The Evangelical Universalist Forum

The Restitution Of All Things

Featured Writers
#1

Andrew Jukes: The 2nd Death & The Restitution Of All Things

The Restitution of All Things, Andrew Jukes

Thomas Allin: Christ Triumphant

Thomas Allin: Christ Triumphant

From Him the all, through Him the all, in Him the all

Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?

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#2

J. Preston Eby

The highest glories of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, are revealed to us in Paul’s epistle to the Colossians. In the beginning He was “…the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist” (Col. 1:15-17). Can the UNIVERSALITY of Christ’s creation be more forcibly expressed? In every case the word ALL is used WITHOUT ANY LIMITATION whatever. The heavens and the earth with all that is in them, visible and invisible, include ALL creation.

https://kingdom-resources.com/2017/03/02/the-savior-of-the-world-reconciliation-in-the-heavens-chapter-15/

#3

The Writings of Andrew Jukes

http://alampthatburns.net/jukes/jukes.htm

#4

The Nature of Love

In the way of laying a foundation for understanding the relationship between God’s gift and His grace, I think we have to consider the relationship between those attributes of God that are particularly highlighted in scripture. It could be said that all the characteristics that are properly ascribed to the Divine Nature find their center in the truth that God is love, so that when God is described also, for instance, as light, spirit and consuming fire, such descriptions essentially explain the meaning and nature of divine love.

That God is light, speaks to us of the fact that it is the nature of love to enlighten, to GIVE understanding. God’s love is self-revelatory. It shines out of its essence and needs nothing outside of itself to make itself known. That God is spirit confronts us with the truth, that in spite of the propensity of divine love to subject itself to all that is adversarial to its existence, love is still, underneath all that hostility, universally and constitutionally pervasive. It is the spirit that constitutes all being, all existence. It’s what “makes the world go around,” from within, and is what gives all things their cohesiveness.

That God is a consuming fire encourages us to trust that the inner love-spirit essence of all things, from the inside out, will cleanse itself from all that seeks to defile it. The divine nature of love can be afflicted by such defilement but it can never in its essence be defiled. On this foundation rests our salvation.

So it is with the gift of God, and the graciousness of God. As it is true that when we speak of God as spirit, light, and consuming fire, we are essentially explaining the nature of love — those other attributes do not stand alongside love, they explain love as they are the unfolding of love’s nature, so when we speak of the grace of God, we are, really redundantly, explaining the nature of His gift; that it is, in fact, free. We are emphasizing the obvious, that God’s gift cannot be earned. It is, as all gifts should be, freely given. It is what it is — His gift. The grace of God is, to my understanding, simply God’s givingness.

God’s gift and God’s grace do not stand alongside one another. As Jesus said of His relationship with the Father, “I and the Father are One,” so also, God’s gift (Christ) and His grace (His givingness) are one. He is graciously giving. He gifts us out from His nature of givingness. Finally understood, God only has one gift for mankind, and that is the gift of His Son.

In Him are all the riches of the glory of God’s grace. We need to see the obvious, that Paul’s expression, “the glory of His grace” simply means, His grace’s glory. God is gloriously gracious, and we see grace’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ. In Him we see summed up the givingness of God, and NO decision on the part of man can frustrate the givingness of God. He WILL give Himself, in His Son, to all creation until all creation is full of His glory, so that all creation will come to realize its true inner constitution. This is the essence of the Kingdom of God. -John Gavazzoni-

Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?

#5

Excellent! That is, I think, the key understanding on which everything else turns.

Along those lines, here is a link to a free online read of Henry Drummond’s wonderful essay c. 1880 - “The Greatest of these is Love”.
http://henrydrummond.wwwhubs.com/greatest.htm

#6

Dear Dave: Much thanks for a remarkable expression of the divine love of our Father, The last paragraph sums it up in a nutshell.

It is the Son of Man before whom the nations of the world shall be gathered. It is in the presence of Humanity that we shall be charged. And the spectacle itself, the mere sight of it, will silently judge each one. Those will be there whom we have met and helped: or there, the unpitied multitude whom we neglected or despised. No other Witness need be summoned. No other charge than lovelessness shall be preferred. Be not deceived. The words which all of us shall one Day hear, sound not of theology but of life, not of churches and saints but of the hungry and the poor, not of creeds and doctrines but of shelter and clothing, not of Bibles and prayer-books but of cups of cold water in the name of Christ. Thank God the Christianity of to-day is coming nearer the world’s need. Live to help that on. Thank God men know better, by a hairsbreadth, what religion is, what God is, who Christ is, where Christ is. Who is Christ? He who fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick. And where is Christ? Where?–whoso shall receive a little child in My name receiveth Me. And who are Christ’s? Every one that loveth is born of God.

