[Mod edited to add: Jason is copy-pasting [url=http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/univ.htm]from a monograph by Keith deRose called “Universalism and the Bible – The Really Good News”. The whole monograph can be found at the link above. Thanks to AllenS for pointing this out.]
- What is Universalism?
I should be clear at the outset about what I’ll mean – and won’t mean – by “universalism.” As I’ll use it, “universalism” refers to the position that eventually all human beings will be saved and will enjoy everlasting life with Christ. This is compatible with the view that God will punish many people after death, and many universalists accept that there will be divine retribution, although some may not. What universalism does commit one to is that such punishment won’t last forever. Universalism is also incompatible with various views according to which some will be annihilated (after or without first receiving punishment). These views can agree with universalism in that, according to them, punishment isn’t everlasting, but they diverge from universalism in that they believe some will be denied everlasting life. Some universalists intend their position to apply animals, and some to fallen angels or even to Satan himself, but in my hands, it will be intended to apply only to human beings. In short, then, it’s the position that every human being will, eventually at least, make it to the party.
- Some Universalist Passages
Contrary to what many would suppose, universalism, understood as above, receives strong scriptural support in the New Testament. Indeed, I judge the support strong enough that if I had to choose between universalism and anti-universalism as the “position of Scripture,” I’d pick universalism as the fairly clear winner. But more on that later. For now, here’s three passages which support universalism.
I Corinthians 15:22. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Comments. Note the “all.” I guess there can be some question about what it means to be made alive in Christ. A cynic might suggest that some might be made alive in order to stand judgment and be tortured forever. But that’s very strained, especially after one’s read the surrounding context of this passage and has also discovered what’s usually meant by such phrases. It’s very clear, I think, that those who are “made alive” in Christ are, as it’s often put, “saved.” The question is, To whom will this happen? This passage’s answer: All! A point of grammar, which holds for the Greek as well as our English translations: The grammatical function of “in Christ” here is not to modify or limit the “all.” The passage doesn’t say, “…so also shall all who are in Christ be made alive.” If it said that, I wouldn’t be so cheered by the passage. Rather, “in Christ” is an adverbial phrase that modifies the verb “shall be made” or perhaps the whole clause, “shall all be made alive.” Thus, this passage says that all shall be made alive. How? In Christ. This last point – that it’s through Christ that all will be saved – will be important in section 6, below.
Colossians 1:20.19For in him [Christ] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Comments. Note again the “all.” Show me someone burning in hell, and I’ll show you someone who’s not yet been reconciled to God. So, show me someone who’s under divine punishment forever, or who is simply annihilated, and I’ll show you someone who’s never reconciled to God through Christ, and thus someone who gives the lie to this passage.
Romans 5:18: 18Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. 19For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Comments. It’s verse 18 that I’m mainly appealing to. For whom will Christ’s act of righteousness lead to acquittal and life? Answer: “all men.” (So at least we guys will be OK!) Show me someone who never enjoys acquittal and life, and I’ll show someone for whom Christ’s act of righteousness didn’t lead to acquittal and life, and thus someone who gives the lie to this verse.
Though I’m appealing mainly to v. 18, I’ve included v. 19 here as well partly because some may think it casts doubt on the universalist implications of 18, since in 19, it’s only said that “many,” (rather than “all”) will be made righteous. But 19 doesn’t really take away the pro-universalism power of 18. First, a point of logic: That many will be made righteous is perfectly compatible with all being made righteous. All dogs are mammals. True or false: Many dogs are mammals? True, of course. It may sound strange to say that many dogs are mammals, but it’s true for all that: It’s even stranger to deny that many dogs are mammals. “Many” and “all” don’t logically exclude each other. But this point of logic is pretty barren. To say that many dogs are mammals, while it doesn’t strictly imply that fewer than all dogs are mammals, it does suggest that fewer than all are – which probably explains why saying that many dogs are mammals sounds so strange. (“Why did he say ‘many’ rather than ‘all’? Wouldn’t he have said ‘all’ if he thought they were all mammals?”) Likewise, one could plausibly claim that while v. 19 doesn’t strictly imply that fewer than all will be made righteous, it does strongly suggest this. Reply: But even the suggestion of fewer than all disappears when we look at the NIV’s translation of v. 19. (Above is the RSV translation.) The NIV translates as follows:
19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The key difference, for our present purposes, between the translations is between the RSV’s “many” and the NIV’s “the many.” To say that the many will be made righteous, while it doesn’t imply that all will be made righteous, neither does it imply, nor even suggest, that fewer than all will be. In fact, v. 19, translated the NIV’s way, especially following on the heels of 18, seems to suggest, if anything, a positive answer to the question of whether all are covered, turning v. 19 from something that counts a bit against a universalist reading of v. 18 to a verse which, if anything, reinforces the universalist implications of v. 18. My experts have informed me that the original Greek here is like the NIV, and unlike the RSV, in that there is not even a suggestion carried by 19 that fewer than all will be made righteous. It’s no doubt in response to such considerations that the revision of the RSV, the NRSV, follows the NIV in using “the many” rather than “many.” (But it was worth first presenting the RSV translation because many use English translations of the Bible, which, like the RSV, employ the inferior translation of this phrase.)
[Mod edited to add: Keith deRose added a footnote to this portion afterward, appended below.]
I hope you’re able to stick around, as I think you could make a great contribution to the community and hopefully we’ll be able to encourage you too.