Articles
Why Isn’t Everybody Being Saved?
For the purposes of this article, the Bible teaches three crucial facts about our salvation:
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God wants everyone to be saved
Paul wrote: "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:3-4)
Peter wrote: "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (2 Pet 3:9) -
Jesus died for everyone
John the Baptist said about Jesus: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)
Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)
Paul wrote: "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time." (1 Tim 2:5-6)
The writer of Hebrews claimed:"But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." (Heb 2:9)
And the beloved disciple John wrote: "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2) -
Not everyone is going to be saved
An angel told the prophet Daniel: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan 12:2)
Jesus said about the final judgment: "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt 25:46)
Jesus also said: "Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." (John 5:28-29)
Paul wrote: "They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed." (2 Thess 1:9-10)
John saw in his vision: "And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15)
All three of these facts are in the Scripture. Theologians have debated throughout the ages about how to reconcile them. Some have tried to deny that Jesus died for everyone, or that God genuinely wants to save everyone (Calvinism). Others have tried to deny that some people will be lost (Universalism). But neither of these teachings is able to square with the plain statements of Scripture. So what do we say? Why is it that mankind is not all being saved?
The problem is not that God is powerless to save. And the problem is not that God does not want to save. But what does the prophet Isaiah say? “Behold the LORD’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is his ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isa 59:1-2).
The issue, most likely, is that God has something he desires even more than the salvation of all mankind. God sometimes prioritizes his interests based on what he wants. God wanted Pharaoh to let Israel go (Exod 8:1), but he also hardened Pharaoh's heart to prevent him from letting the people go right away (Exod 4:21). God desired Sihon to yield to Israel, but he also hardened Sihon's heart (Deut 2:30). God presumably desired the Canaanites' repentance, yet he hardened their hearts to destroy themselves so that they do not receive mercy (Josh 11:19-20). Most perplexingly, God's laws would have forbidden Judas, Pilate, Herod, the Jewish leaders, and the Roman soldiers from betraying, mocking, beating, condemning, and crucifying Jesus. Hence, he would not have wanted them to do this. However, the Scripture also affirms that God had a "bigger picture," where godless men were carrying out a predetermined plan (Acts 2:23)
What could God want more than man’s unilateral salvation? He wants us to love him with all our heart and soul (Deut 6:5). He wants us to choose life so that we may live (Deut 30:19-20). The mystery of God’s power and desire is answered in the fact that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), and he wants us to participate in that love by freely loving him in return. He so loved the world that he gave his son (John 3:16), so that some in the world might love him and become sons.
