Why I believe in Christian Universalism

I’m often asked why I believe in universalism, or, as I like to say, Christian Universalism.[1] While some think I’m just being semantic, I think there’s a distinction. For me, anyway.

Before I get there, however, I need to talk about the “universalism” of sin and death.

Most of the world “knows” there’s something wrong. The world and her inhabitants are broken. That there ought to be something different. Something better. That things shouldn’t go on like they do. I won’t make a long list, but I think most of us are aware of the “wrongness” of hate crimes, sexual assaults, violence of all kinds, unsustainable practices, the destruction of planetary resources, greed, sloth, etc. So the question is, “Why is this? What happened?”

In the Christian worldview, there’s an answer to that question. Many point to the “fall” of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.

Genesis 1 and 2 paints the picture(s)[2] of God creating all that is — seen and unseen. And it was all “supremely good” (1.31). God created people and gave them a set of tasks and boundaries — chiefly, not to eat from a certain tree. Well, they ate from it and everything went downhill from there!

And I do mean everything. In most (all) Protestant and Catholic circles, this “fall” was universal. Everything was now broken — not just people, but creation itself suffers. This is taken from a couple of key passages in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Romans 5.12 (CEB):[3] 12… through one human being sin came into the world, and death came through sin, so death has come to everyone, since everyone has sinned.

Romans 8.19-22 (CEB): 19The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. 20Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice — it was the choice of the one who subjected it — but in the hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now.

While other passages could be cited (and probably should) we all know this. It’s Sunday School stuff. Paul tells us that Adam represented all humanity. And because he failed, the consequences of his failure spread to everyone. We’re all born with this failure. It’s who we are at the deepest level. We had no choice in the matter. Because of Adam’s failure, all people now have an innate propensity for sin — from the simplest “little white lie” to the most heinous evil imaginable. 

But let’s ask this question:

Did we have to “accept” this? Did we have to “repent and believe” in order for this to be true? Did we have to “open our hearts” and “invite” Adam’s sin and death sentence in?

No. This is an understood, universal reality. It’s a “given.”

Well, what’s interesting is that Paul wasn’t finished with his treatise on this subject. And there is where my understanding of Christian Universalism or Universal Reconciliation comes in. Paul compares Adam’s failure with Jesus’ success.

Romans 5.18 (NIV; adapted):[4] Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

In other words, in the same way that people don’t have to “repent and believe” in order to “receive” Adam’s sin and sentence, neither do people have to “repent and believe” to “receive” Christ’s “justification and life.”

Paul was comparing the actions of Adam to those of Christ. And while there is a contrast — one leads to “death” the other leads to “life” — his point’s the same: This is not about us. It’s about Adam and Jesus and both Adam and Jesus represented “all people.”

In another place Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 15.22 (CEB): In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ.

Where Adam failed, Jesus succeeded.

And the reason Jesus succeeded is because of the incarnation — of God becoming human to rescue and reconcile creation — because it was through humanity that the rescue would have to come. That’s who broke it so that’s who has to fix it.[5]

But, again, the whole point is that the actions of Adam and Jesus changed all of creation. This was not something that creation has to accept or deny. That’s just the way it is.

Therefore, for grace to “multiply even more” than sin (Romans 5.20), it must be just as far reaching as sin. If sin reaches the entire cosmos, so must grace. It does no good if only part of the person is healed from infection — all of the infection needs to be removed or there is no real healing. The person may be healthier, but she’s still sick and infected. Jesus didn’t make us healthier; Jesus healed us completely.

This is where Christus Victor comes into play. Instead of seeing the cross as God’s punishment of our (all of creation’s) sin through Jesus, it’s seen as God’s act of love. Let me flesh this out a bit.

Through the life and ministry of Jesus, he said, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s Realm” (Mark 1.15)! This means the promise that God would come and fix what was broken had finally arrived. Right from the beginning, then, we see that this was / is not about us. It’s about God. It’s about God doing what God always promised to do.

But, the “reign” of “sin and death,” wouldn’t go down so easily. At every turn, it fought hard to keep its rule. Finally, when the embodiment of God’s Realm was captured, falsely accused, and sentenced, “sin and death” pulled out all the stops. It threw everything it had at the punishment of Jesus. But God had the last word when Jesus was raised from the dead. For in doing so, God “disarmed the powers and authorities, and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2.15; NIV; adapted).

God stepped into history as a human being so that humanity (and the rest of creation) could be released from captivity. God through Christ took our place, not as some sort of legal transaction, but as one of us. God through Christ does what humanity must do but can’t because it’s held captive.

It reminds me a lot of a play or drama.

A queen leaves her peaceful homeworld for a distant planet. She leaves her people in charge to make sure everything continues to flow peacefully. While she’s away, a ruthless warlord comes to the planet, and through trickery, takes over. The entire populace is now enslaved and the resources of the planet are being stripped away.

