The Evangelical Universalist Forum

N. T. Wright and Aionios

Evangelical Universalism Arguments for Evangelical Universalism
#1

I have been captivated by N. T. Wright’s theology since the first time I read him (this after being warned of the “dangers” of such a “liberal” thinker!). Indeed, it was his work that gave me a big push toward Universalism, though I’m sure that would be something of an unwelcome revelation to him, as he’s a staunch denier of Universalism. I had heard he published his own translation of Scripture. I’d read part of his Romans commentary in The New Interpreter’s Bible and I was intrigued by his treatment of aionios, where he translates zoen aionion as, “Life of the Age to Come” rather than the usual, “eternal life.” So I bought a copy of his translation of the New Testament from Google Books and poked through it. It’s extremely interesting how he handles that word when it comes up. When it deals with punishment (e.g. Matthew 25:46; II Thessalonians 1:9; Jude 7), he renders it “everlasting.” However, when it’s coupled with “life,” he usually renders it, “of the Age to Come” or “of God’s new Age.”

I realize, of course, that he is carefully avoiding Universalism by sticking with the party line of “eternal punishment.” Nevertheless, to have such a widely-recognized biblical scholar affirm, even partially and inconsistently, what many Universalists have been saying all along about aionios (namely, that it should be translated something like “of the Age to Come”) seems a rather important step in the right direction so far as the general direction of Biblical scholarship is concerned, as well as a boost to the strength of our exegetical arguments.

Aionios as limited duration, not endless...examples of
#2

Interesting, I hope it’s a sign of a growing trend :slight_smile:

#3

Me, too. Wright, while outright denying Universalism where he directly engages it, nevertheless embraces a theology extremely sympathetic to it. It’s practically written all over every page of his work: the story of a God mounting a rescue of the whole world, and not just a small part of it, the hope that in the Age to Come, the leaves of the tree of life will heal the nations, etc. This development with aionios is yet another step in that direction. I don’t know if he’ll live long enough to get there in this age, but he’s certainly working toward it. His primary hangup is more or less the same as that of C. S. Lewis–that God has given humanity the freedom to choose to walk down the path of destruction indefinitely, and that Universalism would deny humanity that freedom.

#4

My answer to that objection is who will not believe when they awake in the presence of the Living God. What else could they do but bow their knee and praise Him?

John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

He doesn’t say you are damned because you had to see me before you believed

#5

N. T. Wright"]There [in Romans 8], Paul outlines and celebrates the hope that one day the entire cosmos will have its own great exodus, its liberation from bondage to decay. The point is this: the covenant between God and Israel was always designed to be God’s means of saving the whole world. It was never supposed to be the means whereby God would have a private little group of people who would be saved while the rest of the world went to hell (whatever you might mean by that). Thus, when God is faithful to the covenant in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and in the work of the Spirit, it makes nonsense of the Pauline gospel to imagine that the be-all and end-all of this operation is so that God can have another, merely different, private little group of people who are saved while the world is consigned to the cosmic waste-paper basket. It is not insignificant that the critical passages at this point, the middle of Romans 8 and the middle of 1 Corinthians 15, have themselves often been consigned to a kind of exegetical and theological limbo with Protestant exegesis in particular appearing quite unsure what to do with them…. If it is true that God intends to renew the whole cosmos through Christ and by the Spirit – and if that isn’t true then Paul is indeed talking nonsense in Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 15…. if the Church is commanded and authorized to announce that gospel, it cannot rest content – for exegetical as well as theological reasons – with anything less than this complete vision. :mrgreen: and yet, as far as I know, he still denies universalism :confused:

#6

Redhotmagma, if you, who are currently awake to the presence of the Living God, continue to resist the divine will in some areas of your life, what makes you think this would radically change for someone who resists the divine will in every area of their life? I am only confident that universalism is true because the final universal outcome seems to be revealed. But I don’t think we can otherwise presume that praising Yahweh is inevitable.

I think this has huge implications for us Christians, who more often than not, seem to be just waiting around for our own instantaneous glorification. When we are raised, our wills will be no less conformed to the divine will than they were when we died. This is why I believe all Christians will face purgatory of varying lengths of time.

#7

Alex,

I was thinking of that very quote from him, among many, many others. Simply Christian, for instance, is absolutely packed with almost-Universalism. Wright is a bit like Barth or Lewis or even Bell–almost a Universalist, but not quite willing to take that final, decisive step. It was What St. Paul Really Said that pushed me a long way toward Universalism in my own studies. The problem, I think, is that he knows personally, intimately, the God of Universalism–the God absolutely dedicated to rescuing the entire world from sin, death, and condemnation, who won’t stop till it’s done. And he knows and celebrates the story of that God’s “rescue operation” (as he so often puts it). But he still feels bound, for whatever reason, to a theological system that won’t allow the full realization of God’s ultimate victory, so at the penultimate moment, he feels compelled by that theological system to make excuses for why some will be irrevocably and finally lost.

#8

Thomas because you have seen have you believed, blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.

Notice that Jesus doesn’t curse Thomas, just give special blessing to those who don’t need to see with their eyes. I’m saying when people wake up and all they can see is God’s glory thats quite different than now still being in the flesh, carrying this dead man around.

#9

N.T. Wright has a lot of good things to say, but he’s ultimately as biased as anyone else at the end of the day, when it comes to certain things… As right as he is about some things, he’s very wrong about others.