Salvation:  Can this be legitimately offered to anyone?

Surely you would immediately think it could be legitimately offered to anyone. But what do those called Calvinists or Reformed in their theology people believe about this? Their belief is that Jesus Christ only died on the cross for some people, one’s they call “the elect.” Does the Bible teach this which is called the Doctrine of Election.  Yes! It certainly does, but not in THE WAY these people believe it and teach it.  Something important you need to know about these people is that they’ve made up their own set of definitions for numerous words.  For instance, to them it is only those God preselected for salvation who will be saved.  ONLY them!  Furthermore, to Calvinists and those who believe Reformed Theology “all” doesn’t necessarily mean everyone without exception.  They use the word as one that speaks of all “kinds” of people, rather than anyone in the world.  But do clear statements in Scripture say that?

1 Timothy 2:4-5

⁴ Who will have [THELO = desires] all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

There’s nothing about “kinds” of people in that verse. He’s stating that God desires everyone in the whole world of mankind to be saved, not just some.

⁵ For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men [speaking of mankind], the man Christ Jesus; [Emphasis added]

For more information about this, please see my articles about it— 

Salvation:  Does God desire it for everyone?

Salvation:  What about those who have never heard the gospel?

Again, to many of these people such passages are saying Christ died for ALL KINDS of people, but not all mankind.  To some it is a term used to refer only to those God has preselected for salvation.  People typically call this belief “limited atonement” and “irresistible election.”  Some who oppose this belief have come to speak of these people as “limited forgivers.” Their belief about this is represented by the letter “L” and the letter “I” in the acronym called T.U.L.I.P.  Even what is represented by the letter “U” is certainly related to all this.  Here are what is called the five points of Calvinism—

1. Total depravity
2. Unconditional election
3. Limited atonement
4. Irresistible grace
5. Perseverance of the saints

Is this correct teaching? It certainly is not! These five doctrines are by no means the only things Calvinists teach, but they provide a good summary of things they are particularly known for believing about salvation, an extremely important subject.  These have also been the five main points of contention with other groups of believers. Some people even attend churches where these beliefs are blended in with other things that are taught there.  Sometimes the people in the congregation don’t even realize that they’re being schooled in this which is called “Calvinism” and “Reformed Theology.” It’s not that their pastor is necessarily trying to deceive them because he, too, may have been deceived about all this.  In his mind these are all Biblically based truths.  And, yes, these pastors can even quote Scripture for you regarding them all. It’s just that they have redefined certain words to fit their belief system, their theology. Other times they take Scripture out of its context to make it line up with their beliefs.  So, what is the correct teaching about this? It is a fact that everybody you know has the potential for being saved.  No exceptions! And God didn’t preselect who’d go to Hell and who’d go to Heaven.  A five-point Calvinist can’t say that! To them only those God has preselected can be saved. Therefore, they must believe only SOME people are true candidates for salvation.  This means they’re not in a position to say that anyone can be saved.  Even from a practical standpoint, let me ask you some important questions about applying what these people believe—

What would you think if certain, even most of your family members CAN’T possibly be saved because God didn’t preselect them for it?  Didn’t Christ even say that He desired for all little children to come to Him? 

Matthew 19:13-14

¹³ Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴ But Jesus said, Suffer [APHIEMI = permit] little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. [Emphasis added]

Do you believe it would be fair for God to preselect certain people to burn in Hell and the Lake of Fire forever without ever having any chance at all for salvation and for getting to go to Heaven? But this isn’t about our opinion; it is about what the Scriptures say.

John 3:16 

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. [Emphasis added]

Isn’t he speaking of all members of humanity, all the world of mankind?  Calvinists don’t think so.  I still plainly remember being taught in Seminary that it didn’t.  Even the context of this verse let’s us know that salvation is all about the individual’s decision, not God’s or anyone else’s.  What the individual must do to be saved is simply accept the provision God has made for him to gain it.

John 3:17-18 

¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that THE WORLD through him might be saved.

