- Published on
The What of Evil
by George Sidney Hurd
What is evil and how did it come to be so prevalent in our daily lives? Where did evil come from originally? If God is omniscient, all-powerful and all loving, why would He even allow it to enter His good creation, much less permit it to continue throughout entire ages? What higher purpose could the presence of evil serve so as to justify its continuance?
These are some of the questions I hope to present answers to for your own personal consideration in the following three blogs. Many of these questions are answered for us in Scripture, while others must remain a mystery to us until we can see the big picture, much as was the case with Joseph and Job. Those of us who have tasted that the Lord is good can rest assured that He is somehow working all things together for good in our lives and that His creation story ends with a much greater glory than it began (Ps 34:8). He makes all things beautiful in His time (Eccl 3:11).
The answers are much easier to discover for those of us who believe that God’s plan for the ages culminates in the final restoration of all, believing that all evil will have been finally removed when God becomes all in all after the ages have run their course. However, the Eternal Infernalists, who believe that God Himself perpetuates evil, inflicting unending torments upon the vast majority of mankind along with two thirds of the angels, have more than mere questions to resolve: they face real moral and logical dilemmas which defy all reasonable explanation. For them, it is not simply the question of evil, but the problem of evil.
Only Biblical Universalists can reasonably explain the presence of evil in God’s creation without diminishing God’s essential nature, which is love, nor His immutable attributes of omnipotence and omniscience. Calvinists maintain God’s omnipotence but at the expense of His love and mercy, saying that God decrees and punishes evil for His own self-glorification. According to the Westminster Confession, Calvinists say: “He extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as He pleaseth, for the glory of His Sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice (emphasis mine).” [1]
Arminians, on the other hand, seek to preserve God’s love and goodness at the expense of His omnipotence, saying that God loves all, but He must allow evil to enter His good creation, and eternally exist within it, out of respect for the free-will decisions of fallen men and angels. God who wills that all be saved, and has sworn that all will bow the knee to Him, must Himself bow to the free-will of lost sinners. Arminians ultimately sacrifice God’s sovereignty in order to preserve man’s sovereign free-will, only to turn around and deny man’s free-will forever the moment one’s heart stops beating.
Open Theists go a step further, seeking to justify God by not only sacrificing His sovereignty, but also His omniscience, saying that God could not have foreseen the entrance and perpetuation of evil since, either He cannot foresee the future, or else He chose not to see it out of respect for our sovereign free-will. I discuss this and other difficulties with Open Theism in a series of two blogs entitled Does God know my Tomorrow?
In contrast to the Eternal Infernalist’s model which presents God as creating an everlasting dualism, once we understand that God’s eternal plan for the ages culminates in the final restoration of all to a much more glorious state than that enjoyed by Adam and Eve before the fall, it becomes much easier to understand the question of evil. In this first of three blogs, we will begin by seeking to better understand what evil is.
Evil is not some “thing” which God originally created
To those who ask whether God Himself originally created evil, the unequivocable answer is no. In the Genesis creation account, it says: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Contrary to Eastern thought, in the beginning everything was very good. Good and evil have not eternally coexisted, nor will evil continue forever, as traditionally taught. It entered into God’s time/space creation at a specific point in time and will cease to exist when God becomes all in all, at which time we will enter into God’s eternity where evil cannot exist (1Cor 15:28; Rev 21:4).
Some have mistakenly thought that evil predated creation and that God included evil in creation when He made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, the evil was not contained within the fruit of the tree itself, as if evil were some tangible created substance which could be ingested. Rather, evil was first conceived in the heart and mind of Adam and Eve and was then actuated by their transgression against God’s command to not eat of the forbidden tree.
Evil is not a created thing such as a fruit tree. Rather evil consists of the subsequent actions of God’s creatures who choose to act in disobedience, independently of His will. Evil is not a thing, but rather an action. Evil is first conceived in the heart as a desire, which in turn gives birth to the sin or the evil act. God was neither the source of evil, nor was He the source of the temptation. As James, the half-brother of our Lord said:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:13-16)
The deception James warns us about is the lie that God is somehow the tempter or the originator of evil. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1Jn 1:5). While it is true that God inhabits eternity and there has therefore never been a time when He didn’t possess the knowledge of the evil that His creatures would commit, evil is not in Him, nor did evil come from Him as to source. Evil is not a creation of God, but exclusively a creaturely act.
Two kinds of evil
We have seen that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. He is the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). Moses, to whom God is said to have shown His ways as none other, said of Him:
“His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” (Deut 32:4)
Considering the fact that God’s creative work is perfect and that He is just in all His ways, any theodicy which presents God as being the primary source of evil of any kind is a misrepresentation of God’s character as revealed in Scripture. There are two distinct forms of evil described in the Bible, 1) moral evil and 2) natural evil. However, neither were originally a part of God’s good creation, but entered through the fall.
Moral Evil
As we have already seen, moral evil is not some “thing” which God created, but rather sinful and unjust actions which originated in the minds and hearts of free moral beings. As Jesus said:
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matt 15:19)
We already saw how James warned against being deceived into thinking that God is in any way the source of moral evil. (James 1:13-16). If God were in some way responsible for our moral evil, then He would be unjust in punishing evildoers. Paul emphatically denies that God is in any way acting unjustly when He judges evildoers, saying: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? (Rom 3:5-6). If God were in any way liable for our sin, then our redemption would have been His moral obligation, rather than an act of His free unmerited grace and mercy, as it is revealed to be in Scripture.
Natural Evil
Natural evil is a term used to refer to things like cancer, birth defects, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other phenomena. Contrary to modern secular theory, God created all things good, and natural evil did not exist in creation until the fall when death entered the world and creation was subjected to vanity as a consequence of man’s sin (Rom 5:12; 8:20-22).
Man was originally given dominion over the earth, but when Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation through the serpent, they forfeited that dominion to Satan. He is presently the god of this age and the whole present world system is under his control rather than man having dominion over the earth (2Cor 4:4; 1Jn 5:19). The earth was cursed as a result of man’s disobedience when he forfeited his dominion to Satan. That is when the earth began to produce thorns and thistles, and rather than the animal kingdom being submissive to man, they became hostile to man, making it necessary for God to put the fear of man within them. The first mention of natural disaster is when the fountains of the great deep were broken up, bringing the flood because of man’s unbridled moral evil (Gen 7:11).
Therefore, God is neither the author of moral evil, nor natural evil, since neither were part of His original creation. Many have misconstrued Isaiah 45:7 as translated in the KJV as meaning that God created evil. There God says:
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace (shalom), and create evil (ra‘): I the LORD do all these things.” (Isa 45:7 KJV)
Having already seen that God originally created all things good and perfect and that all His ways are just, it is clear that God is not saying here that He directly created evil in the beginning, whether it be moral evil or natural evil. I had previously understood this verse as meaning that God was saying that He accepted responsibility for indirectly creating evil by creating free moral beings capable of conceiving evil in their hearts, which would be true, since He created them knowing that they would introduce evil into His creation. However, upon a more careful consideration of what is actually being said in the context of this verse, it became obvious that the original creation is not even in view here.
In Isaiah 45 God is addressing the Persian king Cyrus, whom He here calls by name, years before he was even born. When He said that He is the one who makes peace and creates evil (present tense), He is not referring to the original creation, but rather what He brings about in the present. He is contrasting Himself with the Persian pantheon of gods. The Persians worshipped Ahura Mazda, who was the king of the gods. However, he wasn’t considered to be all-powerful. They also gave tribute to Angra Mainyu, who was the prince of ra‘ or evil, chaos and discord. They also had Mithra, the God of light, or the rising sun.
The Lord is here telling Cyrus that He is the one and only true God, the source of all things, including both light and darkness, peace and evil (ra‘). The Hebrew word ra most commonly means “moral evil or bad” in Scripture. Even when referring to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ra‘ is the word used.
However, there are many instances where ra is used to refer to bad things in general, such as Job’s “painful” (ra‘) boils (Job 2:7), a “calamity” (ra‘), such as a plague, (2Sam 24:16), or a “disaster” (ra‘) brought about by an invading enemy (Jer 4:6), as opposed to peace (shalom), just as we see here in Isaiah 45:17. What God is saying to Cyrus is, “I am the God to seek for an abundant harvest, not Mithra. If you want peace rather than wartime disaster, look to Me, instead of offering sacrifices to Angra Mainyu, the demon god of ra‘ evil, chaos and discord, to persuade him to leave you in peace.”
Throughout Scripture we see that God, for His own good purposes, does create natural evil, either directly or indirectly. For reasons we will be considering in the third blog of this series, God often allows His children to suffer affliction, but, as with Job and Joseph, He delivers them out of them all more than conquerors. As the psalmist says: “Many are the afflictions (ra‘) of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Ps 34:19).
God also brings evil (ra‘) upon obstinate and unrepentant sinners so that they will repent and be restored. As Amos 3:6 says, “If there is calamity (ra‘) in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” We even see that God speaks forth judgments of ra‘ as punishment for unrepentant sin. Lamentations 3:38-39 says: “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities (ra‘) and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?”
Does this make God evil or unjust? Certainly not! From the moment moral evil entered into the world, often the only effective form of correction for the obstinately wicked is to repay moral ra‘ with natural ra‘. Our own innate sense of justice tells us that the Judge of all the earth would be unjust if He were to let an unrepentant Hitler or a Putin off the hook without measuring out a just retribution which would be natural ra‘ for moral ra‘.
Indeed, this is what we see throughout Scripture. To those who would accuse God of being unjust for punishing moral ra‘ with natural ra‘, Paul responded: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5-6). He also said to those believers under persecution: “it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you” (2 Thess 1:6).
Those who believe that God’s love is exclusively cruciform must reject such passages which present God as a righteous judge executing justice against the unrepentant. Sadly, many today overreact against the diabolical dogma which teaches that God inflicts infinite punishment for finite sins without any restorative purpose, by rejecting any portrayal of God as Judge in Scripture.
Rightly understood, God’s judgments in which He inflicts natural ra‘ upon those who do moral ra‘ are good, since the execution of His justice always has correction as its purpose and restoration as its end, just as a loving father’s corrective ra‘ is applied in order to correct the moral ra‘ in his disobedient child. The Psalmist understood this and could say:
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word… It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes… I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.” (Ps 119:67,71,75)
In summary, we have seen that moral evil is not some “thing” that God created, but rather evil refers to the evil thoughts and actions of free moral beings who were originally created good. Neither was natural evil originally present in God’s good creation, but rather came later as a consequence of man’s sin.
In the next blog we will be considering the second question of evil – where did evil originate? Then in the final blog we will consider what to me is the most important question of evil – the why of evil. What purpose did God have in determining to allow it, and how do all things work together for the greater good of all?
[1] The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. 3 — Articles 6 and 7.
by George Sidney Hurd
What is evil and how did it come to be so prevalent in our daily lives? Where did evil come from originally? If God is omniscient, all-powerful and all loving, why would He even allow it to enter His good creation, much less permit it to continue throughout entire ages? What higher purpose could the presence of evil serve so as to justify its continuance?
These are some of the questions I hope to present answers to for your own personal consideration in the following three blogs. Many of these questions are answered for us in Scripture, while others must remain a mystery to us until we can see the big picture, much as was the case with Joseph and Job. Those of us who have tasted that the Lord is good can rest assured that He is somehow working all things together for good in our lives and that His creation story ends with a much greater glory than it began (Ps 34:8). He makes all things beautiful in His time (Eccl 3:11).
The answers are much easier to discover for those of us who believe that God’s plan for the ages culminates in the final restoration of all, believing that all evil will have been finally removed when God becomes all in all after the ages have run their course. However, the Eternal Infernalists, who believe that God Himself perpetuates evil, inflicting unending torments upon the vast majority of mankind along with two thirds of the angels, have more than mere questions to resolve: they face real moral and logical dilemmas which defy all reasonable explanation. For them, it is not simply the question of evil, but the problem of evil.
Only Biblical Universalists can reasonably explain the presence of evil in God’s creation without diminishing God’s essential nature, which is love, nor His immutable attributes of omnipotence and omniscience. Calvinists maintain God’s omnipotence but at the expense of His love and mercy, saying that God decrees and punishes evil for His own self-glorification. According to the Westminster Confession, Calvinists say: “He extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as He pleaseth, for the glory of His Sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice (emphasis mine).” [1]
Arminians, on the other hand, seek to preserve God’s love and goodness at the expense of His omnipotence, saying that God loves all, but He must allow evil to enter His good creation, and eternally exist within it, out of respect for the free-will decisions of fallen men and angels. God who wills that all be saved, and has sworn that all will bow the knee to Him, must Himself bow to the free-will of lost sinners. Arminians ultimately sacrifice God’s sovereignty in order to preserve man’s sovereign free-will, only to turn around and deny man’s free-will forever the moment one’s heart stops beating.
Open Theists go a step further, seeking to justify God by not only sacrificing His sovereignty, but also His omniscience, saying that God could not have foreseen the entrance and perpetuation of evil since, either He cannot foresee the future, or else He chose not to see it out of respect for our sovereign free-will. I discuss this and other difficulties with Open Theism in a series of two blogs entitled Does God know my Tomorrow?
In contrast to the Eternal Infernalist’s model which presents God as creating an everlasting dualism, once we understand that God’s eternal plan for the ages culminates in the final restoration of all to a much more glorious state than that enjoyed by Adam and Eve before the fall, it becomes much easier to understand the question of evil. In this first of three blogs, we will begin by seeking to better understand what evil is.
Evil is not some “thing” which God originally created
To those who ask whether God Himself originally created evil, the unequivocable answer is no. In the Genesis creation account, it says: “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Contrary to Eastern thought, in the beginning everything was very good. Good and evil have not eternally coexisted, nor will evil continue forever, as traditionally taught. It entered into God’s time/space creation at a specific point in time and will cease to exist when God becomes all in all, at which time we will enter into God’s eternity where evil cannot exist (1Cor 15:28; Rev 21:4).
Some have mistakenly thought that evil predated creation and that God included evil in creation when He made the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, the evil was not contained within the fruit of the tree itself, as if evil were some tangible created substance which could be ingested. Rather, evil was first conceived in the heart and mind of Adam and Eve and was then actuated by their transgression against God’s command to not eat of the forbidden tree.
