1 Thessalonians 5:9 KJV
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
It takes some thought to see this verse for what it is. The Apostle is writing to the church in Thessalonica, but he surely isn't addressing the members of the church when he refers to "us." Obviously, God had saved them already.
So it appears to me that the "us" he refers to would be all of us. Those of us who are lost and facing the wrath of God. God's intention, God's desire is not that we face that judgment. His appointment and His choice is that we would obtain and accept the salvation that He has offered us through Jesus Christ.
Adam Clarke says that it is obvious that if someone is appointed to salvation then someone else is appointed to wrath. And he says it is not difficult to determine who that is from the context of the whole of Paul's writings (and I would add the Book of Acts) that it speaks of the nation of Israel as a whole, who had rejected Christ and had been rejected of God.
There is every reason for the lost man to come to Christ hopefully and expectantly, for God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is every reason for the Child of God to preach and urge sinners to come to Christ because again God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
It takes some thought to see this verse for what it is. The Apostle is writing to the church in Thessalonica, but he surely isn't addressing the members of the church when he refers to "us." Obviously, God had saved them already.
So it appears to me that the "us" he refers to would be all of us. Those of us who are lost and facing the wrath of God. God's intention, God's desire is not that we face that judgment. His appointment and His choice is that we would obtain and accept the salvation that He has offered us through Jesus Christ.
Adam Clarke says that it is obvious that if someone is appointed to salvation then someone else is appointed to wrath. And he says it is not difficult to determine who that is from the context of the whole of Paul's writings (and I would add the Book of Acts) that it speaks of the nation of Israel as a whole, who had rejected Christ and had been rejected of God.
There is every reason for the lost man to come to Christ hopefully and expectantly, for God has not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And there is every reason for the Child of God to preach and urge sinners to come to Christ because again God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
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