UNIVERSALISM IN PRESENT DAY THEOLOGY

ARTHUR M. CLIMENHAGA, LL.D.
(Executive Director, National Association of Evangelicals)

I. The Entrance of a New Universalism

The writer of the Ecclesiastes said so well, "There is no new thing under the sun," for ancient heresies have a way of cropping up in new garb. The cosmological universalism of an Origen not only comes to flower in a nineteenth-century universalism but bursts out anew in modern approaches to an old subject. Variations there are in expression, but too often the mood established is reminiscent of the Edenic query of the serpent, "Yea, hath God said?" to the divine affirmation, "In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die." In view of the fresh garb and modified approach to an older speculation, we speak of this movement as neo-universalism, or "the new universalism."

Among the anti-Nicene fathers Origen stands out as the first major thinker to develop a system of universalism. On the basis of an allegorical interpretation of Scripture he developed the theory that all men (and even fallen angels) would be redeemed ultimately; thus the term "cosmological universalism." This cooperation of divine grace and human activity (synergism) reached evidently into heaven itself so that conceivably man could fall out of heaven by active choice and start the cycle of redemptive grace all over again. (1) The church of the succeeding centuries rose up in opposition to this universalistic thesis both in creedal and council definitions and proscriptive acts. The developing church stood firmly on the biblical teaching of the lostness of man, the necessity of salvation by the reconciliation of Jesus Christ on the Cross, the eternal felicity of the redeemed, and the eternal damnation of the wicked who died in their sins.

In the nineteenth century once again the belief in ultimate, universal salvation entered the life of the Christian church. At first many preachers of universalistic salvation remained more or less orthodox in other theological tenets-albeit largely in the Calvinistic theological tradition. The principle of universalism was advocated on the basis of the eternal decrees of God. God in His sovereign grace was seen eternally predestinating all men to ultimate salvation. Gradually, and in some cases more swiftly, the Universalist ministers of the day not only denied other tenets of the Christian faith, such as the deity of Christ, the fact of the Trinity, or the authority of Scripture, but they openly espoused looser forms of conduct than the generally accepted norms of the day.

Once again the mainstream of the Protestant denominations rose in strong opposition to the universalistic assumptions being propagated. As a result the Universalist denomination gradually atrophied. On one hand large numbers joined forces with the Unitarian movements. On the other, certain leaders were converted and entered or re-entered the ministries of the main denominations and churches. (2)

In all of this it is noteworthy that both in the Origen-istic heresy and in the development of nineteenth-century universalism, the mainstream of the "Church" stood firmly against the movements as heretical. The early church of Origen's day and the Protestant church of the nineteenth century took their stand on eternal salvation and eternal damnation on the basis of the teachings of Christ in the four Gospels, the amplifications of Paul and other New Testament writers, and the inner meanings in the imagery of the Book of Revelation with respect to teaching on heaven, hell, judgment, eternal punishment, lostness of man, redemption alone through Jesus Christ, and eternal bliss. From this position came the sense of urgency to fulfill the commission of Matthew 28:19 and 20, Mark 16: 15 and 16, and Acts 1:8.

What then of the day in which we live? Once again a universalistic interpretation has been introduced into the theological thinking of the church. This time (in inverse ratio to the previous position of theologians in the heartland of the church) one senses today a spirit ranging from tolerance to acceptance of universalistic presumptions by theologians in the mainstream of the church. Not only is universalism rapidly advancing in the theological expression of certain scholars in Protestantism, but also in Roman Catholic theology there may be a parallel development which the Second Vatican Council apparently has stimulated by an extension of the notion of implicit faith and baptism by desire. (3)

Following the Second World War, and particularly in 1949, forthright expression of "new universalistic" thinking was evidenced by Dr. J. A. T. Robinson in his exchange of views with Professor T. F. Torrance in the Scottish Journal of Theology. (4) Subsequent writings by Dr. Robinson (now the Bishop of Woolwich) (5) and Nels F. S. Ferre, (6) and other theologians, all pointed in a greater or lesser degree to the concept of the ultimate salvation of all. (7) One then notes that the movement into universalistic thinking can be found in both Arminian and Calvinistic theological camps. The approach may be from two different angles-the Calvinist with his presumptions of God's eternal decrees covering all of humanity; the Arminian slipping into a Pelagianism that leads ultimately to a universal humanistic salvation of all.

