Trinitarian Universalism

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Trinitarian Universalism is a formulation of Universalism, the belief that every person will be saved, that is centered and based on the Christian Trinitarianism of Athanasius, Karl Barth and T. F. Torrance.

Trinitarian Universalism is also known as Evangelical Universalism or Biblical Universalism.^[1] Universalism is heterodox in Roman Catholicism and nearly all Protestant denominations.

Contents 1 History 2 Philosophy 3 Core Trinitarian doctrine 4 Universalist doctrine 5 Biblical passages which support Universalism 6 Universalism and Heresy 7 Objections 7.1 Hell needed as a deterrent 7.2 Bible teaches eternity of hell 7.3 Calvinist objections 7.4 Arminian objections 8 Types 9 Quotes 10 See also 11 References and notes 12 External links

[edit] History

The doctrine of Universalism is usually traced back to the teachings of Origen of Alexandria (c.185-284), an influential early Church Father and writer. He believed in apocatastasis, the ultimate salvation and reconciliation with God of all moral beings, including Satan and his demons. He also believed in the pre-existence of souls and that glorified Man may have to go through cycles of sin and redemption before reaching perfection. The teachings of Origen were declared anathema at the Ecumenical Council of 553, centuries after his death, and Universalism fell out of favour even though it was not anathemized and other Universalists like Gregory of Nyssa were commended as Orthodox defenders of the faith by the same Council. Despite Origen's and Universalism's fall from grace, some theologians and teachers continue to believe and teach universal salvation over the next millennia. The more well known Universalists are Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-395), Johannes Scotus Eriugena (815-877), and Amalric of Bena (c. 1200).

During the Protestant Reformation, all doctrines and practices of the Catholic (Universal) Church were re-examined and numerous sects formed. Jane Leade (1623-1704), a mystic who claimed to have seen heaven and hell, started a Universalist congregation, the Philadelphians, in England. It was the first Universalist church and over the next two centuries, Universalism became more accepted and Universalist congregations grew.^[2] Anabaptists^[3], Moravian Brethren, and Christadelphians were just some of the churches who taught Universalism.^[4]

John Murray (1741-1815), who had to leave the Methodist Church because of his Universalism came to New England in 1770 and is credited with being the Father of Universalism in North America.^[5] Although Murray was a Trinitarian (as was his mentor, James Relly), his successor, Hosea Ballou (1771-1852) was a strong Unitarian who opposed Trinitarianism, Calvinism and legalism. During his tenure, Universalism became linked with liberal theology as well as Unitarianism.^[6]

A century later, Karl Barth (1886-1968) re-invigorated the doctrine of the Trinity amongst Universalists, and Thomas Torrance (1913-) furthered the cause with his seminal work, The Trinitarian Faith. It is their teaching on the universality of Christ's atonement for sins at the cross, plus the Arminian belief that God is Love, plus the Calvinist belief that God is sovereign that lead to the recent rise of Trinitarian Universalism.

[edit] Philosophy

Thomas Talbott, a philosopher professor at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon, offered three propositions which are biblically based but cannot all be true at the same time.

1. God is omnipotent and sovereign.
2. God is omnibenevolent, ontologically love and wants all men to be saved
3. Some (a lot) of people will experience eternal conscious torment in hell. ^[7]

Traditionally, Calvinists resolved this by disagreeing with #2. God elects some to be saved and passes over others, who are to be damned for their sin in the doctrine of double predestination. Arminians resolve this by disagreeing with #1. Some people will resist God and choose eternal damnation. Universalists disagree with #3.^[8]

Since there are multiple biblical verses about people experiencing eternal conscious torment in hell, Universalists must either refute or reinterprete these verses.

[edit] Core Trinitarian doctrine

• God is Trinity

God is One Being and Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who indwell each other in a perichoretic communion of love. ^[9]

• God is Love

God is ontologically love (1 John 4:8), and everything that He is and does reflect His being love. His holiness is an aspect of His love and can be thought of as one thing: Holylovingkindness.

