{"id":5103,"date":"2009-12-28T06:37:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T06:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/the-bible-and-universalism.html"},"modified":"2009-12-28T06:37:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-28T06:37:00","slug":"the-bible-and-universalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/the-bible-and-universalism.html","title":{"rendered":"The Bible and Universalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GregMacd.jpg\"<\/span>Robin Parry’s major focus, in his book The Evangelical Universalist<\/a>\"\" <\/strong><\/em> , is a biblical case for (evangelical belief in) universalism (not the same as pluralism). One of the good points about this book is that Parry ponders what he’s doing — so he lays out what would be needed in order to make a biblical case for universalism.<\/p>\n

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First, it must be positively supported by Scripture and that means (1) that it can be explicitly taught in Scripture — and he’ll look at texts like Rom 5:18; 1 Cor 15:22; Col 1:20; Phil 2:11 [not enough look at 2 Cor 5:14 but that’s another issue] and\/or (2) that it can be reasonably inferred from what is explicitly taught, a very common way our theology has been formed, and (3) that it is consistent with the biblical narrative — and he sketches a classic view: that God’s intent is to redeem all of creation [more of that later]. Furthermore, universalism can only be supported if it does not conflict with what is explicitly taught in Scripture — and he refers to the hell passages like Matt 25:45; 2 Thess 1:6-9; Rev 14:11 and 20:10-15.<\/div>\n
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There are universalistic sounding passages (no one disputes they “sound” universalistic) and there are hell passages. Big question: Why has the tradition shaped the universalistic sounding passages by the hell passages and not the other way around<\/b>?<\/div>\n


\nParry poses three statements from Thomas Talbott that illustrate method issues — namely that Scripture can be brought in to support each but they are not equally affirmed by all:<\/p>\n

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1. It is God’s redemptive purpose for the world to reconcile all sinners to himself (Arminians, Universalists).<\/div>\n
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2. It is within God’s power to achieve his redemptive purpose for the world (Calvnists, Universalists).<\/div>\n
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3. Some sinners will never be reconciled … leading to endless hell or annihilation (Calvnists, Arminians).<\/div>\n
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The texts that are used to support each proposition are then interpreted by each group in light of the propositions with which they agree and think are more fundamental.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robin Parry’s major focus, in his book The Evangelical Universalist  , is a biblical case for (evangelical belief in) universalism (not the same as pluralism). One of the good points about this book is that Parry ponders what he’s doing — so he lays out what would be needed in order to make a biblical case for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bible and Universalism - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/12\/the-bible-and-universalism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bible and Universalism - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robin Parry’s major focus, in his book The Evangelical Universalist  , is a biblical case for (evangelical belief in) universalism (not the same as pluralism). 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