IS CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF ALL MEN? III
A study on 1 Tim. 4:10
12/16/07
A couple of weeks ago we began a study into a passage of Scripture that can be difficult to understand. It is a passage of Scripture that has been understood in different ways, but as I pointed out in a previous messages, there is, in the end only one correct way to understand this passage. Even if you missed the first two parts of this series on this passage I believe you can still get a lot out of today’s message, because today we will be looking at the view that best fits the context, and is in fact the best way to understand this passage.
Keep in mind as well that we to have the first two parts recorded if you would like a CD of them.
I want to once more remind you that in our understanding of any passage of Scripture we must take into account the context of the passage, and the Scripture must interpret Scripture.
Let us now turn to the passage that we began looking two weeks ago which is 1 Tim. 4:10. .
I believe that it is very important for me to remind you of the background of 1 Tim because this will play a part in our understand of this passage. 1 Tim is actually a letter. It is a letter written by the Apostle Paul to young man by the name of Timothy. The letter is written sometime around 62-66 AD.
Paul writes to Timothy in order to encourage him in his work of overseeing the Ephesian church. In 1 Tim. 1:3 we read , “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia––remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,”
This tells us the location of Timothy, which is in Ephesus. We can also see that 1 Timothy is somewhat of a church leadership manual.
Because context is important in our understanding of this passage I want us to read beginning in verse 6;
“If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”
The phrase that has causes some controversy is that last part of verse 10; “…because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”
We have thus far looked at three ways this passage as been understood. I want to briefly review those.
The first view was the Universalist view. They would look at this passage and say that God as the Saviour of all mankind means that He does in fact save all mankind regardless of faith in Jesus Christ.
We took note that not only does this not fit in the context of the whole of Scripture, that is Scripture is clear that there are those who receive eternal life because of faith in Christ, and those who receive eternal damnation because of their rejection of Christ.
But this view also does not fit in the context of the passage when one considers that last part of the passage, “especially of those who believe.”
That phrase does not make any sense if one holds to the Universalist view.
The second view we looked at last week was the “Free Will view”. This view basically states that 1 Tim 4:10 is stating that God is the Saviour of all men in that it is His desire that all men be saved. It is however up to the free will of man to accept or reject God’s will for them to be saved.
However, the text of 1 Tim. 4:10 does not say that God makes men savable but that He is (in some sense) the Saviour of all man. The context does not say it is possible that God is Saviour of all men, but that He is.
The context is and the way the word Saviour ( Greek - SOTER) is used, is that Christ is the Saviour, not could be, or wants to be, but “is” in some sense the Saviour of all mankind. It is an act that He is doing, not desires to do.
The third view we examined is called the “distributive salvation” view. What this view contents is that God is Saviour of all kinds of men in that He is bestowing His salvation on all kinds, or classes of men.
In other words within the elect of God are Jews and Gentiles, kings and paupers, men and women, God is saving all kinds of people.
The word “all” in 1 Tim. 4:10 then becomes not an absolute term but a relative term.
This view addresses the fact that the word Saviour tell us that God is doing something, that He is Saving someone. God is saving His elect. He is not making it possible, but He is actually saving them, thus He is their Saviour.
This view does not deal with the second part of the phrase, “because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, “especially of those who believe”
If one states that the elect of God are included in God being the Saviour of all men, then who is the group of those who “especially believe”. You cannot have the elect of God who do not believe in Christ, who do not have faith. If God is the Saviour of someone in the salvific, that is giving them eternal salvation, then that person must believe, that person must have faith. The last part of the phrase does not fit with this view, it makes no sense.
Ok then, what does Paul mean in 1 Tim. 4:10 by the words “because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe”
The view I believe best fits in the with context of 1 Tim 4:10 is the “Nonsoteriological view” . That is certainly a mouthful. What it means is simply this. Paul in 1 Tim 4:10 is not speaking in terms of salvation when he says that God is Saviour of all men. He is not using it a salvific sense.