The current climate of thinking in certain sections of theological expression is clearly seen in the provocative work by D. T. Niles, entitled Upon the Earth. Niles asks the question, "Will everyone be saved?" After a fairly lengthy discussion in which a hiatus in thought is developed, Niles states,

The New Testament does not allow us to say either Yes or No to the question: 'Will all men be saved?' and by preventing us from doing this it forces on us the question: 'Will you fulfill your share of the task to which God has called you in the church-the task of making Jesus known and lived, confessed and obeyed, by all men in every area of life? (8)

Concurrent with this line of thinking is a statement by Edward Farley: "I am assuming that all men in some sense are the objects of God's reconciling activity, and therefore at the point of ultimate destiny the distinction between believers and unbelievers, heaven and hell, is overcome by the victory of God." (9)

With the break-in of concepts embodying a spirit of "new universalism" into the current ecclesiastical scene and theology, we look briefly at two further areas of consideration: (1) the essence of the new universalism; and (2) the mission and message of the church which we should be considering as evangelicals and Wesleyan in persuasion.

II. The Essence of the New Universalism

The New Universalism is an expression of the belief that the Bible has a strain of universalism in it. Several classes of Scripture are produced which allegedly imply a universalistic scheme the ultimate reconciliation of all men.

First, there are passages which purportedly predict the actual salvation all men, passages such as the following:

Jesus' statement that if He should be lifted up, He would draw all men to Himself (John 12:32).

-Pauline statements as found in

Ephesians 1:10: Paul's prediction that all things will be brought into unity in and under Christ.

Romans 5:18: "As through one man's transgression judgment came upon all, so through Christ shall the many be made righteous again."

Philippians 2:9-11: "at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow."

I Corinthians 15:22-28: Paul speaking of the final triumph of the kingdom of Christ, the subjection of all things to Him, including death the last enemy, and thus God finally being all in all.

-Peter's reference to the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).

Second, there are passages which allegedly consist of announcements of God's will to save men, passages such as:

I Timothy 2:4: "God will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth."

II Peter 3:9: "God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

Third, there are passages which allegedly declare that God stands now in such a relation to all men that they must be saved. His present relation to them supposedly involves ultimate salvation for them. There are such passages as:

II Corinthians 5:19: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself."

Titus 2:11: "The grace of God which bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared."

Hebrews 2:9: "By the grace of God he tasted death for every man."

I John 2:2: "Christ Jesus is the propitiation not for our sins only but for the whole world."

Fourth, in the same vein as the above, an attempt is made to equate Jesus' statement in Luke 12:58 and 59, and especially the words, "I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite," as an expression of purgatorial and expiatory suffering. Or again in such Scriptures as Matthew 16:19 or 18 :1 8f and John 20:23, the interpretation is that Jesus is speaking in the terms of binding and loosing and remitting of the authority and intercession of the church reaching beyond this life and beyond this world although not necessarily beyond the last judgment.

From Paul's writing the new universalism proponents cite the difficult passage in I Corinthians 15:29, and the potency of intercessory baptism of the dead as an evidence of Pauline hope for redemptive processes beyond the grave. For them there is a feeling that the new universalism shadowed in outline in I Corinthians is fully worked out in Romans. The argument is that as man's Fall is universal, so divine deliverance is set forth as including all.

