This series is based on a paper I wrote for my Systematic Theology class on Christocentric Universalism. It was called, “Assessing the Biblical, Theological, and Practical Implications of Christocentric Universalism and Exclusivism.” I’ll be posting the sections of the paper over the next 2 weeks. I hope it helps you wade through the weighty topics of the nature of salvation, the character of God, and final judgement. Also, please share your own thoughts to help me continue wrestling.

The Series
1. Introduction
2. Biblical Assessment
3. Theological Assessment
4. Practical Assessment
5. Assessing the Polarities
6. Conclusion

In light of the differences between Christocentric Universalism and Exclusivism, how should we asses those differences in an effort to approach a third way, or at least an other way? On the one hand, all are eventually saved in Christ. On the other hand, all are not saved in the end and some will be lost forever to everlasting death. On the one hand God is love and on the other God is just. Might there be a position between these two polarities? One that affirms God’s love and judgement? In assessing such a position, I believe it is good and necessary to appreciate and affirm some of what both sides offer.

Like Christocentric Universalists, I begin with God as hyper-lover. I believe a loving God originally created His Image-Bearers to exist in an eternal relationship with Himself, marked by mutual love. I also believe that loving God still wants to be in relationship with all human. 1 Timothy 2 says that God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth found in Christ. Because God wants all people to be saved, I believe that the blood of Christ is sufficient and efficient for all people; Jesus truly gave himself as a ransom for all men. Jesus did not die for a select few, for the elite. Rather, God loved the world so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for all the world, so that anyone who believes might be saved. This hyper-lover went to such an extent to save His Image-Bearers that he came to earth to die. My starting place, then, with regards to assessing the polarities and offering another way is the hyper-love of God and desire for relationship with all people. On this point I affirm Christocentric Universalists.

Unlike this position, however, I also affirm the idea of final judgement. I affirm the Exclusivist claim that not all will be saved and some will experience everlasting death because of final judgement. In Matthew 22, for instance, Jesus uses a parable of a wedding banquet to explain the necessity to come to that final judgement as God requires. While this parable reveals an open invitation to that banquet for all people, it also reveals consequences for insisting on coming to that day of final judgement as one wants. Likewise, Jesus explains in Matthew 25 that he will come to separate the sheep from the goats, to separate believers from unbelievers. To the sheep on His right He will say “Come.” To the goats on His left He will say, “Depart.” Finally, Luke 16 paints a portrait of torment in hell for those who reject the way of Jesus and do not live as God intended humans to live. Presumably the dead rich man was a Jew, because He called to Abraham as Father, yet was in hell, distant and removed. The poor man was at Abraham’s side enjoying what could be thought of as heaven. Both were judged, and one was sent away to punishment in hell where “a great chasm has been fixed,” heightening the division between the righteous beggar and judged rich man. This parable, in addition to others, make it difficult for me to simply dismiss the notion of final judgement. While I do believe that there will a small number who will be divided from the justified—and probably people whom we thought were certainly outside the borders of the kingdom—I affirm the Exclusivists emphasis on judgement and separation.

Thirdly, I also affirm the notion of free will, and believe that all humans are responsible for denying themselves (repent) and called to believe in the salvation from God (faith). I affirm what John Sanders says about Freewill theism: “Freewill theism affirms that God intends to redeem all people. It also affirms that because God wants us to reciprocate his love God has instilled in us freewill whereby we may do so. However, with freewill comes the possibility that humans may fail to return God’s love and instead rebel in sin and harm one another. Freewill theists believe that because love cannot be forced it is possible that humans will reject God’s love and they may reject it ultimately, finally and eternally.” Because I believe sin and judgement necessitate free will, as well as God’s desire for relationship with humans, it is difficult to imagine that Christocentric Universalism is real. The Scriptures themselves are writ large with examples of God’s own people rejecting Him, and the consequences of that rejection. Jesus in several parables reveals a rejection of some people because they have chosen to reject Him. Finally, the Book of Revelation paints a fairly convincing portrait of a separation of those who have chosen not to be part of God’s kingdom from those who have. In light of the existence of freewill and consequences of the choices born out of that freedom, it is difficult to imagine Christocentric Universalism being a reality.

Considering these affirmations, then, how do I assess the nature of salvation, character of God in relation to salvation, and final judgement? As I said before, I begin with presupposition that the defining characteristic of God is love. He loves His Image-Bearers, even though they rebelled and do rebel. This is obvious from the narrative in Genesis 3. Even after they sin and hide from God, He pursues them, talks, with them, and makes a way for them to still be in relationship with Himself. Far from the kryptonyte view of sin that is so crippling to God that he just can’t be in the presence of sin and sinners, Genesis 3 shows a God that is still interested in humans and still pursues them. The entire Jonah narrative also frames the character of God as a pursuing God, despite how outside His community they might be. In response to this saving, patient, loving God, Jonah says, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”
Despite the fact that the Assyrians were not the chosen people of God, He sent His messenger to them to tell them about the rescue possible through the one true God, YHWH. The same is still true.

While salvation is only found through the final sacrifice of Jesus, God desires all to be saved and will provide a mean by which all may find salvation. The prophet Jeremiah says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” That pursuit begins by responding positively to general revelation, a revelation from the one true God that Paul says is clearly see and can be understood. Through this revelation, people can know that there is a God that is above and beyond themselves, a Creator that is bigger than their story and in fact is the one that started their story in the first place. If people respond positively to this revelation by repenting of their way that denies the Creator and pursue that Creator, I believe the hyper-loving, hyper-relational, hyper-patient God will provide them them the rest of the revelation they need to find ultimate salvation and rescue. Psalm 9:10 declares, “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.” Those who genuinely seek after God will not be forsake and will find rescue through the sacrifice of Christ.

Conversely, those who do not seek God and continue willfully rebelling will be judged according to what they have done, for their sin. While I think the prospect of a universal re-creation is possible, I find it hard to reconcile that idea with all the different teachings of Jesus which show a separation of people who choose belief from those who choose unbelief. Jesus Himself seems to insist that there is a separation between those who choose to entrust their stories and lives to God through Jesus in total commitment and those who hold onto the Way of Self while actively vandalizing shalom and rebelling against God and His Rhythm of Life.

I asked my friend Andy about his own struggle with judgment and hell. Like many of us, myself included, he has struggled with the idea that people will be judged and punished forever because of sin. The idea the some will receive eternal heavenly bliss, while others sit in hell has been a struggle for Andy. Recently, though, he’s begun to understand why judgment seems to make sense. “For the longest time both judgment and hell made me shudder, leading to a rejection of their existence. But in doing that I rejected the reality of our world. The reality is that there are consequences to our rebellion, which I think is hell. Now it makes sense that there is a hell and judgment because of the that reality.” Unfortunately, sin and rebellion exist. Things are not the way they are supposed to be. We are not the way we were supposed to be and we all continue to actively rebel against God and His Rhythm of Life. I cannot escape the fact that some will be judged and separated from those who have repented of their rebellion and committed themselves to Jesus Christ as Lord. But despite that rebellion, I am confident that God will provide the salvation and rescue all people desire if they positively respond to the revelation He has already provided the world through the beauty of His creation. Salvation is nowhere to be found outside of Christ but thankfully God desires to save all people, and I am confident He will do so for all people who repent and honestly seek to obey Him and His words.