I prefer to read it as intended. It's obvious God does NOT save all people. That should be a clue. And "especially those who believe" also means something, and that should be a clue.
The Living God is the only Saviour men have. "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no Saviour". That's a fact. We cannot be saved by anyone else....not through our own works, or, in your case, through the excuse of stupidity. GOD is the only Saviour.
Indeed.
The key to unlocking 1 Tim 4:10 verse is to recognize that the word "Savior" has a soteriological (that is, relating to salvation) and a non-soteriological meaning in Scripture. The twofold nature of the word,
Savior, is clear from the phrase "
especially those...", for we know universalism cannot be the proper view. Thus the word,
Savior must also have a meaning other than what we normally associate the word to mean.
For example, in the Old Testament, the term often meant "to deliver — (verbal form) or deliverer (nominal form)" — both with reference to men and God (see Judg. 3:9; II Kings 13:5; Neh. 9:27; Ps. 25:5;106:21).
Moreover, in the New Testament, reference is made to the Old Testament where God delivered Israel from the oppression of Pharaoh for He had been the Savior of all,
but especially those who believed. With "
those who believed", and with them alone, He was "
well pleased" (I Cor. 10:5). Observe that all left Egypt; yet not all entered Canaan.
In both the Old and New Testaments the term "Savior" is often used to speak of God's providential preservation or deliverance which extends to all men without exception. (Ps. 36:6; 145:9; Matt. 5:45; Luke 6:35; Acts 17:25, 28.)
God also causes His gospel of salvation to be earnestly proclaimed to
all men without distinction; that is, to men from every race and nation (Matt. 28:19). Truly the kindness of God extends to all. But even the circle of those to whom the message of salvation is proclaimed is wider than those who receive it by a true saving faith.
So, a paraphrase of 4:10 would be something like this:
We have our hope set on the living God, and in this hope we shall not be disappointed, for not only is He a kind God, hence the Savior (i.e., preserver or deliverer in a providential, non-soteriological sense) of all men, showering blessings upon them, but He is, in a very special sense, the Savior (in a soteriological sense) of those who by faith embrace Him and His promise, for to them He imparts salvation, everlasting life in all its fullness.
The living god is the providential preserver of all men; but he is especially so for believers, for he not only physically and temporally delivers them, but he also spiritually and eternally saves them.
AMR