Evil is not a created thing such as a fruit tree. Rather evil consists of the subsequent actions of God’s creatures who choose to act in disobedience, independently of His will. Evil is not a thing, but rather an action. Evil is first conceived in the heart as a desire, which in turn gives birth to the sin or the evil act. God was neither the source of evil, nor was He the source of the temptation. As James, the half-brother of our Lord said:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:13-16)
The deception James warns us about is the lie that God is somehow the tempter or the originator of evil. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all (1Jn 1:5). While it is true that God inhabits eternity and there has therefore never been a time when He didn’t possess the knowledge of the evil that His creatures would commit, evil is not in Him, nor did evil come from Him as to source. Evil is not a creation of God, but exclusively a creaturely act.
Two kinds of evil
We have seen that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. He is the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17). Moses, to whom God is said to have shown His ways as none other, said of Him:
“His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” (Deut 32:4)
Considering the fact that God’s creative work is perfect and that He is just in all His ways, any theodicy which presents God as being the primary source of evil of any kind is a misrepresentation of God’s character as revealed in Scripture. There are two distinct forms of evil described in the Bible, 1) moral evil and 2) natural evil. However, neither were originally a part of God’s good creation, but entered through the fall.
Moral Evil
As we have already seen, moral evil is not some “thing” which God created, but rather sinful and unjust actions which originated in the minds and hearts of free moral beings. As Jesus said:
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matt 15:19)
We already saw how James warned against being deceived into thinking that God is in any way the source of moral evil. (James 1:13-16). If God were in some way responsible for our moral evil, then He would be unjust in punishing evildoers. Paul emphatically denies that God is in any way acting unjustly when He judges evildoers, saying: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? (Rom 3:5-6). If God were in any way liable for our sin, then our redemption would have been His moral obligation, rather than an act of His free unmerited grace and mercy, as it is revealed to be in Scripture.
Natural Evil
Natural evil is a term used to refer to things like cancer, birth defects, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and other phenomena. Contrary to modern secular theory, God created all things good, and natural evil did not exist in creation until the fall when death entered the world and creation was subjected to vanity as a consequence of man’s sin (Rom 5:12; 8:20-22).
Man was originally given dominion over the earth, but when Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s temptation through the serpent, they forfeited that dominion to Satan. He is presently the god of this age and the whole present world system is under his control rather than man having dominion over the earth (2Cor 4:4; 1Jn 5:19). The earth was cursed as a result of man’s disobedience when he forfeited his dominion to Satan. That is when the earth began to produce thorns and thistles, and rather than the animal kingdom being submissive to man, they became hostile to man, making it necessary for God to put the fear of man within them. The first mention of natural disaster is when the fountains of the great deep were broken up, bringing the flood because of man’s unbridled moral evil (Gen 7:11).
Therefore, God is neither the author of moral evil, nor natural evil, since neither were part of His original creation. Many have misconstrued Isaiah 45:7 as translated in the KJV as meaning that God created evil. There God says:
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace (shalom), and create evil (ra‘): I the LORD do all these things.” (Isa 45:7 KJV)
Having already seen that God originally created all things good and perfect and that all His ways are just, it is clear that God is not saying here that He directly created evil in the beginning, whether it be moral evil or natural evil. I had previously understood this verse as meaning that God was saying that He accepted responsibility for indirectly creating evil by creating free moral beings capable of conceiving evil in their hearts, which would be true, since He created them knowing that they would introduce evil into His creation. However, upon a more careful consideration of what is actually being said in the context of this verse, it became obvious that the original creation is not even in view here.
In Isaiah 45 God is addressing the Persian king Cyrus, whom He here calls by name, years before he was even born. When He said that He is the one who makes peace and creates evil (present tense), He is not referring to the original creation, but rather what He brings about in the present. He is contrasting Himself with the Persian pantheon of gods. The Persians worshipped Ahura Mazda, who was the king of the gods. However, he wasn’t considered to be all-powerful. They also gave tribute to Angra Mainyu, who was the prince of ra‘ or evil, chaos and discord. They also had Mithra, the God of light, or the rising sun.
The Lord is here telling Cyrus that He is the one and only true God, the source of all things, including both light and darkness, peace and evil (ra‘). The Hebrew word ra most commonly means “moral evil or bad” in Scripture. Even when referring to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ra‘ is the word used.
However, there are many instances where ra is used to refer to bad things in general, such as Job’s “painful” (ra‘) boils (Job 2:7), a “calamity” (ra‘), such as a plague, (2Sam 24:16), or a “disaster” (ra‘) brought about by an invading enemy (Jer 4:6), as opposed to peace (shalom), just as we see here in Isaiah 45:17. What God is saying to Cyrus is, “I am the God to seek for an abundant harvest, not Mithra. If you want peace rather than wartime disaster, look to Me, instead of offering sacrifices to Angra Mainyu, the demon god of ra‘ evil, chaos and discord, to persuade him to leave you in peace.”
Throughout Scripture we see that God, for His own good purposes, does create natural evil, either directly or indirectly. For reasons we will be considering in the third blog of this series, God often allows His children to suffer affliction, but, as with Job and Joseph, He delivers them out of them all more than conquerors. As the psalmist says: “Many are the afflictions (ra‘) of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Ps 34:19).
God also brings evil (ra‘) upon obstinate and unrepentant sinners so that they will repent and be restored. As Amos 3:6 says, “If there is calamity (ra‘) in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” We even see that God speaks forth judgments of ra‘ as punishment for unrepentant sin. Lamentations 3:38-39 says: “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities (ra‘) and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?”
Does this make God evil or unjust? Certainly not! From the moment moral evil entered into the world, often the only effective form of correction for the obstinately wicked is to repay moral ra‘ with natural ra‘. Our own innate sense of justice tells us that the Judge of all the earth would be unjust if He were to let an unrepentant Hitler or a Putin off the hook without measuring out a just retribution which would be natural ra‘ for moral ra‘.
Indeed, this is what we see throughout Scripture. To those who would accuse God of being unjust for punishing moral ra‘ with natural ra‘, Paul responded: “Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?” (Rom 3:5-6). He also said to those believers under persecution: “it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you” (2 Thess 1:6).
Those who believe that God’s love is exclusively cruciform must reject such passages which present God as a righteous judge executing justice against the unrepentant. Sadly, many today overreact against the diabolical dogma which teaches that God inflicts infinite punishment for finite sins without any restorative purpose, by rejecting any portrayal of God as Judge in Scripture.
Rightly understood, God’s judgments in which He inflicts natural ra‘ upon those who do moral ra‘ are good, since the execution of His justice always has correction as its purpose and restoration as its end, just as a loving father’s corrective ra‘ is applied in order to correct the moral ra‘ in his disobedient child. The Psalmist understood this and could say:
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word… It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes… I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.” (Ps 119:67,71,75)
In summary, we have seen that moral evil is not some “thing” that God created, but rather evil refers to the evil thoughts and actions of free moral beings who were originally created good. Neither was natural evil originally present in God’s good creation, but rather came later as a consequence of man’s sin.
In the next blog we will be considering the second question of evil – where did evil originate? Then in the final blog we will consider what to me is the most important question of evil – the why of evil. What purpose did God have in determining to allow it, and how do all things work together for the greater good of all?
[1] The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. 3 — Articles 6 and 7.
- Published on
Understanding the Atonement
by George Sidney Hurd
This question was presented to me a few days ago and I felt that it was a vital question which deserves a thoughtful response from the Scriptures.
Obviously, if the question is whether or not His love for us changes, the answer is that God’s love never ceases, and His mercies never come to an end. The Father didn’t begin to love us at the cross – He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet ungodly sinners and at enmity with Him, He sent His Son to die in our place that we might live unto Him (Rom 5:6-11).
If the question is whether or not His disposition and determination to save and restore all mankind changed at the cross, the answer again is, no. His eternal plan of redemption through the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world has never changed. He has sworn by Himself that to Him every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth and even under the earth, and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, taking an oath of loyalty to Him (Isa 45:22-24; Phil 2:10). To Paul the mystery was revealed that in the dispensation of the fulness of the times all creation would be reunited in Christ (Eph 1:10). The restoration of all which was prophesied since the beginning of time shall be fulfilled as promised (Acts 3:21).
God’s plan for the ages is summed up by Paul in Romans 11:36, “For of (ek) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis, ‘into’) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” All that which came out of God as to source (which includes all of creation, both visible and invisible), is sustained by Him and will ultimately be reunited into Him (eis) in the consummation, when God shall be all in all in eternity (1Cor 15:28). The end result of God’s creation story does not end in unspeakable tragedy for all but the elect of this age, but rather culminates in the final restoration of all to a far greater glory than that of Adam and Eve before the fall. What God commences He perfects!
What happened at the Fall?
In order to answer the question as to whether or not the cross changed God’s attitude towards us, we must go back to the fall in Eden. In what sense did our relationship with God change after the fall?
Sin and Death entered by the Fall
God told Adam that if they were to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die that very day. He said: “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die (or ‘dying you shall die’).” Nevertheless, we see that they continued living for nearly a millennium. Why didn’t Adam and Eve physically die on the very same day they ate the forbidden fruit? In what sense was this fulfilled?
In the first place, we need to understand that there is more than one death. When Paul said that the wages of sin is death, many have mistakenly thought that he was saying that if you commit just one sin in your lifetime you are condemned to die. But “sin” appears with the definite article and should read, “the sin.” In the context, we see that Paul was saying that the wages of the one sin – Adam’s sin, was death for him and all his descendants. He demonstrates this by saying that even in the time between Adam and Moses when sin wasn’t imputed as a transgression, everyone nevertheless died (Rom 5:12-14).
There is physical death and there is spiritual death. While space doesn’t allow me to elaborate here, death is not the cessation of existence, as the materialists perceive it, but rather a separation: When we die physically our soul is separated from our body; when we die to sin we are separated from sin; when we die to the Law we are separated from the Law in order to live unto Christ, etc. In the same manner, when we die spiritually, our spirit is separated from God who is Spirit. As I demonstrate in my book “Extermination or Restoration,” none of these deaths refer to a cessation of existence, but rather speak of a separation.
A separation occurred the very moment that Adam and Eve acted independently from God in disobedience. They died spiritually in the sense of being separated from spirit-to-Spirit communion with God who is Spirit. Self-consciousness replaced God-consciousness, and for the first time they became aware of their nakedness. Their reaction was to hide from God, and this death or separation continues in all of Adam’s race until one becomes reconciled to God in their hearts through Christ, the Last Adam, who is the life-giving Spirit (1Cor 15:45).
I believe that Satan the accuser was right there, reminding God of His word when He said that they would surely die. Satan is a legalist in the sense that he knows that God cannot lie and therefore he laid claim to the power of death – he now had the legal right to take their lives. And I believe that he would have taken their lives right then and there, but God in His mercy intervened, shedding the blood of innocent animals to cover them.
What was God’s response to this separation? Wrath? No. While spiritual death was the immediate result, God still sought after them even though they, through their disobedience, had broken communion with Him. So, while the relationship between them and God changed due to spiritual death, God still acted towards them with love and compassion. He even promised Eve that very same evening (in seed form) that her seed would eventually bring redemption and restoration. Instead of wrath, God gave the promise of restoration. So far there is no wrath.
Nevertheless, apart from the promised Seed that would come and restore life through His death and resurrection, their spiritual death would have been eternal and irreversible. Having been born under the sentence of Adam’s original sin, we all came into this world spiritually stillborn and alienated from the life of God (Eph 2:5; 4:18). There was nothing anyone from Adam’s seed could have done to reverse the death sentence resulting from Adam’s original sin.
However, when Christ became flesh, He was not of Adam’s seed, but of the woman’s seed and was conceived of the Holy Spirit, thereby making Him exempt from Adam’s original sin and resulting death sentence. Contrary to the first Adam, Christ as the woman’s seed lived a perfect life of total obedience to the Father and was illegally executed by Satan, the ruler of this age, thereby destroying Satan’s legal power over death which he had acquired by man’s default in the Garden (Heb 2:14). By Christ’s death and resurrection, He, as the Last Adam, will make alive all who died in the first Adam when he sinned (1Cor 15:22,55-56).
Our Sins are a result of Adam’s Original Sin and subsequent spiritual Death
The consequence of Adam’s sin and resulting death is that we are all conceived in sin in a state of death or separation from God (Ps 51:5). Man was originally created in God’s image and likeness in order to enjoy communion with Him. God is Spirit, and in the beginning man was also predominately spirit. However, when he died spiritually, he became separated from God and predominately “flesh” (Gen 6:3). Jesus said that separate from Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). He said that, apart from the life which comes from the Spirit, the flesh profits nothing (Jn 6:63).
Some mistakenly think that we are born innocent and only subsequently acquire sinful tendencies. However, in the Scriptures we see that we were born sinners due to Adam’s original sin. Through one man’s offense, death reigned over all his race and we became sinners (Rom 5:17-19). We are not sinners because we sin – we sin because we are sinners.
It is our Sins which provoke God’s Wrath
The first time we see mention of God’s wrath it is directed – not against original sin, but against the obstinate sins of Pharaoh and his army, and His wrath is seen to result in their temporal destruction (Ex 15:7). And we see the wrath of God consistently revealed in this manner throughout both the Old and New Testaments (Ex 22:24; Nu 31:33; Dt 9:8; 29:23,28; 2Chron 29:8; Eph 5:6; Col 3:6; Rev 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:10,19; 16:19, etc.). Even Jesus Himself, whom the Postmodern Progressives seek to confine to a passive cruciform mold, [1] speaks of the vengeance of God and His wrath which was going to be poured out upon Israel for rejecting their Messiah King:
“For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:22-24)
Christ didn’t come to personally destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD., as Preterists would have us believe. But in His wrath, God gave them over to their enemies, just as He previously did when they were invaded by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. As the writer of Hebrews says: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:30-31).
Postmodern Progressives often try to reduce God to the point of becoming a permissive and consenting father who never becomes angry with our sin and rebellion. They say that Jesus on the cross is the only true revelation of the Father, and therefore, according to them, God has always manifested cruciform love. Denying the inerrancy of the Scriptures, they use their limited model of Jesus to filter out all Scriptures which do not fit within their cruciform mold. In this manner they invalidate all those Scriptures which do not fit within their manmade mold.
