Passage

1 Timothy 2.4

Book: 1 Timothy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

ASV:

"4. who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4, ASV)

WEB:

"4. who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4, WEB)

KJV:

"4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:4, KJV)

YLT:

"4. who doth will all men to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the truth;" (1 Timothy 2:4, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"2. for kings and all that are in high place; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and gravity. 3. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4. who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. 5. For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, 6. who gave himself a ransom for all; the testimony to be borne in its own times;" (1 Timothy 2:2-6, ASV)

WEB:

"2. for kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; 4. who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. 5. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6. who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times;" (1 Timothy 2:2-6, WEB)

KJV:

"2. For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4. Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6. Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Timothy 2:2-6, KJV)

YLT:

"2. for kings, and all who are in authority, that a quiet and peaceable life we may lead in all piety and gravity, 3. for this [is] right and acceptable before God our Saviour, 4. who doth will all men to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the truth; 5. for one [is] God, one also [is] mediator of God and of men, the man Christ Jesus, 6. who did give himself a ransom for all, the testimony in its own times --" (1 Timothy 2:2-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle in the pastoral-epistles period (post-Acts, late ministry)
Audience: Timothy, the young pastoral leader at Ephesus (per 1 Tim 1:3)
Location: Paul composing in Macedonia (or possibly during release between Roman imprisonments)
Time period: composed c. AD 62-66 (between Paul's two Roman imprisonments, on traditional dating; some critical scholars date the pastorals later as deutero-Pauline)
Narrative context: the universal-prayer / universal-salvific-will unit of 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Paul has exhorted Timothy to ensure the Ephesian church offers "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks... for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority" (vv. 1-2). The theological ground of this universal-prayer-imperative is God's universal salvific will: He desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (v. 4). The Christological corollary follows: there is one God, one mediator, who gave Himself a ransom for all (vv. 5-6). The verses thus connect ecclesiology (the church's prayer-life), soteriology (God's salvific will), Christology (Jesus as one mediator), and missiology (Paul as a preacher to the Gentiles, v. 7). The whole unit is one of Paul's tightest doctrinal compressions.

Theological reading

1 Timothy 2:4 is a principal Pauline text in the Calvinism / Arminianism dispute over the scope of God's salvific will. The verse claims God "will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth." The Greek is theos hos pantas anthrōpous thelei sōthēnai, "God who all men wills [for them] to be saved." The verse's force depends on how thelei (wills, desires) and pantas anthrōpous (all men) are interpreted.

The Calvinism / Arminianism dispute

The verse is one of the principal proof-texts cited by Arminians against unconditional-election. The argument runs: if God wills all men to be saved, but not all men ARE saved, then either (a) God's will is frustrated (incompatible with omnipotence) or (b) the not-all-saved outcome reflects free human response. Arminianism affirms (b); Calvinism must explain (a).

The Arminian reading (Wesley, Olson, Picirilli, Forlines, et al.): God's salvific will is universal and sincere. Christ died for all (1 Tim 2:6, "a ransom for all"; 2 Cor 5:14-15; 1 John 2:2, "propitiation... for the sins of the whole world"). Election is conditional, based on God's foreknowledge of free human response. The not-all-saved outcome is the result of free human rejection, not divine arbitrariness or limited atonement.

The Calvinist reading (Augustine, Calvin, Edwards, Sproul, et al.) distinguishes two divine wills:

God's revealed will / will of command (voluntas signi), what God commands and invites; universally offered
God's secret will / decretive will (voluntas beneplaciti), what God purposes to bring about; particular to the elect

In this reading, 1 Tim 2:4's "all men to be saved" refers to the universal offer / command / desire of the gospel, not the decretive will that determines who actually receives salvation. The "all men" can also be read as "all kinds of men" (kings, commoners, Jew, Gentile, vv. 1-2) rather than absolute-every-individual.

The Molinist mediating reading (Craig, Flint): God's universal salvific will is sincere; the not-all-saved outcome reflects God's middle-knowledge of free-creature counterfactuals. God knew what every creature would freely do in every possible world; He actualized the world that best balances universal-offer with respect-for-creaturely-freedom.

See Calvinism vs Arminianism vs Molinism vs Open Theism for the multi-position synthesis.

The Greek vocabulary, thelei

The verb thelō (θέλω) has a range:

Strong desire (Matt 23:37, "how often would I have gathered thy children together", Jesus's lament; the desire is sincere but unfulfilled because of human resistance)
Determinate will / decree (Eph 1:11, "the counsel of his own will", God's effectual purpose)

The verb's range allows both Arminian (desire) and Calvinist (decree-distinction) readings. The disambiguating context for theos thelei pantas sōthēnai is the broader Pauline soteriology, which both sides interpret differently.

"All men", pantas anthrōpous

The phrase pantas anthrōpous is similarly disputed:

Arminian: every individual human person without exception. Christ died for all; God desires the salvation of every person.
Calvinist: all kinds of men, Paul has just spoken of "kings, and... all that are in authority" (v. 2). The contextual all kinds reading: God's salvific will extends to every social-political class, kings as well as commoners, slaves as well as free, Jew as well as Gentile.

