Who Will Be Saved?
“God is love." That phrase found throughout the First Letter of John is a radical statement about the nature of God. It is not simply that God loves, as if God loves us sometimes, or only when we are good. God is love. It is something that is inherent to the divine nature. Yet, even though many Christians declare that God is love, they believe that God will consign the vast majority of mankind to Hell, a place of eternal suffering and torment. They claim that God will eternally punish those who are not “born-again,” unless they repent and believe the doctrines of conservative evangelical Protestant Christianity. Can this be true? Could the God of Love torture for all eternity most of his creation? What about those who have never heard the Gospel? Let us look to the Scriptures for some answers:
God Will Put An End To Suffering And Death
Although God may at times use difficult circumstances to challenge us and impel us to grow in virtue and faith, we read in Scripture that God ultimately desires to put an end to suffering and death. John writes, “The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Indeed, God has planned for the eventual elimination of all evil, producing a world so radically different from our own that the biblical authors could describe it as a new heaven and a new earth. Of this heavenly future the author of Revelation declares, “[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Rev. 21:4; see also 1 Cor. 15:25-26; Isaiah 35:10).
Yet, if we believe that God will ultimately put and end to pain and suffering, how can we believe in the traditional concept of Hell? If in the new heaven and new earth there is a place where the vast majority of mankind will be subjected to eternal torment, then God has not done away with pain and suffering. In fact, God will have permanently installed in the new creation a place of unparalleled pain and suffering! So too, how could
|
|
|
"Ultimately at the heart of the traditional doctrine of Hell is a flawed view of God."
|
|
|
those few who end up in heaven continue to live in eternal joy and happiness knowing that many of their friends and relatives are being tormented in Hell? Some Christian authors have postulated that perhaps God will eliminate from the minds of those in heaven any memory of their loved ones in Hell. But can such a state of ignorant bliss really be Heaven?
Some will object that God is just and therefore must punish unjust actions. But is eternal punishment just? Even if someone spends every moment of their life sinning (an idea impossible to fathom), do they deserve to spend all of eternity paying for their sins? Human beings are finite creatures, capable only of finite actions. How can a just God level an infinite punishment for finite sins?
Ultimately at the heart of the traditional doctrine of Hell is a flawed view of God. It imagines God as little more than a cosmic moralist, more interested in simply handing out punishments and rewards than encouraging his human creation to grow in love and faith. Jesus called God Abba, daddy. God is not a tyrannical king or pitiless judge. He is like a parent to us, loving us as his own offspring. Do we not punish our own children only to correct inappropriate behavior? How many of us would punish our sons and daughters indefinitely or simply for the sake of punishing them?
An Alternative to Eternal Punishment
Is there an alternative to this doctrine of Hell? In fact, the Bible itself offers us the possibility that all people will be saved. Indeed, there are many Christians who believe that God will redeem all of creation, forgiving and overcoming our sins, and putting an end to suffering and death. Consider the following:
It is God’s Will That Everyone Be Saved
God loves his creation and does not want to see any of his creatures separated from him. In Ezekiel we read, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that they should turn from their ways and live?” (18:23) The New Testament authors also remind us of God’s love for humanity, stating that “[God] desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4) and “The Lord . . . is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). If God desires everyone to be saved, then who are we to deny the Almighty and say that he can not accomplish this?
The Crucifixion Reveals God’s Love
As human beings, we are finite, fallible creatures, capable of selfish actions that hurt others as well as ourselves. Although we can never be perfect, God calls us to a higher life of respect and love for one another. He does not excuse our shortcomings. But God is forever ready to forgive us of our sins, and has demonstrated that love in the life and death of his Messiah. Indeed, God was uniquely present in the person and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, turning his brutal, violent death into an event that continues to transform the world.
The early Christian community offered several different interpretations of the Crucifixion. One of those interpretations viewed Jesus’ death on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of humanity. This act of love and redemption extends to every human being, not just Christians. Isaiah wrote, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (53:6). John echoes this statement, calling Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). “And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world” (1 John 3:14). Paul picks up this same idea in his letter to the Romans. He writes, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us” (5:19). “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all” (5:14).
