Cheating?
1 Timothy 2:1-7[1]
We have a saying, “Cheaters never prosper.” Unfortunately,
there are a lot of people in this world who “cheat” in some way or another and
get away with it. That doesn’t sit well with most of us. We don’t like it when
someone takes unfair advantage and gets away with it. Of course, except when we
do it. And, of course, when we do it, it’s not “cheating” or “taking unfair
advantage.” It’s “being smart.” Or “maximizing our opportunities.” Or “getting
ahead.” We don’t like “cheaters,” but what most of us tend to overlook is the
fact that we all have advantages that we didn’t necessarily work for. They were
handed to us at birth. And in this world, our advantages represent a kind of
“cheat” to those who don’t have them.
We tend to look at religion the same way. We believe that
“heaven” is reserved for those who, like us, do things the “right” way. And
those who fail to live up to the standards we have worked hard all our lives to
maintain rightfully deserve to be denied access to “heaven” and its blessings.
I think we have a hard time grasping the idea of a God who loves all
people with no strings attached.[2] It seems
that in our experience with life, there are always strings attached. Or
expectations we have to live up to. The idea that God simply loves us, and that
there’s nothing we can do to change that love, is one that just doesn’t compute
with many of us. In fact, we may think of it as “cheating” that some people who
don’t live up to our standards get to enjoy the same love that we do. The idea
that God loves us all unconditionally and irrevocably just doesn’t seem quite
right, or perhaps even quite fair.
Despite all that, That God loves us all is precisely the
message of our Scripture lesson for today from First Timothy. Simply put, “God
our Savior … desires everyone to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). And to that end,
“Christ Jesus … gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). The language is
clearly all-inclusive, embracing “everyone.” That may come as a surprise to
you, because it’s not the typical way in which we understand God’s “plan of
salvation.” We tend to think of salvation not as a gift of God’s grace, but as
a transaction. Those of us who do the right things, like believing in Jesus,
going to church, and living the right kind of life, receive salvation as a
reward for our efforts. Those who don’t get what they “deserve”
This view of salvation has been around for a long time.
From the earliest days of the church, the accepted view was that “outside the
church there is no salvation.” This makes the statement from our Scripture
lesson problematic, to say the least. When you take that point of view, it’s
hard to believe that God “desires everyone to be saved.” And so we have come up
with ways to “adjust” this bold declaration to make it more palatable. Some
will say “God desires everyone to be saved,” but “everyone” equals all kinds of
people, not all people. Others say “God desires everyone to be saved,” but
“everyone” equals all those whom God has chosen for salvation, not all people.
The conclusion seems unavoidable that what they are really saying is that “God
does not desire everyone to be saved”![3]
I think there are a variety of reasons why we take this
verse of Scripture and twist it around to mean the opposite of what it says.
For one thing, we want life to be fair. If you’re like me, and you’ve been in
church all your life, it can seem unfair that God offers salvation to everyone
without conditions. I’ve had a long-standing member of a Presbyterian church
ask the question, “If God is going to save everyone, then why do we go to
church?” Of course, this betrays the assumption that we can somehow earn God’s
love by attending church. In reality, that kind of thinking has it all
backwards. We don’t go to church in order to earn God’s love. We go to church
because we’ve encountered the incredible love God gives all of us, and in
response we want to live our lives by loving God in every way we can.
I think another reason for this kind of thinking is that we
think that people ought to get what they deserve. It can seem like “cheating”
for someone who has lived however they pleased to get to experience God’s
salvation just the same as those who have tried to practice kindness and
justice. I also had a church member tell me “There are some people I want to go
to hell!” Again, this misses the point of the gospel. The gift of salvation
isn’t something we can somehow do enough good to “deserve.” The message of
Scripture is that none of us can ever “deserve” God’s love. That’s why it’s a
gift—for everyone. That’s a good thing for all of us—regardless of what we
think we “deserve.”
I can accept and endorse the fact that there are different
interpretations of the Christian faith.
There always have been, and there always will be. But I never have and never will embrace a
view of God that excludes the vast majority of humanity from the gift of
salvation through Christ. I choose to take the Scripture at face value when it
says “God desires everyone to be saved”!
And I believe it is valid both biblically and theologically to hope for
and believe in God’s eventual redemption of all people.[4] The foundation for this faith is nothing less than God’s character: it’s
who God is—God our Savior. [5]
I realize this sermon may leave some of you scratching your
heads. It may not sound like any sermon you’ve ever heard before.
Unfortunately, the idea that we have to earn God’s love by doing enough good to
deserve salvation has been around for a long time. But I would say that idea is
not consistent with the message of Scripture. The Bible teaches us that God
loves us simply because that’s who God is. And there’s nothing we can ever do
to deserve that love. The flip side of it is that there is nothing we can ever
do to lose God’s love. The good news of the Gospel is that God loves us all,
and because of that love he “desires for everyone to be saved.” That is the
purpose and the goal toward which God has been working throughout the
centuries. And nothing and no one will
be able to prevent God from accomplishing that goal. It may seem like
“cheating” to some, but I call it “grace.”
[1] © 2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/21/2025 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2] Cf. Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith,
136, where he (as a Reformed theologian) points out that the doctrine of dual
predestination “has caused much uncertainty and has robbed many Christians of
the joy of the Christian faith.”
[3] Cf. John Calvin, Institutes of the
Christian Religion, 3.23.1: “since election itself could not stand except
as set over against reprobation … those whom God passes over, he condemns.” Calvin
was influenced by Augustine of Hippo, who argued that God’s desire for “all
people to be saved” only applies to those whom God has predestined to
salvation, and excludes all others, even infants who die without being
baptized. See Augustine, On Rebuke and
Grace, 14.44; On the Predestination
of the Saints, 18.36; Enchiridion,
27, 103; cf. Jaroslav Pelikan, The
Christian Tradition I:321; Johannes Quasten, Patrology IV:443. On
infants, see Augustine, On the Soul and
its Origin, 4.11.16; cf. Pelikan, Christian
Tradition I:297-98.
[4] Many throughout the history of the church have endorsed this view, beginning
with Origen of Caesarea, and including Gregory of Nyssa, Juliana of Norwich. See
J. Pelikan, The Christian Tradition,
I: 151-52; V:116-17, 224; J. Quasten, Patrology
II:87-91; III:289-90. In more recent times this view was represented by Catholic
theologians like Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar, and by Protestant Theologians
of all traditions. In the Reformed tradition, both Karl Barth (eventually) and
Jürgen Moltmann, both of whom were influenced by the 19th Century German
pietist Christoph Blumhardt, endorsed this viewpoint.
[5] Cf. James D. G. Dunn, “The First and Second Letters to Timothy and The Letter
to Titus” New Interpreters Bible XI:798,
where he says that this is “a statement that is as clear as any assertion of
‘Christian universalism’: God wills the salvation of everyone.”
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