However, a fuller understanding of the Jesus of the Bible demolishes this mold. They fail to give due consideration to the numerous non-cruciform warnings and woes which He pronounced against the unrepentant (Matt 11:21-24; 13:27-28; 18:7; 25:41; Lu 12:46-48, etc.). And this is not even taking into account how Jesus portrays Himself in the book of Revelation.
Jesus doesn’t present the Father as cruciform in His judgments. For example, speaking to those who do not forgive as they were forgiven, He gave the parable of the servant who was forgiven a great debt by his master and then turned around and demanded immediate payment of a small debt owed him by a fellow servant. Jesus said the following:
“Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." (Matt 18:32-35)
Clearly, Jesus here is not presenting the Father in a cruciform manner. God is love, but what many fail to understand is that His love is multiform and not always cruciform. A father who simply says to his defiant child “peace be unto you,” even when his child curses him and defies his authority, could be called a passive father but hardly a loving father. A loving father is not negligent nor indifferent. He corrects and disciplines as necessary for the long-term benefit of the child whom he loves. Some try to reduce Father God to a passive father who simply smiles upon us no matter how defiant of him his children may be or how much damage they are inflicting upon others. However, that is not the Father presented to us in the Scriptures. Whom He loves He disciplines and even scourges when necessary in order that we may partake of His righteousness (Heb 12:5-11).
Additionally, many only refer to God as Father, without giving Him due tribute as King of kings and Lord of lords to whom all reverence and godly fear is due. He is also a consuming fire and the Judge of the living and the dead (1Pet 4:5). In light of this Paul said:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror (phobos) of the Lord, we persuade men.” (2 Cor 5:10-11)
While God is our Father, that in no way diminishes the fact that He is also our Judge and that we need to acknowledge and respect Him as such. Even Abraham, being called “a friend of God,” referred to Him as the Judge of all the earth. In contrast to this, the modern tendency is to form God in our own image. Many today cut and paste the Scriptures in order to present God in a manner which accommodates our own cultural norms, personal tastes and even sinful lifestyles. Indeed, some of today’s brightest minds have devoted their energies and their amazing ingenuity to deconstructing the Scriptures and reformulating cleverly devised myths, half-truths and misrepresentations of the God of the Bible in such a way as to deceive all but the most wary and vigilant students of the Word.
Contrary to popular belief in some circles, throughout the New Testament we see the wrath of God being manifest wherever there is persistent unrepentant sin and rebellion. Paul in Romans begins by demonstrating that the whole world stands guilty and condemned under the wrath of God. He says:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Rom 1:18)
Here we see that men intuitively know when they are sinning against God but rather than repenting of their sins, they suppress the truth in order to continue in a life of sin. Paul says that even the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, have the Law written on their hearts, leaving them without excuse (Rom 2:15-16). This refusal to acknowledge sin provokes God to anger. The Psalmist says: “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps 7:11). However, God’s anger or wrath should never be mistaken for a lack of love. To the contrary, the absence of anger in the face of sin and rebellion would be an indication of indifference and apathy rather than love.
Paul further makes it clear that, even when man isn’t immediately judged and punished for his sin and rebellion, God nevertheless has a settled attitude of anger against all willful sin, and a time of reckoning awaits the unrepentant. The wicked often mistake God’s patience for passivity and tolerance of sin. But Paul states that God’s anger against all the ungodliness of the impenitent is being reserved for the day of judgment:
“But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each one according to his deeds.” (Rom 2:5-6)
So here we see that, although God doesn’t always act in wrath, swiftly judging sin during one’s lifetime, as He is seen to have done when He as the Judge of the Earth deems it to be necessary, such as when Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the sea, or when Ananias and Saphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit, setting them forth as an example, etc., His wrath against all unrepentant sin is accumulating or being treasured up for the final Judgment or the day of wrath.
We also see that even when God in His wrath intervenes with judgment, as He did with Sodom and the surrounding cities, those who persist in their sins must still stand before God as Judge in the day of His wrath. Jesus said of those who saw His works and still did not repent, that it would be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of Judgment than it would be for them (Matt 11:24).
Some Inclusivists would say that there is no them and us; the saved and the unsaved; the justified and the condemned; those who are still dead in sin and those who are alive; children of wrath and children of God, etc. They argue that, since Christ died for all, and all died with Christ at the cross, where He destroyed the power of death, then all are already alive unto God; they are already saved, justified and made alive but they just don’t know it yet.
While it is not possible to give full consideration to this error here, I would just like to point out that when Jesus commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel to all nations He said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). This is why, when the Philippian jailor asked Paul what he had to do in order to be saved, he didn’t respond saying: “You’re already saved, you just don’t know it yet.” No. He said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). Salvation is not personally experienced until we believe on Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord (Rom 10:9-10). Before being regenerated we were dead in our sins and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Eph 2:3). We do not become a part of the new creation in Christ until we are regenerated or born again (Jn 3:3-7; Eph 2:1-5).
Indeed, all will eventually be effectually drawn to Christ and saved (Jn 12:32). In the end all will have believed, bowing the knee to Him and confessing Him as Lord (Phil 2:10). All will finally be included in the new creation (2Cor 5:17, cf. Rev 21:5; Eph 1:10). However, according to Jesus Himself, until the moment of one’s visitation comes and they believe, they stand condemned before God (Jn 3:18).
Even in this present age of grace, Paul warns believers against being deceived into thinking that we can continue in unrepentant sin without provoking God to anger. Paul says:
“But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph 5:3-7)
So, we have seen that while God has always loved all unconditionally - even after the fall, His settled attitude toward all unrepentant sin has always been that of wrath. Anyone who is a parent understands that anger is an essential part of parental love in the face of sin and rebellion.
However, God is more than our Father – He is also a just Judge. And, as we shall see, His immutable justice does not allow Him to simply pass over sins. He can only forgive sins based upon the fact that His perfect justice was satisfied upon the cross in Christ our substitute. The unrepentant are storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God, the Judge of all, when the unrepentant will receive a just recompense according to their deeds recorded in the books (Rev 20:12). According to Jesus, the books contain a thorough record containing every detail of our lives - even including the very words we have spoken (Matt 12:36-37).
An essential element of the gospel is that Christ became sin for us in order that we may become the righteousness of God through faith in Him. Through our union with Him in the new birth we are no longer subjects of God’s wrath and the resulting condemnation. Jesus becomes our righteousness, thereby delivering us from the coming wrath (1Thess 1:10). While Postmodern theologians chafe at this, Christ’s expiation of our sins, theologically referred to as “the atonement,” is clearly a penal atonement made on our behalf by Christ, enabling God to be just, while at the same time justifying the ungodly who repent and put their faith in Christ as the propitiatory sacrifice for their sins.
The Penal Substitutionary Atonement
Perhaps no biblical doctrine is under greater attack in our day than that of the Penal Substitutionary Atonement of Christ. It is grossly misrepresented and ridiculed by both the Modern and the Postmodern theologians of our time. They argue that the theory of Penal Substitutionary Atonement is nothing more than the invention of Calvin’s legal mind which led him to see Christ’s substitutionary death as satisfying God’s justice. It is true that Calvin first studied to be a lawyer during a time when government was based upon a legal system rather than feudalism, and his legal mind enabled him to recognize and expound upon the legal aspects of the atonement with more precision than former theologians.
Anselm in the tenth century, during the time of the feudal system in which nobility ruled, put forth the Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement, which saw Christ’s substitutionary death as the satisfaction of God’s offended nobility. Calvin correctly pointed out that the language of Scripture speaks of judgment against offenses of God’s justice, rather than God punishing mankind for having offended His honor. Anselm was the first to argue that, since sin was committed against God’s infinite nobility, just one sin against His honor was deserving of eternal punishment. Clearly this is not a satisfactory explanation of the atonement! God’s law prescribes just punishment commensurate to the offenses committed against justice. Nowhere in Scripture is God said to mete out infinite punishment simply because His honor was offended.
The Language of Scripture is clearly Penal
Surely it won’t do to argue that, since Calvin lived in a law-oriented society, it influenced his view of the atonement. The entire legal system that the West is modeled after today was developed by the Romans of Paul’s time, so the same could be argued concerning him. Indeed, the language which Paul uses to describe what Christ accomplished upon the cross involves clearly forensic or legal terms, used in the Roman legal system at that time.
However, the atonement is not based upon Roman law and justice, but rather upon the very Law of God and upon His justice. Both Old and New Testaments present God using terms which are clearly forensic. He is depicted as the Judge of all (Gen 18:25; Heb 12:23). He has a throne for judgment before which all must stand (Ps 9:7-8; Rev 20:11). The foundation of His throne is righteousness and justice (Ps 89:14; 97:2). Apart from grace, all would be judged according to the Law, found guilty and condemned (Rom 2:13,16; James 2:10). All men are demonstrated to be guilty before God (Rom 3:19).
So far, we see juridical terms consistently employed, showing all mankind to be guilty and condemned before a holy God who is also the Judge of all. That brings us up to the atonement. Are the passages which reveal Christ’s atoning sacrifice also expressed in forensic terms? Yes. He was born under the Law in order to redeem us from the Law (Gal 4:4-5). He lived a perfect life under the Law without sin (1Jn 3:4-5; 1Peter 2:22; Heb 4:15). He became a curse under the Law by hanging upon a tree, being numbered with the transgressors (Gal 3:13; Luke 22:37; Mark 15:28). He was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification (Rom 4:25; 5:16; Isa 53:5). Taking on the likeness of sinful flesh, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us (Rom 8:3-4). These are all legal terms which were in common use within every legal system of that time. Even the biblical terms “expiation” and “propitiation,” although not part of secular legal terminology, nevertheless are essential to God’s justice. Expiation and propitiation are foundational elements in God’s justice, making it possible for Him to be just and justify the ungodly (Rom 3:25-26).
Christ our Passover was Sacrificed for Us (1Cor 5:7)
While human laws are based largely upon principles contained in God’s Law, it is an error to try to confine God’s Law to man’s laws. For example, under God’s Law, there is a provision which allows for the forgiveness or remission of sins by the shedding of innocent blood (Heb 9:22; Matt 26:28). This is an integral part of God’s Law which is a stumbling block to those who do not have a revelation of the wisdom of the cross and seek to bind God to a strictly human justice system.
From the beginning God said that death would be the consequence of sin, and since God cannot lie, He couldn’t simply go back on His word. However, in His mercy He shed the innocent blood of animals to cover Adam and Eve. Under the Law, death was the penalty of disobedience, but God made provision, allowing for an innocent victim’s blood to be offered to make propitiation for the sins of the people: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement (expiation) for the soul” (Lev 17:11). Many try to undermine God’s sacrificial system by associating it with pagan blood sacrifices. However, God’s provision for forgiveness by blood sacrifice preceded these pagan perversions. Blood sacrifices demanded by the demon-gods were designed to distort and malign God’s merciful means of reconciliation through the Lamb of God, and sadly many Progressives today have played into their hands.
The English word “atonement” is an unfortunate rendering of the Hebrew “kippur,” since atonement speaks more to the result of the “kippur,” which means “expiation,” or “the removal of sin by sacrifice.” The word “atonement” is a 16th century term meaning “at-one-ment.” The word atonement doesn’t even have an equivalent in other languages. The Spanish language correctly renders it “expiación” which means the same as our English word expiation. The expiation is what made at-one-ment or reconciliation with God possible by taking away our sins, but the term in and of itself only has reference to the expiatory sacrifice. Since life is in the blood, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, since it is the blood which makes expiation (kippur) for the soul (Lev 17:11).
This mistranslation of the word “kippur” has given place to the modern notion that forgiveness and reconciliation with God are possible without the shedding of Christ’s blood in expiation for our sins, and that God didn’t need to be reconciled to us, but rather it was only we who needed to be reconciled unto Him. This, in spite of the fact that Jesus was declared to be “the Lamb of God who takes away (or expiates) the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). The Postmodern version is more akin to the Moral Influence Theory which would make the blood of Christ devoid of any redemptive value, saying that Christ merely demonstrated “cruciform” love as an example to us by absorbing our sins into Himself without retaliation. But the Apostle John clearly states the reason for Christ’s life and death. He says: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins” (1John 3:5). Jesus Himself, on the night of His passion said: “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt 26:28). Likewise, the writer of Hebrews says that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb 9:22, cf. 10:18). Clearly, the remission or forgiveness of sins refers to God’s forgiveness and remission of our sins, thereby enabling Him to justly justify us.
Accepted in the Beloved
“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Eph 1:6-7)
Returning to the question, "did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?", the answer is yes and no. Did God still love us, even in our sin? Yes. But could He, being a just and holy God, simply overlook our sin? No. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). By the shed blood of Christ, the Lamb of God without blemish or spot, our sins have been propitiated before the Most Holy God who has always loved us. Through His blood there is forgiveness and acceptance for all who receive Him.
Some argue that God can simply overlook sin since Jesus was equally God and He nevertheless befriended sinners. However, we must understand that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit equally inhabit eternity and therefore from their eternal perspective the Lamb of God slain for the forgiveness and justification of those same sinners has always been a present reality to them (Rev 13:8). From the beginning, when God spoke with Adam and Eve after the fall, to the present in which the Holy Spirit continues indwelling us even when we sin (cf. 1Cor 6:15-19), God has always been able to remain just and holy while at the same time interacting with sinners. As Paul says:
“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Rom 3:24-26)
So, we see that, due to the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ which satisfied God’s justice for our offenses, God can be seen as just while at the same time rubbing shoulders with sinners. That is not to say that He isn’t grieved and angered by our sin, or that He will not intervene to judge sin if we fail to judge ourselves (Ps 7:11; Eph 4:30; 1Cor 11:31-32; James 4:4-6). Neither does it mean that our communion with Him isn’t broken by unrepentant sin (Ps 66:18; 1Jn 1:6-7). Nor does it mean that God will not finally judge all unrepentant sin. It simply means that God can be gracious and merciful to mankind because the Lamb of God has made propitiation for our sins by His shed blood on our behalf.
