All Means All
And everyone will see the salvation of God.” (Luke 3:6)
It’s the age-old question that caused the division between Martin Luther and John Calvin: Why some and not others? Why do some people go to heaven and not others? We call this the doctrine of election. When Luther considered this question, he relied on passages such as 1 Timothy 2:3-4 (This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.) and John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.) to interpret what Paul meant in Romans 8:28-30 (We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose, because those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called. Those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified.) By these and many other passages in Scripture, Luther stated that Scripture teaches that those who go to heaven, go only by the grace of God, which is a gift, but those who go to hell, go because of their lack of faith in Jesus.
John Calvin, on the other hand, added into this his own logic. He postulated that if God has elected some to eternal glory in heaven, then he must also condemn some to eternal damnation in hell. Therefore, when God says that he wants all to be saved, he is really only talking about the elect and when it says that Christ died for the world, he only really died for the elect in the world.
Today’s passage from Luke (and Isaiah 40) is another one of those passages that back up what Luther taught about election. When God sent John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus, John was to prepare the people for the coming of their savior. And Isaiah says that all flesh will see the salvation of God.
There are very few places on this earth that the Bible cannot be found. Even in the places where it is illegal to be a Christian, there are still people who hold firm to their faith and risk their lives to share the good news of God’s salvation. And one day, Jesus will return to this earth for all to see him. Then all people will know that Jesus is the way to salvation. They will confess that he is the way of salvation and those who believed in him will be taken to be with him in eternity forever. Amen.
The song for today is “ God Loved The World So That He gave” by Concordia Publishing House