Page 57 - Pastoral Epistles student textbook

NLT. This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living
God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.
NASB. 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.
CSB. For this reason, we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living
God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
GW. Certainly, we work hard and struggle to live a godly life, because we place our
confidence in the living God. He is the Savior of all people, especially of those who
believe.

Much is made out of 1 Tim. 4:10 by Universalists to claim that Jesus will redeem all people whether or
not they accept or reject Christ as Savior here on earth. Eventually, they say, all people will repent
(either here or in the afterlife) and come to a saving relationship with God. 1 Tim. 4:10 is used as their
proof. Unfortunately, the verse does not prove what the Universalists hope it does.
Can God be called the Savior of all men and yet not redeem all? Yes.

All people are, by nature, born under wrath (Eph. 2:3) and should go to hell. Why? Because God is
holy, and we are sinners.
Ephesians 2:3. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of
our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature
deserving of wrath.

Yet, we have hope in Christ. The Christian is saved by faith (Eph. 2:8) and will join the Lord in
heaven.

Ephesians 2:8. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
But the unbeliever is under judgment.
John 3:18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one
and only Son.
Why does God not simply destroy them as is His right? Because God is being patient with the
unbeliever, allowing them to enjoy the blessings of life in this world without the rightful condemnation
of God falling upon them. This is what the Bible states:
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Romans 9:22-23. What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his
power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for
destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects
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of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory.
As you can see, God is patient with those who have no faith. They receive a delayed judgment
because of God's love for the believer. In this sense, Jesus is the Savior of the world because He holds
back His judging hand from all who rightly and immediately deserve it. Judgment is delayed. This is a
blessing received from God upon the unbeliever. In fact, God often blesses the unbeliever because of
the presence of a believer.
Genesis 39:5. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he
owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing
of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.
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