Universalism is the belief that God is so loving that He will give every single person a second chance to be saved by Jesus and go to Heaven--even if they refuse to enter into a positive relationship with Jesus in this life. The argument, basically, goes as follows:
- Not all people on this earth have the opportunity, during their lifetimes, to hear about or accept Jesus or the "real Jesus."
- God loves all people and wants to save all people.
- God is a just God who wouldn't send someone to Hell based on a technicality, such as rejecting Christ out of ignorance or based on false reasoning.
- Therefore, a just and loving God cannot require that all people have a relationship with Jesus before they die and will, in fact, offer them a second chance to come face-to-face with the real, loving, saving Jesus after they die so they can finally get right with Him and enter into Heaven.
On the surface, this argument seems to be consistent with the loving character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. However, in this post, I will point out the primary flaws as well as the logical absurdities that follow this view. I will then present the truth of the Gospel as defined by Jesus Himself and the writers of Scripture. Finally, I will respond with the biblical solutions to the perceived problems universalism tries to avoid.
Universalism's Primary Flaws
1. Universalism Can't be Supported with Scripture.
Granted, attempts have been made. There are many verses about God's love and willingness to forgive. Jesus prayed for the forgiveness of His enemies as He hung on the cross. (Luke 23:34) Universalists reason that, if Jesus prayed for it, God would've just done it, regardless of the condition of the hearts of the people in question. But there simply are NO verses or passages or parables that verify this belief nor suggest that ALL people, once dead, will get another chance to accept Jesus or get right with God and then enter Heaven. Rather, Scripture teaches precisely the opposite: that "...people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment," (Hebrews 9:27). And Jesus's parable in Luke 13:22-30 makes it clear that once the doors of Heaven close, any who have not believed in Him will not get in. According to Scripture, the only thing that will happen post-death is Christ's judgment--no second redemptive act, no second offers of salvation, no second chances (Matthew 25:31-46). Therefore, unless you were one of those people of faith who died prior to the coming of Christ (Hebrews 11:13-16, 39-40) or believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior (Matthew 7:21-23, John 14:6, I Thessalonians 4:13-18), you do NOT belong to God and you will NOT get a second chance to figure this out after you die.
2. Universalism Compromises the Gospel.
One of the concepts universalism teaches is a different understanding of what Jesus actually did on the cross. They don't like the idea that God would sacrifice His son or that He would demand a sacrifice at all. So, according to universalism, Jesus didn't actually "pay" for your sins with His death. He merely allowed Himself to be killed as a demonstration of love--to show the world their own evil and to show them what love does. This re-imagining of the Gospel is part of the fallout of giving everyone a second chance. The first, in-this-life-chance, then, becomes irrelevant, and so does the Gospel. This different "gospel" is also the consequence of a general distaste for and misunderstanding of the way God's character is described in Scripture. They imagine that God is in His Heaven, turning a blind eye to Jesus--His son--as He suffers on the cross. But God was the one on the cross--just as much as Jesus. They were still ONE. Jesus felt the full weight of the world's sin. He felt a separation from the Godhead. But there was no genuine separation, or Jesus could not have paid the price for our sin or conquered death. Jesus is God. Jesus is the Holy Spirit. All three Persons of the Godhead chose to hang on that cross, each experiencing the torture and natural consequences of our sin so that we don't have to. That's the true Good News, and it is the clear teaching of Scripture. (See: Leviticus 17:11, John 3:16, 14:6, I Peter 1:18-19, 2:24, Hebrews 9:12-15, Ephesians 1:7, Galatians 1:4, 3:13, Romans 5:10, 10:9-10, I Corinthians 1:30, Colossians 1:20-22, etc.). Universalism disregards the Gospel of Jesus and redefines it because they don't know God, they don't trust His Word, and they don't believe that anything God has done in this life--including dying on the cross for our sin--will ultimately be relevant.
