Not all will accept and submit to God’s mercy. Men are still free to resist and reject. But God is ready and willing to have mercy upon everyone (2 Peter 3:9). All His wise and patient dealings with fallen man have worked toward the fulfillment of this one purpose, the revelation of divine love in the saving of sinners.
Literally, “the all,” meaning “all men,” including Jews and Gentiles.
Hath concluded.
Gr. sugkleiō, literally, “to shut up together,” like a net enclosing a multitude of fishes (Luke 5:6). Sugkleiō is translated “hath concluded” in Gal. 3:22, and “shut up” in Gal. 3:23. The meaning of the phrase “God has shut them up in disobedience” is clarified by the LXX rendering of Ps. 78:62, “He gave his people over also unto the sword,” literally, “He shut them up unto the sword.” Paul has already described how God has turned men over to their sins (see on Rom. 1:24; cf. on ch. 1:18).
In this verse Paul declares that all God’s dealings with mankind, though sometimes hard to understand, are in accordance with His great endeavor to save mankind. Even man’s opposition to God is turned by Him into an occasion for carrying out His plan. It is not that man’s sin of unbelief and disobedience is willed by God. But when sin is present, God knows how to arrange His scheme of world government in such a way as to overrule evil for good.
Thus by allowing man to become involved in the natural consequences of his own rebelliousness, God has sought to teach him the awfulness of sin and to reveal to him his utter weakness when cut off from divine power. By permitting those who have attempted to establish their own righteousness by their own works to reap the inevitable results of such folly, God has sought to make clear to all that salvation can be obtained only by faith in Him and by submission to the love, mercy, and transforming power revealed in Christ.