Heaven, Hell, Universalism and Rob Bell - Part 2

A Look at the Theology of Rob Bell & “Love Wins”
Part 2

Review: What are we Talking About?

On March 15, 2011, HarperOne
publishers releases Emergent
Church leader Rob Bell‘s new
book ―Love Wins‖.

The promotional video for the
book immediately raised
speculations in Christendom that
Rob Bell was a universalist, and
what has followed since then has
been one of the largest theological
firestorms in some time.

www.confidentchristians.org

Review: What did We Cover Last Time?

• Universalism or ―Ultimate
Reconciliation‖ teaches that all people
will ultimately be reconciled to God,
either in this life or the next
• Rob Bell denies being a universalist
and says he believes in Hell, but yet
his writings are universalist in nature
and the Hell he speaks about does not
seem to equate with Scripture
• Others such as Origen and Socinus
have taught very similar things
• Bell says he really doesn‘t know how
everything turns out; that it is all
―speculation‖


What does the Bible teach about Eternal Punishment?

The Clarity or „Perspicuity‟ of Scripture

A hallmark of the Emerging Church and their leaders like Bell is that they say
we can‘t really know what the Bible means or teaches on many subjects.
They call their stance one of ‗humility‘.

Yet, the Bible is very explicit and clear on every core doctrine of the Christian
faith. This is sometimes referred to as the ―perspicuity‖ of Scripture.


The Old Testament and Eternal Punishment
―Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons
of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never
occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your
people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. ―Many
of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting
life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.‖
(Daniel 12:1–2)

• The passage speaks about Israel‘s future,
but it is hard to imagine Israel would be
handled one way by God where eternity is
concerned and everyone else differently
• There is a book that contains the names of
the saved
• The same ―everlasting‖ that applies to the
saved and their ‗life‘ also applies to the
condemned
• The word ―contempt‖ literally means
―abhorrence‖

Did Jesus Believe in a Literal Hell?

―There is one very serious defect to my
mind in Christ‘s moral character, and it is
that He believed in Hell. I do not myself
feel that any person who is really
profoundly humane can believe in
everlasting punishment. . . . one does
find repeatedly a vindictive fury against
those people who would not listen to His
preaching. . . . I must say that I think all
this doctrine, that hell-fire is a
punishment for sin, is a doctrine of
cruelty.‖
- Bertrand Russell


Jesus‟ Teaching on Eternal Punishment
―Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine
linen, joyously living in splendor every day. ―And a poor man named
Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with
the crumbs which were falling from the rich man‘s table; besides, even the
dogs were coming and licking his sores. ―Now the poor man died and was
carried away by the angels to Abraham‘s bosom; and the rich man also
died and was buried. ―In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and
saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. ―And he cried out and
said, ‗Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he
may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in
agony in this flame.‘ ―But Abraham said, ‗Child, remember that during your
life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but
now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. ‗And besides all
this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who
wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may
cross over from there to us‘ "
(Luke 16:19–26)


What does the Passage Teach?
• Judgment is decisive –
immediately after their death, the
rich man and Lazarus were
ushered into their eternal
destinies
• Judgment is unpleasant – the rich
man specifically said, ―I am in
agony…‖
• Judgment is final – Abraham
describes there is no further
chance for those who end up in
punishment to spend eternity with
God: ―none may cross over from
there to us‖


What does Bell Say?
―No matter how painful, brutal,
oppressive, no matter how far
people find themselves from home
because of their sin, indifference,
and rejection, there‘s always the
assurance that it won‘t be this way
forever‖ (p. 86).

―Failure , we see again and again,
isn‘t final, judgment has a point,
and consequences are for
correction‖ (p. 88).



―And he said, ‗Then I beg you, father, that you send
him to my father‘s house— for I have five brothers—
in order that he may warn them, so that they will not
also come to this place of torment.‘ ―But Abraham
said, ‗They have Moses and the Prophets; let them
hear them.‘ ―But he said, ‗No, father Abraham, but if
someone goes to them from the dead, they will
repent!‘ ―But he said to him, ‗If they do not listen to
Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded
even if someone rises from the dead.‘‖
(Luke 16:27–31)


What does the Passage Teach?
• There is no hint the rich man felt
something better was possible for
him or was coming
• The condemned are very much
conscious and aware, and also
remember their lives on earth
• The condemned greatly desire that
those they care about not share
their fate
• God‘s Word is what instructs
people on matters of eternal life
and death
• Even miraculous signs, including
someone being raised from the
dead, are not more persuasive than
God‘s Word