In Christ, God’s love and reconciliation not only saves all mankind, but it also extends to all of creation. Paul observed that “the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now,” but will be “set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21-22). “For in [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven” (Col. 1:19-20).
There are those who will argue that these passages refer only to the “elect,” those few people in the world God has deemed worthy of Heaven. They argue that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross does not apply to all people, but redeems only them (and the people who argue this always think that they are the elect). Yet, if the above passages apply only to a small group of people, then why did the biblical authors use terms like “all,” “all things,” “everyone,” and “the world.” These are not terms that describe a small, limited group; they are broad, universal terms that can only describe all of humanity. Yes, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross saves all people, not just Christians. To illustrate this fact, John wrote to his fellow Christians saying, “Jesus Christ . . . is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not our sins only but for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
Some will agree that Christ’s atonement on the cross is available to all, but believe that only a few will actually accept it. Yet, if we believe that God knows in advance who will or will not accept this reconciliation (as many do), then why should Christ’s death apply to those whom God knows will not accept it? If in actuality it will only be applied to the elect, then ultimately Jesus died only for the elect, and not for the whole world as so many biblical authors stated. No, the only logical conclusion to the above passages is that everyone will ultimately be reconciled to God. Indeed, the Scriptures point to this conclusion as well.
God’s Universal Salvation is the Fulfillment of Creation
In the creation myths of Genesis we read that “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good” (1:31). The Lord of the Universe delights in his creation, and will eventually complete what he has made. Although now we are imperfect creatures, who can and do fail to realize the life God has intended for us, God promises that he will renew all humanity, making us whole in the fullness of his creation. Jesus referred to this as the “renewal of all things” (Matt. 19:28). Peter called it the “time of universal restoration” (Acts 3:21).
Paul wrote that in the fulfillment of his creation God will put an end to pain and suffering, placing all things in subjection to his love and grace. This will occur so that “God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). If this is true, then everyone, not just Christians, must be reconciled to God. In Ephesians we read, “With all wisdom and insight [God] has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good
|
|
|
". . . the Scriptures point to the day when all mankind will be justified, made righteous, and given new life."
|
|
|
|
|
pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (1:10).
Paul illustrated this point even further by comparing Jesus, the agent of the new creation, with the old sinful mankind, symbolized by the mythical, primal man, Adam. Although all of us as Adam have sinned, Jesus opens up to all of us the possibility of a new life of forgiveness and reconciliation. “Therefore just as the one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” (Romans 5:18). Does Paul say that only good people or only Christians will be justified before God? No, he says that all people will be justified. He goes on to write, “For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (v. 19). When Paul says “the many were made sinners” he means everyone, for “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (3:24). So too, when Paul says that “the many will be made righteous,” he means everyone. “For as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ” (1 Cor. 15:20). Indeed, although all of us sin and die, the Scriptures point to the day when all mankind will be justified, made righteous, and given new life.
Of course today there are many people -- both Christians and non-Christians -- who do not accept this good news of God’s universal salvation. Many continue to live selfish and unrepentant lives, unmindful of the God who created them and those they harm. Yet, Peter tells us that even the worst sinner in this life has hope in the life to come. He writes that they will “have to give an accounting to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does” (1 Peter 4:5-6).
Indeed, in the fullness of creation everyone will recognize and accept God’s love and grace. Only then will the words of Scripture be fulfilled: “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God” (Romans14:11) Indeed, “God also highly exalted [Jesus] and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9-11).
Conclusion
Amen! And Amen! The Scriptures reveal that it is both God’s desire and intention to bring about the renewal and restoration of all things. No one is excluded from this gift of salvation: it applies to everyone, everywhere, in all times, places, and conditions. It is the only conclusion we can reach if we believe that God is love, that Jesus’ sacrificial act takes away the sins of the world, and God will eventually put an end to suffering and death in the fullness of time.
|