Here, then, is an attempt to develop a concept of universalism on the basis of biblical proof-texts. However, such a new universalism developed on this basis can only be so stated on the grounds of a fragmented usage of Scripture, not on an exposition of the Scripture in total wholeness and context. Scriptures used to buttress claims of universal redemption, when taken in the total context of the scriptural passage, or when juxtapose with contextual Scriptures which clearly imply that some do perish, can be shown to have a different meaning entirely.

For example, we noted that in Acts 3:21 Peter talks about the restoration of all things, but then two verses later (v.23) we hear him saying, "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." In the light of those who will perish, the restoration speaks of that time when "Jesus Christ would come back again from heaven and the whole world would experience the glad 'times of restoration' of which all the poets and prophets have sung. Forgiveness of sins has been made possible by the first coming of Christ, by his sufferings and death; but universal blessing is conditioned upon his appearing a second time. Every repentant believer is hastening that day, and such messages as this of Peter lead men to repentance. (10)

Or again, note Paul, who in Ephesians 1:10 speaks of the heading-up of all things in Christ, declaring in Ephesians 2:3 that some are the children of wrath. He states in Ephesians 5:5 that such have no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Also, Paul speaking in I Corinthians 15:25 of the subjecting of all things to Christ, can only be understood and interpreted in light of I Corinthians 1:18, where he writes of those who are perishing, to whom the cross of Christ is foolishness. And Paul, speaking in Philippians 2:9 of every knee bowing before Christ, goes on to aver in Philippians 3:19 that there are some whose end is "destruction."

Perhaps most telling of all is the misuse of the statement of Jesus that if He be lifted up, He would draw all men to Himself (John 12:32). When we remember the clarity of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the four Gospels on the subject of hell, the fire that is not quenched, the issues of judgment, then the insufficiency of the new universalism-view of even this Scripture becomes more evident. "To draw all men" is entirely different from "to save all men." The Spirit of God can draw even where the heart of man remains in utter rebellion.

We may speak a word of appreciation for those who use biblical quotations. But where such quotations are used out of context, we may well query as to what the essence of the proposed interpretation may be. While there is a liberal use of quotations from Scripture by some of the universalism advocates, this does not mean that the proponent of the new universalism quotes his Bible as the word of an authoritative, infallible Scripture. He still subscribes to varying views of higher criticism not consonant with the evangelical position that the Holy Scriptures were verbally inspired by God, that the Bible constitutes the authoritative, fully trustworthy Word of God.

The neo-universalist, by his very attempt to make certain Scriptures speak in a contrary direction to other Scriptures, inherently rejects the positive-authoritative view of the Scriptures. He may well do it on the grounds that it is unpalatable to the modern scientific mind. But we repeat again, in a most peculiar manner he does take proof-texts (often out of context and with highly questionable exegesis) and ascribes to such a sense of infallibility at variance with his usual biblical modes of interpretation. This is done, therefore, not from an objective stance on the Bible as the Word of God in its totality, but rather from a subjective position in which "I accept this from the Bible as being authoritative to me in this situation." In this the element of human reason and judgment versus divine revelation is most apparent.

On the other hand, evangelicals today stand in the historical stream of Christianity maintaining that God has given man a supernatural revelation in the Bible. Such revelation is a disclosure by God to man of Himself or of His will beyond what He has made known by reason or the light of nature. Such revelation is unique and exclusive in its written form and in the person of Jesus Christ. Conversely, the tendency of the new universalism proponent is to claim that God is too great, too unknowable to reveal Himself in a single, once-for-all revelation. (11) The revolt may even go so far as to deny a unique revelation in history, that God actually made Himself known in a particular person at a particular time.

Where God speaks in an infinite variety of ways, but never decisively, man is thrown back on himself to determine how to reach ultimate truth. He seeks through his reason or intuition to find the answer. One senses the new universalist taking this position. (12) Having stated that God cannot be known alone in a revelation, the door is open for speculative thought as to His character, purposes, and program.

