Part 13 Just What Do You Mean “ALL”
What is meant by the word “All,” and how to understand the passages in the Bible that use the word “All.” There are a number of passages in the bible that use the word “all.” In the upcoming “Christian Universalism” section I will be covering a number of these passages. This is very important in understand that section.
First a definition of the word. You can look up any dictionary and it will give a similar meaning. That is “all” means the total, entire or whole quantity. That is if I said “all children attended class today,” one would understand that they all were in class, and not one child was not there. A farmer could say “I have moved all my cows to the other field.” Meaning that the entity herd of cows has been moved to the other field, not one cow was not moved.
Is this how we should understand the word in the Bible, or should we understand it differently.
Those who teach that unbelievers are not saved make the point that “all” can mean “all mankind,” every person, but not everyone is saved because they have to choose Christ, if everyone chose Christ, then everyone, the entirety of mankind would be saved. However because they do not chose Christ they are not saved. I have already covered this, but briefly a recap, in the “Freewill” section I covered that fact that people do not have freewill, there for they can not freely choose Christ as their Saviour. In the “Calvinism & Predestination” section I covered the fact that it is Christ that has already chosen, you do not chose Him, He, Christ has chosen you {Ephesians 1:3-6}, and that it is the Father that draws the chosen to Christ. If you are not drawn to Christ by the Father, then you can not come to Christ. This being the only way to come to Christ.
Another point that those who teach that unbelievers are not saved make is that the word “all” in the scriptures does not mean the entire or whole of mankind.
Lets look at a couple of places were “All” or “entire” is used where it may not mean all or entire.
In Acts 21:30-32 Paul the apostle is arrested in Jerusalem and the whole city was moved, and in uproar. Now of course not everyone in the whole city of Jerusalem young and old was moved or in uproar over what was happening. The reader should understand that many, if not the majority of the city was moved and in uproar, but not every single person.
However one can then not use these verses to support there view point that it is only the few believers that are saved and that is what is meant by the word all. While one can point out that in this instance it does not mean every single person, it also does not mean only a few in Jerusalem were in uproar.
The majority were in uproar, and if all means the majority, then used in this way, the majority of mankind would be saved, not just the few.
In Mark 1:32-34 the “whole city” of Capernaum “was assembled at the door,” of Simon Peter’s house to be heal and for the casting out of demons. Again it is unlikely it was the entire city, every single person in Capernaum that was at the door.
Again it was a lot of people, even the majority of the city that was at the door, it was not just a few people that were at the door.
“….they brought to Him all those who have an illness and those who are demoniacs." {“demoniacs” those who were demon possessed}
Are we to understand that they did not bring everyone that had an illness and everyone that was demon possessed? Or are we to understand that they brought everyone in the city that had an illness and everyone in the city that was demon possessed.
You have to be careful here, it is in these instances that it is not the entire city, it does not then mean you can just apply it to other places in the scriptures. If you just applied to other places you may not come to the correct understanding.
Matthew 1:17 Then all the generations from Abraham till David are fourteen generations, and from David till the Babylonian exile are fourteen generations, {CLV}
Is there fourteen generations or some other amount of generations? If there is exactly fourteen generations, then all means all fourteen generations. There is not one generation left out.
Matthew 13:34 All these things Jesus speaks in parables to the throngs, and apart from a parable He spoke nothing to them, {CLV}
Jesus spoke of all those things to the throngs in parables only, we are to understand that everyone of the things was spoken to the crowds in parables. In fact it makes it clear by stating that “apart from a parable He spoke nothing to them.”
Jesus enters the temple and casts out all those who are trading in the sanctuary.
Matthew 21:12 And Jesus entered into the sanctuary and cast out all those selling and buying in the sanctuary,..{CLV}
That is Jesus cast out every person that was selling or buying, all of them, there was not one that He left in the sanctuary. It should be clear that there are places in the New Testament where “all,” does mean the entirety of the thing spoken about.
Caesar Augustus issued a decree at the time of Jesus’ birth “that the entire inhabited earth register” {Luke 2:1, CLV}. It was not that the entire inhabited earth was to register, it was that the entire Roman Empire was to register. Those outside of the Roman Empire did not have to register, it did not apply to them. Here we are looking at the context, that is the word “entire” applied to the entire Roman Empire, not the entire earth or globe. Caesar Augustus was the Roman emperor, that gives us the context.
Can this then be use to argue that in the places where “all mankind” is used in scripture, it does not mean all mankind. Actually no, because you have to look at the context.
1Timothy 2:3-4 for this is ideal and welcome in the sight of our Saviour, God,
Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth. {CLV}
Here in this context God is the God of all mankind, the entire world population, throughout all time. Caesar was the emperor of the entire Roman empire, that is the context in Luke 2:1. God is the God of the entire planet, no one part of the planet is left out. He, God is the God of every single person. That is the context here in 1Timothy 2:3-4. Here God wills all mankind be saved, most would agree and understand that God would will every single person on the whole entire planet to be saved. There is not some group or certain people that He, God does not will to be Saved. More on this in the “Christian Universal” section.
Copyright © M J Farquharson 2021