S
sandusky
Guest
Scripture teaches predestination/election to salvation, both of us understand that, as each of our respective soteriologies teaches that. That should not be a problem for you.
When one understands election as God’s sovereign choice of some persons to be saved, it should be evident, necessarily, that another choice of God is at work: His sovereign choice not to save others.
That’s known as reprobation—God’s sovereign decision, before creation, to punish for their sins, those not chosen for salvation. It is through that choice that God manifests His justice.
What’s observed in scripture is that God’s will is spoken of in two distinct aspects: God’s “secret” will, and His “revealed” will, or will of “precept” (Dt 29:29).
God’s revealed will is His declaration concerning what men should do, or should not do because God has commanded them so to do, or not to do.
God’s revealed will is described by the Gk word thelō. That ”thelō” will of God, is the will of God that men disobey.
Regarding God’s secret will, it’s described by the Gk word boolay. That is His secret Counsel, His Divine Purpose. That ”boolay” will of God is the Divine Purpose of God that no man can disobey or thwart. A few exceptions interchange the Greek words, but overall, thelō and boolay describe God’s will as revealed, or secret respectively.
Back to reprobation, does scripture teach it? I think scripture does.
Jude speaks of some persons, “who ***long ago were designated for this condemnation, *** ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).
Paul says:Romans 9:17-22
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.”
18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?Don’t be fooled by the “WHAT IF,” as it’s a statement of fact, in a rhetorical question—God is now doing what v 22 describes (cf v17).
We see further in Rom 11:7, that God did not choose all to be saved when Paul says of Israel, ”…the elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened.” And Peter echoes both Jude, and Paul, when he says, “they stumble because they disobey [refuse to repent and believe] the word, ***as they were destined ***[etethēsan] to do” (1 Pet 2:7, 8).
And Jesus thanked the Father both for hiding the knowledge of salvation from some, and for revealing it to others, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in your sight” (Mt 11:25, 26).
That God desires, or commands all men to be saved is seen in Acts 17:30, “God is now declaring to men, that all people everywhere should repent…”
Do all people repent? We know they don’t, even though it’s God’s revealed will that they should.
God also reveals that He desires men to live moral lives. That is seen in the moral law He gave to the Jews. God has made it clear to men, in the Decalogue, what they shall not do.
However, even though the Decalogue is God’s revealed will for men, they disobey, and break His law. Sometimes His punishment is swift, and other times, He is “longsuffering,” and forebears punishment (cf Rom 9:22).
God’s secret will, or Divine purpose, is seen in various passages of scripture.
In accordance with His Divine Purpose, God has predestined some to glory according to His secret Counsel (boolay). (Eph 1:3-6, 11).
Again, God’s secret will, His Divine Purpose, can neither be disobeyed by anyone, nor thwarted by anyone.
Further of evidence of God’s Divine Purpose are revealed elsewhere, “This man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God you nailed to a cross…” (Acts 2:23).
We see God’s “secret” will stated in other passages, James says, ***"If the Lord wills, *** we shall live and we shall do this or that” (Jas 4:15; see also: Gen 50:20; Acts 21:14; Rom 1:10, 15:32; 1 Cor 4:19; 1 Pet 3:17; 4:19; Jas 1:18; Heb 6:17).
So the 1 Tim 2 passage is a statement of God’s revealed will—that all men be saved, but not a statement of His Divine Purpose, in which He saves some, and consigns others to destruction.