3. Universalism Excuses What God Condemns.
The most uniform and consistent warning in Scripture is to avoid idolatry. The first TWO of the Ten Commandments deal with it (Exodus 20:3-5). When asked which of the commandments was the most important, Jesus said, "The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:29-30). However, universalism completely disregards God's clear and consistent warnings against following other gods in this life, and it ignores God's claims about Himself as being a "jealous God" (Exodus 20:5). According to universalism, it doesn't really matter what you believe, which gods you follow, or whether you love or hate your true Creator and Savior. You'll end up choosing Jesus after you die, so no harm no foul. Universalism makes God's and Jesus's warnings obsolete and it makes their urgency and seriousness seem foolish and exaggerated. After all, if universalism is true and we all get a second chance after death to learn the truth face to face with Jesus, it doesn't matter what I believe now. I can be a Buddhist, a Mormon, a Christian Scientist, an Muslim, a Hindu, a Baha'i, an atheist, or even a Satanist. I can believe Jesus was a fraud. I can hate Christians and everything they stand for. I can fill my life with hedonistic activities, pagan rituals, and everything God condemns because... if you get a second chance where you WILL accept the truth, your first chance is irrelevant.
4. Universalism Assumes God Can't or Won't Reach All People in This Life.
The motivator behind universalism is to avoid the desperate fear that maybe God just isn't truly good or truly fair. Universalists believe that there are many people who have died never hearing the name "Jesus" and many who have rejected Jesus merely because Jesus was misrepresented to them. Therefore, they reason, a good and loving God wouldn't hold them responsible for not believing in Him. (For example: the Muslim child who was raised to believe in love and
kindness but was only taught about Mohamed, the jungle dweller who never
hears of the Bible or Jesus, the abused child raised in foster care
whose only message about God/Jesus was at best a false representation
and so he/she rejects God based on this false information.) However, this is a very small view of God and it completely ignores vast swathes of Scripture that say precisely the opposite: that God wants to save all people, that Jesus died to save the entire world, that all people will be given the opportunity to acquire faith in God or reject Him, and that one's choice for or against the Truth in this life will have eternal consequences. (More on this to follow.)
5. Universalism Contradicts Scripture.
In order to push forward a different gospel than the one clearly defined by Jesus in Scripture, one must ignore vast portions of the Bible and push forward ideas the Bible simply doesn't support. Universalism does both these things, resulting in many clear contradictions. Here are a few that I've already pointed out:
- Universalism claims we get a second chance to come to faith after we die. The Bible says we are judged after we die based on our faith during this life. (Daniel 12:2, Mark 8:34b-38, Luke 16:19-31, Hebrews 9:24-28, Romans 1:20, 2:5, II Corinthians 6:2, etc.)
- Universalism claims God can't save everyone during this life. The Bible teaches that salvation is available to all people during their lifetimes. (I Timothy 2:3-6, Mark 13:10, Luke 19:40, Matthew 13:3-9, John 3:16-17, etc.)
- Universalism claims Jesus didn't die as an atoning sacrifice, but merely as a demonstration of God's love. The Bible teaches that it is by Jesus's atoning death on the cross that we can be redeemed from our sin. (Leviticus 17:11, John 3:16, 14:6, I Peter 1:18-19, 2:24, Hebrews 9:12-15, Ephesians 1:7, Galatians 1:4, 3:13, Romans 5:10, 10:9-10, I Corinthians 1:30, Colossians 1:20-22, etc.)
6. Universalism Assumes a Second Chance Will Matter.
Universalists have very little faith in the human ability to seek and find God and/or in God's ability to adequately reveal Himself to all people of all tribes, creeds, and nations. Since the Bible and reality seem to agree that many, many people are lost and have rejected God (including some seemingly very good people), something must be amiss with human intelligence, with God's plan and methods, or both. Because they don't want to fathom that a good and loving God could allow anyone to go to Hell (or, if so, only serial killers and terrorists), they must accept the non-biblical doctrine of the post-death, second chance at grace. However, not only does Scripture make it clear that all people will be given plenty of opportunity to come to a saving knowledge of the true God in this lifetime (Romans 8:31-39), it also teaches that, once someone rejects God, a second chance won't be offered, and, even if it were offered, it wouldn't make a difference--even if someone rises from the dead to prove it (Matthew 28:11-15, Luke 14:15-24 and 16:19-31, Romans 3:20, Hebrews 9:27, Revelations 20:11-15, 21:27).