Both readings are grammatically possible. The decisive factor is the broader Pauline soteriology: Romans 9-11 (with its sovereign-mercy-and-hardening), Ephesians 1 (with its predestining-before-the-world's-foundation), 2 Thessalonians 2 (with its strong-delusion sent to the lost) push toward the Calvinist reading; 1 Timothy 2:4-6, John 3:16, John 6:40, 2 Peter 3:9 push toward the Arminian reading.

The Christological corollary (vv. 5-6)

The universal-salvific-will is grounded Christologically in v. 5-6:

"There is one God", heis theos, the Shema-monotheism (Deut 6:4) preserved in NT theology
"One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus", heis mesitēs theou kai anthrōpōn anthrōpos Christos Iēsous, the unique-Christ-as-mediator claim
"Who gave himself a ransom for all", antilytron hyper pantōn, the universal scope of the ransom

The Christological unique-mediator claim is foundational for Christian-exclusivity (cf. Acts 4:12, "none other name"; John 14:6, "no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"). The verse simultaneously affirms God's universal salvific desire AND the unique Christological-mediator path. The two are not in tension: the universal-offer is made through the unique-mediator.

Patristic and Reformed reading

John Chrysostom (Homilies on 1 Timothy 7, c. AD 400): the verse establishes that God's salvific desire is universal; the limit is human resistance, not divine reluctance. Chrysostom is in the Eastern-Greek-Father tradition that consistently affirms universal salvific will.

Augustine (Enchiridion 27, c. AD 421-422): Augustine's later anti-Pelagian writings interpret "all men" as "all the elect", those whom God determines to save are all saved by His effective will. The Augustinian reading is foundational for later Calvinism.

John Calvin (Commentary on 1 Timothy ad 1 Tim 2:4): the verse refers to all kinds of men (in the contextual sense), establishing that God's salvific will extends across every class and category, but does not require absolutely-every-individual.

Jacob Arminius (Declaration of Sentiments, 1608) and the Remonstrant tradition: the verse is one of the principal anchors for the Arminian doctrine of universal salvific will and conditional election. The "all men" is read as every individual; the thelei is read as a sincere desire.

Apologetic and pastoral deployment

The verse is foundational for:

The universal-gospel-offer in evangelism. Whatever side of the Calvinism / Arminianism debate one takes, the gospel is offered to all. The pastor / evangelist need not pre-determine election before preaching; the offer is for all.
Prayer for all people, especially government officials. The verse's original context is exhortation to pray for kings and authorities. The Christian prayer-life includes intercession for political leaders, government, and broader social classes, grounded in God's universal salvific will.
Defense against hyper-Calvinism. Hyper-Calvinism (the view that the gospel should only be offered to the elect) is incompatible with 1 Tim 2:4-6. The Reformed-orthodox tradition (Westminster Confession, etc.) explicitly distinguishes itself from hyper-Calvinism on this point: the offer of the gospel is universal even if the effectual call is particular.
Defense against universalism. While the verse establishes God's universal salvific will, it does NOT teach that all are saved. The corollary in v. 4b, "come to the knowledge of the truth", is conditional. Universalism reads the divine will as effectual for all; the orthodox reading distinguishes the divine desire from the actual outcome (whether by Calvinist sovereignty-distinction or Arminian human-freedom).

The pastoral pivot

In pastoral conversation about salvation, 1 Timothy 2:4 functions to ground confidence in the universal-offer. The Christian witness to the unbeliever does not need to know whether the hearer is "elect", the universal salvific will of God grounds the legitimate, sincere offer. The Christian's role is to proclaim; God's role is to effectually call.

Oneness Pentecostal reading

The Oneness reader takes 1 Timothy 2:4-6 as the one God's universal salvific will, expressed through His Son-manifestation (the one mediator). The Jesus who is the mediator is the same one God who wills all to be saved. See Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism.

The Trinitarian reads the same verses with the distinguishable-Persons framework: the Father wills, the Son mediates, the Spirit applies. Both readings affirm the universal-salvific-will claim; they differ on the metaphysical analysis of God's identity.

Canonical-theological connections

John 3:16, "For God so loved the world... that whosoever believeth"
John 6:40, universal-offer side (rich hub)
2 Peter 3:9, "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance"
Ezekiel 18:23, 32, "have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD"
Ezekiel 33:11, "as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked"
Matthew 23:37, "how often would I have gathered thy children together... and ye would not"
Romans 11:32, "that he might have mercy upon all"
Acts 4:12, "none other name"
John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (rich hub)
Romans 9-11, Pauline sovereign-mercy / hardening complement
Ephesians 1:3-14, predestination passage

Key words

G0225 - aletheia, aletheia (Strong's G225). Also appears in: Mark 12, Luke 22.54-62, John 1.14.
G3956 - pas, pas (Strong's G3956). Also appears in: Matthew 1, Matthew 2.1-6, Matthew 2.16.
G4982 - sozo, sozo (Strong's G4982). Also appears in: Matthew 1.21, Matthew 14.22-33, Matthew 16.24-25.