by John M Brentnall
In Christian circles there is a belief known as Universalism which affirms that sooner or later everyone will be saved. For centuries this belief has taken the form that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ purposely and actually died for everyone, and not for a certain number called ‘the elect.’ While retaining the truths of the Deity of Christ and the reality of His atonement, this belief rejected the biblical doctrine of eternal punishment; for clearly, if Christ by His sacrificial death paid the price for everyone, then no future punishment awaits anyone. Under this arrangement, Christ died as much for Judas Iscariot as He did for the apostle Peter. This is no mere hypothetical inference. A spokesman for universalism has actually claimed that Judas in now in heaven.
More recently, however, another idea has become widely accepted alongside this ancient doctrine, and seems ready to supplant it. This new notion claims to find common factors in all the major world religions, and these form the basis for universal salvation. Universalists holding this view stress that the same God stands behind all the differing ‘windows’ that lead to Him, and that all men are brothers. They are prepared to tolerate diversity, and seek a morality which will become acceptable to all. In keeping with this notion, professing Christians are working earnestly towards closer ties with all the major non-Christian religions.
A further modern idea that promotes universalism is the notion that Christ, as the chosen Head of the human family, which has God for its Father, has by His sacrifice turned the damnation of all men into their salvation; and so ultimately everyone will be saved.
Our response to this belief is one of complete rejection. The idea of universal salvation is both an unbiblical and a pernicious doctrine. For not only does it wrench passages of Scripture out of their context and away from the overall teaching of Scripture in order to make them fit the pre-conceived idea that everyone will be saved; it also deceives many into believing they will be saved even though they continue to live in sin without either repentance towards God or faith in Jesus Christ. As we shall see, the Word of God expressly teaches that only the elect shall be saved, and only those who are holy will go to heaven, while unrepentant murderers, liars, adulterers, sodomites, unbelievers, thieves, idolaters and the like shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Matt 24:31;1 Cor 6:9).
By confining salvation to the elect alone, Reformed Christians do not in the least suggest that there was any defect in Christ’s atonement for sin. That atonement, say the Canons of Dort, is ‘of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world.’ (II.3). No, it is not from any failure on Christ’s part that not everyone shall be saved, but because it pleased God in eternity to make Christ the Surety-Substitute only for His elect. He was intended in the eternal purpose of God to stand only in their place and to pay their debt.
Yet to support their belief that everyone will be saved, universalists refer to certain Bible texts which at first sight appear to teach this. Here are some main ones:
‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (1 Cor 15:22).
‘Therefore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.’ (Rom 5:18).
In context, these verses, far from teaching universal salvation, actually overthrow it. For in both passages the apostle Paul is contrasting two representatives of mankind. All whom Adam represented sinned in his sin and were sentenced to death in his sentence. By contrast, all whom Christ represented are righteous in His righteousness and receive eternal life as the gift He earned. The key phrases are ‘in Adam’ and ‘in Christ’, not ‘all men’ or ‘all.’ 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 is to be understood in the same way.
“But does not the Bible teach that Christ tasted death ‘for every man’ (Heb 2:9)?” asks the universalist.
Here again the whole context speaks of Christ’s brethren, and God’s many sons, and Abraham’s seed (2:11,10,16), not of everyone.
Other texts allegedly teaching the salvation of all are found in the Gospel of John:
‘Behold, the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ (John 1:29).
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ (John 3:16).
‘We ... know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’ (John 4:42).
In each case the term ‘world’ is taken by universalists to mean each and every one in the world.
Taken in context, all three of these texts refer to the larger, Gentile world, outside the exclusive world of the Jews; for now Christ had come, and the Jews would reject Him, so in order to bring in the elect of all nations, according to God’s promise to Abraham (Gen 18:18 with Gal 3:8) He would send His Gospel with saving power to them. The converted Samaritans recorded in John 4 were among the first-fruits of Christ’s saving work, in keeping with Christ’s later commission to the apostles: ‘Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’ (Acts 1:8).
Two other references, from Paul’s Letters to Timothy and Titus respectively, are said to teach universal salvation. They are as follows:
‘Who gave himself a ransom for all.’ (1 Tim 2:6).
‘For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.’ (Tit 2:11).
As Calvin notes, these texts speak of all kinds of men, both kings and all in authority, as well as their subjects, however socially mean. In short, God is no respecter of persons with recognized social status, but extends His salvation to all classes.
The reference in 2 Peter 2:1 -- to ‘false prophets ... denying the Lord that bought them’ -- seems at first sight to state that Christ died for them as well as for others who do not deny Him.
Yet here Peter is referring to their former profession that Christ had died for them, which they later renounced.
A further passage from Peter states that God ‘is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.’ (2 Pet 3:9).
Here again the reference is to those who are embraced by the promise of God that Peter had just mentioned. This promise indicates God’s intense determination to bring them to repentance. Peter himself knew from painful experience how long-suffering God had been towards him. So do all who are brought to repentance. Yet unbelievers do not. The reference therefore is not to everyone.
