There are three verses that are cited over and over from pulpits and laymen alike who wish to maintain that all men are equally capable of responding to the outward call of the gospel either by their own free will apart from grace, by a "prevenient grace" given equally to all men, or by the Father's inward call which they claim may be resisted. These three verses have come to be known as the "Arminian big three". It is my purpose in the following article to expose these errors of interpretation in the light of Biblical truth. Footnotes are provided with definitions to some of the theological terms for those that need them, indicated by linked numbers within the text.

2 Peter 3:9

This particular verse seems to be the favorite of those who believe that men elect themselves. From the ESV it reads like this:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

The (1.) Arminians and other (2.) synergists always offer this verse as proof positive that God is not willing that anyone from all of the human race throughout history should perish but that they all come to repentence. So the man who rejects the gospel thwarts God's will and perishes despite God's will. But a look at the context quickly shows this to be a classic example of (3.) subjective interpretation and (4.) pretexting.

To understand what Peter is declaring, we need to discover who he is refering to in the word "you" in 2 Peter 3:9. Looking at the immediate (5.) context, we discover in the verse prior to that who Peter is refering to:

2 Peter 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (ESV, emphasis mine)

The key identifying word is "beloved". The "you" in verse nine is refering to the "beloved". So who are the "beloved"?

Upon further examination of the text, we see the same word "beloved" again in verse one of this same chapter:

2 Peter 3:1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, (ESV, emphasis added)

But now we see yet another reference to the "beloved". Peter indicates that this is the second letter he wrote to them, the "beloved". So now lets go to 1 Peter and see if it tells us more about the "beloved":

1 Peter 1:1-2 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. (ESV)

The context reveals undeniably that the "you" in 2 Peter 3:9 are the "beloved" and "elect" of God, and the words "any" and "all" without question refer to the "you" of the same verse. So what is God through His apostle saying? That Christ is not slow to fullfill the promise of His coming, but He is patient towards his beloved elect, not willing that any of them should perish but that all come to repentence.

Now look at the context again. What is the subject? The second coming of Christ, right? So dosen't it make more sense when verse nine is properly understood? Think about it; if The Lord delays his coming for the sake of every single person, then when would His coming be? I suppose to the Arminian and his subjective interpretation, He just eventually runs out of patience and gives up, bringing swift destruction to those who might otherwise be saved.

But with the true understanding of the passage, God delays His coming untill all of His chosen elect come to repentence, fulfilling His promise and the will of the Father:

John 6:37-39 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

John 17:6-12 I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

Numbers 23:19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Malachi 3:6 "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

1 Timothy 2:4-6

1 Timothy 2:4-6 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. (ESV)

This is another popular passage used by the Arminian to support a view that salvation is not only offered to everyone but everyone is equally and fully capable of coming to a knowlege of the truth prior to regeneration. Verse 6 is then used to support the Arminian idea that Christ bore in His body on the cross the sins of every single person and atoned for them all.

To understand what this passage actually means, we must read it within not only the immediate context but also within the broader context of the whole of Scripture. Verses 1-3 identify the phrase "all people" in verse 4:

1 Timothy 2:1-3 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,

The phrase "all people" is explained to include "kings and all who are in high positions", so by identifying these specific kinds of people, the phrase "all people" is shown to refer to "all kinds of people". This usage is further established when we look at verse 7:

1 Timothy 2:7 For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Again, a kind of people, the Gentiles, are identified.

The second phrase we need to look at is "gave himself as a ransom for all". Again, the word "all" is used, but does this mean "every single person"? It can't. That's right, that would be an impossible interpretation because it would contradict Christ Himself:

Matthew 20:28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 26:28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (ESV, emphasis mine)

The word "many" simply cannot mean "every single person". It is an exclusive term and a limiting term. Christ gave His life as a ransom for many. But there is no contradiction in Scripture, and so our verse here in 1 Timothy is also true, Christ gave Himself a ransom for all, with the word "all" meaning the same thing as the word "many" for the same phrase used by Christ. So who are the "all" of verse 6?

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

That's who Christ ransomed, people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. That's what is meant by the word "all" in verse 6 and "many" in the gospels.

So tying it all together, reading from verse 1 through 7, we can rightly interpret Paul's meaning; we are to pray for all kinds of people, including kings and those in authority, by implication those under their authority, Gentiles and by implication Jews, for God desires the salvation of all kinds and classes of people, for he is God of them all, and gave His life a ransom for all kinds and classes of people. For this reason, that is, that God desires all kinds of people be saved, Paul was appointed an apostle to the Gentiles.