• Reconciliation is through Christ Jesus

Jesus Christ is the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity and he is both fully God and fully Man. Because he created everything and everything inheres in him, all of creation was crucified and resurrected with him. (John 1:3-4), (Col. 1:15-20) Because divinity and humanity meets in him, mankind are now participants in the perichoresis or the divine dance of love within the Trinity. ^[10]

• Universal atonement of sins

Jesus Christ's death on the cross paid the price for the sins of the world (Rom. 5:15-19) and all men are reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19). No human being is alienated from God as He is their only source of life (John 1:3-4) and in Him they live and move and have their being. (Acts 17:28) ^[11]

Because all sins have been paid for, all sins are forgiven. Divine forgiveness precedes human response and this forgiveness is both love and judgment because to say, "I forgive you" is to say "I love you" and "You have sinned against me". Man can respond by agreeing with the judgment (repentance) and receive both the love and forgiveness or he can deny the judgment and refuse God's love and forgiveness. ^[12]

[edit] Universalist doctrine

In the tradition of Martin Luther, the theology of Trinitarian Universalists is reformed and ever reforming.

• Salvation is an objective reality and a subjective reality

A personal response of faith is required before the objective saving act of God is made subjectively real in the individual's life. The response is transformative and changes with knowledge and experience. What has been accomplished for all mankind must be accomplished in each person's life which requires the individual's cooperation with the Holy Spirit. God is love and man is loved but he must be in relationship with Him to know that love. It is the difference between being and knowing.

• Hell, as described in the Bible, exists

It is partially here as the Kingdom of Darkness that all men are born into.

It will be fully present for those who persist in rejecting God's gift of salvation. However, God's grace and gift of faith reaches everyone while they are dead in their sins (Eph. 2:1, Col. 2:13) and there is no biblical text that says His mercy and gift of salvation will end when one dies physically.^[13] Jesus Christ is proclaimed to be the Lord of the dead and the living (Rom. 14:9).

• Hell is not retribution but rehabilitation

The suffering in hell is the anguish of a soul persisting in rebellion against God, or the shame of a soul when it realizes how much it has sinned against a holy God as well as profound regret for what might have been. ^[14]

• The Good News is about the Kingdom of God

The mission is not just to save people from hell but to bring them out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Light. All moral law can be summed up by the two Great Commandments: Love God and Love Others (Rom. 13:8-10) and these two commands are not distinct and exclusive. To love God is to love others and to love others is to love God.

• The Kingdom of God is here and yet not fully here

Trinitarian Universalists live in that dialetic tension and in the hope of the future Kingdom. (1 Cor. 13:12)

• Wrath and judgment is another face of Love

God's love is passionate and people can grieve Him (Eph. 4:30) by thwarting His love and His good intentions toward them. If man hurts himself or others, he will experience that divine love as wrath. Judgment accompanies wrath and judgment is salvific. It is a fire that purifies and refines, not one that destroys. If man is not judged and if he does not feel God's wrath, he will not be aware that he has sinned. Judgment and wrath encourages a man to stop what he is doing and repent (turn around). Then he will know forgiveness and feel God's love turn from wrath to warmth. ^[15]

• True justice is restoration and reconciliation

Justice is not fully met by punishing wrongdoers. True justice is

• restoration of what was stolen or destroyed
• repentance and reformation of the sinner
• reconciliation between the sinner and God and the person(s) sinned against

• The final word God speaks to Mankind is always reconciliation and redemption

Sodom is portrayed as a very wicked place that was judged by God and destroyed by burning sulfur (Gen. 19:1-29). Jude writes that they "suffered the punishment of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7). But Jesus knew what circumstances would have brought the people of Sodom to repentance and acknowledgement of God (Matt. 11:23). The last word God speaks over Sodom is restoration in an eschatological prophecy by Ezekiel (Ezk. 16:53-55).

[edit] Biblical passages which support Universalism

• Romans 5:12-20
• 1 Corinthians 15:20-28
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
• Colossians 1:15-23
• Philippians 2:9-11
• 1 Timothy 2:3-6

[edit] Universalism and Heresy

Heresy is "adherence to a religious opinion contrary to church dogma".^[16]. Because dogma varies among denominations, what is considered heresy by one denominatrion or congregation may be accepted as doctrine or opinion by another.

