Last week, while in a Bible chat room on the internet, another person in the same chat room was affirming Universalism, defined as
a theological doctrine that all human beings will eventually be saved; the principles & practices of a liberal Christian denomination founded in the 18th century originally to uphold the belief in universal salvation and now united with Unitarianism.
(Merriam-Webster.com)
According to Universalism doctrine, all people, no matter what they have done will be redeemed and go to heaven. While in the chat room, I asked the proponent of the doctrine if Adolf Hitler will also be in heaven, to which he earnestly replied “Yes.”
Needless to say, I was a bit shocked to hear someone affirm that Hitler, a man synonymous with words such as annihilation and holocaust will be in heaven. Now, understand, God is able to save any man, even Adolf Hitler, but the Bible clearly reveals that God will not save us apart from our repentance of sin. History reveals that Hitler died at his own hand in the Fuhrerbunker below the Chancellery buildings in Berlin. Days before taking his own life, he wrote a will and political testament in which his hatred of the Jews was still very evident. If Hitler had truly repented of his actions, bearing as much as he were able to the fruits of repentance, and obeyed the gospel, then certainly he could have had the hope of heaven. The fact is, he did not, and he does not.
Universalism doctrine says that all will be saved, regardless of what they have done or believed in this life. It matters not whether one is a follower of Atheism, Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity, Deism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Satanism, Scientology, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, etc., etc.. Choose whatever suits your fancy; apparently God doesn’t care what you believe. And while you’re at it, go ahead and do whatever you want – arson, bribery, cursing, drugs, envy, fornication – I’m sure you get the point.
This is certainly not a doctrine that finds its origin in the Bible. Hear what the Lord said:
Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many won-ders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
Jesus says we need to do the will of God if we are to have the hope of heaven. He also says that some will be cast out – even some who thought they were serving Him. Where are they being cast out? In a related text, mankind are divided before the Lord and those who did not do His will are told,
Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels’ … these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:41, 46)
And yet those who take the Universalism position believe their doctrine is found in the Bible. Here is a list of texts used as proof of the Universalism concept, and a short discussion of each text.
1 Timothy 4:10
Paul speaks of the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. Does this mean that all men are saved, whether they believe or not? If Paul is saying that all men go to heaven, then the latter clause is both unneeded and nonsense. If all men go to heaven, then there is nothing special / chief about those who believe.
This text is parallel to Titus 2:11,
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
God desires all men to be saved (2 Peter 3:9), and He has made it possible for all to be saved, as is seen in 1 Timothy 4:10 and Titus 2:11, but it is left for man to choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19), but sadly some do not.
Other texts which use the word “all” are also put forth as evidence by the Universalists. One must consider what is being said about “all”; there is a difference between all having the opportunity to be saved, and all being saved.
Philippians 2:9-11
Paul tells us that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. It is true that all will give honour to the Lord, but does that necessitate that all go to heaven? It is a text about the supremacy of Christ, not about the salvation of all people. Folks who reject Christ here will still bow before Him in judgment to come. That does not mean they will gain entrance to heaven, just that they’ll acknowledge Him who they rejected in life.
2 Corinthians 5:19
The text tells us that in Christ God reconciled the world to Himself. A parallel to this text, John 3:16, reveals that faith is necessary. Just a few verses after that, we are told,
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)
We must take the complete message of the Bible. Yes, God has made it possible for all to be saved, but that does not mean that all will be saved. God has provided the way, but some refuse to walk His way. If we choose the path of death, it should not be a surprise when the end result is eternal condemnation.
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Hitler image licenced by Creative Commons | Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany
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