The queen hears of the hostile take over and rushes back to find her people, whom she loves as her very own, being brutalized. The once beautiful planet is now a dark shell of its former self. However, she knows she can’t just rush down to help. She must bide her time — wait for the right moment. It won’t do any good if she gets herself killed with so much at stake.

After what’s been a painful wait, the queen finally sees her opportunity and puts a plan together. She disguises herself as a fellow slave and infiltrates the system. She’s heartbroken to learn that some of her people have sided with the warlord. They’ve erected systems of unfairness and greed. They think nothing of their fellow people, only themselves. Some of the other slaves figure out who she really is, but for the rest of the masses, no one’s the wiser.

At an annual contest to decide the fate of the planet (that is heavily sided in favor of the warlord to win), a male slave and the warlord’s champion compete in a public arena. Every year, the slave dies and the warlord continues his brutal reign. This time, however, a female slave volunteer’s for the contest. The warlord has heard rumors that this slave may be the rightful queen of the planet. Those who sided with the warlord have also heard these stories and are afraid of what will happen if they’re true. So, the decide to hedge their bets even more. Before the slave is led to the arena, she’s beaten and tortured.

Finally, when she can barely stand, she’s led to the arena like an animal on a lead. She refuses even the smallest weapon to defend herself. However, the warlord and his minions pull out all their tricks. They give their champion their entire arsenal. Everything they have, all of their power, is given to the champion, her opponent. The champion is ruthless and shows no mercy. It’s over in a flash. With his last bit of strength, the champion chains her down, pinning her lifeless body to the ground. All those in power rush the arena and congratulate the champion. They mock and ridicule the fallen slave as an example to the rest of the slaves of what happens when someone tries to fight the system. The slave lays lifeless.

Or so it seems.

Slowly, she starts to move. Mystically, the bonds shatter. She begins to rise from where she’s fallen. All eyes are upon her. No sound is made. All just watch her in unbelief. Finally, she stands facing the champion and all those in power. She removes her slave garments to reveal the royal robes, the symbol of life. She shows herself to be the rightful queen of the planet. None of the weapons used against her worked. She is completely whole. The warlord, his minions, and the champion, are all spent. Everything they tried failed. They have nothing left to use. All they can do is fall at her feet. She made a spectacle of them for all to see.

The arena, filled with her people, erupts with joy! Mystically, too, their shackles fall away. The locks of the slave cells have been broken and the doors flung open. The whole planet shakes, as if waking from a long winter’s sleep. The queen’s people are given the mission to tell others what happened — the queen has returned, the enemy has been defeated, and their time of slavery is over. It will be a slow process, but the queen’s reign has begun and will manifest throughout the entire planet.

From this story, we can see the idea of God rescuing creation through humanity shining throughout. There’s no debt that must be paid in blood but a God who needs to become human to rescue the rest of us and lead us out of our slavery.

But, again, the release of the captives — all of them — is the benefit, the result of God’s actions through Jesus. Just as Adam’s failure enslaved creation, Jesus’ actions released creation and set it free.

The mission, however, is not to release other captives. The mission is to tell the other captives that they’ve already been released! There’s a great story about this in the book of Acts. Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in prison for speaking about what God did through Jesus.

Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. All at once there was such a violent earthquake that it shook the prison’s foundations. The doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose. When the jailer awoke and saw the open doors of the prison, he thought the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul shouted loudly, “Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here!”

Just like the prisoners in this story, some (a lot) of the people of this world are still in their prison cell, even though the doors are now open. Their release is too good to be true, they think to themselves. It must be a trap. But, as Paul put it ():

2 Corinthians 5.17ff (CEB; adapted): 17So then, if anyone’s in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, and look, new things have arrived!

18All of these new things are from God, who reconciled us to Godself through Christ and who gave us the ministry of reconciliation. 19In other words, God was reconciling the world to Godself through Christ, by not counting people’s sins against them. God has trusted us with this message of reconciliation.

20So we’re ambassadors who represent Christ. God is negotiating with you through us. We beg you as Christ’s representatives, “Be reconciled to God!” 21God caused the one who didn’t know sin to be sin for our sake so that through Christ we could become the righteousness of God.

~~~

In the Love of the Three in One,

Br. Jack+, LC

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[1] Also known as Universal Reconciliation, the Blessed Hope, etc.

[2] For those of us who don’t know, most scholars today believe that there are two creation stories in Genesis 1 and 2. Note the order of creation: In Genesis 1, God creates plants, then animals, and then humanity. In Genesis 2, God creates a human first, then plants, then animals, and finally separates the human into male and female. Also, the first story uses the name Elohim (אֱלֹהִ֑ים) for God while the second story adds the covenant name Yahweh (YHWH — יְהוָֹה) to Elohim for God starting with verse 4.

[3] Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations and references are taken from The Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible.

[4] Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

[5] See Genesis 12.1-3.