UNIVERSAL RECONCILIATION
It has been my experience in talking with people who panic over the very term, "Universalism" that they immediately either connect or construe the term with Unitarianism, a totally different philosophy that prides itself in being a creedless denomination.
Perhaps you can decide whether or not you are opposed to or offended by the results of these findings:
In 1899, the general convention of Universalists formulated a brief statement of the five essential principles of the Universalist faith and the "Winchester Profession" was commended as containing these principles.
They are:
1. The Universal Fatherhood of God
2. The spiritual authority and leadership of His Son, Jesus Christ
3. The trustworthiness of the Bible as containing a revelation from God
4. The certainty of just retribution for sin
5. The final harmony of all souls with God
"Eyes that look are common, eyes that see are rare" Plato said, "You can forgive a child for being afraid of the dark, it is, however, a tragedy when adults are afraid of light." Rabbi Kushner in his book, How Good Must We Be? Says, "Religion is first and foremost, a way of seeing or perceiving things. Religion can't always change the facts about the world we live in but it can change the way we perceive those facts."
With regard to the controversy surrounding my teachings on the Finished Work of redemption, I would submit that, perception is the ultimate reality, but not necessarily the ultimate truth. I like Barclay's commentary on Matthew 6:22, "The light of the body is the eye". He says, "Light requires an organ designed or adapted for its reception. Unspiritual or unregenerate man by nature is incapable of receiving spiritual light in as much as he lacks capacity for it. Believers, however, are called children of light, (Luke 16:8), not merely because they have received revelation, but because in the new birth, they have received the spiritual capacity for it." It seems to me, that while unbelievers are blinded by the darkness, many believers today are blinded by the light.
It has been said, "The difference between a prophet and a heretic is often time." So called false doctrine does not necessarily make a person a heretic, but an evil heart can make any doctrine heretical. When you make religion your God, you lose the God and often the good of the religion. Many Christians have made the religion itself pre-eminent to Christ. They defend the religion, while ignoring or perhaps never experiencing the relationship. Between man's realities and God's absolutes, there is an obscure place where most people tend to get either trapped or entrapped. Our imprecise realities have betrayed us and, thus, alienated us from the world we are called to inform, love, and evangelize.
It has taken me nearly 50 years to learn to distinguish the difference between God's creations and my illusions; to know truth as God created it and not as we in our religious zeal have invented it. My desire is to know God totally rather than selectively. I'm even willing to suspend what I think I already know about God, in order to know Him in a way I have never imagined.
As residents of the Kingdom of God on earth, we should seek cultural relevance in order to connect with the spiritually unresolved-those who are unsure and/or insecure concerning Faith in God or the God of our faith. A crisis in truth is a crisis in trust. Our role as Christians is to create environments that are conducive to the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts, heads, and hurts of people. While our style and approach may change or experience adjustments over time or according to the times, the truth we preach is constant, ageless, and timeless-Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world!
SAVIOR OF THE WORLD
1 Timothy 4:9-10 says, "This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10. (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our trust in the Living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially those who believe."
If, in fact, Jesus is the Savior of (not just for) all men, and especially those who believe, is it not quite reasonable to assume that He is, in fact, the Savior of those who don't believe, have never heard or perhaps didn't hear accurately?
The way I understand it, "Grace works without requiring anything on our part. It's not expensive. It's not even cheap. It is free."
Ephesians 2:11 says, "It is by grace you have been saved by faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no man can boast.
"Let's pause a moment and notice Charles Spurgeon's commentary of the aforementioned passage from his book, "By Grace Through Faith."
"I think it well to turn a little to one side that I may ask my reader to observe adoringly the fountainhead of our salvation, which is the grace of God. "By grace are ye saved". . . Remember this; or you may fall into error by fixing your minds so much upon the faith which is the channel of salvation as to forget the grace which is the fountain and source even of faith itself. Faith is the work of God's grace in us. No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy Ghost. "No man cometh unto me," saith the Jesus, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him." So that faith, which is coming to Christ, is the result of divine drawing. Grace is the first and last moving cause of salvation; and faith, essential as it is, is only an important part of the machinery which grace employs. We are saved "through faith," but salvation is "by grace," Sound forth those words as with the archangel's trumpet: "By grace are ye saved." What glad tidings for the undeserving!"
WHAT'S FAITH GOT TO DO WITH IT?
In some ways, faith may be more of a privilege than a requirement for salvation.
As a born-again Christian myself, it goes without saying that believing and receiving what Jesus did and who He is, absolutely has a powerful affect on and influence over the heart and in the life of a believer; however, it does not necessarily change or effect the eternal destiny of the person. The ultimate destiny of the earth and God's creation of the human race is all in the sovereign hands and control of the Sovereign and loving God.
We must ask ourselves, does believing make a person born again or does being born again make you a believer? Does the Gospel make a person righteous or does it simply reveal a condition that is already there-a condition wrought and bought by the blood of Jesus Christ? I am not challenging redemption, I am challenging what act or fact produces the other.