7. Universalism Assumes Most People Would Love Jesus if they Met Him.
The appeal of universalism is that all people, if they were just given a real chance to meet Jesus and experience God's love, couldn't help but to love Him back and want to be with Him. They then look at a world and history full of people who have rejected God, and reason that God simply must not have given them an appropriate chance. Therefore, it's not really humanity's fault for rejecting their Creator and Savior. It's God's fault for not reaching them. But not only does this belief cast God in a very disparaging light, it disregards what Scripture teaches about faith and the lack thereof. After all, many who met Jesus face to face in this life still rejected Him,
even after His resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:11-15). In fact, they continued to hate Jesus so much, they went so far as to persecute anyone who dared believe in Him (Matthew 5:10, Mark 10: 29-30, Luke 6:22, John 15:18, II Corinthians 11:16-28, II Timothy 3:12). The sad reality is that
human beings are far more likely to reject Christ than to love Him
(Matthew 7:13, 13:3-9). And, contrary to popular belief, the Bible
teaches that this lack of faith has nothing to do with race, region,
culture, or personal circumstance. Rather, all people have been given
plenty of evidence to believe in and follow the true God, so that, if
they don't, they will have no excuse (Romans 1:20, 8:31-39, Jeremiah 23:23-24). Furthermore,
Christ came to "proclaim good news to the poor... freedom for the
prisoners... recovery of sight for the blind... [and] to set the
oppressed free" (Luke 4:18). Therefore, even great personal trauma
cannot keep someone from seeking and loving Christ. Only pride can do
that (II Corinthians 7:14, James 4:10, Proverbs 29:23, Jeremiah 13:17,
Psalm 73:6, Obadiah 1:3, etc).
8. Universalism Misunderstands the Concepts of Love and Justice.
I suspect that the universalist's favorite verse is, "God is love" (I John 4:8). It's one of mine, too. And the Bible is rich with verses that describe how deeply God loves us (I John 3:1), how He has pursued us (Jeremiah 31:3), cares for us (Psalm 23:1-6), and gave His life for us (Galatians 1:4). However, God's love is not a simple, unilateral, surface type of love. God's love (indeed, all love) requires truth and holiness and justice to be love. You can't love what you don't know--truth. You can't love if your love is motivated by selfish gain--holiness. And since love is only manifested within a reciprocal relationship, you can't have a love relationship without mutuality--justice. Yes, God is love. But God is also just. It is because of His justice that He forgives (I John 1:9) and also because of His justice that He will judge those who have not turned and been forgiven (Acts 17:31). The deal isn't that God will save us merely because He loves us. His love for us motivated his offer of salvation, but He will only save those who willingly choose to enter a love-based, reciprocal relationship with Him by accepting Jesus's sacrificial offer of grace and forgiveness. We must want Him to get Him. After all, God is not a bully. Because He loves us, He respects our free will. And, because of our sinful state, it goes against His nature (yes, even against His love nature), to rescue those who don't want to be rescued. In fact, if He were to pull sinful, pride-filled people into His presence against their will, without them first being cleansed by the sacrificial blood of Jesus, they would be consumed in the fire of God's holiness and glory. After all, God is also a "consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29, Matthew 3:12) and no sinful person can look upon Him and live (Exodus 33:20).