There are four generally accepted understandings of hell:

1. A literal place of fire where the damned suffer eternal conscious torment
2. A metaphorical hell where the suffering is real but is not literally fire and brimstone. The pain may be physical, emotional or spiritual.
3. Purgatory where imperfect souls are cleansed and made ready for heaven. It may be a place of rehabilitation, correction or retribution.
4. Conditional where souls are punished until justice is met and then they are annihilated ^[17]

The majority of Universalists believe that hell will eventually empty as people respond to God's offer of grace, mercy, forgiveness and salvation. This view is similar to the purgatorial view of hell, which is only orthodox for the Roman Catholics. However, Universalists believe that every person will be saved and Roman Catholics believe only those who died in God's grace will find purgation for their venial sins in purgatory.^[18] A minority of Universalists do not believe in the existence of hell in the afterlife but that every human is glorified and sanctified upon death.

There are four theories of salvation

1. Exclusivism: salvation only found in Christianity. Anyone who is not a Christian will go to hell.
2. Inclusivism: some adherents of other religions may find salvation but it is still Jesus Christ who saves them.
3. Pluralism: one's own religion is not the sole and exclusive source of truth, hence may be found in principle in any religion, though not necessarily.
4. Universalism: all people will be saved ^[19]

Denominations and churches will generally profess one of the above to be true and the others as error, however they are not all mutually exclusive. For example, some who hold to #4 "Universalism" also hold to #1 "Exclusivism." For these, anyone who is not a Christian will go to hell, but ultimately everyone will become a Christian and therefore be saved. Others may be #2 "Inclusivists" and #3 "Pluralists." For those who might hold to these, because God may use the tools of any particular religion or culture to reveal his grace in Christ (Inclusivism), other religions therefore, potentially exhibiting the effects of this work, may in fact hold valuable insights to truth for theology (Pluralism), consequently calling the the members of a particular congregation/denomination/religion to be open to that possibility.

[edit] Objections

[edit] Hell needed as a deterrent

This anecdote by Rev. Elizabeth Strong, a Unitarian Universalist, sums up the issue:

Ballou was riding the circuit in the New Hampshire hills with a Baptist minister one day, arguing theology as they traveled. At one point, the Baptist looked over and said, "Brother Ballou, if I were a Universalist and feared not the fires of hell, I could hit you over the head, steal your horse and saddle, and ride away, and I'd still go to heaven."

Hosea Ballou looked over at him and said, "If you were a Universalist, the idea would never occur to you." ^[20]

[edit] Bible teaches eternity of hell

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The following are problematic verses for Trinitarian Universalists and their resolutions which are of variable success.

Parables of Jesus

Luke 16:31 The Rich Man and Lazarus

This ancient Near East story is retold by Jesus with a surprise twist ending. There was a belief among the Pharisees that the good are blessed by God and the bad are cursed so the listeners would have started out believing the Rich Man must have been a godly man while the beggar must have been a great sinner. Jesus' parable turns that concept upside down. This is not a teaching about hell.

Matthew 25:14-30 The Sheep and the Goats

Jesus is teaching a principle of Kingdom living: small acts of kindness have eternal value. This is not a teaching about what merits salvation and what merits damnation and it is definitely not a teaching about the eternity of hell. Also, the Greek word 'aion' can be interpreted as "a long time" as well as "eternal". Finally, this passage may not be dealing with personal eschatology at all, but rather with the judgement of Christ on nations based on how they treat his children. On this view, the passage teaches that nations that abuse christians will be subject to enduring chastisement while those who protect christians will enjoy enduring life.

Pauline writings

2 Thessalonians 1:9

The phrase "everlasting destruction" could be translated as "destruction of the coming age" which makes it a reference to eschatological judgment. The phrase "and shut out" should be translated as "that comes from". Therefore the verse should be read as: "They will be punished with destruction of the coming age that comes from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power." The imagery is that of the holiness of God burning away forever the sinful nature of unrepentant man.^[21]

Eschaton in Revelation

Revelation 14:11

In view of the overwhelming evidence for Universalism in the bible, this description is hyperbole. Revelation imageries are metaphorical and no one knows what they really mean.

Revelation 19:3

This refers to the whore of Babylon which is a metaphor for corrupt political systems and/or economic policies. It is not a reference to the eternal suffering of people.