In a practical sense, would God send His son to buy our salvation and then make it contingent on whether or not the missionary could hear and obey the call, raise enough support to get a ticket to the foreign land in time to reach the lost heathen dying of some dread disease? Why would Jesus pay the awful and awesome price to save the world and then trust its reality or its realization exclusively to a group of western Evangelicals, who for the most part can't even agree on the simple subject of water baptism or how and when to take communion, let alone with whom to take it?
Romans 3:1-3, deals specifically with the question of faith and the imminence or pre-imminence of the role it plays on the part of the redeemed in relation to the ultimate work or act of redemption. It becomes a matter of the "works of faith" in comparison or perhaps in contrast, to the "faith that works". James 2:14-26 asks the question, "Can faith (random) save anybody? The author's answer suggests, "Not necessarily." There is also the comment that even demons believe and shudder with fear. Later on, in verse 25, James calls Rahab, a non-Jewish, Canaanite prostitute, "righteous," because of her faith and/or confidence in God to give them the city of Jericho.
Verse 3 of Romans 3 ask another question regarding the role of faith in the salvation and identification process. He asks, "What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness, (trustworthiness or credibleness)?
Paul answers in the 4th verse, "Not at all! Let God be true and every man a liar."
His point is that God's faithfulness to Himself, His Word and His ultimate Will regarding the redemption of the race, is not affected by man's faith or lack of it.
Ephesians 1:11 says, "In him, (Jesus) we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." Verse 7 of that same chapter says, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace, that he lavished us will all wisdom and understanding."
The popular assumption is that Paul was speaking exclusively of Christians, with regard to redemption and forgiveness, but ask yourself the question, "Why would a loving God reserve forgiveness and redemption for only a few or a limited number of those he created in the world if, in fact, God so loved the entire world and is in fact the savior of all men?
Is God a respecter of persons? Is he discriminatory or prejudiced toward or against some and not others? Is he trustworthy? Or better yet, ask yourself, "Who did Jesus fail to redeem in the finished work of the Cross?" "What segment of humanity was his blood too weak to reach and wash?"
Who did he leave out of his Will and Purpose in "working all things out"?
Another scripture that emphasizes God's sovereign commitment to Himself in redemption is, 2 Timothy 2:13 which says, "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself."
Some have asked the very legitimate question, "What is the purpose or advantage of being a Christian or what value is there in being born again?" As alluded to earlier, The Apostle Paul assumed a similar question in Romans 3:1, when he addressed what he thought his Jewish brethren were thinking. "What advantage then is there in being a Jew or what is the value of circumcision?" Paul answered, "Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. "If the world is already saved, then what is the value of being a Christian and what is the purpose of being "born again"? The KJV uses the term "oracles" for the NIV's "word". It is in Greek, "Logion" and it means an utterance or oration, to be fluent, with the message. The Apostle calls it the "word' or 'message' of reconciliation," in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. These terms are derivatives of the Greek word "logos" or in English, "logic". There is a both a practical and spiritual logic to the idea of God's plan of redemption for mankind. It is a workable and working plan that is in process and is God's ultimate scheme or schematic for the planet-the earth project.
My contention is that the plan works and is working. It is not a failed plan. When Jesus said, "It is finished!" He didn't mean "half or partially finished." If His reference was, in fact, to the redemption or reconciliation of the world to God, as indicated in II Corinthians 5:18-19, then my declaration of universal reconciliation and ultimate salvation of all is both entirely Scriptural and entirely logical.
We all sing the words of the song, "Lift Him Up." Notice the lyrics: "How to reach the masses, men of every birth, for the answer Jesus gave the Key. He said if I, If I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men unto me."
If, in fact, "all" means "all", then there should be no real question here. Mind you, we are not just quoting a song; we are literally singing Scripture from the Gospel of John chapter 12 verse 32. Unless you interpret the word "all" as, some, a few, or, only those who accept or believe it, then it, (all) is a very inclusive term that excludes none.
Isaiah 53:6 says, "All we like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all". Again, if we believe that reference to be in particular to Jews, but in general to "us all," then the penalty or punishment for sin has been paid by Jesus. The debt is paid and, thus, cancelled, and we are free to live the life of the redeemed and to, as the Scripture says, "say so!" (Psalm 107:2)
Another point regarding the John 12:32 reference, to Jesus stating when lifted up, He would "draw" all men (mankind) into Himself. The word draw as here used in the original Greek is the word helkuo, and it means literally, to drag. The word occurs in this particular tense only four times in the NT.
According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, it is probably akin to the word, "aihreomai", which means "to take for oneself", to "choose or prefer". It can be compared to the word helisso, which means, "to coil, wrap, fold up or roll together", (like a package). This particular use of the word only appears four times in the NT and in each case, the object being drawn is either unwilling, (James 2:6), inanimate, (John 21:6) or perhaps unaware, ( John 6:44 and John 12:32).
Again, the onus is put and kept upon the Sovereignty of God, rather than the fickle and/or inconsistent will of man.