That this passage
speaks of subjective salvation is made certain by the fact
that God's arms are not shortened by the sinful neglect of the Great
Commission. Apart from special revelation sinners know God, their
thoughts accuse or defend them (Rom. 1:21, 2: 14-16). If need be God
can cause "stones to cry out," donkeys to talk or a star
to lead the Magi to Christ. God will accomplish his eternal purposes
with or without human means.
The only revealed
means for causing sinners to experience the joy of their salvation
and becoming an active part of the community of believers is the word
preached (Vs. 15b). This task has been given to the Church. Paul challenges
the Church to get on with its task by asking: "How, then, can
they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe
in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without
someone preaching to them?"
The fact that
God has entrusted the preaching of the Word (proclaiming the good
news) to the Church does not mean that God is unable or unwilling
to save any among those who do not hear the good news during their
earthly life. God the Father has chosen his people to salvation.
By sovereign grace, the Holy Spirit can and will create new life in
all those chosen to salvation. Jesus will lose none of all those who
were given to him. "And this is the will of him who sent
me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise
them up at the last day" (John 6: 39).
But the question
deserves an answer- - Why send Missionaries and preach the Word if
all persons who are elect in Christ are certain to come to salvation
one way or another? The answer is:
1) BECAUSE THE COMMAND OF CHRIST REMAINS
THE SAME "Go and make disciples of all nations"
(Matt. 28:19).
To "make
disciples" is to establish a "teacher/student" relationship.
These students must come to know that out of sheer grace, earned [past
tense] for them by Christ, not only others, but they too, have had
[past tense] their sins forgiven, have been made [past tense] forever
right with God and have been [past tense] granted salvation. This
knowledge becomes a deep-rooted assurance only by the miraculous work
of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this teaching activity must be continually
bathed in the prayers of God's people. (Q & A 21 of the Heidelberg
Catechism.)
These "teachers" have
been given "the ministry of reconciliation." They identify
themselves with their "students" in proclaiming that: "God
made him who had no sin to be sin for us [teacher and student], so
that in him we [teacher and student] might become the righteousness
of God" (2 Cor. 5:21). Only on the assumption that both the teacher
and the student have been "reconciled [past tense] to God"
can the "message of reconciliation" be meaningfully communicated
to the student.
.
2)
BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE GOSPEL FOR ALL PERSONS (See Posting #8).
No wonder the
heavens were radiant with the glory of God the night Jesus was born.
The angel announced, "I bring you good news of great joy that
will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has
been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10).
Jesus was "born
to the Jews," it is said, and therefore the "good news of
great joy that will be for all the people" was intended
for the Jews as "God's people." So be it. This takes nothing
away from the fact that this same "good news" ought to be
declared and published to all nations and to all persons promiscuously
and without distinction. With the Holy Spirit upon him, Simeon said,
"My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in
the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and
for glory to your people Israel" (Luke 2:30).
3) BECAUSE THERE ARE THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN REDEEMED BY
CHRIST AMONG "EVERY TRIBE AND LANGUAGE AND PEOPLE AND NATION"
(Rev. 6:9).
Suppose for a moment
that as a missionary you are told of a village of some 150 inhabitants
who have never heard the gospel. In some miraculous way, you know
that every one of them is an adopted child of God. They are
those for whom Christ died, whose everlasting salvation is consequently
assured. Would you avoid this village because "there is
no need to tell them the good news?"
When the citizens
of Corinth became abusive, Paul was minded to leave without doing
further work among them. The Lord told Paul, "I have many people
in this city." The result? "So Paul stayed for a year and
a half teaching them the word of God" (Acts 18:9-11). Similarly,
to view and to relate to all persons as those God's chosen people,
until and unless we have knowledge to the contrary, encourages us
to "teach them the word of God."
.
4)
BECAUSE EVERY ACCOUNTABLE PERSON HAS A DECISION TO MAKE.
Biblical Universalism
recognizes that every sinner has a choice to make. This is not the
power of contrary choice. Unbelievers are not in a neutral position
from which they can choose good or evil. No one conceived and born
in sin has the capacity within himself or herself to choose the good.
Those who choose to repent and believe will experience that decision
as though their own strength and determination of will made the decision.
However, it is God who "gives them repentance" as he works
in them both "to will and to act according to his good pleasure"
(Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25; Phil. 2:13).
The decision to reject
or remain indifferent to the revelation God gives of himself is made
in the sinner's "own strength and determination of will."
This is so whether this revelation comes through nature (Acts 14:17;
Rom 1:19-25), conscience (Rom. 2:15-16), or the proclamation of the
gospel (John 5:45-47). Such indifference or rejection sets in motion
a hardening process that, if persisted in, ends in eternal death.
(See the last three paragraphs of Lesson 6.)
God does not sentence anyone
to eternal death because no one brought the gospel to them.
The only basis for condemnation (consignment to hell) is the fact
that those persons have willfully, persistently and finally rejected
or remained indifferent to whatever revelation God has given of himself
to them (See Posting # 11). They are those who have "exchanged
the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served created things
rather than the creator — who is forever praised" (Rom.
