Our Only Hope
This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labour and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe 1 Timothy 4:9,10
Paul’s wording ‘the living God, who is the Savior of all men’ has been understood in three main ways:
(1) everyone will finally enjoy salvation. The benefit of being a believer is that we get to experience and enjoy this salvation in the here and now as well as the after-life.
(2) recognising that Paul elsewhere clearly says not all will experience salvation, the emphasis here is that God is potentially the saviour of humanity. There is no salvation outside of Him and anyone who finds salvation has found it in Him and by believing on Christ
While this is undoubtedly true, Paul probably had a third alternative in mind.
(3) the term ‘saviour’ was commonly used as a title of honour for Caesar, the Roman Emperor. Paul is using the term as he thinks it should be used – of God (and Jesus in 2 Timothy 1:10).
Who can save the world from decay, injustice and the self-destructive behaviour of humanity? Caesar? No, this world’s only hope is Father God and His Son, Jesus Christ. There is a very real sense in which the whole world is better off because of what God has already done in Christ but it is only believers who have the extraordinary privilege of appropriating that salvation in its fullness now.
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