Search It Out · The way we see it
Does God want everyone to be saved?
Faithful Christians differ on this question. This is where Come Find God lands and why, and how others read it.
Our answer: Yes. God wants all people to be saved, Jesus died for the whole world, and his invitation is real for anyone who will come.
Some Christians believe God chose before creation which people would be saved, and passed over the rest. Here is why we read the Bible the other way, and how our brothers and sisters who disagree read it.
What God wants
1 Timothy 2:3: This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,
1 Timothy 2:4: who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
Paul says God "wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Peter says the Lord is patient, "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Two apostles, two different Greek words for wanting (thelō and boulomai), and the same answer.
No pleasure in anyone's death
Ezekiel 18:23: Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?
Ezekiel 18:32: For I take no pleasure in anyone’s death, declares the Lord GOD. So repent and live!
Ezekiel 33:11: Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Three times in Ezekiel, God says it plainly: he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He wants them to turn and live. Open them side by side: the Hebrew word shuv, which the BSB translates "turn" and "repent," lights up in every one.
For the whole world
John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
1 John 2:2: He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 Timothy 2:6: who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time.
Hebrews 2:9: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
God so loved the world (kosmos) that whoever believes will not perish. Jesus is the atoning sacrifice not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. He gave himself as a ransom for all. He tasted death for everyone.
People can say no
Matthew 23:37: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
Luke 7:30: But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.
Acts 7:51: You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Jesus wept over Jerusalem: "How often I have longed to gather your children together... but you were unwilling!" Luke says the Pharisees rejected God's purpose for themselves. Stephen told his judges they always resist the Holy Spirit. God's call is real, and so is the choice to refuse it.
What about "chosen" and "predestined"?
Ephesians 1:4: For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love
Ephesians 1:5: He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Romans 8:29: For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Ephesians says God chose us "in him," in Christ, before the creation of the world. We read this as God choosing a people: everyone who is in Christ, the way Israel was chosen as a nation. Romans 8:29 says what was predestined: that his people would be conformed to the image of his Son. The destination is decided ahead of time. Who gets on board is left open to whoever believes.
This is the step where faithful Christians most disagree. See how others read it, below.
So, what did we find?
God isn't picking some people for heaven and passing over the rest. He wants you, he sent his Son for you, and he is waiting with open arms. "The one who comes to Me I will never drive away" (John 6:37).
Where Christians differ
Reformed (Calvinist) Christians read these passages differently. They believe God chose particular people for salvation before creation (Ephesians 1:4-5; Romans 9:11-16; John 6:44). They understand "all people" in 1 Timothy 2:4 as all kinds of people, and "anyone" in 2 Peter 3:9 as any of God's people. Augustine in his later writings, John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon held this view, and many faithful churches teach it today. Both sides agree on what matters most: salvation is entirely by God's grace, received through faith in Jesus.
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
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