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Does God Exaggerate about Salvation?

6/4/2015

3 Comments

 
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When I made the determination to set aside my traditional bias and look at what the Scriptures themselves actually had to say concerning universal salvation, I was amazed to discover just how often God spoke of a future all-inclusive restoration through Jesus Christ, which would include not only those upon the earth but also in the heavens and under the earth. At the end of my book, “The Triumph of Mercy” I included a partial list of texts in the Bible which speak of a universal restoration, rather than eternal torment or extermination of the majority. The list contains nearly one hundred verses which speak of the ultimate salvation of all and over fifty which militate against unending torments.  

Some argue that, when we see “all” in these passages on universal restoration, it is just hyperbolic speech and actually shouldn’t be taken literally. They cite examples such as: “Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.” (Mark 1:5)

However, common sense tells us when one is speaking literally or hyperbolically. If I were to say: “All of Oakland came to the meeting,” or “the whole world knows that she is the best singer,” we instantly know that it is exaggerated, hyperbolic speech used for greater impact. On the other hand, if the captain of a sinking ship were to say: “The ship is sinking, but don’t worry, you will all be saved,” could we still reasonably say it is hyperbole? Will God someday reveal to us that His promises to save and restore all are deliberate exaggerations? Of course not! How could we even attribute such a deception to God?

Surely any doctrinal perspective concerning the consummation of God´s plan for the ages that is even worthy of consideration should be seen to harmonize with the overall testimony from the Scriptures concerning the ultimate reconciliation of all through the blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross for all. 


3 Comments
Jon Hughes
6/4/2015 06:42:57 am

George,

Calvinists are inconsistent with the "all" passages, especially in Romans. I've never yet heard one deny that all means all in Romans 3:23, which reads: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (ESV)

Impeccable Calvinist logic would require that what the above verse really means is that not all men without exception, but all men without distinction have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In other words, sinners are to be found among both Jews and Gentiles - but not every Jew and Gentile!

That's precisely the logic applied elsewhere with certain "all" passages that speak of the scope of salvation. And that's why Calvinists fudge passages like Romans 5:18-19.

Reply
George Hurd
6/4/2015 09:26:09 am

A point well made. Looking at the development of Paul’s argument from the beginning of Romans it is evident that the “all” being referred to repeatedly is all without exception:

3:9 all under sin (without exception)
3:12 all turned aside (without exception)
3:19 all the world guilty (without exception)
3:23 all have sinned (without exception)
5:12 death spread to all men (without exception)
5:18 judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation (without exception)
even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, (without distinction?) resulting in justification of life.


All are in agreement that he is referring to all without exception until we get to Paul’s application of the “all” to those who are recipients of the free gift which results in justification of life. However if the first reference to all in 5:18a is all without exception, then it follows that the application introduced by “even so” in 5:18b must also be all without exception. Otherwise Paul’s entire train of logic falls to the ground.

Paul also uses “all” in the same way in Colossians chapter one. The same “all” that was created by Christ in 1:16 is also reconciled to God through the blood of His cross in 1:20.

Reply
Jon Hughes
6/4/2015 05:03:53 pm

Absolutely. I was a Calvinist for a number of years, and it has increasingly dawned on me that you don't have to jump too far to arrive at a Universalist position if you: A) Hold to the sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners; and B) Take certain passages at face value, rather than explain them away.

For example, Romans 11:32: "For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all." (ESV)

Arminians, on the other hand, have no problem with the universal scope of salvation in Romans, but deny the actuality of it, despite the rather obvious import of Paul's use of the words "justification" and "righteous" in chapter five.

What if we allowed passages like Romans 11:32 to be the overarching passages through which we interpret Scripture as a whole, including all the judgment verses? The very fact that Paul goes into such rhapsody in his doxology immediately following in verses 33-36 suggests that this is precisely what we should be doing.




