Concept

Universalism

Intro

Universalism is the position that in the end, every person will be reconciled to God. No one is finally lost. It is the most hopeful eschatology on offer and also the position the historic mainstream of Christianity has not held.

There are three versions and they need to be distinguished.

Hopeful universalism says that eternal hell is logically possible but that the Christian may dare to hope that no one ends up there. Hans Urs von Balthasar argued for this in 1986. Karl Barth is sometimes read this way. Hopeful universalism does not insist; it hopes.

Dogmatic universalism says everyone will be saved. Hell, if it exists at all, is temporary or purgatorial or corrective rather than eternal punishment. Origen taught this in the third century; the Greek Father Gregory of Nyssa is sometimes read this way. The modern revival began with Rob Bell's Love Wins (2011) and was given serious philosophical weight by David Bentley Hart's That All Shall Be Saved (2019).

Pluralist universalism says that several religions all lead to the same salvation; Jesus is one path among many. This is the position John Hick defended at length. It is not a Christian position. It denies the Christ-exclusivity that runs through the New Testament.

The first two are Christ-centered: salvation comes through Christ; the question is whether Christ's saving work eventually reaches everyone or only some.

The universalist case rests on real passages of Scripture. God "desires all men to be saved" (1 Timothy 2:4). Christ is the propitiation "for the whole world" (1 John 2:2). In Christ "all things" will be reconciled (Colossians 1:19-20). The Adam-Christ parallelism in Romans 5:18 says the same "all" who came under condemnation through Adam come under justification through Christ.

The historic-orthodox response is that the explicit hell passages are too many and too direct to be read away. Jesus Himself is the most frequent teacher of hell in the New Testament (Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 25:46; Mark 9:48). The same Greek word aionios in Matthew 25:46 is applied to both punishment and eternal life; you cannot make one finite without making the other finite. The universal-scope passages, on the historic reading, refer to all kinds of people (Jew and Gentile, every race and nation) being included in salvation, not literally every person. Origen's universalism was condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.

The page below works through each form, the strongest case for each, and the standard historic-orthodox responses.

Three forms Within Christian theology it comes in three distinguishable forms, each with different scriptural moves and a different relation to historic orthodoxy. The position is disputed within Christianity and rejected by historic mainstream orthodoxy (Catholic, Orthodox, Reformed, Evangelical), but it has long-standing minority voices (Origen historically; David Bentley Hart most prominently today) and a recent revival following Hart's That All Shall Be Saved (2019) and Rob Bell's Love Wins (2011).

Three forms

The first two are Christological: salvation is through Christ; the question is whether Christ's saving work eventually reaches everyone. The third drops Christ-exclusivity altogether and is not orthodox Christianity in any tradition.

The universalist case (steel-manned)

Universalists do not simply ignore hell-texts. They argue that the universal-scope texts are theologically decisive and the hell-texts must be read in their light.

• God's revealed will is universal salvation, 1 Tim 2:4 ("[God] desires all men to be saved"); 2 Pet 3:9 ("not wishing for any to perish"); Ezek 18:23, 32 (NASB95)
• The atonement's scope is universal, Col 1:19-20 ("through Him to reconcile all things to Himself"); 2 Cor 5:19; 1 John 2:2 ("propitiation… for the whole world"); John 12:32 ("I, when I am lifted up… will draw all men to Myself") (NASB95)
• The Adam-Christ parallelism is symmetrical, Rom 5:18 ("as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, so also through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men", NASB95); 1 Cor 15:22 ("as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive", NASB95). If "all" is universal in the first clause, it is universal in the second.
• Hell is corrective, not retributive, aiōnios in Mt 25:46 does not necessarily mean unending duration; it can mean "pertaining to the age to come" (Hart's argument). The "fire" is purifying (1 Cor 3:13-15)
• God's love finally triumphs, a God who eternally loses billions is a God whose love is finally defeated; an omnipotent love must, in time, win
• Patristic precedent, Gregory of Nyssa is sometimes read as a universalist; Origen explicitly so; the position is ancient, not novel

Hart's That All Shall Be Saved (2019) revived the debate among Christian intellectuals; it argues that classical theism requires universalism, a God who creates persons He knows will be eternally damned cannot be the God of perfect goodness.

The historic-orthodox response

The Christian church, East, West, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, has overwhelmingly rejected dogmatic universalism since the 5th c. (Origenism condemned at the Second Council of Constantinople, 553). The responses:

• The hell-texts are explicit and pervasive, Mt 7:13-14 (narrow vs broad gate / few vs many); Mt 25:46 (the same aiōnios applied to both punishment and life, if life is unending, so is punishment); 2 Thess 1:9 ("pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord"); Mark 9:48 ("their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched"); Rev 14:11; Rev 20:10, 14-15 (NASB95). Jesus Himself is the most-frequent hell-teacher in the NT.
• The "all" texts are scope-typical, not strict-universal, Pauline "all" often means "all kinds" (Jew + Gentile) or "all who believe" (Rom 1:16; Rom 3:22, "for all those who believe"). The Adam-Christ parallelism is paradigmatic (the structure of solidarity), not quantitatively symmetric (every Adam-person becomes a Christ-person).
• Distinguish revealed will from decretive will, God's desire (1 Tim 2:4) is not God's decree. God desires all to repent; not all do. Universalism collapses the distinction.
• Universalism eliminates the urgency of evangelism, "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Cor 5:11, NASB95). If all are saved, this urgency is theatre.
• Human freedom must be honored, C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce: "the doors of hell are locked from the inside." God will not coerce love; the eternally-unrepentant get what they have eternally chosen.
• The exegetical move on aiōnios fails, the same word applied to eternal life and eternal punishment in Mt 25:46. The interpreter must take both as unending or neither.

Key passages, universalist appeal

• 1 Tim 2:4, "[God] desires all men to be saved" (NASB95)
• Col 1:19-20, reconcile all things to Himself
• 1 Cor 15:22, "in Adam all die… in Christ all will be made alive" (NASB95)
• Romans 5.18-19, Adam-Christ parallelism
• 2 Pet 3:9, "not wishing for any to perish" (NASB95)
• John 12:32, "I… will draw all men to Myself" (NASB95)

Key passages, orthodox response

• Matthew 25.46, eternal punishment / eternal life (same aiōnios)
• Matthew 7.13-14, narrow gate / few find it
• 2 Thess 1:9, "eternal destruction" (NASB95)
• Mark 9:48, undying worm / unquenched fire (NASB95)
• Revelation 20.10, lake of fire forever and ever
• Revelation 20.15, anyone not written in the book of life
• Rev 21:8, the list of those barred from the new creation (NASB95)

Related

• Hell and Eternal Punishment, the master hub on hell and the 3-views debate
• Salvation of the Unevangelized, neighboring question (those who never heard)
• Calvinism vs Arminianism vs Molinism vs Open Theism, different ways traditions handle universal salvific will + actual outcomes
• Atonement Theory Spread, universalism interacts with atonement scope
• Origen, historic exponent
• Soteriology (Salvation), broader doctrinal frame
• Eschatology, final-state context

See also

• Heaven, what universalists hope all will reach
• Hell as Eternal Torment Objection Defeater, engages the moral problem at the heart of universalist motivation
• Bible Verses, master scripture index