In Revelation, the kings of the earth are depicted as in league with the Whore of Babylon, which is probably symbolic of corrupt political and/or socioeconomic systems, and they are drunk on the maddening wine of her adulteries.^[22] They weep and mourn when she is finally thrown into the Lake of Fire.^[23] Then they gather on the plains of Megiddo with the Beast to fight the "King of kings and Lord of lords" and the armies of heaven in the final battle, Armaggedon. They are defeated and the Beast and his False Prophet are thrown into the Lake of Fire. Those who followed them are slain with "the sword that came out of the mouth" of the Word of God which is probably symbolic of the Gospel or Truth.^[24] But in the last scene in New Jerusalem, where the gates are ever open, where the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations, the kings of the earth are expected to enter, bringing their splendour with them. ^[25]

[edit] Calvinist objections

Romans 9, according to Calvinism, teaches that some people are natural objects of God's wrath, created and prepared for destruction. Judas was predestined to be the Son of Perdition, the one prophesied to betray Jesus. It is written that "It would be better for him if he had not been born." God foreknew all those He would save and some people are destined for eternal damnation. Also, according to Calvinism, justice requires that sins against an infinite, holy God merit eternal punishment especially so for those who reject His gift of salvation. God is love but He is also Holy. Thirdly, no where in the bible does it even hint at the possibility of post-mortem salvation. After death comes judgment.

Trinitarian Universalism's answer: Romans 9 deals with God's decretive will to chose some to salvation in this life (the elect) and pass others called reprobates by in this life. That is not the final word God speaks to those individuals he passes by. Jesus said, as he was dying on the cross, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." He also promised "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw (or, literally, "drag" in the Greek) all men unto me." Surely these global statements cover all of humanity.

F.W. Farrar offers this possible interpretation to Jesus' remarks regarding Judas. When Jesus said, "it would be better for him if he had not been born," the "him" was referring to the Son of Man (Jesus) and the "he" to Judas. Thus he meant that it would have been better for the Son of Man if Judas had not been born. Another view is that although everyone else is to be saved, perhaps Judas will be punished and then annihilated. At any rate the passage does not disprove universalism and certainly does not prove eternal torment.

Pointing to God's eternality is not a satisfactory explanation as to why a temporal sin logically entails unending punishment, though it may be for that reason eternally grave. God's attributes can never conflict with one another, lest God be an imperfect being who is subject to internal strife. God's mercy can never violate His Justice, as if God's Love pushes Him in one direction whereas His Holiness pushes him in another. Universalism brings all his attributes into harmony by pointing out the way in which they describe the one single will of God. The early twentieth century theologian Paul Tillich described this relationship between God's justice and mercy as "creative justice" and as "the strange work of love" in Love, Power, and Justice. Creative justice refers to justice under the principle of agape, or unambiguous and unconditional love. Because it drives towards the reunion of the separated (eros) unconditionally (agape), it makes amends with s/he whom is separated by severing from their personal center that which entrenches the separation (i.e. "the strange work"). This ultimately entails being faced with the Law, or the unconditionality of the moral imperative, and recognizing the need for reconciliation and forgiveness. This "destructive" work of love is always for the sake of building up love's object as and into a subject. Gestalt therapy and psychotherapy are modern examples of love doing this strange work: the process is painful and entails major reform, but health and well-being are its intention. As Luther famously said, "the love of God creates its own object."

If there is no hint of post-mortem salvation in the bible why does Paul refer to people being baptised for the dead? And why did Jesus preach to those in hell? And why did the majority of church fathers, including Augustine and Luther, believe in the possibility of post-mortem salvation?

[edit] Arminian objections

God will not abrogate Man's will because love must be chosen, not forced. Some people will chose alienation from God over consummation and God has graciously provided a place for them to exist. C.S. Lewis said that hell is locked from within but few will leave because over a lifetime and through the coming ages, they will become more and more at home in hell.^[26]

Trinitarian Universalism's answer:

The Bible seems to teach that those who believe do so because God caused them to believe, not by any freedom of choice of their own:

"He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." Eph. 1:4-6 "For He says to Moses, 'I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.' So then it {does} not {depend} on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." Rom. 9:15-16 (See also: John 15:16, Phillipians 1:29, Ephesians 1:11)

Also, the Bible in several places refers to freedom being only for those IN CHRIST, and that those who are not in Christ are in darkness under the dominion of Satan (Acts 26:18), and are slaves to sin( John 8:34). Therefore, it would make no sense to maintain that someone can have the "freedom" to "reject God" -- it is only by sin that people reject God, and those in sin are slaves to sin and Satan, and therefore it is only God who can, by his grace, release them from that bondage and then make them able to believe:

"The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses {and escape} from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will."