¹⁸ He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [Emphasis added]

For more information about believing in “the name” of His Son, please see my article about it— 

Jesus Christ:  What does it mean to believe in His name?

There’s lots of Scripture that tells us of God’s love for all and of His desire for the salvation of all without any exceptions. 

Isn’t the above passage telling us that God sent His Son into the world to do what He did through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection so that anyone could be saved? We’re not given all the details about that here, but isn’t this what we now know He’s talking about? Can’t any of your family members, even young children, be saved? Can’t any of your friends be saved? The fact of the matter is that ANYONE in the world can be saved if they’ll accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.  And if you’re concerned about those who’ve never heard of Him, I hope you’ll read my article about that—

Salvation:  What about those who have never heard the gospel?

While nearly everything you read in your Bible is addressed directly to believers, even any unbeliever can read it, find the gospel message in it, and be saved.  There will be those who read this article who themselves found salvation that way.  Perhaps even some will get saved as a result of believing the content of this article.

What is the meaning of even a simple verse like this next one I’ll quote?

Romans 5:8

⁸ But God commendeth [SUNISTEMI = to bring together, to introduce] his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners [speaking of us when we were still unbelievers, unsaved], Christ died for us. [Emphasis added]

Again, who is the “us” in this verse? Isn’t this about people like you and me? Didn’t Christ satisfy the justice of God on the cross of Calvary to make it possible for anyone in the world to be saved? 

1 John 2:2

² And he is the propitiation [HILASKOMAI = a word used to show that Christ satisfied or appeased the justice of God] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. [Emphasis added]

How many verses do we have to have like this to get these people to accept this truth? These are verses Calvinists completely refuse to accept for what they clearly say.

John 1:29 

²⁹ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. [Emphasis added]

Should we have to change this verse’s meaning to make it fit our theology or should we take it to mean what it clearly says? Here are Peter’s words that relate to this same thing—

2 Peter 3:9

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing [BOULOMAI = purposed, not having purposed] that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. [Emphasis added]

How could he have said it any differently to make it any clearer?

Some will say then that what we believe means God failed if everyone doesn’t get saved. No! It doesn’t mean that at all! God didn’t have to save everyone to be just, but He chose to give man free will so that everyone would have a chance to be saved.  He did that when man was first placed in the Garden of Eden, and he didn’t lose his free will when he first sinned.  There’s not one verse anywhere in the Bible that says he did.  Furthermore, if he did, all the commands of Scripture are pointless.  How could any of them be real commands for a free response if people were all preprogramed of God for what their response would be.  There should be no doubt that after man first sinned certain additional pressures were brought to bear on man that weren’t there before but, again, there’s not one word in Scripture that says he lost his ability to choose or reject God’s provision for His salvation.  His willful act of using fig-leaves in the garden to solve his problem was totally inadequate.

Genesis 3:6-7 

⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. [Emphasis added]

The fig-leaf aprons of their own works were inadequate just as man’s “fig-leaves” of works aren’t adequate today.  It is only by one’s personal faith in the God’s work of grace through Jesus Christ that anyone can be saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast. [Emphasis added]

Even in that verse you have something that’s been distorted by Calvinists.  It is this thing everyone was given of God which is free will.  Contrary to what Calvinists claim, the faith comes from the individual, not God.  Instead, it is salvation that is the gift, not one’s faith.  God doesn’t CAUSE anyone to believe or not believe the gospel message.  God certainly didn’t have to do things as He did, but He made man free to express his own will about this, just as it was for man in the Garden of Eden.

Galatians 2:16-17

¹⁶ Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ [speaking of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection], even WE have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

¹⁷ But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. [Emphasis added]

In the Garden of Eden God intervened with the slaying of an animal which was a “picture” of the Savior He would later provide through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  It is when anyone today accepts Him as their Savior that God “clothes” that person with His perfect righteousness for their salvation.