1:25). It is for this reason alone that they "are without
excuse" (Rom. 1:20).
Therefore, with life
or death urgency the Church must use the one tool given to it, to
seek to persuade all people everywhere to be reconciled to God. This
tool is the word preached. Nowhere can sinners see the ugliness of
their sin and the astonishing light of God's redeeming love as clearly
as in "Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).
5) BECAUSE THE MAN OF GOD NEEDS TO BE "THOROUGHLY
EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK" (2 Tim. 3:17).
God wants all
of his people to be prepared: "for works of service, so that
the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the
faith and in the knowledge of the Son and God and become mature, attaining
to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:12,13).
Without the
"very words of God" being proclaimed God's will for every
aspect of the redeemed sinner's life remains in a significant sense
"unknown." In the closing portion of Romans 2 Paul speaks
of the fact that both those who were circumcised (Jews) and those
not circumcised (Gentiles) could either break the law or be praised
by God (Rom. 2:25-29). Both covenant people and those outside that
covenant fellowship are treated in the same way. No wonder Paul
asks, "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew or what
value is there in circumcision?" (Rom. 3:1).
We do no injustice
to this question if we ask, "What advantage, then, is there in
being a member of the church or what value is there in baptism?"
Very significantly, Paul does not answer by saying, "Only among
them (those incorporated into the fellowship of the church and receive
baptism) is there salvation." Instead, Paul says "Much in
every way!" Of first importance, "they have been entrusted
with the very words of God" (Rom. 3:2).
The advantage of
being a Jew was to be entrusted with the Old Testament as "the
very words God." How much greater is the advantage of those who,
through the work of missionaries and the preaching of the Word, are
entrusted with both the Old and the New Testament as "the very
words of God." Together with this the sign and seal of God's
commitment and promise of grace (baptism in place of circumcision)
is given to them.
What fellowship,
joy, light, comfort, hope, vision, encouragement, peace, nurturing,
"teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"
begin to shape the lives of redeemed sinners when and if they become
part of the community of believers (the visible Church) by way of
the work of missionaries! Even if we were given to know that all those
living in non-Christian lands were elect in Christ and certain to
be saved without hearing the gospel, we would still have ample reason
to bring the "good news" of what God in Christ has done
for them.
.
A
PERTINENT QUESTION
.
"How can God tolerate our leaving people in their despair a moment
longer when he has given us such good news for them?" This
question is asked by the Rev. James L. Vander Laan, Director of Disability
Concerns of the CRC. This question provides additional motivation
for missions and speaks to the matter of the message for missions
(See also Posting # 30 The Belhar
Confession ).
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).
.
.
©
2003 by Northland Books, box 63, Allendale, MI 49401. Unlimited permission
tocopy and distrbute this document without altering text is hereby
granted if this source is acknowledge.
Dr. Edward Wm. Fudge accepts the premise of Biblical Universalism
and maintains a very significant Internet ministry. In a "gracEmail"
(the logo for his ministry) he very graciously and knowledgeably responds
as follows to the question we discussed in the above material:
_____________________
"In an earlier "gracEmail," I stated that God will
judge all people by the light they had and not by truth they could
not know. A missionary in South America asks, "If that is so,
am I wasting my time here? Why preach the gospel today? Are you saying
that people are saved apart from Jesus Christ?"
"Not at all. I am saying
that no one will finally be saved except through Jesus Christ and
what God accomplished through him. That includes people who lived
before Jesus and after Jesus -- within Israel and among the nations.
That is not to say that all those saved people knew in this life the
details of God's work in Christ, although they all did relate to God
in the kind of creaturely faith we see in the patriarch Abraham, "the
father of the faithful" (Acts 4:11-12; Rom. 2:11-16; Rom. 4:1-16).
"Are you wasting your
time? No! You are obeying Jesus, fulfilling his Great Commission (Matt.
28:18-20). You are speaking because you believe (2 Cor. 4:13) and
are sharing the way of life (Acts 11:18). You are turning people from
darkness to light (Col. 1:13-14), introducing people to the living
and true God (1 Thess. 1:9-10) and spreading hope of eternal life
(Titus 1:1-3). You are giving freedom over fear of death (Heb. 2:14-15),
inspiring a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3) and filling people with joy and
peace in believing (Rom. 15:13). You are giving assurance of God's
mercy that transforms lives (Titus 2:11-15). You are bestowing many,
many other blessings through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.
"In the process,
you are being used by God as an agent in the salvation of those who
through your ministry receive the grace of God (2 Cor. 5:18 -- 6:2).
The gospel is God's power for saving sinners -- in the fullest sense
of the word "save" (Rom. 1:16). The kingdom of God brings
wholeness and healing of all kinds -- spiritual, emotional and physical
(Acts 4:10-12). Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
We are privileged to tell people what God has done for them through
him, and how God has revealed himself most fully through his only-begotten
Son, the divine Word made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. Our
success depends on God. His success does not depend on us.
___________________
.
©
2001 by Edward Fudge. Unlimited permission to copy without altering
text or profiteering is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this
copyright notice. For encouragement and spiritual food any time,
visit Fudge's multimedia website at www.EdwardFudge.com.