#7

Here is a God worthy of your worship and adoration!

Salvation of All

“For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all” (Romans 11:32).

“Our Savior, God, Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

“We rely on the living God, Who is the Savior of all mankind” (1 Timothy 4:10).

Justification of All

“Through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also … through one just award for all mankind for life’s justifying” (Romans 5:18).

Vivification (making alive) of All

“For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified” (1 Corinthians 15:22).

Reconciliation of All

“Through Him to reconcile all to Him, making peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:20).

The Grandest Truth in the Scriptures

Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?

#8

Understanding Godness For Dummies

Please don’t be offended by me having a little fun with the title of this article. I’m not at all implying that my readers are “dummies.” I’m just using a contemporary rhetorical device to get your attention, and emphasize how profoundly simple, and simply profound, is the relational dynamic within Godness—conventionally translated as “Godhead.” If I was conducting a class the assigned reading would be the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, to be read several times, meditated over, and spiritually chewed slowly and thoroughly in preparation for such digestion that will be spiritually health-building.

Keep in mind as you read, that the Holy Spirit has graciously recorded, and seen to the preservation of, Jesus’ most intimate pourings out of His heart to His—and in union with Him, our—Father God, and that He faces what the writer of Hebrews records as, “so great a death.” In that seventeenth chapter, there is no element of Jesus speaking in a way that includes making any concession to a listener’s ignorance and/or interpreting the Lord’s words within a false or faulty religious paradigm.

Continued below

Understanding Godness for Dummies

#9

A.P. Adams

https://www.tentmaker.org/books/SpiritOfTheWord/index.htm

#10

Behold I bring you good news of great joy

https://www.thebvbs.com/quotes

Perfect Imperfection

Imperfections, problems, flaws, defects, blunders, and difficult conditions hound us all. Yet, God is sovereign - fully aware and completely able to alter any of these situations. Therefore, these must be perfect imperfections.

These may result in disasters, cancer, tsunamis, misery and death - but the resurrection of all (Acts 24:15) and the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21) will result in our ability to recognize and appreciate God’s relentless love and mercy forever.

Perhaps it could be - the ONLY WAY for us to really see these amazing and beautiful attributes of our creator was for us to experience these perfectly orchestrated imperfections for ourselves. Temporary discomforts and even horrible tragedies are choreographed to set the backdrop for us to clearly see Him when we enter the resurrected life.

Lamentations 3:38 - “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill goes forth?”

Isaiah 45:7 - “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.”

Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?

#11

God’s ULTIMATE Intention -Albert E. Jenke-

God’s Ultimate Intention

Introduction

Chapter One … “Law and Grace”, by Andrew Jukes

Chapter Two … “ALL-In-ALL”, by A.E. Knoch

Chapter Three … A Study In Job and Jonah

Chapter Four … “Christ Triumphant”, by Thomas Allin

Chapter Five … TRUTH vs. "Sacred Cows"

Chapter Six … Summary and Prelude

Chapter Seven … Paul’s Soaring Logic

Chapter Eight … To “Seek” Or To SAVE

Chapter Nine … “Holiness Of God”, by R.C. Sproul

Chapter Ten … “Calvin and Election”, by Dr. C.D. Cole

Chapter Eleven … Conclusion, or "Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow"

Outline … Scripture Reference and Major Premise Outline

Appendix: … Resources for Further Study

Are our broadest hopes broad enough? Shall there be a nook or abyss, in all the universe of God, finally unlightened by the Cross? Shall there be a sin, or sorrow, or pain unhealed? Is the very universe, is creation in all its extent, a field wide enough for the Son of God?

#12

J. Preston Eby

https://www.godfire.net/eby/saviour_of_the_world.html

#13

The Early Church

OK. Perhaps you’re new to Universalism and you think you’ve stumbled across some new age, new-fangled heresy. Would it surprise you to know that Universalism was present in the early church and that people like Origen and Clement gleaned it from the scriptures? Would it surprise you that Eternal Torment (ET) wasn’t commonly accepted until around the year 500?