Furthermore, the idea that God wills us to have real love, and that therefore the love cannot be forced upon us, is not to say that, therefore, the only other alternative is absolute and total freedom, even freedom to condemn ourselves! As a father, I would allow my son or daughter to grow up as their own, genuine, person--but that doesn't mean that my earnest desire for authenticity in their life, based in making real, honest, personal choices, would therefore lead me to not intervene if they were about to jump in front of a moving train, or take a fatal dose of sleeping pills. To say that God either gives us absolute and total freedom to accept or reject Him, or else we are mindless robots (or "marionettes") is a false dichotomy. It also conveniently ignores the blatant fact that almost nothing in our life is under our control, from when and where we are born, to our economic status, to what sorts of beliefs we are taught and raised with, all of which have a bearing on our decision to accept or reject Him. No matter how much we would like to pretend otherwise, the decision to have faith in Christ is not as much "free will" as it is enormously personal, and therefore enormously influenced by external, uncontrollable factors that have shaped our hearts and minds.

Even if one allows for personal freedom, Trinitarian Universalists find it desperately unlikely to suppose that anyone can say "No!" to God, who is Love and Goodness personified, and keep on saying "No!" for ever and ever. If it is by sin, darkness, and the interference of Satan (cf. Gen 3; also, see above) that men reject God, and if everything not planted by God will be uprooted (Mat. 15:13), then, presumably, there will come a time when even the most hardened of all men will finally be free from the influence of darkness, sin, and the devil, and will finally accept the grace offered by Jesus, put his faith in Him, and then, with all submitted to Christ, and Christ submitted to the Father, will God be finally, truly, "all in all." (cf. Col 1:19,20; 1Cor 15:28)

[edit] Types

There are two basic types of Trinitarian Universalists:

• soft or non-dogmatic who believes that God wants everyone to be saved and that it is possible for God to save everyone but, at the same time, will not limit God's sovereign right to choose not to save everyone. Karl Barth and Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar are soft Universalists. ^[27]
• hard or dogmatic who believes that God can save everyone and will save everyone. Thomas Talbott, Gregory MacDonald and Eric Reitan are dogmatic Universalists. ^{[7] [1] [28]}

Trinitarian Universalists can be found in many different congregations and denominations.^[29]

[edit] Quotes

• In 1997, Bishop Timothy Ware (of the Greek Orthodox Church) wrote:

"Hell exists as a final possibility, but several of the Fathers have none the less believed that in the end all will be reconciled to God. It is heretical to say that all must be saved, for this is to deny free will; but it is legitimate to hope that all may be saved. Until the Last Day comes, we must not despair of anyone’s salvation, but must long and pray for the reconciliation of all without exception. No one must be excluded from our loving intercession. ‘What is a merciful heart?’ asked Isaac the Syrian. ‘It is a heart that burns with love for the whole of creation, for men, for the birds, for the beasts, for the demons, for all creatures.’Gregory of Nyssa said that Christians may legitimately hope even for the redemption of the Devil."^[30]

• Wiliam Barclay, author of the Daily Study Bible, a set of commentaries on the New Testament wrote:

"I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God."^[31]

• Former Bishop Carlton Pearson, of New Dimensions wrote

"I think we in evangelical Christianity have ignored the Sovereignty of God and limited the scope and sweep of His great Love toward all. Scripture says, "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" ( Romans 5:20)— He died once for all. (Romans 6:10 and 1 Pet. 3:18) And contrary to popular opinion, our belief systems and religious presuppositions do not invalidate or reverse the effectiveness or efficiency of the finished work of Calvary. (Rom. 3:3).^[32]

[edit] See also

• Apocatastasis
• Problem of Hell
• Unitarian Universalism
• Universal Reconciliation
• Universalism
• List of Trinitarian Universalists

[edit] References and notes

[edit] External links

The external links in this article may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.

• Discovering Trinitarian Universalism — Trinitarian Universalists found within and without the Unitarian Universalist Association.