1 Timothy 2:3,4

Vers. 3, 4. For this namely, to make intercession to God in behalf of kings, of rulers generally, and of men of all sorts is good and acceptable before our Saviour God, a thing which in His reckoning is good, and is sure of meeting with His approval: for there seems no need for confining the before God to the latter epithet alone; it should be connected as well with what is good as what is acceptable, though things really and properly good are such also apart from Him. But by placing both epithets in connection with God, it is more distinctly implied that they are to be taken in their fullest import. (Ἀποδεκτός is found in New Testament only here and at 1 Timothy 6:14.) Then follows the reason why such conduct meets with God's approval as right and proper: who willeth all men to be saved, and to come to the fill knowledge of the truth ἐπίγνωσιν, knowledge in the fuller sense, knowledge that reaches its end, saving knowledge; and the governing verb, it will be observed, is θέλει, not the stronger (βου ́ λεται, which would have expressed will with an implied purpose or intent (see at 1 Timothy 2:8). Nothing can be better than the comment of Chrysostom here: “Imitate God. If He is willing that all men should be saved, it is meet to pray for all. If He willed that all should be saved, do thou also will it; but if thou willest, pray; for it is the part of such to pray.... But if God wills it, you will say, what need is there for my prayers? This is of great benefit both for you and for them: it draws them to love; thyself, again, it prevents from being treated as a wild beast; and such things are fitted to allure them to faith.” There seems no need for going beyond this practical aspect of the matter; and either to press the passage on the one side, with some, to universalism, as if it bespoke the comprehension of all within God's purpose of salvation, or, on the other, to limit it, so as to make, not strictly all men, but only all sorts of men (with Calvin and others), the object of the good contemplated, is equally to strain the natural import of the words. It seems to me unnatural to understand the all men, twice so distinctly and emphatically expressed, as indicative of anything but mankind generally men not merely without distinction of class or nation, but men at large, who certainly, as such, are to be prayed for. As the objects of the church's intercessions, there can be no difference drawn between one portion and another; and we are expressly taught to plead for all, because it is the will of God that they should be saved σωθῆναι : not His will absolutely to save them, as if the word had been σω ́ σαι; but that they may be brought through the knowledge and belief of the truth into the state of the saved. And the whole character of the gospel of Christ, with its universal call to repent, its indiscriminate offers of pardon to the penitent, and urgent entreaties to lay hold of the hope set before them, is framed on very purpose. to give expression to that will; for, surely, in pressing such things on men's acceptance, yea, and holding them disobedient to His holy will, and liable to aggravated condemnation, if they should refuse to accept, God cannot intend to mock them with a mere show and appearance of some great reality being brought near to them. No; there is the manifestation of a benevolent desire that they should not die in sin, but should come to inherit salvation (as at Ezekiel 33:11), if only they will do it in the way that alone is consistent with the principles of His moral government and the nature of Christ's mediation. This, necessarily, is implied; and it is the part of the church, by her faithful exhibition of the truth in Christ, by her personal strivings with the souls of men, and earnest prayers in their behalf, to give practical effect to this message of goodwill from Heaven to men, and to do it in the spirit of tenderness and affection which itself breathes.

Such appears to be the fair and natural interpretation of the apostle's declaration, and the whole that it properly calls us to intermeddle with. It is true that all whom God wills to be thus entreated and prayed for shall not actually be saved not even many who have enjoyed in the highest degree the means and opportunities of such dealing. And seeing, as God does, the end from the beginning, knowing perfectly beforehand whom He has, and whom He has not destined to salvation, grave questions are ready to arise as to whether the work of Christ can be really sufficient to meet the emergency occasioned by the ruin of sin, or whether God be sincere in seeking through His church the salvation of all, questions which touch upon the deep things of God, and which it is impossible for us, with the materials we now possess, to answer satisfactorily to the speculative reason. Knowing who and what He is with whom in such things we have to do, we should rest assured that His procedure will be in truth and uprightness; and that the mysteries which meanwhile appear to hang around it will be solved to the conviction of every reasonable mind, when the proper time for doing so shall have arrived. But enough is known for present duty. God has unfolded for one and all alike the terms of reconciliation: He is willing, nay desirous, for His own glory's sake, that men should everywhere embrace them; and for this end has committed to His church the ministry of reconciliation, charging it upon the conscience of her members to strive and pray that all without exception be brought to the saving knowledge of the truth. What more can be required for faith to rest on, and for the intercessions and labours of an earnest ministry?