If God is love, wouldn’t He save everyone? This is the logic
of universalists, and an increasingly receptive audience seems to be listening.
Even Pope Francis has added his voice to support this
popular heresy:
·
“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us,
with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the
atheists?’… Everyone! And this blood makes us children of God of the first
class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ
has redeemed us all!” https://www.charismanews.com/world/39644-is-pope-francis-endorsing-universalism
This is a popular heresy. It compliments what is now
fashionable – a gospel which will not exclude anyone, perhaps not even the
devil. However, this “gospel” undermines the entirety of the Christian faith.
Think of it – why bother to obey and trust in Christ, to restrain and confess sin,
to repent, to champion justice, to evangelize, to even bother with anything
that the Bible teaches if everyone will be saved for all eternity! Instead, we
might as well squeeze out of this life anything that feels good – eat, drink,
and be merry for tomorrow we all go to heaven.
There are a multitude of verses that contradict this
unbiblical hope. However, there is a group that calls themselves “evangelical
universalists” (EUs) who have tried to conform universalism to the Bible by
teaching that some will first have to pay for their sins in a purgatory before
entering heaven.
This is a form of self-atonement, which minimizes Christ’s
atonement. Besides, there is no verse that gives us the slightest indication
that some will undergo purgatory before all will enter heaven.
Consequently, I will not appeal to the verses that merely
say something like “the wicked will be punished” or “thrust into outer
darkness.” Why not? Because EUs insist that this condition is only temporary.
Therefore, I will just appeal to those verses that teach that punishment is
eternal.
Please understand that I do not relish the idea of eternal
punishment. Instead, I find it disturbing. For one thing, if it wasn’t for God’s
grace, I too would be going there. Consequently, I am no more deserving than
anyone else. Besides, I do not have any indications that my dearest family
members have escaped this horrid fate.
Why then do I believe in it? For one thing, it is the teachings of God’s Word. Secondly, I believe that God is just and also love, even though he allows people to choose this horrid fate.
Why then do I believe in it? For one thing, it is the teachings of God’s Word. Secondly, I believe that God is just and also love, even though he allows people to choose this horrid fate.
Is eternal punishment self-chosen? Does it entail annihilation
at some point? Will this be an option to those in hell? I will not try to
answer these questions. Instead, I will merely provide some Scriptural proof
that there will be an eternal
punishment:
·
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt.” (Daniel 12:2)
·
“His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will
clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he
will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Matthew 3:12)
·
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart
from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
angels... And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41, 46)
·
“Truly, I
say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever
blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never
has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” (Mark 3:28-29)
·
“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming
when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have
done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the
resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29) (There is no indication that this “resurrection
of judgment” is any less permanent than the “resurrection of life.”)
·
Do you not know that if you present yourselves
to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either
of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?...
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are
now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (Romans 6:16, 21)
·
For if you live according to the flesh you will
die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will
live. (Romans 8:13)
·
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to
make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared
for destruction. (Romans 9:22)
·
You are to deliver this man to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:5) (This suggests that this man will not be saved unless
he is handed over to Satan.)
·
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually
immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor
thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
·
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads
to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2
Corinthians 7:10)
·
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those
who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:21)
·
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from
the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the
Spirit reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8) Only those who sow to the Spirit will
“reap eternal life.”)
·
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who
is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no
inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with
empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons
of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:5-6)
·
…and not frightened in anything by your
opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of
your salvation, and that from God. (Philippians 1:28) (“Death” and “destruction”
suggest finality.)
·
“Their end is destruction, their god is
their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”
(Philippians 3:19 )
·
They will suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
might. (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
·
For if we go on sinning deliberately after
receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a
sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire
that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of
Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much
worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled
underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which
he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)
·
And in their greed they will exploit you with
false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction
is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:3)
·
But these, like irrational animals, creatures of
instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of
which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction. (2
Peter 2:12, 17) (Not destined for
eternal life.)
·
But by the same word the heavens and earth that
now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction
of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:7)
·
We know that we have passed out of death into
life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:14-15)
·
…wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of
their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been
reserved forever. (Jude 1:13)
·
“And the smoke of their torment goes up forever
and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast
and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:11)
·
“and the devil who had deceived them was thrown
into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were,
and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."
(Revelation 20:10 )
This is not a pleasant paper to write. However, love
sometimes requires us to warn against what is clearly a false but temporarily comforting
hope. I therefore pray that those who have invested in this false hope will cry
out for the Lord’s mercy and repent.
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