4. God offers salvation freely to whosoever will, and commands all men everywhere to repent because he is not willing that any should perish but that ALL should come to repentance. Which means that God will have ALL MEN to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth.
I forgot to reply to this:
You refer to 2 Peter 3:9. It is clear that this sentiment is towards the elect, "to us-ward," and doesn't include the evildoers spoken of previously, whose judgment is coming. The Apostle, in fact, is comforting them, explaining that their current persecution done by these people has a good reason: the saving of all the elect, and that that is the reason why God has not yet struck down with his vengeance. It can only be until the full number of the Elect are brought it (otherwise, the world will never end, because there will always be new human beings to whom God must be long-suffering towards!). You also refer to 1 Titus 2:4. But then, even here, the context seems to speak of all classes of men rather than to every man. Even Augustine, long before Martin Luther or Calvin, recognized this, and so I use his commentary to speak for me:
“Or, it is said, “Who will have all men to be saved;” not that there is no man whose salvation He does not will (for how, then, explain the fact that He was unwilling to work miracles in the presence of some who, He said, would have repented if He had worked them?), but that we are to understand by “all men,” the human race in all its varieties of rank and circumstances,—kings, subjects; noble, plebeian, high, low, learned, and unlearned; the sound in body, the feeble, the clever, the dull, the foolish, the rich, the poor, and those of middling circumstances; males, females, infants, boys, youths; young, middle-aged, and old men; of every tongue, of every fashion, of all arts, of all professions, with all the innumerable differences of will and conscience, and whatever else there is that makes a distinction among men. For which of all these classes is there out of which God does not will that men should be saved in all nations through His only-begotten Son, our Lord, and therefore does save them; for the Omnipotent cannot will in vain, whatsoever He may will? Now the apostle had enjoined that prayers should be made for all men, and had especially added, “For kings, and for all that are in authority,” who might be supposed, in the pride and pomp of worldly station, to shrink from the humility of the Christian faith. Then saying, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour,” that is, that prayers should be made for such as these, he immediately adds, as if to remove any ground of despair, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” [I Tim. 2:1-4]. God, then, in His great condescension has judged it good to grant to the prayers of the humble the salvation of the exalted; and assuredly we have many examples of this. Our Lord, too, makes use of the same mode of speech in the Gospel, when He says to the Pharisees: “Ye tithe mint, and rue, and every herb” [Luke 11:42]. For the Pharisees did not tithe what belonged to others, nor all the herbs of all the inhabitants of other lands. As, then, in this place we must understand by “every herb,” every kind of herbs, so in the former passage we may understand by “all men,” every sort of men. And we may interpret it in any other way we please, so long as we are not compelled to believe that the omnipotent God has willed anything to be done which was not done: for setting aside all ambiguities, if “He hath done all that He pleased in heaven and in earth” [Ps. 115:3]. as the psalmist sings of Him, He certainly did not will to do anything that He hath not done.” (Augustine, Enchiridion on Faith, Hope and Love, Ch. 103. Interpretation of the Expression in I Tim. 2:4: “Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved”.)
To add to the argument, I will point out that the Jews have always been slightly loose in their language, not always completely literal. This is important in understanding any other verse you might attempt to cite against us. One must be aware of the unique peculiarities Jews make use of in their language. For example, from Gills commentary, commenting on the Jewish use of the words all the world, the world, the whole world, all the men of the world, etc, Gill begins by quoting Jewish examples where the word is used in radically different ways from how we would use it today:
"Nothing is more common in Jewish writings than to call the Gentiles, the world; and the whole world; and the nations of the world (l); See Gill on
John 12:19; and the word world is so used in Scripture; see Joh_3:16; and stands opposed to a notion the Jews have of the Gentiles, that there is no propitiation for them (m): and it is easy to observe, that when this phrase is not used of the Gentiles, it is to be understood in a limited and restrained sense; as when they say (n),
it happened to a certain high priest, that when he went out of the sanctuary, the whole world went after him;(n)
which could only design the people in the temple. And elsewhere (o) it is said,
amle ylwk, the whole world has left the Misna, and gone after the Gemara;
which at most can only intend the Jews; and indeed only a majority of their doctors, who were conversant with these writings: and in another place (p),
amle ylwk, the whole world fell on their faces, but Raf did not fall on his face;
where it means no more than the congregation. Once more, it is said (q), when
R. Simeon ben Gamaliel entered (the synagogue), the whole world stood up before him;
that is, the people in the synagogue: to which may be added (r),
when a great man makes a mourning, the whole world come to honour him;
i.e. a great number of persons attend the funeral pomp: and so these phrases,
the whole world is not divided, or
does not dissent (s);
the whole world are of opinion (t), are frequently met with in the Talmud, by which, an agreement among the Rabbins, in certain points, is designed; yea, sometimes the phrase,
all the men of the world (u), only intend the inhabitants of a city where a synagogue was, and, at most, only the Jews: and so this phrase,
all the world, or
the whole world, in Scripture, unless when it signifies the whole universe, or the habitable earth, is always used in a limited sense, either for the Roman empire, or the churches of Christ in the world, or believers, or the present inhabitants of the world, or a part of them only, Luk_2:1; and so it is in this epistle, 1Jo_5:19; where the whole world lying in wickedness is manifestly distinguished from the saints, who are of God, and belong not to the world; and therefore cannot be understood of all the individuals in the world
(From Gills Commentary on
1 John 2:2, quoting from (l) Jarchi in Isa. liii. 5. (m) T. Hieros. Nazir, fol. 57. 3. Vid. T. Bab. Succa, fol. 55. 2. (n) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 71. 2. (o) T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 33. 2. (p) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 22. 2. (q) T. Bab. Horayot, fol. 13. 2. (r) Piske Toseph. Megilla, art. 104. (s) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 90. 2. & Kiddushin, fol. 47. 2. & 49. 1. & 65. 2. & Gittin, fol. 8. 1. & 60. 2. (t) T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 48. 1. (u) Maimon. Hilch. Tephilla, c. 11. sect. 16.)
Scriptural examples of this include:
Luk 2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
By this Luke means, not the whole habitable world, as much of it was still undiscovered, and not even the whole known world, which even in those days was not all under the power of the Roman empire, but just the Roman empire itself, or perhaps Judae.
Another one, which Gill mentioned:
1Jn 5:19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
Obviously we are no longer under the power of Satan, but have been released from his clutches by the power of Jesus Christ.
Another:
Luk 11:42 But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
Some translations render this all manner of herb, but, literally, it is every herb, which, obviously, the meaning is only every kind of herb. Augustine, you notice, used this example.
Another example:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
(Rom 3:10-11)
Obviously this cannot mean that no one seeks or understands, as all Christians seek and understand (though maybe not perfectly). But, Pauls meaning is more general, referring to the depraved world, or of all Christians prior to Christ saving them, who, before that time, are incapable of seeing, believing or understanding until the Holy Spirit moves on them.
Another example, Christ distinguishing between the world and those given to Him out of the world:
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Thus the world does not mean everyone in the world, but all those not given to Him.
Another example:
Joh_12:19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
Obviously the whole world wasn't going after him, and so the Pharisees here only speak of the "world" in the same sense they do all over their Talmud.
Finally, more direct examples, by comparing seemingly contradictory verses with their parallels:
1Jn_2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Joh_11:52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Thus the meaning is, Christ is the atonement for all the sins of the children of God scattered abroad, of every nation and tribe.
