Questions From Readers

◼ First Timothy 4:10 calls God “a Savior of all sorts of men, especially of faithful ones.” So will any unfaithful ones be saved?

No. The point is that salvation is assured particularly for those exercising faith.

The apostle Paul advised Timothy that a benefit of godly devotion is that it “holds promise of the life now and that which is to come.” (1 Timothy 4:6-8) Then Paul wrote: “For to this end we are working hard and exerting ourselves, because we have rested our hope on a living God, who is a Savior of all sorts of men, especially of faithful ones.”​—1 Timothy 4:10.

God holds out to all men the possibility of salvation. As Paul wrote: “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5, 6) But who will respond to the ransom, choosing life rather than death? (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20) Some people reject the Christian message of salvation. In others, the ‘seed’ takes root and grows for a while, but later they let opposition, material interests or other concerns come between them and salvation.​—Matthew 13:3-8.

So while the salvation God holds out is available potentially to everyone, the way things turn out will prove that salvation is particularly for “faithful ones.” The apostle Peter thus urged: “For this reason, brothers, all the more do your utmost to make the calling and choosing of you sure for yourselves; for if you keep on doing these things you will by no means ever fail.”​—2 Peter 1:10; John 3:16.