One final thought concerning this passage and the Arminian interpretation. Look at the word "Ransom". In the Greek the word is antilutron in verse 6 and lutron in Matthew 20:28. The definition is essentialy the same: the price for redeeming to liberate many from misery and the penalty of their sins (Thayer). Clearly in verse 6 Christ paid this price on the cross, He did not as some Arminians claim only suffer for our sins making atonement possible, He actually accomplished atonement with God by paying the price for sins at the cross. So if this then is an accomplished atonement, how can it be said that it was purchased for every single person? It cannot. And Scripture does not claim this. Christ purchased redemption for His people, actually and finally, on the cross, by paying the price or "ransom" for their sins in full. If this was done for all people, then all people are saved. We know that all people are not and will not be saved from Scripture. So the atonement was limited only to those who would be saved. Christ did not bear the sins of the sons of destruction and those who were in Hell awaiting judgement. Because of unbelief they will bear their own iniquity and die in their sins because Christ did not bear their sins on the cross.

Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Hebrews 9:12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Hebrews 9:28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Matthew 23:37

Mattew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

This verse is used by Arminians to try to prove that people have the ability to choose or reject salvation prior to the new birth. They claim that the word Jerusalem refers to all the inhabitants of the city, who God wanted to save but they were not willing.

One problem with the Arminian interpretation is clear within this verse: it was not Jerusalem that God desired to gather but her children. Jerusalem was preventing Him from gathering her children; "Jerusalem...would not!" So who is Jerusalem? The key is, as always, within the context:

Matthew 23:29-34 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, (ESV, emphasis added)

So the word Jerusalem refers to the city's religous leaders, the scribes and Pharisees. The religous leaders of the city are the one's responsible for the blood of the prophets and those sent to them from God, both in the past and in the future.

If we back up a few verses the meaning becomes crystal clear:

Mat 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. (ESV)

Christ's meaning is clear; "Jerusalem" refers to the religous leaders of the city who kill the representatives sent by God to witness to the people of the city (her children), who God desired to gather to Himself but the leaders (Jerusalem) would not allow it. The Arminian interpretation is pretexting; it has nothing to do with the context of the passage, which is the condemnation of the religous leaders of Jerusalem.

Luke 11:52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering."

Footnotes

(1.) An Arminian is one who follows (knowingly or unknowingly) the teachings of the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius (1560-1609). These teachings were summorized after his death into the five "Remonstrant (or, protest) Articles" that were submitted to the governing authorities in Holland and subsequently condemned as heresies by the Dutch Reformed Church at the Synod of Dordt in 1618-1619. The Synod declared five counter points in opposition to the Arminian articles that came to be known as the "five points of Calvinism". A detailed but still concise explanation of the two theological views can be found here.

Arminianism or a modified version of it is by far the most widely taught among Christian churches in the United States.

(2.) A synergist is one who believes that man cooperates with God in regeneration or the new birth. In opposition to this view is monergism which declares that God alone through the Holy Spirit effects the new birth in Christians, previous to and apart from any action by man. Synergists believe that a man is born again through faith while Monergists have the Biblical view that a person must be born again to enable saving faith and repentence. A more detailed explanation of the two views with a helpfull chart can be found here.

(3.) Subjective Interpretation also known as eisogesis means reading one's own pre-concieved ideas into the text rather than extrapolating from the text it's true interpretation, which is called exogesis. A very common error of interpretation.

(4.) Pretexting also called wresting Scripture is using a verse or passage as a stand-alone statement out of its context to support an idea that the verse or passage within its context does not support. This is extremely common today, and very deceptive in that an idea which is completely unbiblical can seem Biblical with a few cited verses.

(5.) Context means "that which goes with the text". Context is what determines correct interpretation. Any word, verse, chapter, or book of Scripture should be interpreted in light of the immediate and broader context of the verse, verses, chapter, book, and the whole of Scripture.

Context is determined by identifying certain aspects of the text, such as type of literature used (poetic, narrative, apocalyptic, etc.), the whos, whats, whens, wheres and hows, historical and cultural backgrounds, word usage and definition, and whether the passage is literal or figurative.

Within the rule of context is a summary of the entire interpretation process. Identifying the aspects of the context is key to understanding the Bible.