Part of the Plan or Unintended Consequence?

It is really a question about the character and sovereignty of God: If Eternal Conscious Torment were part of God’s plan from the beginning, then what would that say about the character of God? On the other hand, if it were an unintended consequence, then what would that say about the sovereignty of God?

God is Love. Whatever the sovereignty of God is, it cannot be anything other than a manifestation of the love of God. In St. Paul’s wonderful description of  Love in 1 Corinthians, we know that love is not coercive. From the same source, we also know that love never fails, never gives up. Love always perseveres.

Did God choose to create a world in which some would suffer eternal conscious torment, knowing full well that such would be the case? Knowing the end from the beginning — indeed, the end is in the beginning — did God choose to create some who would suffer eternally? That does not sound like the God who is Love (1 John 4:8) but rather a monstrous deity, not worthy of worship.

Or imagine a scenario where God really did not know who would accept or who would reject God. To proceed to create in that situation would mean that the eternal torment of any soul — any one of us — would be an acceptable risk, therefore an acceptable loss, to God. Surely that is not the way of Love.

For God to create a world in which all finally turn to God does not require that God must overcome human will, for the problem of human will has never been anyone freely choosing to act against God and the good. Free will is not the ability to choose against one’s inherent nature, for there would be nothing to distinguish such from random event. But free will is the ability to act according to one’s true and inherent nature. 

What is the true and inherent nature of humans? It is that of creatures created in the image of God, to be like God. But the problem of the will is that because of darkness, deception, sin, and ignorance, the human will was impaired, defective, and in bondage. Shall we then imagine that God would allow anyone whose will is defective because of darkness, deception, sin, bondage, or ignorance to suffer eternal torment because of the defective choice of a impaired will is to imagine God as a pitiless and petty being.

The doctrine of Eternal Conscious Torment is not a biblical one but is cobbled together from various strains. Nor is it a benign doctrine but one that does great damage to both the character and sovereignty of God — and so also to God’s holiness.

Christ and the Fullness of Time

By the Incarnation, Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, heaven with earth — and eternity with time, in such a way that time is transfigured. It is not so much what happens in time as it is what happens to time. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not merely come in the fullness of time. Rather, he is the fullness of time, the fulfillment of time. He is the end of time, the reason for which time was created. All of creation, including time, consists and coheres in him.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end! (Revelation 22:13).

Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8), and we are chosen in him from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He is the starting point and the ending point. He is at once the Origination and the Conclusion, the Purpose and the Fulfillment of time, and of all things.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

God made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

He has saved us and called us to a holy life — not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:9-10)

Christ is the singularity of time and space and all creation. Though we experience time in linear fashion, there is no temporal sequence in eternity, no before or after. There is, then, no pre-Incarnate Christ; there is simply Christ the Eternally Incarnate One. 

The First and the Last,
The Beginning and the End,
The Fullness of All,
Ever the Same.

Eternally and Inextricably United

The Incarnation cannot be undone. If it could, it would be the undoing of our salvation, for the Cross and Resurrection would be of no benefit to anyone. Nor could it be undone for some without undoing it for all. It is all of one piece, just as humankind is, for we all partake of human being, the one and only way of being human.

When Christ the Word became “flesh” and dwelt among us (John 1:14), he did not merely put on human being as a suit, which could later be discarded when it served its purpose. No, he became human being, and is so eternally. He defines what it means to be fully human — yet he did not cease to be fully divine.

Nor did Christ become merely a singular instance of human being. That, too, would have done us no good, for his actions would have been of benefit only to himself. But he became human in such a way that in his death all died, so that in his resurrection all might be raised.

In Romans 5:18, St. Paul compares/contrasts Adam and Christ. “Consequently, just as one trespass [Adam’s] resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act [Christ’s] resulted in justification and life for all people.” Just as the connection between Adam and humankind was universal, such that Adam’s disobedience resulted in condemnation for all, so also the connection between Jesus Christ and humankind is universal, such that Christ’s obedience has resulted in justification and life for all.

Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 15:22, “For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” Just as the connection between Adam and humankind was universal, such that in Adam all die, so also the connection between Jesus Christ and humankind is such that in him all will be made alive.