Jesus‟ Teaching on Eternal Punishment vs. Bell
―Enter through the narrow gate; for ―A staggering number of people have
the gate is wide and the way is broad been taught that a select few
that leads to destruction, and there Christians will spend forever in a
are many who enter through it. ―For peaceful, joyous place called
the gate is small and the way is heaven, while the rest of humanity
narrow that leads to life, and there spends forever in torment and
are few who find it. " punishment in hell with no chance for
(Matthew 7:13–14) anything better. It‘s been clearly
communicated to many that this
―Many will say to Me on that day, belief is a central truth of the
‗Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Christian faith and to reject it is, in
Your name, and in Your name cast essence, to reject Jesus. This is
out demons, and in Your name misguided and toxic and ultimately
perform many miracles?‘ ―And then I subverts the contagious spread of
will declare to them, ‗I never knew Jesus‘ message of love, peace,
you; depart from Me, you who forgiveness, and joy that our world
practice lawlessness.‘ " desperately needs to hear‖
(Matthew 7:22–23) (Love Wins, pg. viii)


Jesus‟ Teaching on Eternal Punishment vs. Bell
―But when the Son of Man comes in His ―Of all the billions of people who have
glory, and all the angels with Him, then ever lived, will only a select number
He will sit on His glorious throne. ―All the ‗make it to a better place‘ and every
nations will be gathered before Him; and single other person will suffer in torment
He will separate them from one another, and punishment forever? Is this
as the shepherd separates the sheep acceptable to God? Has God created
from the goats; and He will put the millions of people over tens of thousands
sheep on His right, and the goats on the of years who are going to spend eternity
left. ―Then the King will say to those on
in anguish? Can God do this, or even
His right, ‗Come, you who are blessed of
allow this, and still claim to be a loving
My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. God? Does God punish people for
. . . Then He will also say to those on His thousands of years with infinite, eternal
left, ‗Depart from Me, accursed ones, torment for things they did in their few,
into the eternal fire which has been finite years of life? This doesn‘t just raise
prepared for the devil and his angels . . . disturbing questions about God, it raises
These will go away into eternal questions about the beliefs
punishment, but the righteous into themselves… What kind of faith is that?
eternal life.‖ Or more importantly: What kind of God is
(Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46) that?‖ (Love Wins, pp. 2-3)


• ―And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will
descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which
occurred in you, it would have remained to this day‖ (Matthew 11:23)
• ―So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at
the end of the age. ―The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they
will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit
lawlessness‖ (Matthew 13:40–41)
• ―So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out
the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the
furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth‖
(Matthew 13:49–50)
• ―Then the king said to the servants, ‗Bind him hand and foot, and throw
him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth‘" (Matthew 22:13)
• ―Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel
around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes
one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves" (Matthew
23:15)

• ―You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of
hell?" (Matthew 23:33)
• ―If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter
life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the
unquenchable fire‖ (Mark 9:43)
• ―But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed,
has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!‖ ( Luke 12:5)
• "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey
the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him"(John 3:36)
• "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the
tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good
deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a
resurrection of judgment." (John 5:28-29)
• ―He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He
who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death‘ " (Revelation 2:11)


Paul‟s Teaching on Eternal Punishment
• ―For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict
you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the
Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in
flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to
those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the
penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints
on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our
testimony to you was believed. " (2 Thessalonians 1:6–10)
• ―For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping,
that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,
whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set
their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which
also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians
3:18–20)
• ―Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this
he will also reap.‖ (Galatians 6:7)


Peter‟s Teaching on Eternal Punishment
• For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell
and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did
not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the
world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them
an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He
rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled
men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living
among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their
lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from
temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of
judgment" (2 Peter 2:4–9)
• ―These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom
the black darkness has been reserved. " (2 Peter 2:17)
• ―But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for
fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." (2
Peter 3:7)

John‟s Record in Revelation of Eternal Punishment

• ―Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over
these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and
of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years" (Revelation 20:6)
• ―Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the
second death, the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:14)
• ―But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and
immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will
be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second
death" (Revelation 21:8)


What does Bell Say?
"When we get to what happens when we
die, we don't have any video footage,"
says Bell. "So let's at least be honest
that we are speculating, because we
are." He is quick to note, though, that his
own speculation, while unconventional,
is not unprecedented. "At the center of
the Christian tradition since the first
church," Bell writes, "have been a
number who insist that history is not
tragic, hell is not forever, and love, in the
end, wins and all will be reconciled to
God.―
- Interview with Time Magazine


Any Chance for Post-Mortem Evangelism?

―It is appointed for men to die once and after this
comes judgment‖
(Hebrews 9:27)


C. S. Lewis on Hell

"There are only two kinds of
people in the end: those
who say to God, 'Thy will be
done,' and those to whom
God says, in the end, 'Thy
will be done.' All that are in
Hell chose it.‖
- C. S. Lewis


A Look at God‟s Love and His Justice

Bell on God‟s Character
―Millions have been taught that if they don‘t believe, if they don‘t accept in the right
way according to the person telling them the gospel, and they were hit by a car and
died later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in
conscious torment in hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally
different being to them in that moment of death, a different being to them forever. A
loving heavenly father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship
with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean, vicious tormenter
who would insure that they would have no escape from an endless future of agony.
If there was an earthly father who was like that, we would call the authorities.

