“All” refers to all types of men if you look at the context.
There is such a thing as the general call of the gospel. The Bible doesn’t say “come to me if you are elect.” It says come to me and be saved. It’s technically correct that only the elect will come, but that isn’t the point of those calls. It’s a call to come and be saved. That doesn’t mean God has determined that all will be saved, for if you look at Scripture, you see numerous times that God’s will is perfect and will occur. God isn’t a failure. Thus, if God wanted all saved....it would happen.
As for the prayer, Jesus explicitly says he only prays for those the Father gave him. If you look at the rest of John, the giving language is very present and even includes statements like we can only come to Jesus if the father draws us etc.
It is only logical to conclude when faced with this mountain of evidence that election is in fact true. For, if there is a group of people the Father gives to Christ....it must go beyond just his immediate disciples and also include all believers if we see numerous other times that the only way we can come is if the Father gives us to Christ.
That’s the only way because we are dead in sins. It is only those who do not truly understand the Fall who think somehow we can “choose” to be saved. The fall wasn’t a small issue. We are dead, and the dead can’t make themselves alive. We need Christ for that, for Christ to pull us out of the tomb like Lazarus.
Scripture also says our names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, so yes, there is that book with our names in it as Christians. And just like Scripture says Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, there is a clear providential meaning behind this statement. The names aren’t in there “because God knew we would choose” as I assume you might say.
Just a little quibble by the way....God didn’t damn anyone. They do it themselves by their rebellion. He only chooses to save an innumerable number of humanity, passing over others.
All means all. It does not, in context, mean all classes of men, unless God wanted to confuse the issue by not SAYING all classes. The God of Calvin is a God of secrets, and only those with the secret handshake get to learn what God REALLY meant when he said he “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”. For anyone who wants to see the context:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy+2&version=ESV
As Barnes (a Calvinist) puts it:
“Verse 4. Who will have all men to be saved. That is, it is in accordance with his nature, his feelings, his desires. The word will cannot be taken here in the absolute sense, denoting a decree like that by which he willed the creation of the world, for then it would certainly be done. But the word is often used to denote a desire, wish, or what is in accordance with the nature of any one. Thus it may be said of God that he “wills” that his creatures may be happy—because it is in accordance with his nature, and because he has made abundant provision for their happiness—though it is not true that he wills it in the sense that he exerts his absolute power to make them happy. God wills that sickness should be relieved, and sorrow mitigated, and that the oppressed should go free, because it is agreeable to his nature; though it is not true that he wills it in the sense that he exerts his absolute power to produce it. A parent wills the welfare of his child. It is in accordance with his nature, his feelings, his desires; and he makes every needful arrangement for it. If the child is not virtuous and happy, it is his own fault. So God wills that all men should be saved. It would be in accordance with his benevolent nature. He has made ample provision for it. He uses all proper means to secure their salvation. He uses no positive means to prevent it, and if they are not saved it will be their own fault. For places in the New Testament where the word here translated “will” (\~yelw\~) means to desire or wish, Luke 8:20; 23:8; John 16:19; Galatians 4:20; Mark 7:24; 1 Corinthians 7:7; 11:3; 14:5; Matthew 15:28. This passage cannot mean, as many have supposed, that God wills that all kinds of men should be saved, or that some sinners of every rank and class may be saved, because
(1.) the natural and obvious interpretation of the language is opposed to such a sense. The language expresses the desire that “all men” should be saved, and we should not depart from the obvious sense of a passage unless necessity requires it.
(2.) Prayer and thanksgiving 1 Timothy 2:1 are directed to be offered, not for some of all ranks and conditions, but for all mankind. No exception is made, and no direction is given that we should exclude any of the race from the expressions of our sympathy, and from an interest in our supplications. The reason given here for that prayer is, that God desires that all men should be saved. But how could this be a reason for praying for all, if it means that God desired only the salvation of some of all ranks?
(3.) In 1 Timothy 2:5,6, the apostle gives reasons showing that God wished the salvation of all men, and those reasons are such as to prove that the language here is to be taken in the most unlimited sense. Those reasons are,
(a) that there is one God over all, and one Mediator between God and men—showing that God is the Father of all, and has the same interest in all; and
(b) that Christ gave himself a ransom for all—showing that God desired their salvation. This verse proves
(1.) that salvation is provided for all —for if God wished all men to be saved, he would undoubtedly make provision for their salvation; and if he had not made such provision, it could not be said that he desired their salvation, since no one can doubt that he has power to provide for the salvation of all;
(2.) that salvation should be offered to all men—for if God desires it, it is right for his ministers to announce that desire, and if he desires it, it is not proper for them to announce anything contrary to this;
(3.) that men are to blame if they are not saved. If God did not wish their salvation, and if he had made no provision for it, they could not be to blame if they rejected the gospel. If God wishes it, and has made provision for it, and they are not saved, the sin must be their own—and it is a great sin, for there is no greater crime which a man can commit than to destroy his own soul, and to make himself the eternal enemy of his Maker.
And to come unto the knowledge of the truth. The truth which God has revealed: the “truth as it is in Jesus.”
“There is such a thing as the general call of the gospel. The Bible doesn’t say “come to me if you are elect.” It says come to me and be saved. It’s technically correct that only the elect will come, but that isn’t the point of those calls.”
If God says repent, knowing you cannot do so, then God is malicious. What does scripture say? Does it say, you don’t repent because you cannot come? Jesus said, “...you refuse to come to me that you may have life” - not, “you cannot come’, not “you are not called to come’, but “YOU REFUSE TO COME”.
And what would happen if they DID come? They would have life. But they REFUSE...”to decline to accept (something offered)”. According to Vincent’s Word Studies, the word means a stubborn determination not to come.
“If you look at the rest of John, the giving language is very present and even includes statements like we can only come to Jesus if the father draws us etc.”
Yes, we do not seek God on our own. If he does not seek us and draw us, NONE will come. But the drawing is not irresistible. Jesus said, 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (John 12)
Yet we also read in John, “11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” He CAME, but they did not RECEIVE him.
“That’s the only way because we are dead in sins. It is only those who do not truly understand the Fall who think somehow we can “choose” to be saved. The fall wasn’t a small issue. We are dead, and the dead can’t make themselves alive.”
Actually, dead is only one of the words used to describe us. Just as the Prodigal Son was ‘dead’ to his Father, yet not literally and totally dead, we are not so dead that we cannot repent. We are also described as children of wrath (children are alive), slaves of sin (slaves are alive), lost, sick, etc.
Even in Genesis 4, God presents Cain with a choice:
“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
God doesn’t tell Cain he is dead and unable to turn to Him. He presents Cain with a choice, that Cain rejects.
“The names aren’t in there “because God knew we would choose” as I assume you might say.”
What does scripture say? “29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...” God knows who will or will not believe, and he has always known it, for he knows the end from the beginning.
“Just a little quibble by the way....God didn’t damn anyone. They do it themselves by their rebellion. He only chooses to save an innumerable number of humanity, passing over others.”
According to the Calvinist, that is borderline heresy. They would then be damned, not by God’s sovereign will and not by a choice made by name before they had done anything (a mistaken application of Romans 9), but actually condemned for making choices - choices that God supposedly doesn’t allow them to have.