By the Incarnation, Christ is united, eternally and inextricably, with us all. For humankind, which was once headed up in Adam, is now headed up in Christ.

That We May Become What He Is

Our Lord Jesus Christ became human, that humankind may become divine. Though Christ was rich, for our sake, he became poor, just as we are, that through his poverty we might become rich. Christ had no sin, and knew no death or corruption, but he became what we are and shared in our condition, that we might  become the righteousness of God in him, escaping the power of death and know divine life. In Jesus Christ, we become partakers of, participants in, the divine nature.

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14-15)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

The early Church Fathers grasped this well, and taught it without hesitation. It is what they understood the Scriptures and the Gospel to mean concerning Christ, the Cross, and our Salvation.

• “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.” (St. Irenaeus of Lyon, Against Heresies)
  
• “For we hold that the Word of God was made man on account of our salvation, in order that we might receive the likeness of the heavenly, and be made divine after the likeness of Him who is the true Son of God by nature, and the Son of man according to the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ.” (St. Gregory the Wonderworker)
• “For He was made man that we might be made God.” (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation)
  
• “He Himself has made us sons of the Father, and deified men by becoming Himself man.” (St. Athanasius, Against the Arians)
• “For therefore did He assume the body originate and human, that having renewed it as its Framer, He might deify it in Himself, and thus might introduce us all into the kingdom of heaven after His likeness.” (St. Athanasius, Against the Arians)
• “For as the Lord, putting on the body, became man, so we men are deified by the Word as being taken to Him through His flesh, and henceforward inherit life everlasting.” (St. Athanasius, Against the Arians)
• “But the Incarnation is summed up in this, that the whole Son, that is, His manhood as well as His divinity, was permitted by the Father’s gracious favor to continue in the unity of the Father’s nature, and retained not only the powers of the divine nature, but also that nature’s self. For the object to be gained was that man might become God.” (St. Hilary of Poitiers, On the Trinity)
• “Believe that the Son of God, the Eternal Word, Who was begotten of the Father before all time and without body, was in these latter days for your sake made also Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary ineffably and stainlessly (for nothing can be stained where God is, and by which salvation comes), in His own Person at once entire Man and perfect God, for the sake of the entire sufferer, that He may bestow salvation on your whole being, having destroyed the whole condemnation of your sins: impassible in His Godhead, passible in that which He assumed; as much Man for your sake as you are made God for His.” (St. Gregory Nazianzus, Oration 40:45)
• “If the divine Logos of God the Father became son of man and man so that He might make men gods and the sons of God, let us believe that we shall reach the realm where Christ Himself now is, for He is the head of the whole body, and endued with our humanity has gone to the Father as forerunner on our behalf.” (Maximus the Confessor, The Philokalia, On Theology)

Through the Incarnation, in which our Lord Jesus Christ has united divinity with humanity, God with humankind, He has become what we are, that we may become what He is.

The Last, the Least and the Lost

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted. 

Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. 

Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. 

Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy. 

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God. 

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God. 

Blessed are those who are persecuted
because of righteousness, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. 

Blessed are you when people insult you,
persecute you and falsely say all kinds
of evil against you because of me. 

Rejoice and be glad,
because great is your reward in heaven,
for in the same way they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.
(Matthew 5:3-12)

Come to me,
all you who are
weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am gentle
and humble in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls.
For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
(Matthew 11:28-30)

For the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve, and to
give his life as a
ransom for many.
(Mark 10:45)

Our Lord Jesus Christ
has come for the
Last, the Least
and the Lost.

God is Love!

Yielding to the Life of Christ

Faith in Christ is not merely mental acquiescence to some proposition about him. More than that, it is personal engagement with Christ, entrusting ourselves to him, yielding ourselves into his hands. That is the substance of repentance, abandoning false mindsets and perceptions that are at odds with God and the truth of our being, and giving ourselves over to God revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The false mindset we have long suffered under is that we are separated from God. The reality is that we have never been separated from God, for all have been created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ — indeed, all of creation holds together and continues to have its being in Christ (Colossians 1:16-17). So, it is impossible that we could ever have been separated from Christ, or else we would have simply ceased to be. 

