Some interpret the above reference to ‘…each in its own order’ as ‘…each in its own squadron’. The firstfruits are one squadron, those that are Christ’s at his coming are the second squadron and the end means the last squadron.
Interesting! 
Here’s a link to one - I know Jason isn’t convinced by this interpretation but it’s worth a read (the reference doesn’t appear until quite a way down the page but I would read the whole thing to get the context).
gods-kingdom-ministries.org/ … apter6.cfm
The whole book is free online at this site.
Michael – good question and hard to pick just one! (And why would one want to limit himself to just one anyway!!)
For me, far and away the best evidence is the utter incoherence of a loving God committing ECT or annihilation. If language means anything at all, and is not infinitely flexible (if it is, there can be no real meaning) then love by it’s very nature excludes ECT/annihilation ===> therefore UR…
That works for me, but not for everyone I admit.
But maybe the next best is the whole idea of Death being swallowed up in Victory (1Cor 15:54,55) – death where is YOUR victory and where is YOUR sting??
Could it be more obvious that any lingering dead would completely refute this text? Bob over there, in the grave is deaths victory and it’s sting…
TotalVictory
Bobx3
It’s this VISION of how things are NOW related to God, in Christ, that grounded my earliest suspicions that UR might be true. I can’t account for ECT metaphysically (Walls comes the closest, but doesn’t succeed in the end). This was the patristic (those who were universalists) approach too–because of how created things exist at all in Christ, the notion that a created thing could reach a place where it was incapable of Godward movement (toward its telos) was a contradiction of what it meant to exist ‘as created’.
To ‘be’, to ‘exist’ at all, is to be open on some level to Godward movement, since one’s existence is grounded in a divine invitation. So to ‘be’ is be ‘a possibility of relating’ to God. To ‘exist’ is to be ‘invited’ Godward. Forgive me for repeating it so much, it’s just exhilarating to hear. Absolute ‘hopeLESSness’ is a metaphysical impossibility.
Once things are viewed “in Christ” in this way, it’s a matter of just seeing the implications of it.
Tom
Beautiful. So beautiful—
Where 'ere I look
I choose to see
the beauty that exists
in spite of evil that resists
like shadows ‘gainst the rising Son;
they are not real, no substance have,
are no thing
and nothing mean.
All that is real on thee depends
from thy breath of love extends,
With thee infused all is,
To thee alone all sends
its praise back.
Beautiful. You are so beautiful,
in all things. I see you in their eyes
and deep within their depths I find
eternal surprise after surprise.
Who can have a fear, fully rested here?
Where endless fields are laid before
and all I love with me above,
each one by name in thee restored;
no dream can touch
nor can song match
nor craft enshrine
the beauty that is thine
in us.
Tom
The problem with making good and evil like north and south, or like positive and negative numbers, is that you give evil an equal (but opposite) power to good. But one good deed doesn’t cancel one bad deed, nor does a photon of light annul an antiphoton of darkness.
When you head northeast, you are moving both north and east simultaneously, but even so, there is absolutely no north in the eastward movement, or east in northward. Similarly, every human act and thought is the “vector sum” of both good and evil impulses. A part of me moves towards God (east) while another part moves away (north), and both these movements occur simultaneously. The net result is a rather confused and conflicted “me”.
A lovely poem, Tom.
Jesus sends the wicked away saying, “I never knew you”. But how can God not know them? Because “they are not real, no substance have, are no thing and nothing mean.”
God commands us to love even our enemies, which means there is something in even the worst of us that is actually worth loving “deep within their depths”. It is our task to find the “eternal surprise after surprise” and blow it into brighter flame.
I conclude then that the wicked man in every person is unreal, uncreated, unknown by God and unknowable, and will be destroyed. The good man in every person is real, created, known by God, worthy of love, deeply loved, and will be saved.
Was just thinking recently, too, about all the scriptures that lead me to believe in UR. I’ve enjoyed reading everyone elses and agree with JeffA that the case for God reconciling all is strongest when we read everything put together. It’s overwhelming at times, if even doubts start to creep in.
