Asking the Fundamental Question - Part 2

In a prior post, I considered two Biblical absolutes.

The first is that any person who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Anyone.

The other is that natural men are not seeking the Lord. No one.

But people are saved, and that raises the question of how that is. The Biblical answer, I believe, is that God Himself is the agent of that. Ephesians 2:8 states that even our faith is His gift, but that in no way eliminates His demand that all men repent (Acts 17:30). Neither does it eliminate God’s assertion that every single man has a basic knowledge that the world was created, and therefore has a Creator (Romans 1), and therefore is accountable. That this basic knowledge of Romans 1 is not specific knowledge about Jesus Christ is evidenced in part by the many religions that have and do exist. The Bible then tells us that anyone can be saved, but that no one is looking for it. It tells us that all men are commanded to believe, but most men don’t — and one of the Bible’s descriptions of those that do is “elect.”

Complicating things further is a selection of passages and verses that use the word “all” or “every” regarding the work of Christ in salvation:

Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4)
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. (1 Timothy 2:6)
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)

The Greek word used there is “pas,” and it has many nuances of meaning, as seen at this website: (LINK).

Starting with the proposition that God is not going to eventually save every single human being (or else God’s warnings about eternal judgment are lies), we immediately recognize that no verse containing this phraseology teaches Universalism. What they do teach (and they teach this consistently) is that Jesus’ death is both sufficient for every single human and is solitary in nature — His death is the only way for humans to be saved.

Let us look at John 1:9 in that context. In verses 1-5, we see the identification of the Word — it is God. In God is life and light, John 1:4. I understand this to be both broad and narrow in meaning. Broad because all human life exists in God. And narrow because He is the solitary Source of light about Himself.

In John 1:1-6, we see the initiative of God. God sent a witness to the Light. We are told two times that the witness was not the Light. But we are told in John 1:7 that through the witness, ALL men might come to faith in the Light. Men were to come to the Light through the witness of John the Baptist. And it is in this paragraph that Jesus is identified as the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

Does John 1:9 mean that every human being born has an innate knowledge of Jesus? I think not, and here’s why…

First, if every man has that kind of knowledge, what is the point of sending John the Baptist? For that matter, what is the point of any evangelism?

Secondly, how would we understand the rest of John if all men have some innate intuition about Jesus Christ? Immediately after telling us that Jesus is the Light that lights every man, John tells us that the world did not know Him (John 1:10) and that when He came to His own people, they would not have Him (John 1:11). John 3:19 tells us that Light came into the world, but that the world loved the darkness of their evil deeds.

I would understand John 1:9 then to be making the point that Jesus is the True Light — the solitary Light for any man’s salvation.

That still leaves the question of how and why the Light is received by some and rejected by others — an issue for my next article.

Asking the Fundamental Question - Part 1