Even more, by the Incarnation, Christ has united himself to us, divinity with humanity, God with humankind, becoming not just one of us but one with us. Christ became not merely an individual instance of human being, he became Human Being itself, of which we all partake.

But the mind darkened by demonic deceit, by death and the fear of death, and so, by the enslaving power of sin, rejects the reality of our being, the truth that we have always been in Christ. And so we have lived as though we are fundamentally apart from God. Yet the only apartness there has ever been between us and God has been in our own compartmentalized minds. St. Paul says, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace ” (Romans 8:7), and, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior” (Colossians 1:21). 

We were at enmity with God, but God has never been at enmity with us. Rather, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). Notice the directionality of that: God was not reconciling himself to the world — he had never turned away — but has reconciled the world to himself. And Christ has broken the power of all that darkened our minds and held us in bondage:“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death — that is, the devil — and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15).

This is the truth of the gospel, and those who have come to know Christ, have the privilege of making him known to others. “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). It is the joyful anticipation, the positive expectation of participation in the divine glory, for in Jesus Christ, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Christ in you! This is true of all, not by our own faith but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ — in the Creation, the Incarnation, and the Cross. But it is by faith that we yield ourselves to Christ in us, and confess with Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NET).

What is Faith?
It is Yielding to the
Life of Christ in You.

God’s Eternal Purpose Fulfilled

In Ephesians 1, St. Paul lays out the “Big Picture,” God’s eternal purpose in Christ, from beginning to end. It begins with God choosing us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. This is the Incarnation, by which Christ united divinity with humanity, God with humankind — but also eternity with time. Time itself is transfigured in Christ, such that the Incarnation is not merely temporal but eternal.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his good pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

Thus chosen in Christ from the beginning, we have also been predestined for sonship through him. This is God’s eternally good pleasure, plan and purpose, God’s will and delight. It is the glory of God’s grace and is most praiseworthy in every way.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment — to bring unity to all in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-10) 

God’s divine grace has been showered upon us beyond all bounds. Here again is the “good pleasure” and purpose (Greek, eudokia) of his will, revealed by the wisdom of Christ and understanding by the Holy Spirit, making known the eternal mystery, purposed in Christ from the beginning, and now revealed — unveiled — to us through the message of the gospel. From eternity, God purposed in Christ to bring all in heaven and on earth to unity, with Christ as the head and summation of all. It is the recapitulation (Greek, anakephalaiosasthai), the “recap” of all Creation — of everyone and everything.

Then Paul offers a pastoral prayer that God would give us wisdom and understanding by the Holy Spirit, that we may see what God has done in Christ, and what that means for us. That we may know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe.”

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:19-23)

Here is the consummation of all things, the eternal purpose of God in its fulfillment. It is Christ raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly realms, far above all rulers and powers and dominions. In Ephesians 2:5-6, Paul tells us the God has raised us up as well, together with Christ, and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms — this is present reality, not future promise. Further, God has placed all things under his feet and has given him as head (Greek, kephale) over the Church, which is his body.

What is this body? Paul says it is the fullness of him who fills All in All (Greek, panta en pasin). Put another way, Christ is the One who completely fulfills everything in every way — and the Church is that Fullness! Seen from this endpoint, then, all of Creation becomes the Church, the Body of Christ.

Christian Universalism is the belief that this is indeed so, that God’s eternal purpose in Jesus Christ will be completely fulfilled, and so will God be All in All.

Christ is the Meaning of All Creation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3) 

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word, the Logos of God. Which is to say that he is the Reason, the Purpose, the Plan, the Blueprint, the Way, the Meaning of God. Indeed, he is God, of one being with the Father, eternally begotten of Him. 

All things were made through the Christ, the Word, and so reveals him as the logos, reason, purpose, blueprint and meaning of every created thing. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). He became human, not merely one of us but one with us, not merely an instance of human being but Human Being itself. He is what it means to be human. His very being defines it.

Paul puts it beautifully in Colossians 1:15-18: All things in heaven and on earth have been created in Christ, through Christ and for Christ — all holding together in Christ. In Ephesians 1: 9-10, we discover that the express and eternal purpose of God is to bring all in heaven and on earth together into unity, all summed up in Christ. From beginning to end, Christ is the meaning of all creation.