9. Universalism is not Christianity; It's Just Another Works-Based Religion.
Within Christianity and Catholicism, there are a great many differences of opinion on theological issues and religious practice. However, most of these differences aren't enough to strip someone of the title "Christian." As long as the Gospel itself is left intact, we can all confidently call one another brothers and sisters in Christ. Universalism, however, strikes at the heart of the Gospel itself and substitutes a different gospel for the one defined in Scripture. For this reason, universalism cannot rightly be called a "Christian" faith system. It is a different religion altogether. And, like every other religion out there, it is a works-based religion (if a somewhat watered down one.) Though universalism claims we all get a second chance (and so, what we do and believe now hardly matters), they still focus very much on the performance of good deeds during this life (e.g. helping the poor, being generous, rejecting bigotry, and trying to love like Jesus.). Since Jesus does speak harshly about "wicked" people being judged, universalists fear it may be possible that the hyper-evil people of this world might yet find themselves in Hell (or obliterated). So, the only way to ensure that you'll accept Christ's second chance after you die is to be a good person by embracing love during this life. However, Scripture clearly teaches that Jesus's offer of salvation was an act of pure, undeserved grace. We can't earn it. We can't work for it or purchase it or deserve it. It is a free gift. But if we don't accept it, we can't be saved. (John 3:16-17, 5:24, Acts 4:12, 16:30-31, Romans 10:9-10, Galatians 2:15-16, Ephesians 2:8-9, II Corinthians 5:21, Titus 3:4-7, Revelation 3:20, etc.)
Universalism's Logical Absurdities
1. Their God is Letting Us Suffer for No Reason.
If
Jesus is planning on giving everyone a second chance and saving us all
after this life is over, what is He waiting for? What is the
purpose of this life? Why not just kill us all and get the
suffering over with so we can all just go be with Him in Paradise? I
mean, skip to the end already! Doesn't the fact that the universalist's little god is just letting
us suffer for no reason contradict our understanding of God's love?
Letting wickedness and suffering continue without restraint and for no
eternal purpose isn't love, it's cruel torture.
2. Their God is So Limited, He Can't Be God.
The god of the universalists is extremely limited and a very bad strategist. Like the God of Scripture, he goes to all the trouble of creating this world and making perfect people, only to be rejected when we choose to follow our own desires. However, at this point, things take a weird shift for the god of the universalists. Where the God of Scripture has a clearly defined plan for our redemption, this little god gets stuck. His perfect world is ruined and people are running amuck. And, since our salvation isn't an essential part of his plan, he has no eternal purpose for continuing this miserable existence. Sure, he attempts to show us a better way by sending Jesus to meander around for a while and let himself get killed. He even raises Jesus back to life to show people that love conquers all.... But while some people seem to get it, others don't, and now there are so many of them, and they're all spread out, and they're all so entrenched in their false religions that this tiny god can't seem to do anything about it. "Oh, well," this micro-god reasons. "I'll just wait for them to die, and then I'll grab them by the collars, look them in the eye, and tell them the truth face-to-face." Except there's one problem with that: this minuscule god can't possibly be the huge, omnipresent, all-knowing, and all-powerful God of the Bible. The God of Scripture doesn't have trouble communicating. He's never flustered, or desperate, or in need of an escape hatch for a failed plan. He doesn't waste time, overlook suffering, apologize, or get frantic and pushy. And He doesn't accept excuses for our lack of faith--particularly because He's given us every opportunity to follow Him (Romans 1:20). And, no, He's not being unfair to demand faith in Jesus as a prerequisite for a relationship with Jesus. It's the epitome of justice. Anything less would be weakness, inconsistency, and arbitrariness. No. Any "god" who acts like the god of the universalists simply isn't God.
3. Their God Contradicts Himself.
The God of Scripture says He's a jealous God (Exodus 34:14) and repeatedly tells us to avoid idolatry, stop sinning, and follow Him alone. He came as Jesus to die in our place and become the Way to salvation through grace for those who believe on His Name. But, while the universalists seem to be using the same Bible, they insist these passages have little to no eternal weight. You can, in fact, follow Muhammad or Buddha or a god of your own imagination for all the days of your life and still end up enjoying a full relationship with the true God in Heaven one day. You can bow down to idols. You can sacrifice your children to Molech or to your own sexual freedom through abortion. You can engage in homosexuality, hedonism, sex-trafficking, pedophilia--you name it. Doesn't really matter, because you're getting a second chance. You can even hear about Jesus and decide He's not for you. Though the God of the Bible tells us salvation is found in Christ alone (John 3:36, Acts 4:12, I Timothy 2:5, etc.) and that those who continue to sin will not be saved (I John 3:9), universalism makes every kind of evil permissible for your entire life. Well, which is it, little universalist god? You can't have it both ways.