Finally, to mention no other passages, John speaks of Christ being the propitiation for ‘our sins’ and the sins of ‘the whole world’. (1 John 2:2).
As in his Gospel, John here refers not only to the elect Jews [and let us remember that not all natural Jews were the spiritual children of Abraham, but only the remnant of believers among them. See Rom 2:28-29; Gal 3:7 and 4:22,28.] but also to those of the Gentile nations whom Christ died to save. The text cannot therefore mean every particular individual in the world.
Such texts as these, therefore, must be interpreted in keeping with the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject. That teaching clearly indicates that just as God chose some to salvation out of the fallen race of Adam, so Christ died for them, and for no others.
Perhaps the following texts speak for all the rest:
(1) Christ died for many, not for all.
‘The Son of man came ... to give his life a ransom for many.’ (Matt 20:28).
‘For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’ (Matt 26:28).
(2) Christ died for the Church, not for the whole world.
‘Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.’ (Acts 20:28).
‘Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.’ (Eph 5:25).
(3) Christ died for His people, and for no others.
‘Thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins.’ (Matt 1:21).
‘Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.’ (Tit 2:14).
(4) Christ died for His sheep, not for the devil’s goats.
‘I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.’ (John 10:11).
‘Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will.’ (Heb 13:20-21).
(5) Christ died for those who were given Him by the Father, not for others.
‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.’ (John 6:37).
‘Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.’ (John 17:2).
(6) Christ died for believers, not for unbelievers.
‘Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.’ (Rom 5:9).
‘There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus ... He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ (Rom 8:1,32).
In a word, Christ never intended to save everyone, and as a matter of fact not everyone is saved. Clearly, if He had died for everyone, then everyone would be saved, for no-one can thwart either His purpose or power. But since He never intended everyone to be saved, He did not die for everyone; consequently not everyone is saved.
This is no mere logical Q.E.D. It is a fact. Does the universalist really believe that such tyrants and mass-murderers as Nero, Genghis Khan, Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin are saved, along with such holy men of God as the prophet Isaiah, the apostle Paul, the martyr John Bradford and the ministers Samuel Rutherford and Jonathan Edwards? Does he really imagine heaven to be crowded with the world’s liars, thieves, idolaters, demon-worshippers, adulterers, blasphemers, Sabbath-breakers and the like, dying unrepentant and ignorant of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? The thought is absurd. The truth is, universalism is spawned by those whose view of God is that of an easy-going, indulgent Father, having no other attribute but love. It is sheer sentimentalism.
Yet Scripture consistently represents Him as a holy, sin-hating, sin-punishing God who will by no means clear the guilty, except by justifying them for the sake of His Son. O may He open our eyes to His awesome love of righteousness and to the justice that secures it in all His dealings with mankind! It was out of love to His justice that God created hell. It was out of love to His justice that He punished His Son on the cross. It is out of love to His justice that God convicts His people of sin and makes them confess that He would be absolutely just in consigning them to eternal torments. It is out of love to His justice that he brings His elect to see that justice fully satisfied by the obedience and death of Christ, and to trust in Him as a just God and a Saviour.
Those who plead for the salvation of everyone would sweep God’s justice right out of sight in the interest of their professed love for all mankind, projected onto a god of their own imagination. Yet in the plan and work of salvation all God’s perfections are displayed -- His justice as well as His mercy, His hatred of sin as well as His love for sinners.
And not least is His attribute of sovereignty, by which He has mercy on whom He will have mercy. (Rom 9:15). It was His sovereign will to choose some to salvation and pass by and condemn others. It was His sovereign will to give Christ commission to save some and not others. It was His sovereign will to appoint Christ to die for some and not others. It is His sovereign will to send the Gospel to some and not others. It is His sovereign will to give His Holy Spirit to some and not others. It is His sovereign will to bring many sons and daughters to glory, and not others.
In the great vision of that glory presented to us in the book of Revelation, we are shown an innumerable company adoring Christ as the majestic Redeemer. What are we told about them? That they sang a new song to Him in which His distinguishing love for them is specially mentioned: ‘Thou art worthy ... for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood OUT OF every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.’ (Rev 5:9). They were chosen, redeemed and called OUT OF all nations, in which many were left to perish in their sins. Like the apostle Paul, who said, ‘The Son of God ... loved ME, and gave Himself for ME,’ (Gal 2:20), they are deeply conscious of that distinguishing love which separated them from others and made them trophies of His grace.
Dear reader, not everyone will be saved. May God move you to seek His mercy and grace till you find yourself among those who are. You have every encouragement to come to God. He says Himself: ‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.’ (Isa 55:7). He also says: ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9). King David, who committed adultery and murder, knew that if God would mark his iniquities against him, he could never stand in His presence; yet he also knew that ‘there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared.’ (Psa 130:4). So may you, by God’s grace. And the Lord Jesus Christ, who fully represents God to us, says: ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ ‘And him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ (Matt 11:28; John 6:37).