Theology is Not the Road

A good map can be a very helpful guide, but a poor map can be a disaster. Theology is like that. A good theology can be quite enlightening. But a poor theology? Not so much. However, a map is not the road, nor is theology the realm it seeks to understand. For it is one thing to know about God but quite another to actually know God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come to bring us theology or to plot out a religious map for us to follow. On the night of the Last Supper, he said to his disciples:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
     Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
     Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7)

Jesus is not the map. He does not merely show us the Way; he is the Way. He does not merely tell us about the truth; he is the Truth. He does not merely give us Life; he is the Life we are given. And it is only through him that we are able to know the Father. This knowledge is not merely theological knowledge, or conceptual, theoretical, or propositional knowledge. But it is personal and experiential, even mystical and mysterious in its knowing. 

It is through our Lord Jesus Christ that we know the Father, for he fully and perfectly reveals the Father. Whoever knows Lord Jesus knows the Father as well. Whoever has seen Lord Jesus has seen the Father as well. To know the Father and the Son is the essence of Life, now and forever. “Now this is eternal life — that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent” (John 17:3).

Theology is just a map, not the road. Jesus is the Way through whom we come to know the Father. Even as we learn the road by walking it, so also do we learn the Way, Jesus, by following him.

Carriers of Heaven, Here and Now

Friends, our citizenship is in heaven, which means we carry heaven with us. Right here, right now. Writing to people of Philippi, a colony of Rome, and for whom citizenship was an important point of pride, Apostle Paul says,

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21)

The Greek word for “citizenship” (politeuma) is about commonwealth or community. It comes from a word that speaks of the administration of a city. To be a citizen of heaven means that our lives are now administered from there. We no longer have to live in bondage to the lusts and desires of the old way of life we used to know. We are no longer subject to the world systems that are manipulated by principalities and powers.

As a colony of heaven, we are here to establish the life and culture of heaven on earth. For all authority in heaven and on earth has now been given to King Jesus the Messiah (Matthew 28:18), and He has sent out His assembly, the Church, to disciple the nations and teach them everything Jesus taught (Matthew 28:19-20). The end result will be heaven and earth coming together as one (Revelation 21), the will of God being done on earth exactly as it is being done in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

For more on this, see A Colony of Heaven on Earth.

Love in Its Chastening Work

 

Love in Its Chastening Work

The Consuming Fire of God
and the Love of God are
not two opposing forces
which must be somehow
balanced out, one
against the other.

It is, rather, two
different ways of speaking
about the same thing ~
the Divine Love poured
out at the Cross.

It is the Divine Judgment
condemning sin and evil,
purging and cleansing us of it.

It is Love
in its chastening work,
correcting and refining us,
to deliver us from our
false self and restore us
to our True Self, which is
Christ in us.

Christ the Singularity

In Colossians 1, we discover that Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, is the creator of all things. Through him, by him, for him, and in him all things are created — not merely created, as if once and done, but continually sustained through and by and for and in him. 

Yet, he who is Creator has also become part of his Creation. He did not leverage divinity for his own benefit, but taking on the form of a servant, he became human. For our sake, he made himself subject to the mortality of our humanity, even to the point of a shameful death on the cross, crucified by our own wicked hands. But he being Life, death could not hold him, and by his death, he put death itself to death, and was resurrected.

This is of great significance not only for humankind but for the entire cosmos as well. All Creation is transfigured by his Cross and Resurrection. For he is, as John the Revelator says, the Lamb Slain from the Foundation of the World. Indeed, Christ Crucified and Risen is the foundation of the world, he who is the “firstborn from the dead” is the “firstborn of all creation.” The language of “firstborn” (Greek, prototokos) is not the time bound language of chronology but the eternal import of his absolute primacy in every way. 