Here are some tidbits from a very long book (about 200 pages- available online). These might might whet your appetite to learn a little more.

The doctrine of Eternal Torment is nowhere to be found in ancient Judaism.

Somewhere after the close of the Old Testament and Jesus’ time, this error began creeping in from the surrounding paganism. The early church was not focused on eternal destiny but rather on apologetics. However, the early church Fathers were largely Universalists. This belief came from the scripture, as it was no where to be found in the surrounding Paganism.

The church fathers closest to the beginning of Christianity and who were well versed in Greek (the language of the New Testament) largely did not believe in endless, torment for the sake of retribution. They believed in limited, corrective punishment based on their understanding of several key Greek words that have been mistranslated. Augustine, the first church father to really promote ET to the exlusion of other beliefs, hated Greek and studied mostly in Latin. When the power of the church shifted from the Greek fathers (Alexandrian) to the Latin, the teachings became largely corrupted.

Prior to 200 AD, there were three schools of thought, within Christianity, concerning human destiny- endless punishment, annihilation (the wicked would simply be wiped out no longer to exist) and universal salvation.

But prior to this there was not much, if any controversy over these opinions. Origen, who was the first to really systematize Christianity was a universalist. Even though he was later said to have committed many errors for which he was condemned, Universalism was never among them. Universalism wasn’t really attacked and ET didn’t come into “favor” until around 540 AD, the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Some of the most revered early church fathers were staunch universalists, who gained this understanding from scripture.

