Biblical Universalism: Universal Salvation, as taught in the Greek text of the New Testament
Did you know that God saves some men and women now, and reconciles all others later? The Bible says that the living God is "the savior of all men, especially of those who believe" (1Tim. 4:10.)
Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, once wrote:
God forbid that I should limit the time of acquiring faith to the present life! In the depths of the divine mercy there may be opportunity to win it in the future state.—LUTHER, Letter to Hansen von Rechenberg, 1522.
Bishop Timothy Ware (of the Greek Orthodox Church) wrote:
Hell exists as a final possibility, but several of the Fathers have none the less believed that in the end all will be reconciled to God....we must not despair of anyone's salvation, but must long and pray for the reconciliation of all without exception. No one must be excluded from our loving intercession. "What is a merciful heart?" asked Isaac the Syrian. "It is a heart that burns with love for the whole of creation, for humans, for birds, for the beasts, for the demons, for all creatures." Gregory of Nyssa said that Christians may legitimately hope even for the redemption of the devil." (The Orthodox Church, 1997 ed., p. 262)
The Bible tells us that Jesus "gave Himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in due season" (1Tim. 2:6), and that although all are now dying in Adam, "so in Christ will all be made alive--but each in his own order" (1Cor. 15:22-28.) All those who are chosen by God are receiving new life now. They are the elect, who will escape God's corrective Judgements, but all others will be saved later. The Greek adjective (and its cognates) that our English Bibles translate as eternal, or everlasting (and their cognates), literally means age-enduring, or pertaining to an age. http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/univ.html
This is the teaching of universal salvation, universal reconciliation, or universal restoration (sometimes called Apokatastasis, from a Greek word meaning restoration.) This redemption is the work of God through Christ, and cannot come through any other savior. It cannot be earned by performing good works, commendable as they are. New life is the result of God's gift of grace, which is the faith of Jesus Christ expressed in you. This gift God freely gives to the elect (Eph. 2:8-9), who are then believing that Jesus is God's Messiah, and that He died and came back from the dead for their sakes.
Because the faith God gives is a living thing (that produces fruit), "Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure" (1John 3:3.) They're grateful for what Jesus (Yehoshua) did in the past, and look foreward to His return as King. The Bible has much to say about this, His earthly Kingdom, and God's wise and balanced judgement at the great white throne. When used of that which has no begining or end (such as God, His Spirit, His Son, etc.), the word "aion," it's cognates, and phrases containing these words speak of all ages, but they can also be used to speak of two or more ages (such as the millennium, and the Great White Throne Judgement spoken of in the 20th chapter of Revelation.) Aionian can even be used of one age, and this means that when the King James Version speaks of everlasting punishment, the Greek text could be better translated "age-abiding (or age-during) punishment" (as it is in both Young's Literal Translation, and Rotherham's Emphasized Bible.) Furthermore, the phrases translated "for ever and ever" could be better translated "for ages and ages," or "unto the age of ages."
One good translation I'd recommend is Dr. Young's, and you can look up any verse online at studylight.org.
(You can also order it by visiting the book deparment of my online gift shop--where you'll find Bibles, study aids, the writings of George MacDonald, and the finest Christian Universalist scholarsip available.)
It is my firm belief that the Bible teaches Universal Salvation (or "Universal Reconciliation," as some prefer to call it), but I offer one word of caution. The spirit of deception doesn't recognize human labels, and long ago crossed all denominational barriers. Any universalist who denies the Deity of Christ, or who says that it doesn't matter what one believes, or how one lives, is deceived and deceiving. There is much of that deception abroad today, and you will find some of it among universalists. True Christian Universalism, however, reveres God's Word. It doesn't emphasize universal salvation at the expense of other scriptural teachings. I'll be continually adding links and articles on a wide variety of subjects to the nevigation bar on the right--so I hope you'll come back often. You can email me by clicking here (or you can visit my discussion board.)
God bless.
