On Tuesday Rob Bell celebrated the release of the paperback version of his missive on universal salvation. In honor of that celebration I thought I would re-post something from my newly-revised first book that I posted shortly before said missive was released over a year ago. They are some thoughts on the idea of a universal-recreation.

A few years ago I wrote a book called the (un)offensive gospel of Jesus. It was raw art (in both the theological and artistic sense!) that sought to drive a conversation in the church about two questions: Who is the Jesus we’re showing? What is the Story we’re telling? Both were questions I was asking myself when I returned back to a very different Grand Rapids at the start of my seminary career and new pastoral ministry.

The book is broken into two sections: Jesus-Show and Story-Tell. After offering a fresh portrait of Jesus and how we might show Him well to the world, I sketch an outline of God’s Story of Rescue that I think we Christians should be telling, beginning with creation, then speaking honestly of rebellion, rescue, and finally re-creation.

In the final section, I included some thoughts on universal re-creation that I thought I would post here. They are not landmark, world changing thoughts by any means, nor are they exhaustive. I thought they might help clarify my views and help our discussion on final judgment and universalism in anticipation of Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins, on both. If I may say, I do think my pseudo-Pascal Wager arguments near the end offer an interesting, novel take on the subject, though I’d welcome your thoughts!

Universal Re-Creation?

If God’s posture toward every person on the planet is as a hyper-relational Lover, and if Jesus is coming “to make all things new,” does that mean that all people will eventually be part of God’s re-creative act and heavenly Kingdom on earth? Can we followers of Jesus acknowledge a universalism to God’s movement in the world?

The idea of a Christian Universalism is different from Straight-up Universalism. Straight-up Universalism says that all roads lead to God. It especially jibes well with our postmodern, multicultural sensibilities, because it allows people to believe whatever they wish without any required commitment to one religion or story over another. As you probably detected, I believe that Jesus is the only one true God and the Rescuer of the world. Not Muhammad. Not Buddha. Not Madonna’s Kabbalah. Jesus Christ. If you’re offended by this exclusive claim, just remember that every other religion and story is just as exclusive!

Christian Universalism is the belief that every human will ultimately be saved and rescued through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and His once-and-for-all sacrifice is at the center of this idea and still acknowledges one true God. As one author puts it:

[Christian] universalists believe in one God, the creator of heaven and earth, in the goodness of the created order, the severity of sin and its terrible consequences, the necessity of divine action to effect redemption. They believe that salvation is found only through Christ’s work in becoming flesh, suffering the consequences of our sins on the cross, being raised to new life in the power of the Spirit, and ascending to reign in heaven.

As you can see, Jesus Christ is still at the center of God’s plan to rescue and re-create the world. Evil and sin and rebellion are real objective realities that had to be dealt with, and were atoned for through the event of the cross. In fact, Christian Universalists even believe in the necessity of an explicit faith in Jesus Christ, a final judgment, and hell.

What exactly do Christian Universalists believe, then, that is different from regular Christianity? They insist that it is possible to be saved from hell and do not think that, when it comes to salvation, there is such a thing as a point of no return and it is never too late to be the recipient of grace and mercy; in the end, everyone in hell will turn and receive divine mercy through Christ.

They emphasize the exclusivity of Christ right along side the hyper-sufficiency of Jesus’ victory, obedience, and substitution. They also acknowledge the severity of human rebellion and need for rescue, while insisting on the exhaustive grace of God.

To be honest, at times I have resonated with this interpretation of the God we see in Jesus and His Story of Rescue that is offered by Christian Universalists. A Swiss Christian teacher by the name of Karl Barth once said that the reason we Christians should evangelize the masses isn’t simply to tell them about the salvation found in Jesus, but to announce far and wide the reality of the actual freedom all people have through His rescue. We do not simply share the reality of Christ to tell people they are sinners and bound for hell unless they repent and change their ways through Jesus Christ. Instead, we are to proclaim to all people the reality that death and the power of sin have already been defeated through Jesus, so start leaning into that reality right now with full force. It’s like telling someone who is in jail that they have been freed from their sentence, yet until they get up, walk out of their cell, and begin living out that freedom they still live in their phony identity as a prisoner instead of their real identity as a freed person. In some ways I like this idea of evangelism, because we are proclaiming to all people that they can begin living as a rescued person now, instead of continuing in their phony identity as a rebel.

I also like the idea that God’s heart and posture toward everybody is that of a hyper-Lover who will go to any length and exhaust every grain of patience until the very last stray sheep has been found and returned to His pasture. It seems like the Story we find in the Scriptures is written large with this patient, gracious Lover. Just look at the story of the Children of Israel! Their story is one of contestant betrayal, exile, repentance, and restoration. In the Book of Jonah we see a God who goes to great lengths to give even a pagan nation that is clearly outside the borders of His chosen people the equal opportunity to repent and turn to the one true God, a God who is willing to relent from sending calamity and judgment. Clearly, the Holy Scriptures reveals a hyper-relational, hyper-personal, hyper-patient, and hyper-gracious Lover who is in pursuit of all people for the sake of rescue and re-creation. This God of the Bible even pursues those not considered part of the inside group.

I like this idea that all humans will eventually accept Jesus’ offer of rescue and find ultimate re-creation. I really hope that this is the case. You might call me a hopeful Christian Universalist: I really hope (and I am hopeful) that all will eventually turn to Christ and be rescued and re-created in Him.

But the problem I have is this: what if I’m wrong?

I was voicing this concern to my sharp friend, Andy, with whom I’ve had several conversations about Christian Universalism. He called my concern a “pseudo Pascal’s Wager.” Pascals Wager is a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should “wager” as though God exists because a person living as if He does exist has potentially everything to gain and certainly nothing to lose if they are right. Consequently, a person who believes that God doesn’t exist has everything to lose if they are wrong.

Similarly, since there is ample evidence in the Holy Scriptures to suggest that people who deliberately entrust themselves to Jesus Christ and walk in His Way will be separated from those who do not, the Church should act as if universalism is not true. Since we really do not know if everyone will eventually be re-created in the cosmic scope of Jesus’ rescue, we should not act as though Christian Universalism is possible, because we have everything to lose.

While I definitely sympathize with Christian Universalists and love Karl Barth’s assessment of our Christian witness, I think there is enough thrust in the teachings of Jesus and Scriptural narrative to suggest not all are included in God’s final act of re-creation. The sad truth is that the end of the Story makes it clear there will be people judged outside of Christ who will be absent from the New Earth.

Since there is the very real possibility of millions of people experiencing everlasting separation from the Creator, the Church must urgently declare the rescue made possible through Jesus. We must intentionally both bring and be the remedy for the world. We need to be honest, yet gentle, about the aspects of the teaching of Jesus and the whole of the Holy Scriptures that speak of judgment and the separation between followers and non-followers. If we do not take seriously Jesus’ call to embody, demonstrate, and proclaim the rescue and re-creation possible through His Kingdom, the consequences will be catastrophic. Because both the entire Holy Scriptures and teachings of Jesus clearly exhibit a reality of future judgment, I’d say the prospect that some humans will ultimately exclude themselves from the Kingdom is very likely.

Jeremy Bouma, The (un)offensive gospel of Jesus (Grand Rapids: THEOKLESIA, 2012), 212-215.