Paul concluded his sentence in last week’s passage stressing God’s desire for all men to be saved. He continues that thought in this week’s verses, with three facts to underscore the idea. Take a look at 1 Timothy 2:5-6:

Salvation is very closely connected to a knowledge of the truth, as we saw in the previous verses. Paul underscores this with three facts about God the Father and God the Son. Whether this is Paul’s original thought, or a portion of some early creed or formula is unclear. Paul’s phraseology here bears similarity to the idea of “mediator” as seen in the letter to the Hebrews. It’s quite possible that there are some common foundations for these ideas, especially if Paul was the author of both letters.

There is one God

The unity of God is a very common theme throughout Jewish history, and calls to mind the Shema, found in Deuteronomy 6:4. The idea here is that God is the only God, over all people.

One mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ

We are helplessly disconnected from God because of our sin, and in desperate need of that salvation that God so earnestly desires for us. Our only opportunity for reconciliation is through a mediator. Jesus Christ is our go-between; he is the only one who can restore fallen man into a right relationship with God. Jesus Christ is that man. Paul’s use of the word man here is very specific, not the more common word for male gender. This reminds us of Paul’s correlation of Christ with Adam, and the image of Christ becoming the representative for mankind in the place of Adam.

Who gave himself as a ransom for all

Paul again states God’s desire for all men to come to salvation. The word “ransom” depicts a price paid to set free slaves or captives of war. Paul uses the imagery here to help us understand that Christ paid the price to set us free from slavery to sin. Christ substituted himself, and he did if for every single human being.

The final phrase of this week’s verse is slightly problematic. It’s a very difficult phrase to translate and connect to the immediate context. It seems to be saying that the sacrificial death of Christ was in fulfillment of God’s promises. This may refer to the history of salvation, and that in that span of history, the time for God’s salvation has arrived, as is evident by Christ’s death and sacrifice for all.

All of this is a continuation of the primacy of prayer that Paul started off the chapter addressing. We are to pray for all people because God wants all people to be saved.

That is our mission. And it can be tough. After all, it’s easy to pray for those we know, those we like, or those who are like us. But because of who God is, and how Christ died, we are called to pray for all people to come to salvation. If we seek to have a heart like God’s, then we will desire most the things he desires most; the salvation of everyone.

So how do we do this? One of the resources I use is called Operation World. It’s simply an examination of every nation on earth, with every people group or tribe represented. Statistics are given, giving insight to how well we are presenting the gospel around the world, along with some of the obstacles Christianity faces in each nation. It’s an incredible resource that helps drive my prayer life in this regard.

What do you do to remind yourself to pray for all people to be saved? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.