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For this is good and acceptable before God our Savior.

I. SUCH PRAYER FOR ALL SORTS OF MEN IS GOOD. It is good:

1. Because it springs from a good motive, a loving interest in our fellow-mere.

2. Because it is directed to a good end, the promotion of their highest welfare.

3. Because it is a divinely commanded duty.

II. SUCH PRAYER IS ACCEPTABLE BEFORE GOD OUR SAVIOR. It meets God's highest approval because it is in accordance with his own gracious designs toward the sons of men.

III. REASON OR GROUND FOR THIS UNIVERSALITY OF OUR PUBLIC PRAYERS. It is good and acceptable "before God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." He wills that all men should be saved, therefore we should pray for all men. Our prayers will thus be in conformity with his wilt.

1. Consider the nature of the salvation here described.

(1) It is not mere salvation from intellectual error, for it is that which is involved in "the full knowledge of the truth."

(2) It is not mere salvability, as if he made the salvation of all men possible.

(3) It is not salvation merely offered for man's acceptance, but salvation actually obtained and enjoyed. The immediate end is "the knowledge of the truth," the ultimate end salvation in its completeness.

2. Consider the relation of the Divine will to this salvation. "Who will have all men to be saved."

(1) There is nothing in the language to justify the theory of Universalists that all men will ultimately be saved.

(a) The apostle uses the term θέλει, not the stronger term βουλέται, which implies will with a purpose or intent.

(b) If he had used the term σῶζαι, he must have saved all; but the word is σωθῆναι, implying his will that they should be brought, through the knowledge of the truth, to salvation.

(c) If we are to interpret the will of God by his providence, we must understand it in consistency with the fact that the large majority of mankind have never heard of salvation and have no knowledge of it.

(d) It must be remembered that many must have failed to reach this salvation before Christ died at all.

(2) The language of universality is consistent with other language of Scripture.

(a) Christ says, "And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32); "All men shall see the salvation of the Lord" (Luke 3:6). The Messiah "shall pour out his Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:28). Christ "died for all," and he may therefore be truly called Salvator hominum. He died for all to arrest the immediate execution of the sentence of the Law upon man for sin; to obtain for him unnumbered blessings in this life, that he might secure a proper foundation for the offer of salvation through his blood.

(b) But the design of God in the death of Christ had not the same relation to all. He is "the Savior of all, but especially of them that believe." He is the Savior of his people, of his Church, of the elect.

(c) The language of universality used in the passage was suggested by way of contrast to the restrictiveness of Gnostic teaching, which led the apostle to say to the Colossians that his aim was "to present every man perfect in Christ" (Colossians 1:28); perhaps, likewise, the restrictiveness of a narrow Judaism, for he emphasizes in the context his mission as "a teacher of the Gentiles." There is deep mystery in God's counsels. But he here sets forth his good will to man, and charges it on the conscience of believers to pray that all without exception should be brought to the knowledge of the truth. - T.C.

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KJV: For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

WEB: For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;