Progressives argue that the blood of Christ doesn’t change how God relates to us, but rather it simply cleanses our conscience, affecting how we relate to God. This is based upon a misapplication of the reference to our conscience in Hebrews. I here quote the whole passage to see its meaning in the context:
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot TO GOD, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb 9:11-15)
In the context, how is the blood of Christ seen to cleanse our conscience? We have already seen that the shedding of blood was for the remission of our sins in the sight of God. Here in the context, we see that Christ entered the Most Holy Place not made with hands, of which the earthly tabernacle was only a pattern. He presented His own blood upon the heavenly propitiatory, thereby making propitiation before God for the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). When it says that Christ was our “propitiation,” it is the word hilasterion, which refers to the expiatory sacrifice, or the sacrifice which satisfies God’s justice concerning our sins, enabling God to remove them as far as the east is from the west. It is God who says He will remember our sins no more because of the removal of them from Himself (Heb 10:18). Our consciences are cleansed only by the knowledge that God has removed our sins from us and remembers them no more because of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on our behalf.
From the very beginning, God was pointing us to the once and for all sacrifice, by which He, in the person of the Son, would make expiation for our sins through His shed blood upon the cross. The Passover was given as a clear shadow of Christ our Passover who would be sacrificed for us (1Cor 5:7). The Passover lamb had to be without spot or blemish. It was to be slain for the sins of the people and placed upon the doorposts of their homes so that the judgment which fell upon the land would pass over them. The Lord said:
“And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Ex 12:13)
In the same manner, “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom 5:8-10). We have been redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Peter 1:19). To deny the efficacy of the blood of Christ is to count the blood of Christ by which we have received the remission of sins as a common thing (Heb 10:29).
Redemption
Redemption is integrally related to the expiatory sacrifice of Christ, since His sacrifice of Himself obtained our redemption. We were redeemed by His blood (Col 1:14). Redemption refers to a price having been paid in order to obtain something. What was obtained for us through Christ’s redeeming blood? Who was the blood that redeemed us presented to? Did Christ’s redemption change the way God relates to us? These are important questions which are often ignored or glossed over.
Paul says that we were bought with a price (1Cor 6:20). Peter says that the redemptive price paid was the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot (1Peter 1:18-20). Jesus said that He came to give His life a ransom for many. The word “ransom” is lutron, which means “the redemptive price.” Paul clarifies that the many referred to are all mankind. He said:
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom (antilutron, “a substitutionary redemptive price”) for all, to be testified in due time.” (1Tim 2:5,6)
Here we see Christ’s redemptive death on the cross to be a ransom paid “in the place of” (anti) all mankind. And in due time (in the time of their visitation), it will have been testified to all. Here we also see that Jesus Christ in His humanity offered His blood as a Mediator between God and man. So, to whom did the Man Jesus Christ give Himself as a ransom? To God.
God said that the penalty for Adam’s original sin would be death. Since God is not a man that He should lie, sin entered by the one man, Adam, and death passed upon all men, because when Adam sinned all sinned in him. Likewise, we were all born sinners and therefore commit sins. and God has declared that the soul that sins shall die (Ezek 18:4). The life of man is in the blood (Deut 12:23). Therefore, one’s lifeblood is required by God in consequence of sin. However, God in His mercy, foreseeing the cross, provided blood sacrifices of innocent animals in order to cover man’s sins until the spotless Lamb of God came to take away the sins of the world once and for all (Jn 1:29). However, without the shedding of blood, God cannot be just and at the same time remit sins (Heb 9:22).
The blood wasn’t presented as payment to the devil as some Church Fathers believed. While Satan’s legal rights against us were cancelled at the cross, the redemptive blood had to be presented to God on the propitiatory (KJV “mercy seat”) in the heavenly Holy of Holies. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus Christ our High Priest: “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12).
In the earthly tabernacle, which is a pattern of the heavenly, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year presenting the blood of the sacrificial animal before the Lord upon the mercy seat or propitiatory for the sins of the people. This offering propitiated God or satisfied Him until the following year. This was merely a type or shadow of the once and for all sacrifice of Christ our Redeemer. After describing the expiatory sacrifice which was offered once a year on the day of atonement, the author of Hebrews applies it to Christ saying:
“how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb 9:14,15)
This was also typified in the application of the blood of the Passover lamb. It was when God saw the blood that His judgment passed over them and the angel of death was not permitted to take their lives (Ex 12:13). Also, all sacrifices for sins were presented before the Lord (Lev 4:4-7). Actually, the entire Old Testament Scriptures were pregnant with types and shadows of the Lamb of God who would come and shed His blood, redeeming us unto Himself by grace. This is why Jesus said to the Pharisees: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). In spite of all their knowledge of Scripture, they thought that eternal life was to be obtained by obedience to the Law. However, the Law was given in order to put all under disobedience that God might afterwards have mercy on all (Rom 11:32). It was given to bring us to Christ, the Lamb of God, who would once and for all take away our sins and begin a new creation through His resurrection life.
Paul said that, in spite of the fact that he didn’t handle the Word of God deceitfully as some, the gospel was veiled to those who are perishing. He said that the god of this age has blinded them to the glorious gospel (2Cor 4:1-4). That was the case with the Pharisees, and it is also the case with many in our Postmodern society. Religious Progressives typically deny and even mock the truth that the expiatory sacrifice of Christ our Kinsman Redeemer was necessary in order to redeem us from our sins so that God could justly forgive and justify us. Brian Zahnd is representative of this school of thought when he says:
“Penal substitutionary atonement insists that God cannot just forgive. What do you mean He can’t just forgive? Of course He can, because God is not subordinate to justice.” [2]
However, we see in Scripture that the justice of God requires a blood ransom in substitution for sin in order for God to be able to justly forgive us for our sins. Jesus, before going to the cross said: “this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt 26:28). “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph 1:7). How are we forgiven before God? Through the shed blood of Christ, the substitutionary Lamb who redeemed us by His blood, enabling God to justly forgive us our sins.
I personally fear for those who reduce Christ’s expiatory death upon the cross, presenting it as nothing more than an example of cruciform love for us to emulate. The Holy Spirit prophesied concerning this through Peter when he said:
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who BOUGHT them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” (2Peter 2:1)
As the hour drew near when Jesus was to be offered up (Heb 7:27), He cried out to the Father saying: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27). Why was He troubled? Was it because He knew He would be beaten and scourged? No. The sinless Son of God knew that the Father was about to lay upon Him all the sins of the world so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2Cor 5:21). He had come in the form of man in order to give His lifeblood a ransom for all (Matt 20:28; 1Tim 2:6).
For us to say that God simply permitted wicked men to kill Him so we can know His cruciform love is tantamount to denying the Lord “who bought us” and gave His life “a ransom for all.” While it is true that the cross is by far the greatest demonstration of the Love of God, it is such, not simply because He absorbed “the collective sin of humanity” into Himself, saying “Father forgive them,” but rather because He gave His life a ransom for sin, since without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin.
A Denial of the Validity of the Old Testament Sacrificial System is a Denial of our Lord who bought us
The entirety of the Old Testament sacrificial system was divinely instituted for the sole purpose of pointing to Jesus Christ our Passover; the Lamb without blemish and without spot having been slain from the foundation of the world; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Old and New Testaments are so intertwined with this redemptive theme that to deny the validity of the Old Testament sacrificial system is to also deny the validity of the New Testament testimony concerning Christ our Redeemer.
Postmodern Progressives, in order to deny Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement, must first discredit the validity of the sacrificial system. They say that the sacrificial system was the invention of the primitive Near Eastern mindset of Moses. In order to do this, they must first deny the inerrancy of the Scriptures, since the Scriptures present God as being the one who instituted blood sacrifices.
However, they are subtle and clandestine rather than forthright in their denial of the authority of the Scriptures, and in this manner, they have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of many unwary sheep. They often emphasize that they hold a very high view of Scripture, even referring to it as the inspired word of God, while at the same time maintaining that it contains many errors and myths. This is what was meant by Peter when he said that they will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who BOUGHT them (2Peter 2:1). Their philosophical arguments are so ingeniously devised that they sow seeds of doubt without outright saying that they deny what they very obviously do deny when one takes the time to read in detail their often voluminous argumentations. Their writings are often so complex, evasive and elusive that most who write reviews concerning their works must speculate concerning what these authors were actually saying. These are those of whom Paul warned when he said:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Col 2:8)
The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish, but to us who believe it is the wisdom of God and the power of God (1Cor 1:18-21). The truth as it is in Jesus is so simple that the unlettered indigenous tribes here in the Colombian jungle understand it and are impacted by it. Yet it is so profound that we can never fathom its depths.
An all-too-common error of many who come to see that God’s plan culminates in the final restoration of all is failing to discern that not all who believe in universal salvation are biblically sound in their doctrines. Since the Bible so clearly teaches that Christ will succeed in His mission to seek and save the lost until the last lost sheep is safe in the fold, even the most Liberal teachers use many of the same passages of Scripture and biblical argumentation as the Conservative scholars do, demonstrating that God’s plan is to save all. However, since they deny the inerrancy of Scripture, Progressives ignore many portions of Scripture and twist the meaning of others in order to accommodate them to today’s culture or their own personal sensibilities. Only a truly high view of Scripture can save us from becoming lost in a sea of subjectivity.
In like manner, many who received a revelation of the grace of God fell into this same pitfall. The grace movement started upon a rediscovery of grace from the Scriptures and rediscovering the reality of Christ as our life. But many, failing to use discernment, have been led into doctrines which go too far and do not abide in the doctrine of Christ (2John 9). Jude warned of false grace teachers who depart from the Scriptures and subtly convert the grace of God into sinful excess. He said:
“I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 3-4)
Much of that which today passes for grace teaching has gone too far and bears little resemblance to the Bible based grace teaching of men like Andrew Wommack, Joseph Prince and even that which Steve McVey at first presented in his book “Grace-Walk.” In my book “The True Grace of God” I defend the doctrine of grace against its naysayers, but at the same time I make a call for those in the Grace Movement to abide in the doctrine of Christ – to remain in the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:20-23).
In like manner, in my book “The Ways of God” I seek to sound a warning against what I see as a prevalent but serious deviation from the biblical metanarrative among Universalists which, if not corrected, could derail the present restoration of Universalism, resulting in a repeat of the demise of Universalism during the last century through the incursion of Unitarian Liberalism. In “The Ways of God” I present an apologetic of the ways of God as revealed in the biblical record, showing that God’s ways can be seen to be just and loving, culminating in the final restoration of all, without compromising the authority of the Scriptures. I believe that if we want to see the grace movement and the restoration of Universal Restorationism stay on course, we must have a renewed commitment to stand firmly upon the Scriptures. I am convinced that God can be seen to be good all the time, even in His most severe judgments.
[1] When they speak of the love of God as “cruciform” they mean to say that His love is always like Christ on the cross, passively absorbing our sins into Himself, without acting in judgment against them. Nevertheless, many who use this term believe that Christ personally came to destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD. for rejecting Him.
[2] Monster God Atonement Debate, Michael Brown vs. Brian Zahn, 28:30 min.
by George Sidney Hurd
This question was presented to me a few days ago and I felt that it was a vital question which deserves a thoughtful response from the Scriptures.
Obviously, if the question is whether or not His love for us changes, the answer is that God’s love never ceases, and His mercies never come to an end. The Father didn’t begin to love us at the cross – He demonstrated His love for us in that while we were yet ungodly sinners and at enmity with Him, He sent His Son to die in our place that we might live unto Him (Rom 5:6-11).
If the question is whether or not His disposition and determination to save and restore all mankind changed at the cross, the answer again is, no. His eternal plan of redemption through the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world has never changed. He has sworn by Himself that to Him every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth and even under the earth, and every tongue shall confess Jesus Christ as Lord, taking an oath of loyalty to Him (Isa 45:22-24; Phil 2:10). To Paul the mystery was revealed that in the dispensation of the fulness of the times all creation would be reunited in Christ (Eph 1:10). The restoration of all which was prophesied since the beginning of time shall be fulfilled as promised (Acts 3:21).
God’s plan for the ages is summed up by Paul in Romans 11:36, “For of (ek) Him and through (dia) Him and to (eis, ‘into’) Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” All that which came out of God as to source (which includes all of creation, both visible and invisible), is sustained by Him and will ultimately be reunited into Him (eis) in the consummation, when God shall be all in all in eternity (1Cor 15:28). The end result of God’s creation story does not end in unspeakable tragedy for all but the elect of this age, but rather culminates in the final restoration of all to a far greater glory than that of Adam and Eve before the fall. What God commences He perfects!
What happened at the Fall?
In order to answer the question as to whether or not the cross changed God’s attitude towards us, we must go back to the fall in Eden. In what sense did our relationship with God change after the fall?
Sin and Death entered by the Fall
God told Adam that if they were to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die that very day. He said: “In the day you eat of it you shall surely die (or ‘dying you shall die’).” Nevertheless, we see that they continued living for nearly a millennium. Why didn’t Adam and Eve physically die on the very same day they ate the forbidden fruit? In what sense was this fulfilled?
In the first place, we need to understand that there is more than one death. When Paul said that the wages of sin is death, many have mistakenly thought that he was saying that if you commit just one sin in your lifetime you are condemned to die. But “sin” appears with the definite article and should read, “the sin.” In the context, we see that Paul was saying that the wages of the one sin – Adam’s sin, was death for him and all his descendants. He demonstrates this by saying that even in the time between Adam and Moses when sin wasn’t imputed as a transgression, everyone nevertheless died (Rom 5:12-14).
There is physical death and there is spiritual death. While space doesn’t allow me to elaborate here, death is not the cessation of existence, as the materialists perceive it, but rather a separation: When we die physically our soul is separated from our body; when we die to sin we are separated from sin; when we die to the Law we are separated from the Law in order to live unto Christ, etc. In the same manner, when we die spiritually, our spirit is separated from God who is Spirit. As I demonstrate in my book “Extermination or Restoration,” none of these deaths refer to a cessation of existence, but rather speak of a separation.
A separation occurred the very moment that Adam and Eve acted independently from God in disobedience. They died spiritually in the sense of being separated from spirit-to-Spirit communion with God who is Spirit. Self-consciousness replaced God-consciousness, and for the first time they became aware of their nakedness. Their reaction was to hide from God, and this death or separation continues in all of Adam’s race until one becomes reconciled to God in their hearts through Christ, the Last Adam, who is the life-giving Spirit (1Cor 15:45).