Thus, the new universalist bases his doctrine of eternal destiny on a development of the concept of God as a God of love. Equating divine love with human love, he patterns God after man. If man would not confine any human being, no matter how perverse, to eternal suffering, neither purportedly is God capable of such retribution. Hell there may be, but it "will be adequate to cause the sinner to know that the strange country is not good for him and to come to himself enough to want to go back to his father and home." (13)

In this we see the process of human reasoning which is out of accord with both the climate of historic Christianity and the Scriptures. The presumptions of the neo-universalist, and particularly his usage of biblical proof-texting, can only stand if the belief in the authority of Scripture is rendered ineffective. Thus we declare the neo-universalist has no right to lay hold of proof texts because he does not subscribe to the authority]! and infallibility of Scripture. (14)

In considering the essence of the new universalism, we may well question why such a theological development has occurred in the context of quotations of Scripture to buttress a viewpoint. One suspects that at the point doubt enters concerning the infallibility and authority of any area of the Bible, a propensity to move into further areas of human reasoning becomes apparent. For instance, the downward trend in statistical results of Christian evangelism enterprises and an exploding world population with a resultant sense of hopelessness in the task may consciously or unconsciously have had significant influence in the development of new universalism thinking. A leading evangelical theologian, Bernard Ramm, who certainly does not accept universalism, analyses possible reasons for a universalist position being taken when he says:

The first cause for universalism gaining a new foothold in contemporary Christianity is that the task of world evangelism seems so hopeless. It was the burning hope of the great missionary statesmen of the 19th century that the world could be evangelized in one generation. If each convert would win but one more convert in the space of one generation, the entire world would hear of the Gospel of Christ!

The situation appears far differently to the missionary statesmen of the 2Oth century. Missionary evangelism proceeds at a slow rate. Only one-half of one percent of Japan's millions are Christian. The figures are equally discouraging for India, China, and Indonesia.

But there is a factor more discouraging than the slow process of missionary evangelism. That factor is the world-population explosion. Modern medicine and sanitation introduced to African and Asian countries are having a boomerang effect. . . . Populations are literally booming and that at a geometric ratio. India alone increases from 12 to 14 million a year! The population of the earth at the year A.D. 2000 will be fantastically large. The problem of Christianity is no longer whether it shall reach these people, but rather it is in danger of being engulfed by them.

The evangelistic and missionary statesmen are faced with a decision: do we write all of these countless people out of the kingdom and proclaim them lost, or in an act of Christian generosity do we write them all in with a doctrine of universalism? If we write them out, then this reduces Christianity to a small band among earth's millions. It also means that the lives of the vast throngs of heathen are meaningless for meaningfulness is found only in Christ. To write them all in means that every life is meaningful even though lived with- out a consciousness of the saving work of Christ. Thus universalism saves significance for the Christian Church and the millions of lives upon the face of the globe. (15)

Ramm's analysis of the situation and the resultant rise of neo-universalism undoubtedly is true of too many who at one time may have been orthodox in belief. And yet as we think of such, do we not stand amazed at the lack of comprehension of the biblical statement, "Evil seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving many and being deceived," and the biblical command, "Occupy till I come?" To be so discouraged that you cast away theological moorings is to be utterly lacking in eschatological comprehension. We see again the subjective rather than objective characteristic of such thinking. "I feel disturbed, therefore, I must change my stance" rather than, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh and shall declare a decree."

The challenge of the hour then is to recognize the validity of any and all evangelistic enterprises which are both relevant to the hour and based on the full authority of the infallible biblical message. This leads to another consideration.

III. Essentials of the New Universalism (16)

In light of the onslaughts of a new universalism in theological expression, four essentials are suggested for consideration.

