Section CCXCII

But the things which Paul immediately adds flood the whole matter with a richer light. For scarcely had he commemorated God our Savior when it immediately came into his mind to explain more distinctly what is signified by that appellation, and whence God must be judged to be called σωτήρ. Therefore, in continuous discourse he added: ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν, “who,” God the Savior and therefore worthy of the name Savior, “wills all men,” by a will proper to a savior, “to be saved and to come to the acknowledgment of the truth”¹. Here these things must be determined part by part: I. what kind of will Paul commemorates; II. how great is its extension and amplitude; III. what the word σωθῆναι properly signifies; IV. to what the formula εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν pertains; and V. what twin testimonies of the Scriptures conduce to illustrating and establishing these things.

What kind of will, therefore, is that which Paul expresses when he says, ὃς θέλει, “who wills”? It is a will proper to a savior; and it is the will on account of which it is pleasing and acceptable to God the Savior that prayers be poured forth for the salvation of others. But the will of a savior can be neither sterile nor unfruitful, since he cannot uphold either the reality or the name of savior who does not bring aid, avert destruction, and provide for salvation; nor, likewise, can that will be sterile and unfruitful which by its own nature tends to this, that it excite and inflame men to pour forth prayers for the salvation of others. Therefore Paul commemorates that will which is fruitful, efficacious, active, and by which the power of escaping misery and attaining felicity is bestowed.

But what limits does he place upon it, and what amplitude does he assign to it? He assigns, namely, that amplitude which 1) the words πάντες ἄνθρωποι bear; which 2) the antecedents demand; which 3) the connection of the discourse requires; and which 4) befits the Savior of all men and especially of the faithful. But there is none of these which does not perspicuously demonstrate the complete amplitude and infinite universality of the salvific will. For a) the words πάντες ἄνθρωποι, beneath which lies an infinite extension, demonstrate this; b) the antecedents, in which the expression ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀνθρώπων can only be taken infinitely, demonstrate this; c) the connection of the discourse demonstrates this, for it would not follow that prayer must be made for absolutely all men if God willed not all but only some men to be saved; finally, d) the reason and property of the Savior of all men demonstrate this. For he is not, nor can he be reckoned, the Savior of all men who of himself is not so disposed that he wills the preservation of all men and procures their salvation.