  1. During the First Century the primitive Christians did not dwell on matters of eschatology, but devoted their attention to apologetics; they were chiefly anxious to establish the fact of Christ’s advent, and of its blessings to the world. Possibly the question of destiny was an open one, till Paganism and Judaism introduced erroneous ideas, when the New Testament doctrine of the apokatastasis was asserted, and universal restoration became an accepted belief, as stated later by Clement and Origen, A.D. 180-230.
  2. The Catacombs give us the views of the unlearned, as Clement and Origen state the doctrine of scholars and teachers. Not a syllable is found hinting at the horrors of Augustinianism, but the inscription on every monument harmonizes with the Universalism of the early fathers.
  3. Clement declares that all punishment, however severe, is purificatory; that even the “torments of the damned” are curative. Origen explains even Gehenna as signifying limited and curative punishment, and both, as all the other ancient Universalists, declare that “everlasting” (aionion) punishment, is consonant with universal salvation. So that it is no proof that other primitive Christians who are less explicit as to the final result, taught endless punishment when they employ the same terms.
  4. Like our Lord and his Apostles, the primitive Christians avoided the words with which the Pagans and Jews defined endless punishment aidios or adialeipton timoria (endless torment), a doctrine the latter believed, and knew how to describe; but they, the early Christians, called punishment, as did our Lord, kolasis aionios, discipline, chastisement, of indefinite, limited duration.
  5. The early Christians taught that Christ preached the Gospel to the dead, and for that purpose descended into Hades. Many held that he released all who were in ward. This shows that repentance beyond the grave, perpetual probation, was then accepted, which precludes the modern error that the soul’s destiny is decided at death.
  6. Prayers for the dead were universal in the early church, which would be absurd, if their condition is unalterably fixed at the grave.
  7. The idea that false threats were necessary to keep the common people in check, and that the truth might be held esoterically, prevailed among the earlier Christians, so that there can be no doubt that many who seem to teach endless punishment, really held the broader views, as we know the most did, and preached terrors pedagogically.
  8. The first comparatively complete systematic statement of Christian doctrine ever given to the world was by Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 180, and universal salvation was one of the tenets.
  9. The first complete presentation of Christianity as a system was by Origen (A.D. 220) and universal salvation was explicitly contained in it.
  10. Universal salvation was the prevailing doctrine in Christendom as long as Greek, the language of the New Testament, was the language of Christendom.
  11. Universalism was generally believed in the best centuries, the first three, when Christians were most remarkable for simplicity, goodness and missionary zeal.
  12. Universalism was least known when Greek, the language of the New Testament was least known, and when Latin was the language of the Church in its darkest, most ignorant, and corrupt ages.
  13. Not a writer among those who describe the heresies of the first three hundred years intimates that Universalism was then a heresy, though it was believed by many, if not by a majority, and certainly by the greatest of the fathers.
  14. Not a single creed for five hundred years expresses any idea contrary to universal restoration, or in favor of endless punishment.
  15. With the exception of the arguments of Augustine (A.D. 420), there is not an argument known to have been framed against Universalism for at least four hundred years after Christ, by any of the ancient fathers.
  16. While the councils that assembled in various parts of Christendom, anathematized every kind of doctrine supposed to be heretical, no oecumenical council, for more than five hundred years, condemned Universalism, though it had been advocated in every century by the principal scholars and most revered saints.
  17. As late as A.D. 400, Jerome says “most people” (plerique). and Augustine “very many” (quam plurimi), believed in Universalism, notwithstanding that the tremendous influence of Augustine, and the mighty power of the semi-pagan secular arm were arrayed against it.
  18. The principal ancient Universalists were Christian born and reared, and were among the most scholarly and saintly of all the ancient saints.
  19. The most celebrated of the earlier advocates of endless punishment were heathen born, and led corrupt lives in their youth. Tertullian one of the first, and Augustine, the greatest of them, confess to having been among the vilest.
  20. The first advocates of endless punishment, Minucius Felix, Tertullian and Augustine, were Latins, ignorant of Greek, and less competent to interpret the meaning of Greek Scriptures than were the Greek scholars.
  21. The first advocates of Universalism, after the Apostles, were Greeks, in whose mother-tongue the New Testament was written. They found their Universalism in the Greek Bible. Who should be correct, they or the Latins?
  22. The Greek Fathers announced the great truth of universal restoration in an age of darkness, sin and corruption. There was nothing to suggest it to them in the world’s literature or religion. It was wholly contrary to everything around them. Where else could they have found it, but where they say they did, in the Gospel?
  23. All ecclesiastical historians and the best Biblical critics and scholars agree to the prevalence of Universalism in the earlier centuries.
  24. From the days of Clement of Alexandria to those of Gregory of Nyssa and Theodore of Mopsuestia (A.D. 180-428), the great theologians and teachers, almost without exception, were Universalists. No equal number in the same centuries were comparable to them for learning and goodness.
  25. The first theological school in Christendom, that in Alexandria, taught Universalism for more than two hundred years.
  26. In all Christendom, from A.D. 170 to 430, there were six Christian schools. Of these four, the only strictly theological schools, taught Universalism, and but one endless punishment.
  27. The three earliest Gnostic sects, the Basilidians, the Carpocratians and the Valentinians (A.D. 117-132) are condemned by Christian writers, and their heresies pointed out, but though they taught Universalism, that doctrine is never condemned by those who oppose them. Irenaeus condemned the errors of the Carpocratians, but does not reprehend their Universalism, though he ascribes the doctrine to them.
  28. The first defense of Christianity against Infidelity (Origen against Celsus) puts the defense on Universalistic grounds. Celsus charged the Christians’ God with cruelty, because he punished with fire. Origen replied that God’s fire is curative; that he is a “Consuming Fire,” because he consumes sin and not the sinner.
  29. Origen, the chief representative of Universalism in the ancient centuries, was bitterly opposed and condemned for various heresies by ignorant and cruel fanatics. He was accused of opposing Episcopacy, believing in pre-existence, etc., but never was condemned for his Universalism. The very council that anathematized “Origenism” eulogized Gregory of Nyssa, who was explicitly a Universalist as was Origen. Lists of his errors are given by Methodius, Pamphilus and Eusebius, Marcellus, Eustathius and Jerome, but Universalism is not named by one of his opponents. Fancy a list of Ballou’s errors and his Universalism omitted; Hippolytus (A.D. 320) names thirty-two known heresies, but Universalism is not mentioned as among them. Epiphanius, “the hammer of heretics,” describes eighty heresies, but he does not mention universal salvation, though Gregory of Nyssa, an outspoken Universalist, was, at the time he wrote, the most conspicuous figure in Christendom.
  30. Justinian, a half-pagan emperor, who attempted to have Universalism officially condemned, lived in the most corrupt epoch of the Christian centuries. He closed the theological schools, and demanded the condemnation of Universalism by law; but the doctrine was so prevalent in the church that the council refused to obey his edict to suppress it. Lecky says the age of Justinian was “the worst form civilization has assumed.”
  31. The first clear and definite statement of human destiny by any Christian writer after the days of the Apostles, includes universal restoration, and that doctrine was advocated by most of the greatest and best of the Christian Fathers for the first five hundred years of the Christian Era.