I believe that Satan the accuser was right there, reminding God of His word when He said that they would surely die. Satan is a legalist in the sense that he knows that God cannot lie and therefore he laid claim to the power of death – he now had the legal right to take their lives. And I believe that he would have taken their lives right then and there, but God in His mercy intervened, shedding the blood of innocent animals to cover them.
What was God’s response to this separation? Wrath? No. While spiritual death was the immediate result, God still sought after them even though they, through their disobedience, had broken communion with Him. So, while the relationship between them and God changed due to spiritual death, God still acted towards them with love and compassion. He even promised Eve that very same evening (in seed form) that her seed would eventually bring redemption and restoration. Instead of wrath, God gave the promise of restoration. So far there is no wrath.
Nevertheless, apart from the promised Seed that would come and restore life through His death and resurrection, their spiritual death would have been eternal and irreversible. Having been born under the sentence of Adam’s original sin, we all came into this world spiritually stillborn and alienated from the life of God (Eph 2:5; 4:18). There was nothing anyone from Adam’s seed could have done to reverse the death sentence resulting from Adam’s original sin.
However, when Christ became flesh, He was not of Adam’s seed, but of the woman’s seed and was conceived of the Holy Spirit, thereby making Him exempt from Adam’s original sin and resulting death sentence. Contrary to the first Adam, Christ as the woman’s seed lived a perfect life of total obedience to the Father and was illegally executed by Satan, the ruler of this age, thereby destroying Satan’s legal power over death which he had acquired by man’s default in the Garden (Heb 2:14). By Christ’s death and resurrection, He, as the Last Adam, will make alive all who died in the first Adam when he sinned (1Cor 15:22,55-56).
Our Sins are a result of Adam’s Original Sin and subsequent spiritual Death
The consequence of Adam’s sin and resulting death is that we are all conceived in sin in a state of death or separation from God (Ps 51:5). Man was originally created in God’s image and likeness in order to enjoy communion with Him. God is Spirit, and in the beginning man was also predominately spirit. However, when he died spiritually, he became separated from God and predominately “flesh” (Gen 6:3). Jesus said that separate from Him we can do nothing (Jn 15:5). He said that, apart from the life which comes from the Spirit, the flesh profits nothing (Jn 6:63).
Some mistakenly think that we are born innocent and only subsequently acquire sinful tendencies. However, in the Scriptures we see that we were born sinners due to Adam’s original sin. Through one man’s offense, death reigned over all his race and we became sinners (Rom 5:17-19). We are not sinners because we sin – we sin because we are sinners.
It is our Sins which provoke God’s Wrath
The first time we see mention of God’s wrath it is directed – not against original sin, but against the obstinate sins of Pharaoh and his army, and His wrath is seen to result in their temporal destruction (Ex 15:7). And we see the wrath of God consistently revealed in this manner throughout both the Old and New Testaments (Ex 22:24; Nu 31:33; Dt 9:8; 29:23,28; 2Chron 29:8; Eph 5:6; Col 3:6; Rev 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:10,19; 16:19, etc.). Even Jesus Himself, whom the Postmodern Progressives seek to confine to a passive cruciform mold, [1] speaks of the vengeance of God and His wrath which was going to be poured out upon Israel for rejecting their Messiah King:
“For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:22-24)
Christ didn’t come to personally destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD., as Preterists would have us believe. But in His wrath, God gave them over to their enemies, just as He previously did when they were invaded by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. As the writer of Hebrews says: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:30-31).
Postmodern Progressives often try to reduce God to the point of becoming a permissive and consenting father who never becomes angry with our sin and rebellion. They say that Jesus on the cross is the only true revelation of the Father, and therefore, according to them, God has always manifested cruciform love. Denying the inerrancy of the Scriptures, they use their limited model of Jesus to filter out all Scriptures which do not fit within their cruciform mold. In this manner they invalidate all those Scriptures which do not fit within their manmade mold.
However, a fuller understanding of the Jesus of the Bible demolishes this mold. They fail to give due consideration to the numerous non-cruciform warnings and woes which He pronounced against the unrepentant (Matt 11:21-24; 13:27-28; 18:7; 25:41; Lu 12:46-48, etc.). And this is not even taking into account how Jesus portrays Himself in the book of Revelation.
Jesus doesn’t present the Father as cruciform in His judgments. For example, speaking to those who do not forgive as they were forgiven, He gave the parable of the servant who was forgiven a great debt by his master and then turned around and demanded immediate payment of a small debt owed him by a fellow servant. Jesus said the following:
“Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?' 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses." (Matt 18:32-35)
Clearly, Jesus here is not presenting the Father in a cruciform manner. God is love, but what many fail to understand is that His love is multiform and not always cruciform. A father who simply says to his defiant child “peace be unto you,” even when his child curses him and defies his authority, could be called a passive father but hardly a loving father. A loving father is not negligent nor indifferent. He corrects and disciplines as necessary for the long-term benefit of the child whom he loves. Some try to reduce Father God to a passive father who simply smiles upon us no matter how defiant of him his children may be or how much damage they are inflicting upon others. However, that is not the Father presented to us in the Scriptures. Whom He loves He disciplines and even scourges when necessary in order that we may partake of His righteousness (Heb 12:5-11).
Additionally, many only refer to God as Father, without giving Him due tribute as King of kings and Lord of lords to whom all reverence and godly fear is due. He is also a consuming fire and the Judge of the living and the dead (1Pet 4:5). In light of this Paul said:
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror (phobos) of the Lord, we persuade men.” (2 Cor 5:10-11)
While God is our Father, that in no way diminishes the fact that He is also our Judge and that we need to acknowledge and respect Him as such. Even Abraham, being called “a friend of God,” referred to Him as the Judge of all the earth. In contrast to this, the modern tendency is to form God in our own image. Many today cut and paste the Scriptures in order to present God in a manner which accommodates our own cultural norms, personal tastes and even sinful lifestyles. Indeed, some of today’s brightest minds have devoted their energies and their amazing ingenuity to deconstructing the Scriptures and reformulating cleverly devised myths, half-truths and misrepresentations of the God of the Bible in such a way as to deceive all but the most wary and vigilant students of the Word.
Contrary to popular belief in some circles, throughout the New Testament we see the wrath of God being manifest wherever there is persistent unrepentant sin and rebellion. Paul in Romans begins by demonstrating that the whole world stands guilty and condemned under the wrath of God. He says:
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” (Rom 1:18)
Here we see that men intuitively know when they are sinning against God but rather than repenting of their sins, they suppress the truth in order to continue in a life of sin. Paul says that even the Gentiles, who do not have the Law, have the Law written on their hearts, leaving them without excuse (Rom 2:15-16). This refusal to acknowledge sin provokes God to anger. The Psalmist says: “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day” (Ps 7:11). However, God’s anger or wrath should never be mistaken for a lack of love. To the contrary, the absence of anger in the face of sin and rebellion would be an indication of indifference and apathy rather than love.
Paul further makes it clear that, even when man isn’t immediately judged and punished for his sin and rebellion, God nevertheless has a settled attitude of anger against all willful sin, and a time of reckoning awaits the unrepentant. The wicked often mistake God’s patience for passivity and tolerance of sin. But Paul states that God’s anger against all the ungodliness of the impenitent is being reserved for the day of judgment:
“But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each one according to his deeds.” (Rom 2:5-6)
So here we see that, although God doesn’t always act in wrath, swiftly judging sin during one’s lifetime, as He is seen to have done when He as the Judge of the Earth deems it to be necessary, such as when Pharaoh’s army was drowned in the sea, or when Ananias and Saphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Spirit, setting them forth as an example, etc., His wrath against all unrepentant sin is accumulating or being treasured up for the final Judgment or the day of wrath.
We also see that even when God in His wrath intervenes with judgment, as He did with Sodom and the surrounding cities, those who persist in their sins must still stand before God as Judge in the day of His wrath. Jesus said of those who saw His works and still did not repent, that it would be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of Judgment than it would be for them (Matt 11:24).
Some Inclusivists would say that there is no them and us; the saved and the unsaved; the justified and the condemned; those who are still dead in sin and those who are alive; children of wrath and children of God, etc. They argue that, since Christ died for all, and all died with Christ at the cross, where He destroyed the power of death, then all are already alive unto God; they are already saved, justified and made alive but they just don’t know it yet.
While it is not possible to give full consideration to this error here, I would just like to point out that when Jesus commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel to all nations He said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). This is why, when the Philippian jailor asked Paul what he had to do in order to be saved, he didn’t respond saying: “You’re already saved, you just don’t know it yet.” No. He said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:30-31). Salvation is not personally experienced until we believe on Jesus Christ and confess Him as Lord (Rom 10:9-10). Before being regenerated we were dead in our sins and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others (Eph 2:3). We do not become a part of the new creation in Christ until we are regenerated or born again (Jn 3:3-7; Eph 2:1-5).
Indeed, all will eventually be effectually drawn to Christ and saved (Jn 12:32). In the end all will have believed, bowing the knee to Him and confessing Him as Lord (Phil 2:10). All will finally be included in the new creation (2Cor 5:17, cf. Rev 21:5; Eph 1:10). However, according to Jesus Himself, until the moment of one’s visitation comes and they believe, they stand condemned before God (Jn 3:18).
Even in this present age of grace, Paul warns believers against being deceived into thinking that we can continue in unrepentant sin without provoking God to anger. Paul says:
“But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; 4 neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them.” (Eph 5:3-7)
So, we have seen that while God has always loved all unconditionally - even after the fall, His settled attitude toward all unrepentant sin has always been that of wrath. Anyone who is a parent understands that anger is an essential part of parental love in the face of sin and rebellion.
However, God is more than our Father – He is also a just Judge. And, as we shall see, His immutable justice does not allow Him to simply pass over sins. He can only forgive sins based upon the fact that His perfect justice was satisfied upon the cross in Christ our substitute. The unrepentant are storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath and the righteous judgment of God, the Judge of all, when the unrepentant will receive a just recompense according to their deeds recorded in the books (Rev 20:12). According to Jesus, the books contain a thorough record containing every detail of our lives - even including the very words we have spoken (Matt 12:36-37).
An essential element of the gospel is that Christ became sin for us in order that we may become the righteousness of God through faith in Him. Through our union with Him in the new birth we are no longer subjects of God’s wrath and the resulting condemnation. Jesus becomes our righteousness, thereby delivering us from the coming wrath (1Thess 1:10). While Postmodern theologians chafe at this, Christ’s expiation of our sins, theologically referred to as “the atonement,” is clearly a penal atonement made on our behalf by Christ, enabling God to be just, while at the same time justifying the ungodly who repent and put their faith in Christ as the propitiatory sacrifice for their sins.
The Penal Substitutionary Atonement
Perhaps no biblical doctrine is under greater attack in our day than that of the Penal Substitutionary Atonement of Christ. It is grossly misrepresented and ridiculed by both the Modern and the Postmodern theologians of our time. They argue that the theory of Penal Substitutionary Atonement is nothing more than the invention of Calvin’s legal mind which led him to see Christ’s substitutionary death as satisfying God’s justice. It is true that Calvin first studied to be a lawyer during a time when government was based upon a legal system rather than feudalism, and his legal mind enabled him to recognize and expound upon the legal aspects of the atonement with more precision than former theologians.
Anselm in the tenth century, during the time of the feudal system in which nobility ruled, put forth the Satisfaction Theory of the Atonement, which saw Christ’s substitutionary death as the satisfaction of God’s offended nobility. Calvin correctly pointed out that the language of Scripture speaks of judgment against offenses of God’s justice, rather than God punishing mankind for having offended His honor. Anselm was the first to argue that, since sin was committed against God’s infinite nobility, just one sin against His honor was deserving of eternal punishment. Clearly this is not a satisfactory explanation of the atonement! God’s law prescribes just punishment commensurate to the offenses committed against justice. Nowhere in Scripture is God said to mete out infinite punishment simply because His honor was offended.
The Language of Scripture is clearly Penal
Surely it won’t do to argue that, since Calvin lived in a law-oriented society, it influenced his view of the atonement. The entire legal system that the West is modeled after today was developed by the Romans of Paul’s time, so the same could be argued concerning him. Indeed, the language which Paul uses to describe what Christ accomplished upon the cross involves clearly forensic or legal terms, used in the Roman legal system at that time.
However, the atonement is not based upon Roman law and justice, but rather upon the very Law of God and upon His justice. Both Old and New Testaments present God using terms which are clearly forensic. He is depicted as the Judge of all (Gen 18:25; Heb 12:23). He has a throne for judgment before which all must stand (Ps 9:7-8; Rev 20:11). The foundation of His throne is righteousness and justice (Ps 89:14; 97:2). Apart from grace, all would be judged according to the Law, found guilty and condemned (Rom 2:13,16; James 2:10). All men are demonstrated to be guilty before God (Rom 3:19).
So far, we see juridical terms consistently employed, showing all mankind to be guilty and condemned before a holy God who is also the Judge of all. That brings us up to the atonement. Are the passages which reveal Christ’s atoning sacrifice also expressed in forensic terms? Yes. He was born under the Law in order to redeem us from the Law (Gal 4:4-5). He lived a perfect life under the Law without sin (1Jn 3:4-5; 1Peter 2:22; Heb 4:15). He became a curse under the Law by hanging upon a tree, being numbered with the transgressors (Gal 3:13; Luke 22:37; Mark 15:28). He was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification (Rom 4:25; 5:16; Isa 53:5). Taking on the likeness of sinful flesh, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us (Rom 8:3-4). These are all legal terms which were in common use within every legal system of that time. Even the biblical terms “expiation” and “propitiation,” although not part of secular legal terminology, nevertheless are essential to God’s justice. Expiation and propitiation are foundational elements in God’s justice, making it possible for Him to be just and justify the ungodly (Rom 3:25-26).
