Bible Synapse

Does God want everyone to be saved, or does he harden some?

Hard question · Salvation and the Christian life · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate

Both true, in different senses
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The passages

1 Timothy 2:3–4

God our Saviour will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is patient, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Ezekiel 33:11

God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.

Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Romans 9:18

God has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens.

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

John 12:37–40

Though Jesus did many signs, they did not believe; so Isaiah’s words were fulfilled, that God blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.

But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

The objection

Paul says God “will have all men to be saved”, Peter that he is “not willing that any should perish”, and James that he gives “to all men liberally”. Yet Paul also says that God hardens whom he will, Joshua says it was “of the Lord to harden their hearts”, and John says the people “could not believe” because God had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. Does God want everyone saved or not?

The answer

Scripture teaches both that God sincerely desires sinners to turn and live and that he hardens some, and the texts show how the two fit. God’s desire is stated with an oath: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, “how often would I have gathered thy children together”, and added, “and ye would not” (Matthew 23:37).

In these passages hardening falls on people who have already refused the light. God foretold that he would harden Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 4:21), but the narrative first says that Pharaoh “hardened his heart” (Exodus 8:15), and only at the sixth plague that “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh” (Exodus 9:12). The Canaanites were hardened to fight Israel (Joshua 11:20) only after centuries in which God had waited for their iniquity to become full (Genesis 15:16), and the people who lament that God has “hardened our heart” (Isaiah 63:17) confess in the same prayer, “we have sinned” (64:5). John says first, “though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him” (12:37), and only then quotes Isaiah’s words about blinding; Isaiah’s message was itself sent to a people who had long rebelled. Even then the hardening was not the end for everyone, for Paul says of Israel, “if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in” (Romans 11:23). So a God who wants all to repent can also give over to their chosen blindness those who persist in refusing him. How this relates to God’s choice of some for salvation is where Christians divide.

Other answers Christians give

Calvinist

Calvinists distinguish what God desires and commands, that all should repent, from what he has decreed to bring about, the salvation of those he chose (Romans 9). Many, like Gill, read ‘all men’ in 1 Timothy 2:4 as all kinds of people, kings included (2:1-2), and many read Peter’s ‘any’ as any of ‘us-ward’, God’s own people.

Arminian

Arminians hold that God gives grace enabling everyone to respond, that election in Romans 9 concerns God’s choice of peoples and roles for his purposes, such as Jacob and Esau, and that God hardens only those who have first refused him. Adam Clarke, for example, rejects any thought that God unconditionally reprobated anyone.

Still open

Why some are saved and not others, and how God’s sovereignty relates to human choice, has long been debated among Christians, especially between Calvinists and Arminians. Both read these texts as consistent.

From the classic commentators

rather therefore all sorts of men, agreeably to the use of the phrase in 1 Timothy 2:1 are here intended, kings and peasants, rich and poor, bond and free, male and female, young and old, greater and lesser sinnersJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible: 1 Timothy 2 (1746–1763), at Bible Hub
Because he wills the salvation of all men; therefore, he wills that all men should be prayed for.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible: 1 Timothy 2 (1810–1826), at Bible Hub

Sources

Further reading

Raised by: W. H. Burr, Self-Contradictions of the Bible (1860), EvilBible.com, The Skeptic’s Annotated Bible. Only the verse references come from these lists.

Checked 2026-10-22. All hard questions