A careful study of the early history of the Christian religion, will show that the doctrine of universal restoration was least prevalent in the darkest, and prevailed most in the most enlightened, of the earliest centuries–that it was the prevailing doctrine in the Primitive Christian Church.

The full book is available here:

Universalism: The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years

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#14

30 Unspoken Sermons of George MacDonald

http://www.online-literature.com/george-macdonald/unspoken-sermons/

#15

John H Essex The Grandeur Of God’s Purpose

http://www.theheraldofgodsgrace.org/Essex/TheGrandeurOfGodsPurpose.htm

The Word Of The Cross

http://www.theheraldofgodsgrace.org/Essex/TheWordOfTheCrossJHE.htm

The Untraceable Riches Of Christ

http://www.theheraldofgodsgrace.org/Essex/TheUntraceableRichesOfChrist.htm

The Ecclesia As Christ’s Complement

http://www.theheraldofgodsgrace.org/Essex/TheEcclesiaAsChristsCompliment.htm

#16

The Gospel Of Our Salvation - Adlai Loudy- ,

http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/oursalv.html

#17

Dr. Orville B. Jenkins

http://orvillejenkins.com/theology/

#18

Various Authors>>>>Various Subjects

http://www.beaconofgrace.com/?subpages/Hell-Studies.shtml

#19

Why I Am A Universalist?

P.T. Barnum

http://www.pacificuu.org/publ/univ/writings/barnum_why.html

1 Like
#20

I am a convinced universalist -Dr. Wm. Barclay-

I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God. In the early days Origen was the great name connected with universalism. I would believe with Origen that universalism is no easy thing.

Origen believed that after death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the presence of God.

Origen did not eliminate hell; he believed that some people would have to go to heaven via hell. He believed that even at the end of the day there would be some on whom the scars remained. He did not believe in eternal punishment, but he did see the possibility of eternal penalty.

And so the choice is whether we accept God’s offer and invitation willingly, or take the long and terrible way round through ages of purification.

Gregory of Nyssa offered three reasons why he believed in universalism.

First, he believed in it because of the character of God. “Being good, God entertains pity for fallen man; being wise, he is not ignorant of the means for his recovery.” Second, he believed in it because of the nature of evil. Evil must in the end be moved out of existence, “so that the absolutely non-existent should cease to be at all.” Evil is essentially negative and doomed to non-existence. Third, he believed in it because of the purpose of punishment. The purpose of punishment is always remedial. Its aim is “to get the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the communion of blessedness.” Punishment will hurt, but it is like the fire which separates the alloy from the gold; it is like the surgery which removes the diseased thing; it is like the cautery which burns out that which cannot be removed any other way.

But I want to set down not the arguments of others but the thoughts which have persuaded me personally of universal salvation.

First, there is the fact that there are things in the New Testament which more than justify this belief. Jesus said: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Paul writes to the Romans: “God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32). He writes to the Corinthians: “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22); and he looks to the final total triumph when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:28). In the First Letter to Timothy we read of God “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and of Christ Jesus “who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:4-6). The New Testament itself is not in the least afraid of the word all.

Second, one of the key passages is Matthew 25:46 where it is said that the rejected go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. The Greek word for punishment is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. I think it is true to say that in all Greek secular literature kolasis is never used of anything but remedial punishment. The word for eternal is aionios. It means more than everlasting, for Plato - who may have invented the word - plainly says that a thing may be everlasting and still not be aionios. The simplest way to out it is that aionios cannot be used properly of anyone but God; it is the word uniquely, as Plato saw it, of God. Eternal punishment is then literally that kind of remedial punishment which it befits God to give and which only God can give.

Third, I believe that it is impossible to set limits to the grace of God. I believe that not only in this world, but in any other world there may be, the grace of God is still effective, still operative, still at work. I do not believe that the operation of the grace of God is limited to this world. I believe that the grace of God is as wide as the universe.

Fourth, I believe implicitly in the ultimate and complete triumph of God, the time when all things will be subject to him, and when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:24-28). For me this has certain consequences. If one man remains outside the love of God at the end of time, it means that that one man has defeated the love of God - and that is impossible. Further, there is only one way in which we can think of the triumph of God. If God was no more than a King or Judge, then it would be possible to speak of his triumph, if his enemies were agonizing in hell or were totally and completely obliterated and wiped out. But God is not only King and Judge, God is Father - he is indeed Father more than anything else. No father could be happy while there were members of his family for ever in agony. No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family. The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved by and in love with God.