1 Timothy 2:3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. To want is to desire. One author puts it this way, "There is a distinction between God’s desire and his eternal saving purpose, which must transcend his desires." God desires that all should come to repentance, but his saving purpose overrides that desire as it sees the judgment of sin against his holiness as a divine requirement. The above verse from 1 Timothy is a classic text used to defend God against Calvin. Calvin realized through his scriptural studies that God had a chosen remnant. He realized that without that group, there would be no one saved. He had read and studied Paul's letter to the Roman church and saw the plan in chapter nine. God must follow his divine plan without vacillation. To have that remnant of redeemed, he, not we, had to act. We could not choose him because we were dead in sin. In his action, he decided to resc...
These are devotional, and other, thoughts from a guy who lived in Brazil from 1997 to 2023. I recount personal experiences and Bible applications with most of my posts. These "posts" are mostly for me but if you want to, you can read them too!