First, we must reaffirm and relevantly define our belief in the inspiration of Scripture. We need again and again to remind ourselves that we must take the Holy Scriptures to be the utterance of God, given to us in the form of the utterance of men. The Scriptures are inspired in the sense that is certainly implied by II Timothy 3:16-breathed out from God through their human authors. It is therefore not merely a record of revelation, but it is Revelation itself -the present address of God to us, no less than it was a present address of God to the first recipients of the various biblical documents. It is what God is saying to each reader in this twentieth century, no less than it is what God said to the first writers and readers of the biblical documents centuries ago. For anyone so accepting the Bible as the authoritative Word of God, inspired verbally in the autographs, certain things stated in the Bible will come through with renewed force.

Second, we must continue and broaden our exegetical study of Scripture relating to eternal punishment and the call to redemption and reconciliation. The Wesleyan Theological Society should be a rallying point for biblical scholars to give special attention to this area so as to produce up to-date studies and literature presenting in depth the biblical exegesis on eternal punishment, hell, the lake of fire, the bottomless pit, outer darkness, and other similar concepts as well as the truths of grace, mercy, redemption and reconciliation.

This is not to suggest that we are without help here. Works are available, presenting in some detail not only a historical sketch of views on eternal punishment, but also excellent summaries of Old and New Testament teaching thereon. (17) Nevertheless, what we need is a wider or tangential presentation of the subject under consideration here which will encompass a study in depth of John 12:32 or similar key passages. Such a study could be similar to the in-depth study by Martyn Lloyd-Jones of John 17.

Third, as a result of the foregoing, we will have a renewal in our preaching and our teaching of the testimony of the Bible that it is painfully clear from the Scriptures that bad news is fundamental to good news. More than that, we will with renewed vigor stress the awful reality of eternal loss through sin and unbelief for those who are found out of Christ at the cessation of this life. We will reckon with the fact that condemnation rests upon all unbelievers. The judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, Bethsaida and Chorazin, will become vividly real. The finger of God in the "Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin" will be evident in our concern for our fellow man. The vivid imagery of our Lord, as reported in the Gospels is seen especially in the impact of Matthew 25, will never be out of our consciousness. The story of the rich-man, Dives, and the poor-man, Lazarus, will speak for the immeasurable and uncrossable gulf there is for the lost. We shall begin where the Apostle Paul began at Athens in Acts 17, and again where he begins in Romans chapters 1 and 2. We shall speak of the reality of divine judgment and divine retribution, punishment of sin and unbelief eternally. On that basis we shall take very seriously the reality of hell and the lake of fire.

Despite the grotesque terminology of several decades ago, from which so many of us have understandably revolted; despite the fact that the very biblical vocabulary of hell has been cheapened-such terms as, hell, wrath, eternal punishment, weeping and gnashing of teeth, the worm that dieth not and the fire that is not quenched; despite the fact that these phrases have been bandied about so irreverently and tarnished that they are now hard for a Christian believer to use and grasp with the full sense of moral and spiritual horror which they connote when used in the scriptural sense; we must learn to take the reality of hell seriously, for we cannot take seriously the universalist alternative to it.

At that, some present-day universalists in their own way recognize hell. Some develop theories as a sort of bluff, not letting their hearers in on the fact that it is not so serious after all. (18) Others come right out and speak of it only as a purgatorial and expiatory experience for a longer or shorter time, a means of grace on the path to God's final reconciling action. We on the other hand must ask God to make us serious about a grim reality, recognizing as we do from Scripture its eternality.