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    Categories

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    ______________
    Index of Articles and Titles related to Universal Restoration
    Does “All” simply mean “Jew and Gentile alike”?
    Distinguishing Biblical Universalism
    Spiritual Deconstruction
    Has Everyone already been Forgiven?
    Are the Gates of Hell Locked from Within?
    Is Sheol the Grave?
    Is One’s Destruction the End of all Existence?
    Shall not Perish
    What must I do to be Saved?
    Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner's Fire
    Shedding Light Upon the Roman Catholic Dogma of Purgatory
    Understanding the Wrath of God
    Who are the Elect of God?
    ​Does the Restoration of All include the Animal Kingdom?
    True Repentance
    Did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?
    The Early Fathers and Penal Substitutionary Atonement
    Is Salvation Transactional?
    The Justice of God
    The Future Judgments of God
    Who Destroyed Sodom and Why?
    Rewards for Good Works
    Is Satan Real?
    Has Our New Testament Changed over the Years?
    What meaneth the phrase, “let the unjust be unjust still?”
    The Theosis or the Divinization of man
    The “Unpardonable” Sin
    Better for Judas Not to have been born
    The Faith of Jesus
    Seeing the Father through Jesus
    The Straight and Narrow Grace-Walk
    Is Universalism a Deterrent to Evangelism?
    The Blurring of Biblical Distinctions
    What does the word "Word" mean to Jesus?
    Upon Which Foundation?
    Are All Sins Equal?
    Not Forsaking the Assembling of Ourselves Together
    What should a New Testament Church look like?
    How Literal is the Concordant Literal Version?
    The Inerrency of Scripture
    Biblical Inerrancy throughout Church History (1 of 4)
    Why should we contend for the Inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures? (2 of 4)
    Understanding Biblical Inerrancy (3 of 4)
    ​How was our Bible formed? (4 of 4)
    The Love of God
    Is God’s Love Unconditional? (1 of 3)
    What is Conditional about God’s Unconditional Love? (2 of 3)
    The Love and Hatred of God? (3 of 3)
    The Fear of the Lord
    Understanding the Fear of the Lord (1 of 2)
    Fear Him who can Destroy both Body and Soul (2 of 2)
    The Question of Evil
    The What of Evil (1 of 3)
    The Where of Evil (2 of 3)
    The Why of Evil (3 of 3)
    Homosexuality and the Bible
    Does the Bible affirm the Homosexual Lifestyle? (1 of 2)
    The Six So-called Gay Clobber Texts (2 of 2)
    Reincarnationism
    Resurrection or Reincarnation? 1 of 2
    Resurrection or Reincarnation 2 of 2
    Open Theism
    Open Theism - Does God know My Tomorrow? 1 of 2
    Open Theism - Does God know my Tomorrow 2 of 2

    Answers to Objections:

    1) The Restoration of All
    2) The Reconciliation of All
    3) The Universal Reversal
    4) The Salvation of All
    5) The Duration of Punishment
    6) Hope for the Dead
    7) The Testimony of the Fathers
    8) The Logic of Universal Reconciliation
    Has God Rejected Israel:
    1) ¿Has God rejected His People Israel?
    2) Has the Church Replaced Israel?
    3) God’s Irrevocable Promises to Israel
    4) Should we bless National Israel Today?
    God's Glorious Plan for the Ages
    God's Glorious Plan 1 of 2
    God's Glorious Plan 2 of 2
    The Manifest Sons of God
    The Man-Child Company (1 of 3)
    The Manifest Sons of God (2 of 3)
    The Identity of the 144,000 (3 of 3)
    The Trinity and the Deity of Christ
    ​The Importance of the Trinity and the Deity of Christ (1 of 5)
    Jesus is the Yahweh Elohim of the Old Testament (2 of 5)
    The Christophanies of the Old Testament (3 of 5
    Jesus Christ - the Eternal I AM (4 of 5)
    The Triunity of God (5 of 5)
    The Trinity and the Ante Nicene Fathers
    Eternal Preexistence of Christ
    The Eternal Preexistence of the Son of God (1 of 3)
    The Eternal Preexistence of the Son of God (2 of 3)
    The Eternal Preexistence of the Son of God (3 of 3)
    Preterism vs. Futurism
    Where is the promise of His coming? (1 of 2)
    Last Days – Past or Present? (2 of 2)
    Premillennial Futurism – The Belief of the Early Church
    The Objectiv​e Evidences for a Late Dating of John's Revelation (1 of 2)
    Examining the Interpretive Arguments for an Early Dating of John’s Revelation (2 of 2)
    The Two-Gospel Doctrine Examined
    Are there Two Different Gospels in the New Testament? (1 of 4)
    Are there Two Groups of Believers, or are We One Body?  (2 of4)
    Are there Two Separate Scriptures for Two Groups of Believers?  (3 of 4)
    Are Paul’s Epistles Incompatible with the rest of the New Testament?  (4 of 4)

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