4. Death is the Way to Salvation, Not Jesus.
Although Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6), universalism claims this doesn't actually apply until after we die. So, I'm not sure why Jesus came and participated in this life at all. Seems like a waste of time and a lot of suffering for nothing. After all, if we don't all have the capacity to recognize and accept Jesus during this life, then Jesus isn't the true way to our salvation, death is. Universalism seems to assume some magical quality of life after death that will make us more accepting of a relationship with God. It's as if we'll gain spiritual eyes that will allow us to see the truth that God was simply unable to show us during this lifetime. Frankly, I'm not sure I'd trust that, if God couldn't get through to us now, that He'll be able to do it later. Didn't He design this life for that express purpose? Oh, that's right. The micro-god of the universalists has no purpose for this life.
5. Free Will and Morality Are Arbitrary.
The universalists want to insist that, because God is love, He will save
everyone--regardless of how good or bad we are in this life. But if only your post-death decisions matter for eternity and we will choose God at that time, is there such a thing as free will at all? There's really no way to know for sure. Furthermore, universalists assume God is going to excuse our evil deeds, but at the same time, they insist we embrace love, help the needy, and treat all people with tolerance and respect. But here's the clincher: If your evil deeds and false beliefs don't matter in this life, neither do your good beliefs or good deeds. And, in many cases, there's really no way to tell the difference. After all, if a perfectly holy God is going to excuse evil, how evil could it be? If God is withholding value judgments, what right do we have to make any--even about our own choices? If everyone's getting into Heaven, why bother worrying about beliefs, attitudes, or behavior? None of it is going to matter in the end. And if God is overlooking our suffering for some unfathomable reason (see #1 of this list), why bother helping the hurting? All slates will be wiped clean, including ours....
6. Universalism Makes Following Universalism Unnecessary
This one makes me laugh, actually. Because if universalism says nothing we believe ultimately will matter, why follow universalism? I'll enjoy my life a lot more just not worrying about any of it, and no universalist can logically claim that my hedonism or atheism or whatever is going to land me in any worse standing with God than what they want me to believe. So... yeah.
The Truth of the Gospel as Defined by Jesus and the Writers of Scripture
The Gospel Message:
God made you in His image. He loves you with His entire Being. But you are subject to the sinfulness of this world. You are lost. On your own, you cannot hope to make yourself clean enough to be in the presence of a perfectly holy God. However, God knew you and loved you before the creation of the world, and He had a plan in place for your rescue. His plan was Himself. In the Person of Jesus Christ, God Himself took the penalty of your sinful state, paid the price, and conquered death so that you could be free. This is the ONLY way you can have an eternity with God in His Heaven. But being made in the image of God means you also have free will, as He does. You get to choose whether to enter into a positive relationship with Jesus or to follow your own way or some other false theology. If you do not choose to follow Christ and accept His pardon for your sin, you are choosing to face the penalties of your sin on your own, which means an eternity separated from God in a place or state called Hell. However, if you choose to believe in Christ, you will live your life according to His example. After your death, you will be raised again alongside all other people to be judged. Because you know Jesus, He will welcome you into Heaven and a new, eternal life in God's presence.
(Genesis 1:27, John 3:16-18, Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 6:23, Titus 3:4-7, John 1:12, Acts 4:11-12, Colossians 1:5, I John 3:2, Revelations 22:5.)
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18).
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).
"There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death" (Proverbs 14:12).
Related Topics for Further Study:
Though I speak disparagingly about universalism in this post, the universalists I've met are kind, generous, caring people. Most of them are struggling or former Christians who have embraced universalism in order to solve problems they've identified within mainstream Christian theology. Some of these problems are genuine. Some are not. Below are some links to some biblical responses to the problems universalists and many people perceive with the traditional Gospel, God's grace, and God's judgment.
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