One of the biblical verses used by traditional Christians to refute Universalism is 2 Corinthians 6:2,
*“AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”— *(NASB)
They say this verse establishes that there is no such thing as post-mortem salvation; salvation must occur today, before death, for this verse says *now is the acceptable time * and now is the day of salvation.
But is this so? Does this verse say that? I think not, and the reason is in the Greek. The Greek clauses for *now is the acceptable time *and now is the day of salvation are these:
*νῦν καιρὸς εὐπρόσδεκτος *and νῦν ἡμέρα σωτηρίας.
There is no definite article the in Greek in either of these clauses.
Thus, 2 Corinthians 6:2 should read, as in Young’s literal translation,
for He saith, ‘In an acceptable time I did hear thee, and in a day of salvation I did help thee, lo, now is a well-accepted time; lo, now, a day of salvation,’
The indefinite article a is correctly used in place of the incorrect definite article the used in most modern Bible versions.
Note that the definite article is indeed used in Greek, as can be seen in the next verse in 2 Corinthians, i.e., verse 6:3,
giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, (NASB)
The Greek words for the ministry are ἡ διακονία, where the word ἡ is the feminine nominative form of the definite article the.
So, 2 Corinthians 6:2 is not biblical proof that salvation is based only on what one does now in this life on earth.