What Does It Mean That God Desires All People To Be Saved?

You said - "Faith is God's gift..."
Faith isn't even mentioned in that text. The gift there is the gift of the promised Holy Spirit who gave Cornelius the gift of tongues.

Faith is God's gift,

Did I?


You asked BillyBob the question.

My mistake. I should have said, you agreed with BillyBob that "Faith is a gift.... "

Did I? You have a nasty habit of falsely accusing. What I DID was
give a text when you asked. My response started with Perhaps.

God cannot save an unrepentant sinner who is against the revealed will of God.

Those are the only kind of people whom God saves because until and unless salvation is first given, we are, and remain, unrepentant sinners.

yes, it all begins with a heart transplant.

I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. (Ez 36:25-27)

Who is doing all those wonderful things?

The heart fairy?

yes, it all begins with a heart transplant.

Let's suppose I am going on a trip. I make all the arrangements, set a date, and wait. But I also would like it to be a family excursion. I desire their company.

Is it considered a desire if I only have a strong feeling of wanting? Do I need to do anything to make my desire a desire? If I volunteer to incur all the expenses for my family does this make it a desire when before it wasn't? What if I only volunteered to pay for some family members? Does this affect whether it is a desire or lessen the desire to have the company of my family?

I ask these questions so they will be top of mind when asking the same questions about God's desire that all people are saved? Can God's desire for the salvation of people be independent of people? Does God have to do anything for people in order for His desire to be genuine? If so, does He have to act equally towards all people for His desire to be real?

I'm not attempting to offer this as proof of one set of ideas over another. It is simply to understand the nature of what is entailed in a desire and what is not. Consequently, and perhaps impossibly, I am asking for unbiased thought. I am asking that as you consider the question, you set aside, as much as is possible, how you would answer based on your other held beliefs, and consider the question independently from other doctrine.

Thanks. And I look forward to your responses.

The natural man, as described in 1 Cor 2:14, will not, and, indeed, cannot have a desire to know about anything that is of a spiritual nature, until he has been born again, with the indwelling of then Holy Spirit. Eph 2:1-5.

I think there are degrees of desire, and that the greater the desire the more one is willing to sacrifice or "work" for it. With your particular example, it also depends on how much you are able to afford. If you cannot incur all expenses and can only afford to treat a few family members, there is not much else you can do and I don't think this inability to afford all expenses weighs against your desire. However, if you can afford all expenses but only want to treat a few members, I think your desire for a family vacation where everyone attends is not as great.

With respect to God's desire that all people are saved, one observation made in the Bible is that Jesus does not chase down nonbelievers or spends all of his energy to convert any particular person. He tries to make a person believe once of twice, and then moves to another person, another town, etc. One example is the story of the rich man, if I remember correctly, Jesus saw the rich man walk away since the rich man did not want to give away his possessions. Even when Jesus teaches others, including Nicodemus, He moves on without securing their faith.

So, while I believe God desires that all people are saved, He still requires faith and won't force us to believe. A lot of atheists argue if God wants them to believe, why isn't God easily visible. However, Jesus said blessed are those who have not seen, so this makes me believe that God requires this sort of faith. I am not sure if God pursues us continually if we don't pursue him, but He is always available when we decide to return. The way God desires is different from how humans desire, as we humans do not require faith and the issues we deal with eachother are different from salvation which for Christians requires faith.

This isn't about man's desire, but God's.

You contend that the scriptures conclude that God's desire is that all mankind will be saved eternally. I contend that the scriptures teach that God wants only those of mankind that he chose, elected, and gave to Jesus to be saved eternally (John 6:37-40) (Rom 9:8-16) (John 10:26-29)

If it were God's will that all mankind were to be saved eternally, then he would eternally save all mankind (Dan 4:35).

If faith is the evidence of things not seen, and you can't see faith, then how do you know whether faith or salvation came first?
If God says, "I will... do such and such" and He presents it in the form of a promise (i.e. future form), and all there is to do is to believe it...even if you can't 'do' it yourself...

I just asked what it means. The Bible already states that God has the desire.

Also, if it is of a spiritual nature, then only those who have been born of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can believe.

It would help me to understand your position better if you would give me a scripture reference with your statement that he desires all mankind to be saved eternally.

yes, it all begins with a heart transplant.

I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances. (Ez 36:25-27)

Who is doing all those wonderful things?