God is Especially the Savior of Some

God is Especially the Savior of Some

1 Timothy 4:10 “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.” (NIV)

That "God is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe" means that God has made possible the salvation of everyone and those who believe have the special status of having gained that salvation for themselves.

Here's what I mean.

Apart from God, all people are irretrievably lost, separated from relationship with the Source of Life.

God sent Jesus so that whoever believes on Him would be saved and have eternal Life. What Jesus accomplished when He laid down His life and rose from the dead was co create a way for every single person to be saved. Titus 2:11 (ASV) "For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men."

God is the Savior of all people—no one is saved any other way.

However, God does not contravene the will of anyone. He has given us the dignity of choice and He respects that choice. Therefore, those who believe are actually reborn, saved, given eternal Life.

So while God is the Savior of everyone, He is especially the Savior of those who believe because they have accepted the gift by faith and therefor can benefit from it.

We might picture it this way.

Everyone is lost in the sea of sin, treading water and certain to die. God has sent a lifeboat—the USS Jesus Christ—and it is available to everyone and can easily hold everyone. Those who reject the boat remain dead in the sea of sin and separated from the salvation God has provided. Only those who trust that getting aboard this boat will rescue them will be saved from certain death.