It is not merely that Christ who created all things, including time, would one day be crucified in time and raised from the dead — that is all true, of course — but it means that Christ, who is eternal and has transfigured time by his coming into the world, is eternally the Crucified and Risen One. And it is as the Crucified and Risen One that all things are created through him, by him, for him and in him. Christ Crucified and Risen is the singularity from which all of heaven and earth explodes into being.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:15-20)

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)

Christ Shatters Our Delusions

Here is the primary thing: Jesus Christ is the Logos, the Word of God, who indeed is God. Through Christ, God created humankind in the image of God — to be like God. Our delusion was that we could ever be divine on our own, apart from God, determining for ourselves what is good and what is evil. Apart from God, and the goodness of God, we experienced evil and its relentless pull toward non-being. We became futile in our thinking, and our foolish hearts became dark.

By the Incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ united himself with all humankind, joining divine being with human being. He became not just one of us; he became one with us. Not merely a human being, he became Human Being itself, defining for us what is means to be human. He is the humanity of which all humankind partakes, the truth of who we really are. Our true identity, our true self, is found in him alone.

And so Christ entered into our darkness and our delusion, for he is the True Light, who gives Light to everyone in the world. Our darkness could not overcome it, our delusion could not comprehend it, but is itself overcome by it. The same John who tells us this, in John 1, also tells us, “the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).

Christ, the True Light, has come into the world and has never ceased to shine, so the darkness is already passing away and must finally succumb to his Divine Light. In Jesus Christ, then, God has come to shatter our delusions from the inside out.

There is No Separation

All things are created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ. In Christ, all things consist, and in him we all “live and move and have our being.”

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17)

God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. “For in him we live and move and have our being.” As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.” (Acts 17:27-28) 

There is no separation between us and God — and never has been. The only separation there has ever been has only been in our own minds at enmity against God. It was never in the mind of God but is purely an idea of our own deluded thinking and does not correspond to reality.

God is not a being among other beings, not even the greatest of beings. No, God is Being itself, of which everything that has existence partakes. So there is nothing that is external to God, nor can there be. Everything that has being exists within God. God has never separated himself from us, nor can we separate ourselves from God, for if we could, we would simply cease to be. That we exist at all is evidence that we are not truly separated from God.

Sin is the foolish imagination that we can somehow exist independently of God. When in our minds we pull away from God, that is never the end of it. For in turning away from God, we turn away from all other persons and things, for all have their being in Christ alone. So we come to odds not only with God but with each other and with all of creation as well — even with our own self — alienated by our own darkened understanding.

The gospel is the good news that God was in Christ reconciling the whole world to himself, not counting our sins against us (2 Corinthians 5:19). “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).

Notice the direction of reconciliation here. God did not need to reconcile himself to us, because he never turned away from us, and certainly never separated from us. But in Christ, God has reconciled us to himself, for we were the ones who turned away from God, hostile to God in our own minds.

Repentance becomes very important here, for it is a renewing of our mind, reorienting us back toward God, each other, and the world God created. It is a return to wholeness of mind, so that we are not longer at odds within our own self. Such repentance is a gift, for as Paul says, it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4). It is only because God has already reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, not counting our sins against us, that we are able to repent.

Through Christ, God has reconciled us to himself, for he is not only God’s faithfulness toward us, he is also our faithful response to God. So Paul says, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). This call to be reconciled to God is a call to repentance, to let ourselves be transformed and our minds renewed by the truth that we are not separated from God but are reconciled in Christ, in whom we have always had our existence.

The Gospel of Deliverance

Christ did not come to save us from God
but to deliver us from the power of death
and the darkness of sin.

“Therefore, since the children share in blood and flesh, Christ also in like manner shared in these same things , in order that through death he could destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and could set free these who through fear of death were subject to slavery throughout all their lives.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)

“For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17) 

The Light Who Makes Us Divine

You are the Light of the World,
O Christ, in Whom we become
Partakers of the Divine Nature.

In the Gospel of John, the Logos, the Word who has always been with God and is God, is “the True Light which gives light to everyone coming into the world” (John 1:1,9). And it is of him that the psalm writer sings, “With You is the fountain of life; in Your Light we see light” (Psalm 36:9).

Paul exclaims and exhorts, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8-10). And, “When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him” (Colossians 3:4). Other New Testament letters speak similarly:

His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the True Light who gives Light to everyone who comes into the world. In His Light, we see light and become light, participating in his Glory, and in him we become partakers of his divine nature.