I’d been thinking…I feel thankful for clues that God is love, loves all, has unfailing love, never stops searching, his love never fails,will wipe tears from all faces, his mercies are new every morning, he reconciles all things, atones for the sins of the whole world, his justification brings life to all men, in Christ shall all be made alive, where sin abounds grace abounds all the more, all created things will bow in worship, God will accomplish all his saving goals - even saving the impossible or worst of sinners, like Paul, our outcome does not depend on our effort, but his mercy, hearts are water in his hands, He is the savior of all men, men are not cast off forever, he does not repay evil for evil, forgives while we are enemies, not willing any should be lost, purposes to have mercy on all, in him all things hold together, God will be all in all.
Yes Tom - beuatiful words there.
Watch this video! (linking it again from another thread)
I just realized something rather obvious: when Paul says “every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord” he is quoting Isaiah who says that “every knee will bow and every tongue swear allegiance.” Obviously Isaiah envisions everyone becoming aligned with God. But why then, did Paul change the quotation? (He also says in Romans that they’ll “acknowledge God”). Because he also says elsewhere something which seems to be a Christian creed - that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The link is obvious and intentional. In other words, the way that people will “swear allegiance” is by confessing Jesus as Lord.
What is in the heart, comes out of the mouth. That Jesus is Lord comes out of their mouths at the end of days, swearing allegiance before Truth to Truth - Jesus as their Lord is in their hearts to be expressed out of their mouths to begin with. Indeed Jesus is in their heart, and because of that - they are saved.
Hi stellar
Yes – I too find this convincing; yet another block in the structure of UR. The text is:
Romans 10:9-10 (New American Standard Bible)
Then go to Phil 2:11 for this prophecy:
(v 10 just prior is pretty cool as well! so that at the name of Jesus, EVERY KNEE WILL BOW!!!..)
Of course many like to insist that this confession is somehow “forced”. We’ve mentioned this on this site many times before, including here… Can the confession of Phil 2:11 be “forced”?
… I’m thinking that perhaps what’s happening is that this idea of being “forced” to confess somehow comes from the notion, from for example 1 Cor 15: 27 which says “For He has put all things in subjection under His feet…”
But this should fall apart pretty quickly it seems when we realize that this applies to the saved/redeemed as well and no one thinks of the saved as being “subjected” in this negative sense…
TotalVictory
Bobx3
*Eph 1:9 having made known to us the secret of His will, according to His good pleasure, that He purposed in Himself,
Eph 1:10 in regard to the dispensation of the fulness of the times, to bring into one the whole in the Christ, both the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth – in him;
Eph 1:11 in whom also we did obtain an inheritance, being foreordained according to the purpose of Him who the all things is working according to the counsel of His will, *
In my opinion this explains both God’s eonian (not eternal) master plan and election/predestination really well. God’s purpose is to gather together ALL things in Christ when all the eons have run their course. For this purpose He elected some people to be his co-workers in this eon, The Present Evil Eon, and the eon to come, The Millennial Kingdom. The non-elect are being used as “vessels of dishonor” right now. (Romans 8-9) In other words, the ecclesia are predestined to be with God. Everyone else is destined. Each in his/her own turn. 
I also think I Tim 4:10 is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, text in support of the reconcilation of all people to God. “He is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.”
If “all” doesn’t mean “all” in this verse, as ET believers claim, the what is the “especially” about? We who do believe in the Reconciliation, see believers as having that special salvation which may not require them to receive correction in Gehenna, while those who do not believe, will surely receive correction.
They say: He is the only appointed and available Savior for all, come to offer salvation to all, but He’s especially the savior of those who believe, because those are the ones who actually receive the offered salvation.
I find that rather weak, but that’s what they say.
To me the destruction of sin and death compelling–if death and the grave (Hades) are destroyed in the lake of fire, then the second death–the death of death–must result in the opposite: Life.
“I kill and I make alive” (Deut 32)
Sonia
Yes, that’s what they say, Sonia. I agree that it’s weak. But that argument has been presented to me on forums several times.
That all depends on your presupposition. God Bless!
Technically good sir, we do not for the majority of us pre-suppose anything. No more than you do for as much as you imply it.
But I’d rather say that we post-suppose, we have postsuppositions, after much study, much thought, much prayer, much experience with God, and many witnesses both scriptural (of many translations, including the Greek and Hebrew, and contextual study) as well as historical study.
In essence, my UR stance at the least, is not presupposed fancy. It is postsupposition after a great deal of study, prayer, research, and thought.
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The same can be said for the other side as well. We all bring our presuppositions to the table. If our presupposition is a real hell then we can see hell in the bible. If our presupposition is no hell then we can easily see no hell in the bible. God Bless!