But we may well ask, "How shall we preach hell?" Here the wise evangelical will be careful to preach hell ethically. This will be to emphasize not merely the physical horror of the biblical imagery, but also the moral horror of that state of remorse in which one knows God's displeasure with a vividness of an eternal choice made the realization of a soul that he is where he is because he refused to know God's will in this world. He is where he is because his own choice has brought him there. (19) Our preaching of hell will be in the terms of John 3:19: "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:18 will ring sharp and clear: "He that believeth not is condemned already." No one can question the justice of giving a man what he has chosen. No one can deny that God in pouring out judgment on such a man is respecting his own image in man and thus respecting man's free responsible choice. This is man having the darkness for which he has opted. (20)

Fourth, we must acknowledge again that the mission of the church is the proclamation of a harvest. The words of our Lord come incisively down two millenniums: "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into his harvest" (Luke 10:2). Such a commission will come in the face of the same statistical dimension of the harvest which may have created the neo-universalist. It will be heard with the same cry for freedom on all hands. It will be seen in a day of unprecedented tools in hand for proclamation. Such a commission will be felt against the backdrop of limited resources to complete the harvest resources limited because no one is burdened to listen, limited because of a debased theology, limited in the face of the revitalization of faiths and cults, limited by the forces of anti-Christ.

Such a commission will speak not only of the "dimensions of the harvest," and of the "dilemma of the harvest," but also of the "demand of the harvest." The incisive imperative you pray! will come through with the ringing tones of a commanding Christ.

Let us therefore acknowledge that to us today as leaders in the Lord's Church comes fresh and new the prophetic commission of our Lord in Matthew 28:19 and 20, and that we hear it anew as the prophetic word in Ezekiel 3:17-19.

The Lord said to his prophet:

Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me.

When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will 1 require at thine hand.

Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul (Ezek. 3:17-19).

Let us see it positively. The mission of the Church involves a concern for the poor, the sick, the needy, the oppressed, the problem of human relations, all of this in the context of the message that without the shedding of blood is no remission of sins, that with the application of the blood of Christ through faith in Him, lost humanity can be restored to the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The mission of the church is to proclaim powerfully the fact of sin, divine wrath, judgment and hell, so as to pave the way for powerful proclamation of the grace of God through Jesus Christ that saves men from eternal punishment to everlasting life. This is the grace of a Saviour who delivers men from this evil as well as from all evil (cf. I Thess. 1:9-10).

Let the essential message and theology of the church be the proclamation of the dark side of the story so as to proclaim with power the gospel of deliverance. Never "whosoever he may be is already saved" but "whosoever will may come." This is the theological watchword for the contemporary scene.

Documentations

1. CL Fisher, George Park, History of Christian Doctrine, p. 112L

2. For an illuminating discussion of the theological and moral trends of the preaching and teaching of nineteenth century Universalists. see the interesting volume contemporary to that day by Smith, Matthew Hale. Universalism Explained, Renounced, Exposed.

3. J. I. Packer has developed this thesis somewhat at length in his first lecture of the 1965 Payton Lecture Series, Fuller Theological Seminary. As yet these lectures are unpublished, though it is expected they will be published some time in 1966.

4. Bishop Robinson wrote in favor of a new universalism in his article, "Universalism--Is It Heretical," Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. 2, No. 2, June, 1949, pp. 139-155. Professor Torrance questioned the position in his article, "Universalism--or Election," S.7 T, Vol. 2, No. 3, September, 1949, pp. 310-318.

5. See Robinson, .J.A.T., In the End God... and Honest to God. Also cf. The rebuttal by Robinson to Professor Torrance in the article, "Universalism--A Reply," SJT, Vol. 2, No. 4, December, 1949.

6. E.g.. Ferre, Nels F. S., The Christian Understanding of God. See specially Chapter Nine, "The Work of God in the Last Things." Also cf. Ferre, Atonement and Mission.