2 Corinthians 5:21

²¹ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. [Emphasis added] 

There are quite a number of passages people have misunderstood, believing everyone will ultimately be saved.  But such is not what the Scriptures teach.  Such is often the case with verses that have been mistranslated even in good ones like the King James Version of the Bible.  For more information about that, please see my articles.  Here are the links to two of them—

KJV:  Does it need correcting?

KJV:  Which verses demand the Greek text to be understood?

Some have misunderstood this to mean everyone will ultimately be saved. 

1 Timothy 4:10

¹⁰ For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. [Emphasis added]

Yes, He is the Savior of ALL men but only in the sense that He’s the Savior for all men who’ll choose to put their faith in Him for salvation.

Again, some have misunderstood this to mean everyone will ultimately be saved.  But if that’s the case, why do we have Jesus telling us about a man suffering in Hell?  And we have no reason at all to believe this man is not still there even after so many centuries.

Luke 16:22-24

²² And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

²³ And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

²⁴ And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. [Emphasis added]

If you have questions about this, please see my other articles about it.  Here are links to them—

Hell:  Are there degrees of punishment?

Hell:  Are there people there for whom Christ died?

Hell:  Does God pick and choose who’s going there?

Hell:  How can a loving God send people there?

Hell:  What does the apostle Paul teach about it?

Hell:  Will the suffering last forever?

Yes, God has lovingly and graciously provided everyone with a way of escaping this horrible place.  BUT that provision He’s made must be accepted within the timeframe in which people live on this earth.  The place people speak of Purgatory does not exist.  For more information about this, please see my article—

Purgatory:  Does it exist?

The reason everyone doesn’t end up in Heaven is because there are so many who resist God and His provision for their salvation.  That problem exists today just as it always has.

John 7:51

⁵¹ Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. [Emphasis added]

This resistance is to do with the many times and ways man rejects God’s provision for his salvation.  The Bible gives us another great illustration of this in the times of Moses and his work with the Pharaoh of Egypt.  Despite all the evidence of God and His patience, he kept on resisting God’s grace.

Exodus 7:14

¹⁴ And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. [Emphasis added]

As the Pharoah hardened his own heart when he kept resisting God’s will in the matter, there’s another sense in which God was hardening his heart by giving him so many opportunities to let them go.  In every instant, ever expression of God’s grace and His patience, the Pharaoh kept resisting.  God does similar things with people today.  Some have multiple opportunities to accept or reject His gospel [good news] message.  For more information about people who’ve not heard, again, please study my article about this—

Salvation:  What about those who have never heard the gospel?

No one ever checks into eternity without having had multiple opportunities for things to have been otherwise for them.  Again, it is God’s desire for all to be delivered from His condemnation and having to spend eternity there.

Again, 2 Peter 3:9

⁹ The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing [BOULOMAI = purposed, not having purposed] that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. [Emphasis added]

God has made the provision necessary for anyone to avoid this place of everlasting torment.  But it must be received by faith before one’s physical death or before the time of the event called the Rapture.  For more information about that event, please see my articles about it.

Rapture:  How is this different from The Second Coming?

Rapture:  Is there anything about it in The Four Gospels?

Rapture:  What is the meaning of this term?

Rapture:  Who was the first to reveal this?

Conclusion—

So, in answer to our question, yes, anyone can be saved at any time prior to their physical death, or the occasion of the event called the Rapture.  But you will find that the older a person gets, the less likely they are to accept the gospel message.  That’s not because they get wiser but because by the time they are old, they have resisted the truth about this matter so many times that they’ve grown hardened, more insensitive to the message about this.  For more information about this, please see my article—

Heart:  What does it mean to have a hardened one?

As long as they’re still alive there’s hope for them but it becomes more and more unlikely that they’ll ever respond positively to God’s offer of grace and salvation because they’ve resisted this offer for so long.  Therefore, don’t delay in delivering the message and never give up on people.  Just know that there are a few who will finally respond favorably before it is too late for them.  Never believe as Calvinists that the matter for all was settled by God even before the person was born.  Such is by no means the case.  Anyone can be saved at any time because God made provision for them through the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Again, 2 Corinthians 5:21

²¹ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. [Emphasis added]