sins of EVERYONE, not just Christians.
If you reject these scriptures because your church teaches something else then you are rejecting God’s word. You choose the word of man over the word of God.
Whatever mind you may have, fret not, for ALL shall be forgiven and ALL shall be saved. With God, these things are possible.
Mark 10:27 - …for with God all things are possible.
With love, your brother,
Nobody