Avoiding the Hermeneutical Trap of Arminianism: Part 6 – 1 Timothy 2:5-6

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

(This series has been adapted from several sermons that covered verses relied upon by Arminians to defend their stance. In order to properly undergird their position, the Arminians are tasked with finding clear biblical support for the human will being an active part (and therefore, completely free and beyond the control of God’s sovereign will) of the salvation process. If this can be accomplished, then they must, of necessity, engage the verses that appear to directly support the Calvinistic position that salvation is wholly based upon God’s sovereign, elective will. These verses include (but are not limited to) Matthew 11:25-27, John 5:21 and 12:37-40, Romans 8:28-9:33, and Ephesians 1:4-7.)

1 Timothy 2:5-6 – “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”

Commenting on these verses in 1988, John MacArthur argued, “The Lord was not teaching limited atonement, the idea that He died only for the sins of a select few. Paul makes it clear that Christ died for the whole world.”[1] Seven years later, MacArthur totally altered his understanding of Paul’s meaning by commenting on these verses as follows, “God’s saving purpose is limited to the elect, [but] His desire for the salvation of sinners is as broad as the human race.”[2] This switch by MacArthur from an Arminian view of 1 Timothy 2:5-6 to an interpretation tempered by his move toward Calvinism demonstrates the challenge that these verses present to those who are trying to discern whether or not these verses support the Arminian views or the Calvinistic views. To successfully overcome this hurdle, this article will carefully examine these verses in light of their context.

To begin this task, one would be well-advised to first identify “all” in v.6. In v.1, Paul seeks prayer on behalf of “all men,” but then immediately in v.2 he limits “all men” to “kings and all who are in authority.” For this reason, “all” must be understood to mean “all kinds of men.” If one were to rebuff this interpretation in favor of the idea that Paul is literally calling upon his audience to pray for all people, then one could rightly ask whether or not Paul had been upholding his own standard. Had Paul been praying for all of those in authority across the whole world? Given the communication technology at that time, this knowledge was not even available to Paul, even if somehow he could have performed the task of praying for all world leaders had he sufficient information. To avoid this rather obvious absurdity, it would seem that the Apostle is starting his discussion on prayer with just a subgroup of all men, and calling on people to pray for them without any preselected limitations.

This abbreviated interpretation of all is actually quite common in Scripture. In Acts 22:15 for example, Ananias spoke these prophetic words to Paul, “For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard” (for Paul’s usage of ‘all’ in this more limited manner, cf. Rom 12:17-18; 2 Cor 3:2; Phil 4:5). With much history now having passed, one could certainly say that Paul through his New Testament writings has certainly been a witness of many through the ages, but despite this, many more died without ever hearing Paul’s testimony concerning Christ both before the time of Paul and afterwards.

As one proceeds through this present text to arrive at v.4, one finds Paul stating that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Although this verse alludes to the idea of God’s desiring all people to inherit salvation, discussion of this important part of the larger conversation between Arminians and Calvinists will be postponed until Part 7 of this series. For now, focus will be given to Paul’s reference to “all men.”

In this verse, “all men” may indeed refer to “all men,” for it is certainly true that God “desires all men to be saved.” Contextually however, there is evidence that Paul’s intent is in reference to “all kinds of men.” Along with his earlier call to pray for all kinds of men (i.e., people), v.4 is couched in that discussion, and there has been no cue from Paul that he is now launching into something new. Following Paul’s argumentation, he seems to now be supplying the reasoning behind offering evangelistic prayer without limitation knowing that God desires good for all people.

In v.6. Paul makes the statement that has caused significant tension to develop concerning any limitations of Christ’s atoning work. He writes, Jesus “gave Himself as a ransom for all.” Within this verse itself, one will find no limitation upon Paul’s discussion of the extent of the atonement and therefore easily acclimate to MacArthur’s earlier view. While this is true, one should consider the previous context which seemed to point to a discussion on all kinds of men and then turn to the following verse, v.7, to determine whether Paul provides any further clues that may offer some limitation concerning the ransom offered by Christ.

Turning to v.7, Paul states, “For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” Here, Paul is essentially saying, ‘because Jesus gave Himself as ransom for all, I was sent to the Gentiles.’ Understood in this manner, “all” seems to be employed by Paul as a term meant to include both Jews and Gentiles. This being the case, it seems quite plausible that Paul is simply meaning that Jesus “gave Himself as a ransom for all” kinds of men. This argument, of course, in and of itself still remains inconclusive; nonetheless, it offers the interpreter significant warrant to expand their understanding of Paul’s teaching on Christ as ransom by looking at his other writings which discuss this topic.

In Ephesians 5:25, Paul limits the efficacy of Christ’s atoning work on the cross to Christians: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” Speaking to the Church in Rome, he makes his point on this subject even more clear, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom 5:10). Further evidence of Paul’s theology concerning the efficacy of Christ’s death can be found in Romans 8:32-34, 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, Galatians 1:4 and 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, and Romans 8:32-34.

In conclusion, it is important to strive to ascertain the meaning of any verse by looking at the verse itself and its immediate context. When a particular verse and its contextual clues still leave room for interpretation of a given matter, one should then move beyond the immediate context to look at the larger context of Scripture and especially at other writings within it by same author. By doing so, one will avoid making the mistake the MacArthur made in his earlier work.

[1]John MacArthur, Matthew 16-23, in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1988). This quote can be found in the latter part of his discussion on Matthew 20:20-28.

[2]John MacArthur, 1 Timothy, in The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1995). This comment appears in his discussion on 1 Timothy 2:3-7.