The Evangelical Universalist Forum

Comparison: Calvinism, Arminianism, Universalism

Evangelical Universalism Arguments for Evangelical Universalism
#1

I’ve posted on here before my understanding of the foundational differences between Calvinism, Arminianism, and Universalism, but thought of what I think is a better way of explaining it. (I use Calvinism instead of Augustinianism because the Protestant circles I discuss this in know of Calvin but know little of Augustine.) I’ve come to understand these 3 different systematic theologies, Arminianism, Calvinism, and Universalism to be best understood in how they relate to the following 4 statements concerning God:

  1. God is Love to all.
  2. God is Sovereign in all.
  3. God is Savior of all.
  4. God is Judge over all.

Because Arminianists believe that God being judge over all results in some being saved and others not being saved (Infernalism and Annihilationism), they DENY that God is Savior of all and LIMIT BOTH the Love of God and the Sovereignty of God. They limit the sovereignty of God and instead believe Man is Sovereign in regards to his salvation. And they limit the love of God in that love does not fully accomplish the salvation of anyone, but only opens the way for some to choose to be saved. In other words, in regards to salvation Man is Sovereign and Love fails to reconcile those who sovereignly choose to not be reconciled. In short, in Arminianism Man is Sovereign and Love fails!

Because Calvinists believe that God being judge over all results in some being saved and others not being saved (Infernalism and Annihilationism), they DENY that God is Savior of all and they RADICALLY LIMIT the Love of God to only the elect, though they do maintain that God is Sovereign. In short, God is Sovereign but God does not Love all.

Because Universalists believe that God judging all results in the destruction of evil in us all and the reconciliation of us all, we affirm all three other statements fully. God is Love to all. God is Soveriegn in all. And God is Savior of all!

#2

:sunglasses: Well put: the difference is in what it means to affirm that God is judge over all.

Relatedly, one of the common complaints I hear is that we deny (or ignore) that God is judge over all. Come to think of it, that may actually be true for some (not all) ultra-universalists, but most of us (including some ultra-u’s) affirm that God is judge over all; we just recognize a different goal for the judgment.

Specifically, we recognize that the goal of judgment is what Christ said the goal was in GosJohn: that the Son and the Father may be honored (presumably also the Spirit).

A judgment that results in sinners NOT coming to honor God (due to ECT or anni), or that results in sinners coming to honor God only in a false way (not in spirit and in truth, with God accepting hypocritical worship by sinners), would by the standard of Christ be an unjust judgment!