I quote Clark Pinnock as
saying: "According to this kind of theology, we ought to think
of being saved as the normal outcome and being rejected as the exception,
and not the other way around." I noted, "'This kind of theology'
is a rather accurate description of Biblical Universalism*"
(Frequently Asked Questions #4).
For nearly 40 years I have
looked for examples of "this kind of theology," that is,
for any advocate of the premise— "All persons will be saved
except those the Bible declares will be finally lost" (Premise
"B" Posting # 1). The three professors listed below
are well recognized as students of the history of Theology.
I inquired of the each of them whether they knew of any published
evidence of "this kind of theology" before 1980 (Frequently
Asked Questions #5).
Dr. Clark L. Pinnock
(Well-known professor at McMaster Divinity College, Author of A
Wideness In God's Mercy, Zondervan's 1991) responded by telephone:
He knew of no earlier published example of "this kind of theology."
He suggested I ask this question of Dr. Roger Olson.
Dr. John
Sanders is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at
Huntington College in Huntington, Indiana. Author of No Other
Name (Eerdmans, 1990) he also wrote "The Perennial Debate"
(Christianity Today, May 14, 1990). He replied: "I'm
not familiar with anyone who has gone at this in the way you frame
it. That does not mean no one has. It would be interesting to look
at the early church fathers with this in mind, but I've not time for
it now."
Dr. Roger
Olson is Professor at Truett Seminary (Baylor University) and
author of The Story of Christian Theology (InterVarsity Press,
1999). Excerpts from his reply: "I've been trying to find you.
I don't know if you knew that. I purchased one of your books recently
and was fascinated by your perspective on salvation." "I
do not know of any systematic theology prior to your own publications
that spells out the nature of salvation as you do. But I hear distant
echoes of it (foreshadowings, adumbrations) in Athanasius and perhaps
other early church fathers."
Athanasius
Olson then quotes Athanasius'
DE INCARNATIONE: "By His [Christ's] death salvation has come
to all, and all creation has been ransomed." Athanasius did not
believe that all persons, without any exception, will be saved. According
to Athanasius, if some are not saved it is because they "reject
the salvation Christ won for them."
The plan of salvation as
perceived by Athanasius appears to be the closest to Biblical Universalism
of any other systematic theology that has appeared.
To distinguish Biblical Universalism
from Athanasius' teachings I will address the question often posed
to me "Are you a Calvinist?" I am a FIVE POINT Calvinist.
To expound on this confession we will consider how the Scriptures
describe: "A" the elect, i.e. those who will be saved; and,"B"
the non-elect, i.e. those who will be finally lost.
"A"
Those Who Will Be Saved
While preparing this Posting I received the following biblical
description of "the elect" from <gracEmail@EdwardFudge.com>
(5/17/00):
THOSE GIVEN TO JESUS
"A gifted Bible teacher invites comment concerning
Jesus' reference to people whom God the Father "gave"
to Jesus, whom Jesus prayed would be with him and share his
glory (John 17:24).
Jesus speaks several times of those the Father has "given"
him (John 6:37, 39; 10:27-29; 17:26). I understand these to
be the very same people whom Paul and Peter call "the
elect," or those whom God has "chosen" (Rom.
8:28ff; Eph. 1:3ff; 2 Thes. 2:12ff; Titus 1:1-2; see also
1 Pet. 1:3ff).
Even before the world began, God "chose" or
set his love on every specific man, woman and child who finally
would be saved, and he "gave" them to Jesus to be
his "inheritance" (Ps. 2:7-8; Eph. 1:18b). We must
not suppose that God did this because of anything he saw in
advance about those whom he chose. Scripture insists that
God's choosing was "according to his own purpose and
grace" and "not according to our works" (2
Tim. 1:9). Indeed, "it does not depend on man who wills,
or man who runs, but on God who shows mercy" (Rom. 9:16).
I find it easier to start by defining the "elect"
as "all who finally will be saved," for that is
exactly who they are. We already know that no one deserves
to live forever with God and that everyone who enjoys eternal
life will do so only by God's grace. Now to that we need only
add the truth -- which Jesus himself tells us -- that God's
grace to us began long before we were born, even before the
world was made."
I subscribe wholeheartedly
to this description of "all who finally will be saved,"
that is, the elect. How do the Scriptures describe the non-elect,
the reprobate?
"B"
Those Who Will Be Finally Lost
There is a major difference between being worthy of condemnation
or under the sentence of eternal death and the actual implementation
of that sentence. The Bible repeatedly speaks of all persons
having sinned in Adam and consequently all are worthy of eternal
death. However, when the Scriptures describe those who will
actually suffer eternal death, it invariably speaks
of that judgment coming upon them by way of individual, willful,
persistent sin and unbelief on the part of the person so consigned
to hell.
In 1980 the Christian Reformed
Church adopted a three-year study report as an "elucidation"
of the church's teaching of the Scriptures and the Reformed Creeds
on election and reprobation (See Posting # 11, "Biblical Universalism
in the Christian Reformed Church").
According to this "elucidation"
there is a distinction between two aspects of reprobation. There is
in reprobation a "preterition" (or passing by) for which
there is no cause or basis given in the Scriptures other than God's
good, sovereign and inscrutable will. The second aspect of reprobation
is "condemnation" (consignment to hell). This elucidation
recognizes that the Scriptures speak of a "basis" or "cause"
of condemnation.
This elucidation clearly
teaches that no one is ever condemned (sent to hell) solely
on the basis of his or her sin in Adam, apart from personal,
willful, persistent, unbelief and sin on the part of the person so
condemned. I subscribe wholeheartedly to this description of
all those who be finally lost.
Combining
"A" and "B"
When one combines the above
biblical description of "A" (the elect) all who finally
will be saved with the biblical teaching concerning "B"
(the non-elect) all who finally will be lost the result is Biblical
Universalism*. I differ from traditional Calvinists
only in that, on the basis of the so-called "universalistic passages,"
I define the elect as "all persons except those who the Scripture
expressly declares will be finally lost."
This perspective is totally compatible
with the all five of the responses that Calvinism gives to the five
assertions of Arminianism (See Frequently Asked Questions # 1).
- - - - - - - - -
*BIBLICAL
UNIVERSALISM is the teaching that all persons are elect in Christ
except those who the Bible expressly declares will be finally lost,
namely, those who ultimately reject or remain indifferent to whatever
revelation God has given of himself to them whether in nature/conscience
or in gospel presentation.
Biblical Universalism is based upon these three biblical facts:
1) The so-called "universalistic" texts speak of a certain-to-be-realized
salvation as Calvinist have consistently maintained and they do so
in terms of all persons as Arminians have always affirmed (Posting
No. 2).
2) We must accept the so-called "universalistic" texts as
written. We may allow only those exceptions that are necessarily imposed
upon these passages from the broader context of the Scriptures as
a whole (Posting No. 3).
3) All persons, except Jesus Christ, are liable for and polluted by
the imputed sin of Adam (original sin). However, the Scriptures do
not teach or imply that anyone is consigned to eternal damnation solely
on the basis of their sin in Adam APART FROM actual, willful and persistent
sin on the part of the person so consigned (Posting No. 4).
Back
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Contact the Author,
Neal Punt at whenindoubt3@charter.net
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2002 by Northland Books. Box 63, Allendale MI 49401. Unlimited permission
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