John Calvin Commentary 1 Timothy 2:6

"who gave himself a ransom for all; the testimony [to be borne] in its own times;" — 1 Timothy 2:6 (ASV)

Who gave himself a ransom for all. The mention of redemption in this passage is not unnecessary, for there is a necessary connection between these two things: the sacrifice of Christ's death and His continual intercession (Romans 8:34). These are the two parts of His priesthood. For when Christ is called our priest, it is in this sense: He once made atonement for our sins by His death, that He might reconcile us to God; and now, having entered into the sanctuary of heaven, He appears in the Father's presence to obtain grace for us, so that we may be heard in His name (Psalms 110:4; Hebrews 7:17).

This all the more exposes the wicked sacrilege of the Papists, who, by making dead saints companions of Christ in this matter, likewise transfer to them the glory of the priesthood. Read the end of Hebrews chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5 (Hebrews 4:5–14:10), and you will find what I maintain: that the intercession by which God is reconciled to us is founded on the sacrifice. Indeed, this is demonstrated by the whole system of the ancient priesthood. Therefore, it follows that it is impossible to take from Christ any part of the office of intercession and bestow it on others without stripping Him of the title of priesthood.

Besides, when the Apostle calls Him ἀντίλυτρον, "a ransom," He overthrows all other satisfactions. Yet I am not ignorant of the injurious devices of the Papists, who pretend that the price of redemption, which Christ paid by His death, is applied to us in baptism, so that original sin is effaced, and that afterwards we are reconciled to God by satisfactions. In this way they limit to a short period of time, and to a single group, that benefit which was universal and perpetual. But a full explanation of this subject will be found in the Institutes.

That there might be a testimony in due time; that is, in order that this grace might be revealed at the appointed time. The phrase for all, which the Apostle had used, might have given rise to the question: “Why then had God chosen a special people, if He revealed Himself as a reconciled Father to all without distinction, and if the one redemption through Christ was common to all?” He cuts off all ground for that question by referring the season for revealing His grace to God's purpose.

For if we are not astonished that in winter the trees are stripped of their foliage, the fields are covered with snow, and the meadows are stiff with frost, and that, by the genial warmth of spring, what appeared for a time to be dead begins to revive—because God appointed the seasons to follow in succession—why should we not allow the same authority to His providence in other matters? Shall we accuse God of instability because He brings forward, at the proper time, what He had always determined and settled in His own mind?

Accordingly, although it came upon the world suddenly and was altogether unexpected that Christ was revealed as a Redeemer to Jews and Gentiles without distinction, let us not think that it was sudden with respect to God. On the contrary, let us learn to submit all our understanding to His wonderful providence. The consequence will be that nothing that comes from Him will fail to appear to us as highly seasonable.

For that reason, this admonition frequently occurs in the writings of Paul, especially when he discusses the calling of the Gentiles, which, at that time, on account of its novelty, startled and almost confounded many persons. Those who are not satisfied with this solution—that God, by His hidden wisdom, arranged the succession of the seasons—will one day feel that, at the time when they think He was idle, He was framing a hell for inquisitive persons.