There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all" (I Tim. 2:5-6).
A ransom for ALL?
Then why should not all involved have some benefit, from Christ’s death?
Why should not ALL come to a knowledge of the truth that they may believe?
Without the KEY, how dark, how inconsistent these statements appear; but when we find the KEY to God’s plan, these texts all declare with one voice,
“God is love.”
This key is found in the latter part of the text last quoted - "Who gave Himself a ransom for all, “to be testified in due time.”
Ah, God has a “due time” for everything! He could have testified it to these in their past lifetime; but since He did not, it proves that their “due time” must be the future.
For those who will be of the Church, the body of Christ, the firstfruits of His redemption, the present is the “due time” to hear and receive; and whosoever now has an ear to hear, let him hear and heed, and he will be blessed accordingly.
Though Jesus paid our ransom before we were born, it was not our “due time” to hear of it for long years afterward, and only the appreciation of it, quickened by the Holy Spirit, brought responsibility; and this, only to the extent of our ability and appreciation.
The same principle applies to all: in God’s due time it will be testified to all, and all will then have the glorious opportunity to believe and be blessed by it.
The prevailing opinion is that death ends all opportunity; but there is no Scripture which so teaches; and all the above, and many more Scriptures, would be meaningless, or worse, if death ends all hope for the ignorant masses of the world. -J. Preston Eby-