Trinitarian universalism

Trinitarian Universalism is the doctrine that holds both Trinitarianism, the belief that God is Three Persons in One, and Universalism, the belief that all men will be saved, to be both true and central to Christian faith and practice. Trinitarian Universalism differs from Unitarian Universalism in three fundamental ways.

1. In Trinitarian Universalism, salvation hinges on the work and being of the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man. Unitarian Universalism deny the deity of Jesus and his particularity in the salvation of mankind.
2. Trinitarian Universalists believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God and infallible in all matters pertaining to faith and practice. Unitarian Universalists believe there is value and truth in the holy writings of all religions.
3. Trinitarian Universalists believe in universal salvation because God is too good to condemn man, while Unitarian Universalists believe that man is too good to be condemned by God.[1]

Trinitarian Universalism is also known as Evangelical Universalism or Biblical Universalism. [2][3] It is considered heresy by all the major branches of Christianity: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant.

History

The doctrine of Universalism is usually traced back to the teachings of Origen (c.185-284), an influential Church Father and writer. He believed in apokatastasis, the ultimate salvation and reconciliation with God of all moral beings, including Satan and his demons. This was later anathematised in 543 and 553. Despite Origen's fall from grace, some theologians and teachers continue to believe and teach universal salvation. The more well known of these are Gregory of Nyssa (c.335-395), Johannes Scotus Eriugena (815-877), Amalric of Bena (c. 1200), and Hans Denck (c. 1495-1527).

During the Protestant Reformation, all doctrines and practices of the Catholic (Universal) Church were re-examined and numerous sects formed. Jane Lead (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.

John Murray (1741-1815) brought Universalism to New England and is credited with being the Father of Universalism in North America. Although Murray was a Trinitarian, his successor, Hosea Ballou(1771-1852) was a strong Unitarian who opposed Calvinism and legalism and during his tenuire, Universalism became linked with liberal theology as well as Unitarianism.

About a century later, Karl Barth (1886-1968) reinvigorated the doctrine of the Trinity 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.

Philosophy

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

1. God is omnipotent and sovereign.
2. God is omnibenevolent and ontologically love.
3. Some (a lot) of people will experience eternal conscious torment in hell.

Calvinists resolve this by disagreeing with #2. God elects some to be saved and some to be damned 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.

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

Core beliefs

God is love

God is ontologically love (1 John 4:8), and everything that He does reflects His being love. Jesus commanded his followers to love unconditionally (John 13:34) and to forgive unconditionally (Matt. 18:32-33) , to love their enemies, to turn the other cheek and to pray for those who persecute them. (Matt. 5:44)

God expects no less of them and they can expect no less of Him.

Universal atonement of sins

Jesus Christ's death on the cross paid the price for the sins of the world (Rom. 5:12) 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)

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 hurt others, he will experience that divine love as wrath. Judgment accompanies wrath and judgment is meant to save, not destroy. It is a fire that purifies and refines, not one that destroys. If man is not judged and feel God's wrath, he will not be aware that he has sinned. Judgment commands him to stop what he is doing and repent (turn around). Then he will be know forgiveness and feel God's love turn from wrath to warmth.

Hell is not retribution but rehabilitation

Since the sins of the world have been atoned for, retribution is unnecessary. Also, philosophically, Trinitarian Universalists can not accept the justice of eternal punishment for sins committed in one lifetime

Hell is not eternal

Trinitarian Universalists believe in hell. There are too many biblical references to deny that belief. However, they believe in the possibility of post-mortem conversion. 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 grace will end at their physical death. Jesus Christ is proclaimed to be the Lord of the dead and the living (Rom. 14:9).

The final word God speaks to Mankind if always reconciliation and redemption

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

The Good News is about the Kingdom of God

The mission is not to save people from hell but to tell them :God loves them :they were bought with a price and they belong to Him :what it means to live as a child of God in the Kingdom of God.

Jesus Christ is coming again

Trinitarian Universalism has no connection with hard preterism which is the belief that the second coming of Christ, or the parousia, has already occurred. The Kingdom of God is here and yet not fully here. Trinitarian Universalists live in that dialetic tension.

Man has freewill, even libertarian freewill, but he can not choose eternal damnation

It is not a choice allowed by God and therefore can not be chosen.

Biblical support for Universalism

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

Objections

Hell needed as a deterrent

This anecdote by Rev. Elizabeth Strong 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." [4]

It is reverence and love for God that keeps a Universalist from harming another human being. Often the love for God overflows into love for one another.

Bible teaches eternity of hell

All major doctrines have biblical verses that are contrary to its position. 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

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.

Pauline writings

2 Thessalonians 1:9

The verse should be more properly rendered as "They will be punished with everlasting destruction of the coming age and shut out 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.

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.

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 is one.
• hard or dogmatic who believes that God can save everyone and will save everyone. Thomas Talbott, Gregory MacDonald and Eric Reitan are dogmatic Universalists.

Trinitarian Universalists can be found in many different congregations and denominations. [5]

Summary

Trinitarian Universalism is coherent theology of God as revealed by Jesus Christ, but it is considered heresy by all the major branches of Christianity: i.e. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant.

See also

• Universal Reconciliation
• The problem of Hell
• apokatastasis
• Unitarian Universalism
• Universalism

External links

• Tentmaker Ministries has hundreds of articles and books on line supporting Bible-centered Universalism.
• Universalism and the Bible -- Prof. Keith DeRose (of Yale University) defends universalism on biblical grounds.
• Biblical Universalism:Universal Salvation as Taught in the Greek Text of the New Testament -- Offers Biblical and Patristic Evidence that Hell is not Endless, with articles and sermons from historic universalists like Gregory of Nyssa, Charles Chauncy, and Elhanan Winchester.
• The Timelessness of God and the Deity of Christ -- Why Einstein's Theory of Relativity views time and space as part of the same thing, and how this might effect the interpretation of certain Biblical texts.
• Trinitarian Universalism -- Quotes from Trinitarian Universalists like Gregory of Nyssa, Nathaniel Scarlett, and Thomas Allin.
• Eschatology and final restoration in Origen, Gregory of Nyssa and Maximos the Confessor -- An article from an Eastern Orthodox Journal.
• Discovering Trinitarian Universalism -- Trinitarian Universalists found within and without the Unitarian Universalist Association.
• The Biblical Universalist
• Universal Salvation and the Roman Catholic Church -- From a Catholic web site.
• Personal Reflections on Universal Salvation -- Same site.