I jumped ahead a little ways.

There are a few problem passages, at least the ones that are typically brought up against

unconditional election besides Romans 8, 29.

And one of them is God desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

So if he desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, what's this talk about his choosing some and not others?

How does that fit? Because it doesn't look then like

he's desiring all people to be saved. Now, here's the way I think about 1 Timothy 2, 4.

Both Armenians and Calvinists, anybody who's not a universalist, a universalist is somebody

who believes all people will be saved in the end.

And Armenians are not universalists usually, and most evangelical Christians don't think

universalism is taught in the Bible.

I certainly don't.

And so we agree with the Armenians that God's desire for all people to be saved doesn't happen.

That is, his desire isn't realized if this verse means that he desires all people

to be saved. And I'm willing to say, okay, that's what it means. So we agree, something

intervenes and God's desire doesn't rise to the level of action.

So you'd say, well, why doesn't he save everybody if he desires all to be saved?

And the Armenian has to answer that question and the Calvinist has to answer that question,

because neither of them believes all will be saved.

And the question is, which answers are given?

The answer is not there in the text.

You've got to supply the answer.

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