Christ our Passover was Sacrificed for Us (1Cor 5:7)
While human laws are based largely upon principles contained in God’s Law, it is an error to try to confine God’s Law to man’s laws. For example, under God’s Law, there is a provision which allows for the forgiveness or remission of sins by the shedding of innocent blood (Heb 9:22; Matt 26:28). This is an integral part of God’s Law which is a stumbling block to those who do not have a revelation of the wisdom of the cross and seek to bind God to a strictly human justice system.
From the beginning God said that death would be the consequence of sin, and since God cannot lie, He couldn’t simply go back on His word. However, in His mercy He shed the innocent blood of animals to cover Adam and Eve. Under the Law, death was the penalty of disobedience, but God made provision, allowing for an innocent victim’s blood to be offered to make propitiation for the sins of the people: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement (expiation) for the soul” (Lev 17:11). Many try to undermine God’s sacrificial system by associating it with pagan blood sacrifices. However, God’s provision for forgiveness by blood sacrifice preceded these pagan perversions. Blood sacrifices demanded by the demon-gods were designed to distort and malign God’s merciful means of reconciliation through the Lamb of God, and sadly many Progressives today have played into their hands.
The English word “atonement” is an unfortunate rendering of the Hebrew “kippur,” since atonement speaks more to the result of the “kippur,” which means “expiation,” or “the removal of sin by sacrifice.” The word “atonement” is a 16th century term meaning “at-one-ment.” The word atonement doesn’t even have an equivalent in other languages. The Spanish language correctly renders it “expiación” which means the same as our English word expiation. The expiation is what made at-one-ment or reconciliation with God possible by taking away our sins, but the term in and of itself only has reference to the expiatory sacrifice. Since life is in the blood, without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, since it is the blood which makes expiation (kippur) for the soul (Lev 17:11).
This mistranslation of the word “kippur” has given place to the modern notion that forgiveness and reconciliation with God are possible without the shedding of Christ’s blood in expiation for our sins, and that God didn’t need to be reconciled to us, but rather it was only we who needed to be reconciled unto Him. This, in spite of the fact that Jesus was declared to be “the Lamb of God who takes away (or expiates) the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). The Postmodern version is more akin to the Moral Influence Theory which would make the blood of Christ devoid of any redemptive value, saying that Christ merely demonstrated “cruciform” love as an example to us by absorbing our sins into Himself without retaliation. But the Apostle John clearly states the reason for Christ’s life and death. He says: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins” (1John 3:5). Jesus Himself, on the night of His passion said: “For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt 26:28). Likewise, the writer of Hebrews says that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb 9:22, cf. 10:18). Clearly, the remission or forgiveness of sins refers to God’s forgiveness and remission of our sins, thereby enabling Him to justly justify us.
Accepted in the Beloved
“to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Eph 1:6-7)
Returning to the question, "did Christ’s sacrifice on the cross change God’s attitude towards us?", the answer is yes and no. Did God still love us, even in our sin? Yes. But could He, being a just and holy God, simply overlook our sin? No. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). By the shed blood of Christ, the Lamb of God without blemish or spot, our sins have been propitiated before the Most Holy God who has always loved us. Through His blood there is forgiveness and acceptance for all who receive Him.
Some argue that God can simply overlook sin since Jesus was equally God and He nevertheless befriended sinners. However, we must understand that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit equally inhabit eternity and therefore from their eternal perspective the Lamb of God slain for the forgiveness and justification of those same sinners has always been a present reality to them (Rev 13:8). From the beginning, when God spoke with Adam and Eve after the fall, to the present in which the Holy Spirit continues indwelling us even when we sin (cf. 1Cor 6:15-19), God has always been able to remain just and holy while at the same time interacting with sinners. As Paul says:
“being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Rom 3:24-26)
So, we see that, due to the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ which satisfied God’s justice for our offenses, God can be seen as just while at the same time rubbing shoulders with sinners. That is not to say that He isn’t grieved and angered by our sin, or that He will not intervene to judge sin if we fail to judge ourselves (Ps 7:11; Eph 4:30; 1Cor 11:31-32; James 4:4-6). Neither does it mean that our communion with Him isn’t broken by unrepentant sin (Ps 66:18; 1Jn 1:6-7). Nor does it mean that God will not finally judge all unrepentant sin. It simply means that God can be gracious and merciful to mankind because the Lamb of God has made propitiation for our sins by His shed blood on our behalf.
Progressives argue that the blood of Christ doesn’t change how God relates to us, but rather it simply cleanses our conscience, affecting how we relate to God. This is based upon a misapplication of the reference to our conscience in Hebrews. I here quote the whole passage to see its meaning in the context:
“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot TO GOD, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb 9:11-15)
In the context, how is the blood of Christ seen to cleanse our conscience? We have already seen that the shedding of blood was for the remission of our sins in the sight of God. Here in the context, we see that Christ entered the Most Holy Place not made with hands, of which the earthly tabernacle was only a pattern. He presented His own blood upon the heavenly propitiatory, thereby making propitiation before God for the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). When it says that Christ was our “propitiation,” it is the word hilasterion, which refers to the expiatory sacrifice, or the sacrifice which satisfies God’s justice concerning our sins, enabling God to remove them as far as the east is from the west. It is God who says He will remember our sins no more because of the removal of them from Himself (Heb 10:18). Our consciences are cleansed only by the knowledge that God has removed our sins from us and remembers them no more because of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on our behalf.
From the very beginning, God was pointing us to the once and for all sacrifice, by which He, in the person of the Son, would make expiation for our sins through His shed blood upon the cross. The Passover was given as a clear shadow of Christ our Passover who would be sacrificed for us (1Cor 5:7). The Passover lamb had to be without spot or blemish. It was to be slain for the sins of the people and placed upon the doorposts of their homes so that the judgment which fell upon the land would pass over them. The Lord said:
“And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Ex 12:13)
In the same manner, “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom 5:8-10). We have been redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1Peter 1:19). To deny the efficacy of the blood of Christ is to count the blood of Christ by which we have received the remission of sins as a common thing (Heb 10:29).
Redemption
Redemption is integrally related to the expiatory sacrifice of Christ, since His sacrifice of Himself obtained our redemption. We were redeemed by His blood (Col 1:14). Redemption refers to a price having been paid in order to obtain something. What was obtained for us through Christ’s redeeming blood? Who was the blood that redeemed us presented to? Did Christ’s redemption change the way God relates to us? These are important questions which are often ignored or glossed over.
Paul says that we were bought with a price (1Cor 6:20). Peter says that the redemptive price paid was the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot (1Peter 1:18-20). Jesus said that He came to give His life a ransom for many. The word “ransom” is lutron, which means “the redemptive price.” Paul clarifies that the many referred to are all mankind. He said:
“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom (antilutron, “a substitutionary redemptive price”) for all, to be testified in due time.” (1Tim 2:5,6)
Here we see Christ’s redemptive death on the cross to be a ransom paid “in the place of” (anti) all mankind. And in due time (in the time of their visitation), it will have been testified to all. Here we also see that Jesus Christ in His humanity offered His blood as a Mediator between God and man. So, to whom did the Man Jesus Christ give Himself as a ransom? To God.
God said that the penalty for Adam’s original sin would be death. Since God is not a man that He should lie, sin entered by the one man, Adam, and death passed upon all men, because when Adam sinned all sinned in him. Likewise, we were all born sinners and therefore commit sins. and God has declared that the soul that sins shall die (Ezek 18:4). The life of man is in the blood (Deut 12:23). Therefore, one’s lifeblood is required by God in consequence of sin. However, God in His mercy, foreseeing the cross, provided blood sacrifices of innocent animals in order to cover man’s sins until the spotless Lamb of God came to take away the sins of the world once and for all (Jn 1:29). However, without the shedding of blood, God cannot be just and at the same time remit sins (Heb 9:22).
The blood wasn’t presented as payment to the devil as some Church Fathers believed. While Satan’s legal rights against us were cancelled at the cross, the redemptive blood had to be presented to God on the propitiatory (KJV “mercy seat”) in the heavenly Holy of Holies. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus Christ our High Priest: “with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12).
In the earthly tabernacle, which is a pattern of the heavenly, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place once a year presenting the blood of the sacrificial animal before the Lord upon the mercy seat or propitiatory for the sins of the people. This offering propitiated God or satisfied Him until the following year. This was merely a type or shadow of the once and for all sacrifice of Christ our Redeemer. After describing the expiatory sacrifice which was offered once a year on the day of atonement, the author of Hebrews applies it to Christ saying:
“how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (Heb 9:14,15)
This was also typified in the application of the blood of the Passover lamb. It was when God saw the blood that His judgment passed over them and the angel of death was not permitted to take their lives (Ex 12:13). Also, all sacrifices for sins were presented before the Lord (Lev 4:4-7). Actually, the entire Old Testament Scriptures were pregnant with types and shadows of the Lamb of God who would come and shed His blood, redeeming us unto Himself by grace. This is why Jesus said to the Pharisees: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). In spite of all their knowledge of Scripture, they thought that eternal life was to be obtained by obedience to the Law. However, the Law was given in order to put all under disobedience that God might afterwards have mercy on all (Rom 11:32). It was given to bring us to Christ, the Lamb of God, who would once and for all take away our sins and begin a new creation through His resurrection life.
Paul said that, in spite of the fact that he didn’t handle the Word of God deceitfully as some, the gospel was veiled to those who are perishing. He said that the god of this age has blinded them to the glorious gospel (2Cor 4:1-4). That was the case with the Pharisees, and it is also the case with many in our Postmodern society. Religious Progressives typically deny and even mock the truth that the expiatory sacrifice of Christ our Kinsman Redeemer was necessary in order to redeem us from our sins so that God could justly forgive and justify us. Brian Zahnd is representative of this school of thought when he says:
“Penal substitutionary atonement insists that God cannot just forgive. What do you mean He can’t just forgive? Of course He can, because God is not subordinate to justice.” [2]
However, we see in Scripture that the justice of God requires a blood ransom in substitution for sin in order for God to be able to justly forgive us for our sins. Jesus, before going to the cross said: “this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt 26:28). “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph 1:7). How are we forgiven before God? Through the shed blood of Christ, the substitutionary Lamb who redeemed us by His blood, enabling God to justly forgive us our sins.
I personally fear for those who reduce Christ’s expiatory death upon the cross, presenting it as nothing more than an example of cruciform love for us to emulate. The Holy Spirit prophesied concerning this through Peter when he said:
“But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who BOUGHT them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.” (2Peter 2:1)
As the hour drew near when Jesus was to be offered up (Heb 7:27), He cried out to the Father saying: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27). Why was He troubled? Was it because He knew He would be beaten and scourged? No. The sinless Son of God knew that the Father was about to lay upon Him all the sins of the world so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2Cor 5:21). He had come in the form of man in order to give His lifeblood a ransom for all (Matt 20:28; 1Tim 2:6).
For us to say that God simply permitted wicked men to kill Him so we can know His cruciform love is tantamount to denying the Lord “who bought us” and gave His life “a ransom for all.” While it is true that the cross is by far the greatest demonstration of the Love of God, it is such, not simply because He absorbed “the collective sin of humanity” into Himself, saying “Father forgive them,” but rather because He gave His life a ransom for sin, since without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sin.
A Denial of the Validity of the Old Testament Sacrificial System is a Denial of our Lord who bought us
The entirety of the Old Testament sacrificial system was divinely instituted for the sole purpose of pointing to Jesus Christ our Passover; the Lamb without blemish and without spot having been slain from the foundation of the world; the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Old and New Testaments are so intertwined with this redemptive theme that to deny the validity of the Old Testament sacrificial system is to also deny the validity of the New Testament testimony concerning Christ our Redeemer.
Postmodern Progressives, in order to deny Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement, must first discredit the validity of the sacrificial system. They say that the sacrificial system was the invention of the primitive Near Eastern mindset of Moses. In order to do this, they must first deny the inerrancy of the Scriptures, since the Scriptures present God as being the one who instituted blood sacrifices.
However, they are subtle and clandestine rather than forthright in their denial of the authority of the Scriptures, and in this manner, they have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of many unwary sheep. They often emphasize that they hold a very high view of Scripture, even referring to it as the inspired word of God, while at the same time maintaining that it contains many errors and myths. This is what was meant by Peter when he said that they will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who BOUGHT them (2Peter 2:1). Their philosophical arguments are so ingeniously devised that they sow seeds of doubt without outright saying that they deny what they very obviously do deny when one takes the time to read in detail their often voluminous argumentations. Their writings are often so complex, evasive and elusive that most who write reviews concerning their works must speculate concerning what these authors were actually saying. These are those of whom Paul warned when he said:
“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” (Col 2:8)
The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish, but to us who believe it is the wisdom of God and the power of God (1Cor 1:18-21). The truth as it is in Jesus is so simple that the unlettered indigenous tribes here in the Colombian jungle understand it and are impacted by it. Yet it is so profound that we can never fathom its depths.
An all-too-common error of many who come to see that God’s plan culminates in the final restoration of all is failing to discern that not all who believe in universal salvation are biblically sound in their doctrines. Since the Bible so clearly teaches that Christ will succeed in His mission to seek and save the lost until the last lost sheep is safe in the fold, even the most Liberal teachers use many of the same passages of Scripture and biblical argumentation as the Conservative scholars do, demonstrating that God’s plan is to save all. However, since they deny the inerrancy of Scripture, Progressives ignore many portions of Scripture and twist the meaning of others in order to accommodate them to today’s culture or their own personal sensibilities. Only a truly high view of Scripture can save us from becoming lost in a sea of subjectivity.
In like manner, many who received a revelation of the grace of God fell into this same pitfall. The grace movement started upon a rediscovery of grace from the Scriptures and rediscovering the reality of Christ as our life. But many, failing to use discernment, have been led into doctrines which go too far and do not abide in the doctrine of Christ (2John 9). Jude warned of false grace teachers who depart from the Scriptures and subtly convert the grace of God into sinful excess. He said:
“I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 3-4)
Much of that which today passes for grace teaching has gone too far and bears little resemblance to the Bible based grace teaching of men like Andrew Wommack, Joseph Prince and even that which Steve McVey at first presented in his book “Grace-Walk.” In my book “The True Grace of God” I defend the doctrine of grace against its naysayers, but at the same time I make a call for those in the Grace Movement to abide in the doctrine of Christ – to remain in the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:20-23).