So what would lead some scholars to view this passage in that way? Let us take into consideration the following.
First I want you to note the very context of the passage. If you look at 1 Tim 4, and we read from 6-10, but if you look through out chapter 4 and even back to chapter 3 we see that Paul is instructing Timothy on what the qualifications of a church leader ought to be. He is instructing Timothy on teaching the brethren, again read vs. 6; “If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.”
It is clear from the context of this passage that it does not relate directly to the atonement of Christ. What verse 10 relates to is not the effects of the atonement of Christ on mankind, but God’s common grace to all mankind.
In other words when Paul states the God is Saviour of all mankind He is not speaking of the fact that the atonement is applied to all humanity, but that God is gracious to all humanity.
One has to bring in their own assumption in order to go from Paul saying that God is the Saviour of all men, to saying the God is providing atonement for the sins of every person who ever lived.
Rather then let the context determine what the meaning of the word Saviour is, folks bring in that meaning and apply it to the passage.
As I stated I believe that this passage is speaking of the common grace of God. The fact that God provides and cares for all mankind.
In Matthew 5:45 we are told that God; “… makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” That is God’s common grace. Every human receives the benefit of the sun and rain.
This leads to the second consideration that I want us to look at and that is meaning of the term Saviour, again that is the Greek word “SOTER”. Vines defines SOTER this way, "a savior, deliverer, preserver,".
You see as Christians we bring a certain presupposition with them when we read the word Saviour. We want to reference it immediately to Jesus Christ as being our Saviour from sin. When we read it we tend to directly tie it in with salvation and eternal life. However we must be certain that the passage we are readings calls for such an assumption.
In the case of 1 Tim. 4:10 I do not believe it does.
Listen to what Dr. Steven Baugh professor of New Testament at Westminster Seminary, states regarding the Greek word “SOTER”, “That the Greek word “SOTER” had as its most common, extra-biblical
meaning, "a generous benefactor, often a deliverer during an emergency," is amply documented in reference works and elsewhere. There simply cannot be any doubt that this was the usual meaning of this word outside of the NT from the hundreds of times that it is used of kings, emperors, governors, and local patrons as either a title granted by vote of a community or as a personal epithet given to one individual from another.”
You see in Paul’s day when people heard or read the word “Saviour” it did not to them bring up images or thoughts of saving one on a spiritual plane, but as one providing physically for them people. Someone who had provided for them of delivered them from something.
This is what causes difficulty in 1 Tim. 4:10, we want to impart a meaning to the word Saviour that I believe Paul simply does not have in mind.
We need to understand that the word Saviour does not always mean being saved from sin. It can be used in the sense of deliver from something other then sin. It can be used in the sense of provider.
A Biblical example is that God is the Saviour of Israel, He is said to be the deliverer of the Hebrew people from Egypt. He was a Saviour in one sense to all, He brought them all out from under the bondage of Pharaoh. He was the Saviour of all, yet we can say especially those who believed. Because all left Egypt, yet not all entered Canaan. No all entered the promised land. All were provided for, all were delivered, but it was only those who had faith that entered into the promised land from those whom God had delivered from Egypt.
We should understand that while the above may be true, the majority of the time God is spoken of in the NT as being a Saviour it is referenced to the atoning work of Jesus Christ. In most cases it does have reference to salvation, the point is we must be certain of that context.
With this in mind we can paraphrase 1 Tim. 4:10 as follows; "We have our hope set on the living God, and in this hope we shall not be disappointed, for not only is He a kind God, hence the Saviour (i.e., preserver or deliverer in a non-salvific sense) of all men, giving all common grace, but He is, in a very special sense, the Saviour (in a salvific sense) of those who by faith trust in Him to them He imparts salvation and everlasting life.”
I must admit that because we can define SOTER in this way, and that it is the most common meaning outside the NT, it does not prove conclusively that it is what it means in 1 Tim. 4:10. Some would argue that the context does indeed call for it to have a Soteriological meaning. But I believe that there is also a historical context that we must keep in mind as well.
