Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. — Here St. Paul gives some explanation of his exhortation, that “the congregation should pray for all men.” Our prayers after all — for those far off, as well as for those near — will be in strict harmony with the will of God. “Imitate God,” writes St. Chrysostom;” if He wills that all men should be saved, it is surely natural that prayer should be offered for all; if He willed that all should be saved, do thou will it now; and if in earnest thou wiliest it, then pray.”
One or two points must ever be held in mind when this great statement of St. Paul’s is used as a proof of “Universal Redemption.” We must remember the position it occupies in the argument, it being only introduced as a reason for the exhortation to pray for all. Then the words must be looked at very carefully. God’s-will is not to save (sôsai) all — if that had been His sovereign will He would have saved all; but His will is that all should be saved — all should come to the knowledge of the truth; not to the knowledge of the mere theoretical, but of the practical and saving truth as revealed in the gospel. “In other words, through the sacrifice and the death of Christ all are rendered capable of salvation (salvabiles); that some are indisputably not saved, is not due to any outward circumscription or inefficacy of the divine will, but to man’s rejection of the special means of salvation which God has been pleased to appoint, and to which it is His divine will that man’s salvation should be limited. Redemption is universal, yet conditional — all may be saved, yet all will not be saved, because all will not conform to God’s appointed condition.” — Bishop Ellicott.