In like manner, in my book “The Ways of God” I seek to sound a warning against what I see as a prevalent but serious deviation from the biblical metanarrative among Universalists which, if not corrected, could derail the present restoration of Universalism, resulting in a repeat of the demise of Universalism during the last century through the incursion of Unitarian Liberalism. In “The Ways of God” I present an apologetic of the ways of God as revealed in the biblical record, showing that God’s ways can be seen to be just and loving, culminating in the final restoration of all, without compromising the authority of the Scriptures. I believe that if we want to see the grace movement and the restoration of Universal Restorationism stay on course, we must have a renewed commitment to stand firmly upon the Scriptures. I am convinced that God can be seen to be good all the time, even in His most severe judgments.
[1] When they speak of the love of God as “cruciform” they mean to say that His love is always like Christ on the cross, passively absorbing our sins into Himself, without acting in judgment against them. Nevertheless, many who use this term believe that Christ personally came to destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD. for rejecting Him.
[2] Monster God Atonement Debate, Michael Brown vs. Brian Zahn, 28:30 min.
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+Are the Gates of Hell Locked from Within?
by George Sidney Hurd
“I willingly believe that the damned are in one sense successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside . . . they enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved: just as the blessed, forever submitting to obedience, become through all eternity more and more free.” C. S. Lewis. [1]
Is it true, as C. S. Lewis willingly believed, that all who are in hell are there only because they choose to remain there, and that, rather than being there against their will, its inhabitants have actually locked the door from the inside? Is it true, as he taught, that man’s libertarian free-will is so absolute that even God Himself must ultimately submit to it, abandoning lost sinners to an eternity of misery, in the end saying to them, “thy will be done”? [2] Whose will prevails when all is said and done? God’s will that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, or the fallen sin-bent will of lost sinners who came into this world spiritually stillborn and blinded by the god of this age? These are some of the questions that I hope to answer from Scripture in this blog.
First off, I would like to point out that C. S. Lewis seems to have tentatively been a hopeful Universalist. In his novel, The Great Divorce, he depicted himself as having died and gone to hell. In hell he took a bus to heaven with several others, most of whom did not want to remain there and promptly reboarded the bus back to hell. When he arrived at the edge of heaven he was greeted by George Macdonald, his mentor in life who was a Universalist. In his conversation, C. S. Lewis acknowledged the fact that both Macdonald and the Apostle Paul had spoken as though they believed that all would be saved, but he then proceeds to present MacDonald as being uncertain in the afterlife concerning the final salvation of all because of man’s inviolable free-will. Here I quote part of the interchange between Lewis and MacDonald in heaven:
C. S. Lewis: “In your own books, Sir,’ said I, ‘you were a Universalist. You talked as if all men would be saved. And St. Paul too.’
George Macdonald: “Ye can know nothing of the end of all things, or nothing expressible in those terms. It may be, as the Lord said…that all will be well…and all manner of thing will be well. But it’s ill talking of such questions… Witness the doctrine of Predestination which shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in which to be real; but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper truth of the two. And wouldn’t Universalism do the same?” [3]
Reading this, I wondered what Macdonald thought of C. S. Lewis presenting him as though he were merely a hopeful Universalist in the afterlife, considering that he was such a strong advocate for Universalism during his lifetime. C. S. Lewis here actually presents George Macdonald as uncertain concerning the final salvation of all, reasoning that both Predestination and God’s determined will that all be saved must somehow be subordinate to man’s sovereign libertarian Freedom which not even God can overcome, thus rendering the final outcome unknowable.
From what I have been able to gather from the writings of C. S. Lewis, his free-will theodicy, by which he justified the presence of evil and suffering, was so extremely libertarian that God could neither consign unrepentant sinners to hell against their will, nor could He be certain that His determined will that all should be saved would ever be successfully accomplished.
C. S. Lewis actually believed that God did not know what the final outcome would be when He created man with a free-will, but reasoned, “apparently He thought it was worth the risk.” [4] C. S. Lewis was the most influential forerunner to what later came to be known as Open Theism. I present the scriptural arguments against Open Theism in a series of two blogs: Open Theism – Does God know my Tomorrow.
Are the only People in Hell those who choose to remain there?
Some would argue that the word hell shouldn’t even appear in the Bible. While it is true that the actual meaning of our English word hell has been greatly distorted by Greek mythology and the creative imagination of men like Dante, etymologically speaking, the word Hell is totally consistent with the meaning of Hades which in Scripture is simply the unseen or hidden realm of the dead. The Greek word Hades is a composite word, made up of the negative particle a, meaning “no” and eido which means “to see.” Even outside of Scripture it simply referred to the invisible realm of the dead. When Hades was originally translated as “Hell” in the Old English, it meant essentially the same thing as Hades. The old word hel or Helle simply meant “that which is covered or concealed,” i.e. the invisible realm of the dead. [5]
The word itself simply speaks of the unseen realm of the souls of the dead. Not everyone in hades is seen to be suffering, since both the souls of the righteous and the wicked alike are seen to be in Sheol or Hades, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies (Gen 37:35, hades LXX). Even the soul of Jesus went to Hades, while His body was preserved from corruption in the tomb until His resurrection (Acts 2:31).
Obviously, if, as some affirm, the soul does not have an existence apart from the body, and Sheol or Hades is nothing more than the grave, then this whole discussion would be irrelevant. I demonstrate from Scripture that the soul has a conscious existence apart from the body in my blog, Is Sheol the Grave, and also in my book, Extermination or Restoration?
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus we see that both men died, and their souls went to Hades or the unseen realm of the dead. Lazarus was carried by the angels to Paradise, which was called Abraham’s bosom prior to Christ’s resurrection and ascension, at which time He took Paradise with Him to the third heaven (Eph 4:8-10, cf., 2Cor 12:2-4).
When the rich man died, he found himself in torments. Was it possible for him to simply get up and leave for Paradise at will, as Libertarians like C. S. Lewis affirm? Arguing from silence, they say that the rich man gave no indication that he wanted to leave the place of torments and enter Paradise. However, if he was only there because he wanted to remain there, why would he beg Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers so they could avoid ending up where he was, if indeed one could simply leave for Paradise whenever they chose to?
The obvious reason why he wanted his brothers to repent before dying was because he understood that upon dying one must receive just retribution for what they have done in life. Lazarus’ retribution was Paradise, while the rich man’s retribution was the just penalty for his evil deeds. When the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue, Abraham made it clear that it was not possible for one to simply leave the place of torments for Paradise at will, when he said: “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Luke 16:26).
That does not mean that the retribution that the unrepentant receive in Gehenna for the sins committed in life is eternal and that they can never pass from torments to Paradise, but simply that they cannot leave without first receiving the just retribution for the deeds done in the flesh and/or repenting and being purified in the eonian fire. Jesus compared hell (Gehenna) to a prison, saying that one may not leave there until they have paid their penalty in full (Matt 5:22-26). “Until” logically requires an “afterwards,” and therefore rules out eternal retribution.
That it is possible for one to pass from undergoing correction and just retribution to Paradise once their correction has been achieved, can be seen both in Ephesians 4 and 1Peter where Christ is seen to have descended into Hades, preached the gospel to the captives held there and ascending with them to the third heaven:
“He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water… For this reason the gospel was preached (ευηγγελισθη, lit. ‘evangelized’) also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:19-21; 4:6)
“As the scripture says, ‘When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to mankind.’ Now, what does ‘he went up’ mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth. So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.” (Eph 4:8-10 TEV)
Here we see that Christ descended into the lowest parts of Hades, even to where the spirits of the men who were disobedient in the days of Noah were imprisoned, in order that, although they were judged in the flesh they might live according to God in the spirit. Their spirits were regenerated, and they were received into Paradise in the third heaven, awaiting the first resurrection at Christ’s Second Coming.
Also, we see that the unjust who do not have part in the first resurrection unto life will be judged “according to their works” at the White Throne Judgment, receiving “their part” in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:13; 21:8). Jesus said that some will receive “few lashes” while others will receive “many” (Luke 12:47-48). These expressions all speak of a just and measured judgment, and rule out the possibility of infinite punishment for finite sins. Also, understanding that the eonian fire/correction is for the purpose of purification, it logically follows that, as soon as one has been fully purified, coming forth as pure gold, they will be taken out of the fire and restored. I consider the nature, purpose and duration of the fire in my blog, Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner’s Fire.
However, the fact that retribution in Gehenna is not eternal, as traditionally taught, does not mean that the unrepentant sinner can simply choose to avert Gehenna and go directly to Paradise upon dying, foregoing God’s just retribution and the eonian fire, since, without holiness no one can see the Lord (Heb 12:14). Those tormented in Hades don’t have the keys, Christ does (Rev 1:18). He is the only one who can deliver us from death unto eonian life in His presence. In numerous passages we see that Jesus actually sends the unjust into outer darkness and eonian fire against their will. Here are some examples:
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt 7:21-23)
“Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, 24 ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able… 27 He will say… ‘Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.” (Luke 13:23-28)
“And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:34-35)
There is a separation which takes place upon dying, or when Christ returns in the twinkling of an eye, gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth. Those who die in Christ go immediately into the presence of Christ, waiting to receive their glorified bodies in the first resurrection at His coming (2Cor 5:8; Php 1:23; Rev 20:5-6; Jn 5:29). The unrepentant are sent into outer darkness and eonian fire and remain in Hades until the second resurrection after Christ’s 1,000 year reign has ended. At that time, death (the grave) and Hades (the habitation of disembodied souls) give up the dead which are in them so that each individual may appear soul and body before the White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:13-15). Those whose names are still not found written in the book of life at that time are judged according to their works, receiving their part in the purifying Lake of Fire, being hurt by the second death.
The fact that the book of life is consulted at the White Throne Judgment indicates that some of the souls who missed the first resurrection will subsequently have fulfilled their part (μέρος), or just recompense, and been purified (washed their robes Rev 22:14 ASV), having their names written in the book of life and being received into Paradise. Then at the second resurrection they also will be made alive with a glorified resurrection body.
Those whose names are not found written in the book of life at that time will not willingly go into the Lake of Fire of their own free-will, but rather must be forced to undergo the second death:
“Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:13-15, c.f. Matt 5:29)
As I argue in my blog, Fear Him who can Destroy both Body and Soul, the second death is the destruction of soul and body in Gehenna. If we do not destroy the dominance of the flesh and the soul-life now, we will have to undergo it in the afterlife, since, without holiness no one will see the Lord. Certainly no one would ever willingly choose to be hurt by the second death in the Lake of fire if they were free to avert it and enter directly into the kingdom of heaven. God created us with a “free-will”, but our will is subordinate to God’s sovereign determined will. Man’s will is not free to circumvent God’s determined judgments apart from repentance, as history demonstrates.
What we see repeatedly emphasized is that those excluded from the kingdom will want to enter but will not be able to (Luke 13:24-28; Matt 7:21-23; 25:11-12,41,44). In fact, Jesus repeatedly said that they will weep and gnash their teeth when He tells the unjust to depart from Him into the eonian punishment which is figuratively described as a furnace of fire and outer darkness (Matt 13:42; 22:13).
God will not eternally abandon anyone to their own “Free-will”
While it is true that God, just as any loving father, does not grant our every wish and some must undergo eonian correction against their will, neither will He abandon man to his own depraved “free-will”.
The term “free-will” in reality is a misnomer, since the will of each individual is restricted and impaired by numerous factors. None of us were able to choose the environment in which we were born. We didn’t choose to be born with a bent to sin. We didn’t choose our parents. We couldn’t choose whether to be born in a Christian home or an atheist or Muslim home. The list could go on. All of these things, and many more, limit or influence our “free-will” decisions. In fact, most of mankind never even heard the Gospel in their lifetime in order to be able to decide whether or not to receive Christ of their own “free-will”.
All these limitations considered, how could our heavenly Father eternally abandon any of His offspring to their own free-will, saying to some, “thy will be done”, as C. S. Lewis affirms, especially considering that fallen humanity is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and blinded by the prince of the power of the air? (Eph 2:1-2; 2Cor 4:4). Jesus said: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws (ἑλκύω, ‘effectually draw’) him” (Jn 6:44). While the invitation is open to all, man is so lost that no one can come without divine assistance. It is not simply a case of unwillingness, but inability.
However, rather than God effectually drawing only the elect to Himself while consigning most of humanity to eternal torment, as the Calvinists believe, or forever abandoning the lost to their own free-will, as the Libertarians claim, the Scriptures throughout declare that God will draw all men unto Himself, albeit each one in his own order (1Cor 15:22-23). The elect of this age are merely the firstfruits of God’s new creation in Christ, in which all will finally be reunited in Christ and made new in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times (Eph 1:10; Rev 21:5). I consider this in more detail in my blog, Who are the Elect of God?
While Jesus said that no one can come to Him without being effectually drawn, He also said that He would draw all unto Himself. He said:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw (ἑλκύω, ‘effectually draw’) all to Myself.” (Jn 12:32 LITV)
So, we see that God’s elect firstfruits are those who are drawn unto Christ in this age. But in the coming ages He will draw all unto Himself. God has sworn by Himself that all the ends of the earth will look to Him and be saved, bowing the knee and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord (Isa 45:22-24; Php 2:10-11). Christ will continue reigning until all have subjected themselves unto Him, at which time He will also subject Himself unto the Father that God may be all in all entering into eternity (1Cor 15:28).
Libertarians like C. S. Lewis argue that God cannot save all mankind, since He must respect man’s autonomous free-will. To me, that is like saying that a father, out of respect for his son’s free-will, should not exercise restraint to keep his son from throwing himself off of a high building to his death. Any loving father would restrain his son against his will, if necessary, even confining him in a clinic for whatever time is necessary for the restoration of his mental and emotional health.
How much less would our heavenly Father allow any one of his wayward children to inflict upon themselves irreversible ruin. Rather, he confines them in eonian correction until they come to themselves and are fully restored. Whatever time it takes, no matter how many ages it may take for some (like the self-righteous Pharisees), to recognize their condition and their need of the Physician, God has sworn by Himself that all will someday look to Him and be saved. God has all the time in the world at His disposal, and He is more than able to bring circumstances to bear upon even the most obstinately self-willed sinners like Jonah fleeing for Tarsus or Paul on his high horse, working in each one of us to both will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). Furthermore, He has sworn that he will do it. Our heavenly Father will never abandon forever even one of the children of men:
“For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men.” (Lam 3:31-33)
[1] C. S. Lewis. The Problem of Pain, p. 130.