If there was an actual human dad who was that volatile, we would contact child
protection services immediately. If God can switch gears like that, switch entire
modes of being that quickly, that raises a thousand questions about whether a
being like this could ever be trusted. Let alone be good. Loving one moment,
vicious the next. Kind and compassionate, only to become cruel and relentless in
the blink of an eye. Does God become somebody totally different the moment you
die? That kind of God is simply devastating. Psychologically crushing. We can‘t
bear it. No one can. . . . That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.‖
(Love Wins, pgs.173–75)


God is Indeed Love

• "The Lord‘s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never
fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.―(Lamentations 3:22-
23)
• But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
• For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. " (Romans 8:38–39)
• The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. " (1 John 4:8)
• We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is
love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. " (1
John 4:16)

But God is Also Just

• ―Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the
wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it
from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?‖ (Gen. 18:25)
• ―And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment
for the peoples with equity.‖ (Psalm 9:8)
• "Before the LORD; for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the
world with righteousness, And the peoples with equity." (Psalms 98:9)


The Uniqueness of God‟s Justice

In every other religion in the world that holds to the idea of a
supreme deity, that deity‘s mercy is always exercised at the expense
of its justice. For example, in Islam, Allah may grant mercy to an
individual, but it‘s always done at the expense of his justice.

Christianity is different. In Christianity, God exercises His mercy
through His justice.

Christ Died for God‟s Righteousness
Christ did indeed die for sinners, but He
also died as a demonstration of God‘s
righteousness. The Apostle Paul makes
this clear when he says, ―being justified
as a gift by His grace through the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
whom God displayed publicly as a
propitiation in His blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in the
forbearance of God He passed over
the sins previously committed; for the
demonstration, I say, of His
righteousness at the present time, so
that He would be just and the justifier of
the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans
3:24–26)

Limited or Universal Atonement?

If God is love…

And if Christ died a substitutionary
sacrifice for all sinners…

Then, what keeps everyone from
spending eternity with God?

Answer: The atonement of Christ is
limited. It is limited to those who believe:
―For God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish,
but have eternal life. " (John 3:16)


What does Bell Say?

―Many people have heard the gospel
framed in terms of rescue. God has to
punish sinners, because God is holy, but
Jesus has paid the price for our sin, and
so we can have eternal life. However
true or untrue that is technically or
theologically, what it can do is subtly
teach people that Jesus rescues us from
God. Let‘s be very clear, then: we do not
need to be rescued from God.‖ (p. 182)

Who is ―we‖? If Bell means Christians,
OK, but that doesn‘t seem to be who he
is speaking about…


Bell vs. Paul
―Many people have heard the gospel framed in terms of
rescue. God has to punish sinners, because God is
holy, but Jesus has paid the price for our sin, and so we
can have eternal life. However true or untrue that is
technically or theologically, what it can do is subtly teach
people that Jesus rescues us from God. Let‘s be very
clear, then: we do not need to be rescued from God.‖ (p.
182)

VS.
―For they themselves report about us what
kind of a reception we had with you, and
how you turned to God from idols to serve a
living and true God, and to wait for His Son
from heaven, whom He raised from the
dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the
wrath to come." (1 Thessalonians 1:9–10)


Question…
If sinful people don‘t need to be rescued from God, then who
or what should they fear? And to what or whom is the wrath of
God talked about in the Bible directed?

• So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him,
―You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? " (Luke
3:7)
• ―He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son
will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.‖ " (John 3:36)
• For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, " (Romans
1:18)
• But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up
wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of
God" (Romans 2:5)
• but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. " (Romans 2:8)


Believers are Delivered from God‟s Wrath

• "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood,
we shall be saved from the wrath of God through
Him.‖(Romans 5:9)
• "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ‖ (1 Thessalonians
5:9)

God‟s Wrath is Real and is Coming

• What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His
power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction? " (Romans 9:22)
• and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, ―Fall on us and hide us
from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to
stand?‖ " (Revelation 6:16–17)


―The church has failed to tell me that I am a sinner. The church
has failed to deal with me as a lost individual. The church has
failed to offer me salvation in Jesus Christ alone. The church has
failed to tell me of the horrible consequences of sin, the certainty
of hell, and the fact that Jesus Christ alone can save. We need
more of the last judgment and less of the Golden Rule, more of
the living God and the living devil as well, more of a heaven to
gain and a hell to shun. The church must bring me not a message
of cultivation but of rebirth. I might fail that kind of church, but that
kind of church will not fail me.‖
- Stanley High

God‟s Wrath is Coming upon Unbelievers

• