I TIMOTHY 4:10

WHAT ABOUT 1 TIMOTHY 4:10?

This is a verse which is often raised as an objection to God’s Sovereignty in election.

“For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

It has had many interpretations. Here are a few of them:

(1) UNIVERSALISM – Universalists interpret the phrase that God is “the Savior of all people” to mean that all will be saved. This is contrary to all sound doctrine and, in fact, has always been viewed as heresy by the Church. The proponents of this idea emphasize the love of God as God’s chief and most important attribute, to the exclusion of all others, such as His holiness and His justice. This heresy is very easily refuted because the Bible makes it very clear that some people will end up in hell, forever. (Rev 14: 9-11; 20:15; Matt 5: 21-22, 27-30; 23: 15, 33; 25: 41, 46)

If the phrase “the Savior of all people” was seeking to teach universalism, the rest of the verse would have no meaning when it says “especially of those who believe.”

(2) ARMINIANISM – Arminians would normally interpret the verse to say that God wants to save everyone but His desire is many times thwarted by the obstinate free will of man. Note though that the passage does not say He wants to save, but that He actually saves: He is actually the Savior (in some sense at least) of all people, not merely a potential Savior.

Also, according to Isaiah 46:10, God’s will is never frustrated. He accomplishes all He sets out to do.

(3) A VARIATION OF ARMINIANISM - God is able to save all people, but though all can be saved, only believers actually are. Again, this is not what the text says.

(4) THE REFORMED VIEW – God is the Savior of all people (in one sense) and especially of those who believe (in another sense). Why would this be considered the correct interpretation?

Well, as we study the terms “salvation” and “Savior” in the Bible we find many nuances – many different ways God saves. The most important aspect of salvation is to be “saved” from the wrath of God (Romans 5:6-9), but salvation also includes the idea of rescue from enemy attack (Psalm 18:3); preservation (Matt 8:25); physical healing (Matt 9:22; James 5:15) etc. God “saved” not only Paul but everyone else on board ship with him in Acts 27:22, 31, 44. There are numerous ways that “salvation” takes place, but that’s a complete Bible study all in itself.

When we study the word Savior (Greek: soter) in the LXX version (Greek translation of the Old Testament) we see the word used in a way that is far less grandiose than that which we generally think of the word. One example is Judge Othniel is called a Soter (Savior) or deliverer because he delivered the children of Israel from the hands of the king of Mesopotamia (Jud 3:9). 2 Kings 13:5 talks of God giving Israel a “Savior” so that they were delivered from the hands of the Syrians. The judges of Israel were “saviors” as Nehemiah 9:27 states, “… in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies.” (see also Psalm 36:6)

A great deal more could be said to substantiate this idea of a savior, but I think the above makes the point. God provides food (Psalm 104:27, 28) sunlight and rainfall (Matt. 5:45), as well as life and breath and all things (Acts 17:25), for “In him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)

God preserves, delivers and supplies the needs of all who live in this world, and it is in this sense that He extends grace to them, saving them from destruction every day they live. God is also gracious in allowing many to hear the proclamation of the Gospel.

All of these mercies are referred to as “common grace.” As I pointed out in the chapter “The Place to Start: Amazed by Common Grace” it is common only in the sense that every living person gets it. This grace should actually shock and amaze us because God is under no obligation whatsoever to give it to anyone. God sustains the lives of His sworn enemies, often for many decades! However, as wonderful as it is, it is only a temporal grace because all unregenerate people eventually die and will face the judgment. (Heb 9:27)

I believe then that 1 Timothy 4:10 teaches that God is the Savior (soter – preserver, sustainer and deliverer) of all people (showing mercy to all, each and every day they live), especially of those who believe (who receive full salvation from His wrath and everlasting life).

-Excerpt from Twelve What Abouts by John Samson

HT: monergism.com

Monergist!

God's Passion For His Glory

“You see, what we need to remember, brothers, is that our God is a purpose driven God.  Three times in Ephesians chapter 1, He tells us that the gospel and the ministry of Christ is to the praise of the glory of His grace.  That's His purpose, His glory.  The ultimate purpose has not been, will never be, the eternal souls of men being saved.  That is not the ultimate purpose.  God is absolutely powerful enough to redeem every soul, had He wanted to.  The ultimate purpose is the glory of God, and sir, you will glorify God, either in Hell, vindicating His justice, that should come against a sinner like you, or either in Heaven, glorifying His grace that got you there, fully by His own doing, but you will glorify God."

“You see, God is absolutely thrilled about being God.  And He wants the universe to see the glories of who He is.  For the universe to see the glories of His love, and grace, and mercy, He needed deeply offensive, ungodly rebels, and sinners who ought to go to Hell that He could redeem, and make just, as His Son is just, and you all qualify.  That's why you're saved, chiefly to the praise of the glory of His grace.”

-Jeff Noblitt,Calvinism, A Cause For Rejoicing (November 2007)

WORMY

 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people (Psalm 22:6).

Worms are any of numerous small creeping animals with more or less slender, elongated bodies, and without limbs or with very short ones, including individuals of widely differing kinds, as earthworms, tapeworms, insect larvae or maggots.  A worm metaphorically related to a man shall mean a human being who is an object of contempt, worthless, loathsome and stinking, wretched, a reproach, worthy to be abhorred, despised and trodden by foot. The discussion of worms is sometimes a disgusting and unappetizing topic to us.

Has anyone ever treated you like a worm? Have you ever been called a “worm"? Yes, someone in history was treated as a worm - JESUS CHRIST. Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm reflecting, to happen more than a thousand years thereafter, the imagery of the passion and the cross of Christ.

 "I am a worm".  Christ calls himself "a worm" on account of the opinion of the men of the world had of him.  The world labelled Christ as a worm, and treated him as such; he was loathsome to them and hated by them; maltreated, scorned, buffeted and spit upon by them; mocked and tormented as to seem more like a worm than a man. Everyone trampled upon him, and trod him under foot as we do to worms. His disciples disowned him as we do with disgusting maggots. In the scourging of the Cross, we find the handicapped of the worm. He did not rise above his lowly position. He remained on the ground, meek, humbled, bound and vulnerable to be trodden by all!

The story of the cross is the most abnormal event in the history of the world. The necessity of the cross directs to the wormy unworthiness of sinful humanity before a holy God.  

"This death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sins, of infinite value and worth, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world. This death is of such great value and worth because the person who submitted to it is not only a true and perfectly holy man, but also the only-begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, for these qualifications were necessary for our Saviour. Further, this death is of such great value and worth because it was accompanied by a sense of the wrath and curse of God, which we by our sins had deserved, (Second Head, Articles 3 & 4, Canons of Dordt, 1618-1619)."

I am a sinner. I am born in sin (Psalm 51:5;58:3). By nature I am spiritually dead, blind and deaf to spiritual truth. My mind is darkened by sin. My heart is corrupt and evil (Romans 8:7-8;Mark 7:21-23; Jeremiah  17:9; Ephesians 5:8). I am a child of the devil and under his control. I am slave to sin (John 8:44;Ephesians 2:1,2; 2Timothy 2:25,26; 1John 3:10; 1John 5:19; John 8:34; Romans 6:20; Titus 3;3). I am the lowest of the low because of my sin. I deserve to be a worm forever in hell in unquenchable fire. Oh wretched man that I am!!! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!!! (Romans 7:24,25).

How can I be righteous before God? Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 23, Q&A 60, said,

''Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.(1) Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them,(2) and am still inclined to all evil,(3) yet God, without any merit of my own,(4) out of mere grace,(5) imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ.(6) He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me,(7) if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.(8)'' *

Scriptural support:

(1) Rom 3:21-28; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8, 9; Phil 3:8-11; (2) Rom 3:9, 10;(3) Rom 7:23; (4) Deut 9:6; Ezek 36:22; Tit 3:4, 5; (5) Rom 3:24; Eph 2:8;(6) Rom 4:3-5; 2 Cor 5:17-19; 1 Jn 2:1, 2; (7) Rom 4:24, 25; 2 Cor 5:21;(8) Jn 3:18; Acts 16:30, 31; Rom 3:22.

God in the abundance of his grace and mercy, through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross, justified and clothed us with Christ righteousness, not for us to stay a worm forever, but to live in total awe of His glorious grace forever and ever. 

Behold what great contempt had the Lord of Majesty endured, that his death, punishment and resurrection is our glory and heavenly bliss! Amen.


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Note:
This blog is inspired by the hymn: AT THE CROSS

Interested about worms in the Bible?? Read more here!