God is Both Willing and Able

Christian universalism
is the belief that God
is both willing and able,
that God can and will save
all in heaven and on earth,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ, God has shown both the willingness and the ability to save all in heaven and on earth. This does not require that God in any way ignore or override the will of anyone — that is contrary to the way of Love. But it does require that the human will be set free from ignorance, deceit, darkness, and bondage to sin — all of which render human will defective, and anything but free.

Freedom of will is the ability to live according to one’s true and inherent nature. The true and inherent nature of human being is to be like God, in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), in whom all the fullness of divinity of dwells in bodily form, and in whom we are made complete (Colossians 2:9-10). 

By the Incarnation, Jesus Christ has become human being, the humanity of which we all now partake. He defines what it means to be human. It means that all who once were headed up in Adam are now headed up in Jesus Christ. It means that Christ is not only God’s faithfulness toward all humankind, but he is also our faithfulness toward God. It means that we are inextricably united with the One who is the Image of God. Through this union, we become transformed, conformed to the image of God (Romans 8:29). And in Christ, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

Just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). And so, whatever happens in the meantime, in the end, God will be “All in All” (1 Corinthians 15:28).

The Continuity of All Things

Though the world be in chaos, Jesus Christ is the continuity of all things. For in Him all things consist and hold together — in Him who is the same yesterday, today and forever. And He is making all things new.

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:16-17)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:5)

Creation, Incarnation and Inclusion

Inclusion is not something we can create but something we can only discover. What we discover in the gospel is that all are included in Christ from the very beginning and to the very end.

We are included in Christ by the Creation. In Colossians 1:15-17, St. Paul tells us that all are created by Christ, through Christ, for Christ and in Christ, and in Christ all Creation consists and holds together.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

We are included in Christ through the Incarnation, in which Christ became human being. There are many human persons, but there is only one human being, of which we all partake. In the Incarnation, Christ became human being; he defines what it means to be human, and showed us at the Cross exactly what being human, and being divine, looks like — it looks like self-giving, other-centered love.

We are included in Christ at the Cross. For in the death of Christ, we all died. This is a necessary consequence of the Incarnation, by which Christ united divinity with humankind, joining himself with all humankind. Paul said, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

We are included in Christ in the Resurrection and the Ascension. In Ephesians 2, Paul says,

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

In the Resurrection, Human Being, which Christ has become and of which we all partake, was raised from the dead. And by that resurrection, human being has been born again. St. Peter said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

In the Ascension, Human Being, of which we all partake, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and so all humankind is seated there with Christ, in Christ, forever and ever.

The purpose of this inclusion is deliverance from death, from the power of the death (who held the power of death), from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14), and so from the power of sin. That we may live unto God (Romans 6:11). That, through Christ, we may become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), and enjoy divine union with God, experiencing forever the relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit that Lord Jesus knows and experiences.

If, as the gospel shows, all are included in Christ, partaking of the one Human Being, who is Jesus Christ, then we cannot ignore anyone, for we are all part of each other. Apart from each other, we cannot finally know the fullness of our humanity, nor can we finally know the fullness of humanity’s union with God, which is revealed in Jesus Christ. 

The Good News of the Gospel is that
All are in Christ by the Creation and
Christ is in All by the Incarnation.

Deeply Connected With One Another

The Incarnation Means That
We are Deeply and Inextricably
Connected to One Another,
for Christ is Deeply and
Inextricably United with
All Humankind.

Though there are many human persons, there is only one human being, only one way of being human, of which we all partake. Christ, who is the Creator of all and from all derive their being, is being itself. By the Incarnation, he has united with all humankind by becoming Human Being.

This means that humankind, which was once defined by and headed up in Adam, is now defined by and headed up in Christ. And this is why St. Paul can speak so inclusively concerning Adam and Christ.

For if, by the trespass of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. (Romans 5:17-18)

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

This deep and inseparable connection of Christ with all humankind, and of all humans persons with each other, means that, if there are any who are not finally restored, then none of us will ever fully be restored. There will always be something missing. Humankind — Human Being — will be eternally diminished.