I want to again remind of 1 Tim. 1:3; “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia––remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine,”
As I pointed out earlier we can see that Timothy is in the city of Ephesus when Paul writes this letter. What is of interest is that the surviving Greek inscription that we have from that city use the Greek word “SOTER” as a title or “distribution of gods, emperors, provincial proconsuls, and local patrons.” (From Dr. Baugh).
We know that Paul himself lived in Ephesus for a time, we see that in Acts. With this knowledge we certainly say that Paul was well aware of the secular use of the word “SOTER”. He would be well aware that Timothy would see this non-salvific use of this word when he read the inscriptions on the statues and buildings.
I want to read to you the following inscription from a statue of Julius Caesar that was raised in Ephesus probably around 48 BC. While no one can say for sure this was probably still standing at the time of Paul and Timothy. Many believe this to be true because it was uses as an aqueduct in Byzantine times, which would be sometimes after the 4th century.
But listen to what the inscription stated; “The cities of Asia, along with the [citizen-bodies] and the nations, (honor) …Julius Caesar, the high priest, imperator, and twice consul, the manifest god (sprung) from Ares and Aphrodite, and universal savior of human life.”
I believe that this example gives us inside into what Paul trying to communicate in 1 Tim. 4:10. He not only references God as the Saviour of all humanity, but that God is a living God, a living Saviour, a living provider and deliverer.
I again quote Dr. Steven Baugh in his article on 1 Tim. 4:10; “Imagine Timothy reading inscriptions like that honoring Caesar. The Greeks called upon the dead emperors as their gods and saviors, i.e., those
who protect and care for people under their patronage during their earthly lives. But Paul says, we have placed our hope in a God who is alive, not a dead emperor.”
This understanding of 1 Tim 4:10 also fits in the flow with the immediate context of 1 Tim 4. Once more listen to verses 8-10; “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This [is] a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this [end] we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is [the] Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”
Paul makes reference to the historical circumstance of Timothy in that the Greeks were big into physical fitness. He makes that the point that spiritually speaking there is little benefit of physical exercise. But there is great profit in living a godly live. Profit that as Paul states, profits the “life that now is and of that which is to come.”
Again Baugh, “Hence, Paul shows in v. 10 that God is the provider of earthly beneficence, even for people absorbed by physical discipline which relates to "the present life" (v. 8). But God is especially beneficent to those who train themselves in godliness, because he not only cares for the earthly needs of believers, but also for their needs in "the life to come.”
So when Paul states that “…because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.” I believe that he is not teaching some sort of universal atonement. I believe what he is proclaiming is that God is the only true and living, that is the God WE (that is believers) serve. That is the God who is the Saviour of all mankind, Saviour in the sense that He provides for all, He is the benefactor of all mankind. For His common grace blankets all humanity.
But He is especially the benefactor of those who believe, because He not only provides for them in this live, but He will also provide for them in the live to come.
I pray that this study on 1 Tim. 4:10 has given you a better insight into that passage of Scripture. I pray it helps you to understand that while there are difficult passages to understand when you set out to look at the context and study the passage God will bring about understanding.
While you may not agree with this understanding of 1 Tim. 4:10 I believe it answers best the questions that 1 Tim. 4:10 bring out. I also believe that it by far best fits the context of the passage and of Scripture as a whole.
In two weeks we will taking a look at another passage of Scripture that some find difficult and that is 1 John 2:2. So you may want to be looking up that passage and reading that.
In closing I will say that God is our great provider. He provide for us in some many ways, both Spiritual and physical. He has provided for our salvation through atoning work of Jesus Christ of the cross of Calvary. That atonement is applied to us through faith in Christ, through faith in His gospel. That gospel that tells us that Christ died for our sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again on the third day.
While God may provide for us physically through many means, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only means which He has provided eternal life. It is the only means that we have forgiveness of sin. It is the only means of salvation.
I pray that each person here has the assurance of that salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have any questions regarding your salvation please see me.
LET US PRAY.
