God will have all men to be saved and elects some. 1 Tim. 2:4, Rom. 8:28-30. God dies for all men and declares some righteous in Christ. 2 Cor. 5:15, Rom. 5: 17-21. God offers salvation to all men and regenerates some. John 3:16, Titus 3:5-7.
Speratus,
When you posit that God "will have all men to be saved", you mean by this that God "desires" the salvation of all men, not that he will save all men. This desire is an unfulfilled longing it would seem.
Certainly God does not expect dead men to come to life on their own (pelagianism) or by divine assistance (semi-pelagianism). Therefore, for God to desire a dead man to live would require that God desire to convert the dead man, which leaves God desiring in time that which he did not desire in eternity. Indulge me as I repeat myself and elaborate. You agree, along with Calvinists, that man cannot be converted apart from the monergistic work of regeneration. Notwithstanding, since you believe that God desires the salvation of reprobate men, then you should also affirm that God desires to regenerate such men since men cannot convert themselves. Your doctrine, therefore, reduces to God desiring to convert men (in history) that he did not desire to see converted (from eternity)! When did God change his mind as to what he originally desired with respect to the reprobate? Or would you argue that in eternity God planned to pass over the reprobate while desiring not to do so? In either case, your problem, as I see it, is that you (perhaps unwittingly) transfer the power of salvation from God to man when you speak in terms of God “desiring” the conversion of all men without exception. Again, I can see an Arminian speaking in such terms, but not a Reformer.
I intentionally ignored the doctrine of particular redemption but to deny it requires the same disharmony within the Godhead. If you won’t square the Holy Spirit’s work with the decree of the Father, I don’t think I have much of a chance of persuading you that your view of the Son’s vicarious work is also disharmonious.