7. Prior to 1949 the theological writings of Karl Barth indicate a universalistic trend. While Karl Barth denies that he is a universalist, the development of the triumph of grace in the apokatastasis points to a greater or lesser degree to the concept of the ultimate salvation of all. See Berkouwer, G. C., The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth. Note particularly:

Chapter IV -- "The Triumph of Election," p. 89f
Chapter V -- "The Triumph of Reconciliation,"
Chapter VI -- "The Eschatological Triumph," p. 151f
Chapter X -- "The Universality of Triumph," p. 262f

On the other hand, Emil Brunner opposed the direction of Karl Barth's thinking in this area. Yet as George Florovsky of the Harvard Divinity School points out, even in the theology of Emil Brunner there is the possibility of universal salvation, even in the context of taking the possibility of Hell seriously. Florovsky states, "Brunner takes the .possibility of Hell quite seriously. There is no security of 'universal salvation,' although this is. abstractly speaking, still possible--for the omnipotent God of Love. But Brunner still hopes that there will be no Hell. The trouble is that there is Hell already. Its existence does not depend upon divine decision. God never sends anyone to Hell. Hell is made by creatures themselves. It is human creation, outside, as it were, of 'the order of creation.'

"The Last Judgment remains mystery." (Kegley, Charles W. (ed.) The Theology of Emil Brunner, Chapter 11 by Florovsky, George "The Last Things and the Last Events," p. 224, cf. pp. 207-224)

Also cf. Brunner, Emil. The Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith, and the Consummation.

8. For the full treatment see Niles, D. T., Upon the Earth, pp. 92-98. Quotation from p. 96.

9. Farley, Edward, "Dimensions of Death in the Life of Faith," article in the Pittsburgh Perspective (journal of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary), Vol. VI, No. 1, March 1965, p. 10.

10. Erdman, Charles R., The Acts--An Exposition, p. 39.

11. In Nels F. S. Ferre's The Christian Understanding of God, Chapter Seven, "The Work of God in Revelation," is most pertinent. See especially p. 178f for the attitude on infallibility and inerrancy.

12. For a fuller elaboration of the discussion above see King, Louis L., "New Universalism; Its Exponents, Tenets, and Threats to Missions," article in the Evangelical Missions Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 4, Summer 1965, p. 3f.

13. Ferre, op. cit., p. 229. The context to the phrase bears out, the writer believes, the interpretation as given in the setting of the phrase here. See p. 228f

14. Buis, Harry, Tile Doctrine Of Eternal Punishment, p. 115. Buis discusses the scriptural implications involved.

15. Ramm, Bernard, "Will All Men Be Saved," Eternity, August, 1964, pp. 22, 23.

16. In moving from the statement of the essence of the new universalism to the essential challenges facing us as a re-suit, I have not touched on another entire area of consideration, "Manifestations of the New Universalism." This I have done in other presentations prepared both for the April, 1966 Wheaton Congress on the Church's World Wide Mission and the October 24-November 3, 1966 World Congress on Evangelism in West Berlin, Germany.

17. An excellent work is Buis, Harry, The Doctrine of Eternal Punishment, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1957.

18. Cf. Robinson, In the End God... Chapter Nine, "All In All." Note particularly pp. 117-123.

19. This interpretation of "choice" is held by practically all shades of evangelical thought today. It is interesting to note that it was stressed by J. I. Packer in the Payton Lecture Series referred to in footnote #3.

20. Cf. Motyer, J. A., "The Final State: Heaven and Hell," Chapter 43 in Basic Christian Doctrine (Carl F. H. Henry, ed.).

We also note a statement in the presentation by Kenneth Kantzer at the seventh missionary convention of the I.V.C.F., December, 1964, at Urbana, Illinois, and published in Change, Witness, Triumph, p. 133:

"For those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, there is no escaping the clear, unambiguous language with which He, more than anyone else in all the New Testament, warns His hearers of the awful truth of eternal punishment. No universalism, no annihilationism, no probation in the hereafter satisfies His Word. The awful stark reality, so Jesus Christ teaches us unequivocally, is .just this: the soul that rebels against God and chooses to remain in his sinful rebellion, unrepentant throughout this life, separates himself from the good kingdom of God by the inexorable moral law of the universe placed within it by its righteous and sovereign Creator and Judge. God, if He is an absolutely holy God. must punish the unrepentant wicked by eternal banishment from His presence and His good fellowship."