[2] C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce p. 75: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.’”
[3] The Great Divorce p. 120
[4] Mere Christianity, p. 48
[5] https://www.etymonline.com/word/Hell
“I willingly believe that the damned are in one sense successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked on the inside . . . they enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved: just as the blessed, forever submitting to obedience, become through all eternity more and more free.” C. S. Lewis. [1]
Is it true, as C. S. Lewis willingly believed, that all who are in hell are there only because they choose to remain there, and that, rather than being there against their will, its inhabitants have actually locked the door from the inside? Is it true, as he taught, that man’s libertarian free-will is so absolute that even God Himself must ultimately submit to it, abandoning lost sinners to an eternity of misery, in the end saying to them, “thy will be done”? [2] Whose will prevails when all is said and done? God’s will that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, or the fallen sin-bent will of lost sinners who came into this world spiritually stillborn and blinded by the god of this age? These are some of the questions that I hope to answer from Scripture in this blog.
First off, I would like to point out that C. S. Lewis seems to have tentatively been a hopeful Universalist. In his novel, The Great Divorce, he depicted himself as having died and gone to hell. In hell he took a bus to heaven with several others, most of whom did not want to remain there and promptly reboarded the bus back to hell. When he arrived at the edge of heaven he was greeted by George Macdonald, his mentor in life who was a Universalist. In his conversation, C. S. Lewis acknowledged the fact that both Macdonald and the Apostle Paul had spoken as though they believed that all would be saved, but he then proceeds to present MacDonald as being uncertain in the afterlife concerning the final salvation of all because of man’s inviolable free-will. Here I quote part of the interchange between Lewis and MacDonald in heaven:
C. S. Lewis: “In your own books, Sir,’ said I, ‘you were a Universalist. You talked as if all men would be saved. And St. Paul too.’
George Macdonald: “Ye can know nothing of the end of all things, or nothing expressible in those terms. It may be, as the Lord said…that all will be well…and all manner of thing will be well. But it’s ill talking of such questions… Witness the doctrine of Predestination which shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in which to be real; but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper truth of the two. And wouldn’t Universalism do the same?” [3]
Reading this, I wondered what Macdonald thought of C. S. Lewis presenting him as though he were merely a hopeful Universalist in the afterlife, considering that he was such a strong advocate for Universalism during his lifetime. C. S. Lewis here actually presents George Macdonald as uncertain concerning the final salvation of all, reasoning that both Predestination and God’s determined will that all be saved must somehow be subordinate to man’s sovereign libertarian Freedom which not even God can overcome, thus rendering the final outcome unknowable.
From what I have been able to gather from the writings of C. S. Lewis, his free-will theodicy, by which he justified the presence of evil and suffering, was so extremely libertarian that God could neither consign unrepentant sinners to hell against their will, nor could He be certain that His determined will that all should be saved would ever be successfully accomplished.
C. S. Lewis actually believed that God did not know what the final outcome would be when He created man with a free-will, but reasoned, “apparently He thought it was worth the risk.” [4] C. S. Lewis was the most influential forerunner to what later came to be known as Open Theism. I present the scriptural arguments against Open Theism in a series of two blogs: Open Theism – Does God know my Tomorrow.
Are the only People in Hell those who choose to remain there?
Some would argue that the word hell shouldn’t even appear in the Bible. While it is true that the actual meaning of our English word hell has been greatly distorted by Greek mythology and the creative imagination of men like Dante, etymologically speaking, the word Hell is totally consistent with the meaning of Hades which in Scripture is simply the unseen or hidden realm of the dead. The Greek word Hades is a composite word, made up of the negative particle a, meaning “no” and eido which means “to see.” Even outside of Scripture it simply referred to the invisible realm of the dead. When Hades was originally translated as “Hell” in the Old English, it meant essentially the same thing as Hades. The old word hel or Helle simply meant “that which is covered or concealed,” i.e. the invisible realm of the dead. [5]
The word itself simply speaks of the unseen realm of the souls of the dead. Not everyone in hades is seen to be suffering, since both the souls of the righteous and the wicked alike are seen to be in Sheol or Hades, awaiting the resurrection of their bodies (Gen 37:35, hades LXX). Even the soul of Jesus went to Hades, while His body was preserved from corruption in the tomb until His resurrection (Acts 2:31).
Obviously, if, as some affirm, the soul does not have an existence apart from the body, and Sheol or Hades is nothing more than the grave, then this whole discussion would be irrelevant. I demonstrate from Scripture that the soul has a conscious existence apart from the body in my blog, Is Sheol the Grave, and also in my book, Extermination or Restoration?
In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus we see that both men died, and their souls went to Hades or the unseen realm of the dead. Lazarus was carried by the angels to Paradise, which was called Abraham’s bosom prior to Christ’s resurrection and ascension, at which time He took Paradise with Him to the third heaven (Eph 4:8-10, cf., 2Cor 12:2-4).
When the rich man died, he found himself in torments. Was it possible for him to simply get up and leave for Paradise at will, as Libertarians like C. S. Lewis affirm? Arguing from silence, they say that the rich man gave no indication that he wanted to leave the place of torments and enter Paradise. However, if he was only there because he wanted to remain there, why would he beg Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers so they could avoid ending up where he was, if indeed one could simply leave for Paradise whenever they chose to?
The obvious reason why he wanted his brothers to repent before dying was because he understood that upon dying one must receive just retribution for what they have done in life. Lazarus’ retribution was Paradise, while the rich man’s retribution was the just penalty for his evil deeds. When the rich man asked Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his tongue, Abraham made it clear that it was not possible for one to simply leave the place of torments for Paradise at will, when he said: “between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Luke 16:26).
That does not mean that the retribution that the unrepentant receive in Gehenna for the sins committed in life is eternal and that they can never pass from torments to Paradise, but simply that they cannot leave without first receiving the just retribution for the deeds done in the flesh and/or repenting and being purified in the eonian fire. Jesus compared hell (Gehenna) to a prison, saying that one may not leave there until they have paid their penalty in full (Matt 5:22-26). “Until” logically requires an “afterwards,” and therefore rules out eternal retribution.
That it is possible for one to pass from undergoing correction and just retribution to Paradise once their correction has been achieved, can be seen both in Ephesians 4 and 1Peter where Christ is seen to have descended into Hades, preached the gospel to the captives held there and ascending with them to the third heaven:
“He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water… For this reason the gospel was preached (ευηγγελισθη, lit. ‘evangelized’) also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:19-21; 4:6)
“As the scripture says, ‘When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to mankind.’ Now, what does ‘he went up’ mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth. So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.” (Eph 4:8-10 TEV)
Here we see that Christ descended into the lowest parts of Hades, even to where the spirits of the men who were disobedient in the days of Noah were imprisoned, in order that, although they were judged in the flesh they might live according to God in the spirit. Their spirits were regenerated, and they were received into Paradise in the third heaven, awaiting the first resurrection at Christ’s Second Coming.
Also, we see that the unjust who do not have part in the first resurrection unto life will be judged “according to their works” at the White Throne Judgment, receiving “their part” in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:13; 21:8). Jesus said that some will receive “few lashes” while others will receive “many” (Luke 12:47-48). These expressions all speak of a just and measured judgment, and rule out the possibility of infinite punishment for finite sins. Also, understanding that the eonian fire/correction is for the purpose of purification, it logically follows that, as soon as one has been fully purified, coming forth as pure gold, they will be taken out of the fire and restored. I consider the nature, purpose and duration of the fire in my blog, Sulfur, Salt and the Refiner’s Fire.
However, the fact that retribution in Gehenna is not eternal, as traditionally taught, does not mean that the unrepentant sinner can simply choose to avert Gehenna and go directly to Paradise upon dying, foregoing God’s just retribution and the eonian fire, since, without holiness no one can see the Lord (Heb 12:14). Those tormented in Hades don’t have the keys, Christ does (Rev 1:18). He is the only one who can deliver us from death unto eonian life in His presence. In numerous passages we see that Jesus actually sends the unjust into outer darkness and eonian fire against their will. Here are some examples:
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt 7:21-23)
“Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, 24 ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able… 27 He will say… ‘Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' 28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.” (Luke 13:23-28)
“And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. 35 "So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt 18:34-35)
There is a separation which takes place upon dying, or when Christ returns in the twinkling of an eye, gathering the elect from the four corners of the earth. Those who die in Christ go immediately into the presence of Christ, waiting to receive their glorified bodies in the first resurrection at His coming (2Cor 5:8; Php 1:23; Rev 20:5-6; Jn 5:29). The unrepentant are sent into outer darkness and eonian fire and remain in Hades until the second resurrection after Christ’s 1,000 year reign has ended. At that time, death (the grave) and Hades (the habitation of disembodied souls) give up the dead which are in them so that each individual may appear soul and body before the White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:13-15). Those whose names are still not found written in the book of life at that time are judged according to their works, receiving their part in the purifying Lake of Fire, being hurt by the second death.
The fact that the book of life is consulted at the White Throne Judgment indicates that some of the souls who missed the first resurrection will subsequently have fulfilled their part (μέρος), or just recompense, and been purified (washed their robes Rev 22:14 ASV), having their names written in the book of life and being received into Paradise. Then at the second resurrection they also will be made alive with a glorified resurrection body.
Those whose names are not found written in the book of life at that time will not willingly go into the Lake of Fire of their own free-will, but rather must be forced to undergo the second death:
“Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:13-15, c.f. Matt 5:29)
As I argue in my blog, Fear Him who can Destroy both Body and Soul, the second death is the destruction of soul and body in Gehenna. If we do not destroy the dominance of the flesh and the soul-life now, we will have to undergo it in the afterlife, since, without holiness no one will see the Lord. Certainly no one would ever willingly choose to be hurt by the second death in the Lake of fire if they were free to avert it and enter directly into the kingdom of heaven. God created us with a “free-will”, but our will is subordinate to God’s sovereign determined will. Man’s will is not free to circumvent God’s determined judgments apart from repentance, as history demonstrates.
What we see repeatedly emphasized is that those excluded from the kingdom will want to enter but will not be able to (Luke 13:24-28; Matt 7:21-23; 25:11-12,41,44). In fact, Jesus repeatedly said that they will weep and gnash their teeth when He tells the unjust to depart from Him into the eonian punishment which is figuratively described as a furnace of fire and outer darkness (Matt 13:42; 22:13).
God will not eternally abandon anyone to their own “Free-will”
While it is true that God, just as any loving father, does not grant our every wish and some must undergo eonian correction against their will, neither will He abandon man to his own depraved “free-will”.
The term “free-will” in reality is a misnomer, since the will of each individual is restricted and impaired by numerous factors. None of us were able to choose the environment in which we were born. We didn’t choose to be born with a bent to sin. We didn’t choose our parents. We couldn’t choose whether to be born in a Christian home or an atheist or Muslim home. The list could go on. All of these things, and many more, limit or influence our “free-will” decisions. In fact, most of mankind never even heard the Gospel in their lifetime in order to be able to decide whether or not to receive Christ of their own “free-will”.
All these limitations considered, how could our heavenly Father eternally abandon any of His offspring to their own free-will, saying to some, “thy will be done”, as C. S. Lewis affirms, especially considering that fallen humanity is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins and blinded by the prince of the power of the air? (Eph 2:1-2; 2Cor 4:4). Jesus said: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws (ἑλκύω, ‘effectually draw’) him” (Jn 6:44). While the invitation is open to all, man is so lost that no one can come without divine assistance. It is not simply a case of unwillingness, but inability.
However, rather than God effectually drawing only the elect to Himself while consigning most of humanity to eternal torment, as the Calvinists believe, or forever abandoning the lost to their own free-will, as the Libertarians claim, the Scriptures throughout declare that God will draw all men unto Himself, albeit each one in his own order (1Cor 15:22-23). The elect of this age are merely the firstfruits of God’s new creation in Christ, in which all will finally be reunited in Christ and made new in the final Dispensation of the Fullness of the Times (Eph 1:10; Rev 21:5). I consider this in more detail in my blog, Who are the Elect of God?
While Jesus said that no one can come to Him without being effectually drawn, He also said that He would draw all unto Himself. He said:
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw (ἑλκύω, ‘effectually draw’) all to Myself.” (Jn 12:32 LITV)
So, we see that God’s elect firstfruits are those who are drawn unto Christ in this age. But in the coming ages He will draw all unto Himself. God has sworn by Himself that all the ends of the earth will look to Him and be saved, bowing the knee and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord (Isa 45:22-24; Php 2:10-11). Christ will continue reigning until all have subjected themselves unto Him, at which time He will also subject Himself unto the Father that God may be all in all entering into eternity (1Cor 15:28).
Libertarians like C. S. Lewis argue that God cannot save all mankind, since He must respect man’s autonomous free-will. To me, that is like saying that a father, out of respect for his son’s free-will, should not exercise restraint to keep his son from throwing himself off of a high building to his death. Any loving father would restrain his son against his will, if necessary, even confining him in a clinic for whatever time is necessary for the restoration of his mental and emotional health.
How much less would our heavenly Father allow any one of his wayward children to inflict upon themselves irreversible ruin. Rather, he confines them in eonian correction until they come to themselves and are fully restored. Whatever time it takes, no matter how many ages it may take for some (like the self-righteous Pharisees), to recognize their condition and their need of the Physician, God has sworn by Himself that all will someday look to Him and be saved. God has all the time in the world at His disposal, and He is more than able to bring circumstances to bear upon even the most obstinately self-willed sinners like Jonah fleeing for Tarsus or Paul on his high horse, working in each one of us to both will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). Furthermore, He has sworn that he will do it. Our heavenly Father will never abandon forever even one of the children of men:
“For the Lord will not cast off forever. Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He does not afflict willingly,
nor grieve the children of men.” (Lam 3:31-33)
[1] C. S. Lewis. The Problem of Pain, p. 130.
[2] C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce p. 75: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened.’”
[3] The Great Divorce p. 120
[4] Mere Christianity, p. 48
[5] https://www.etymonline.com/word/Hell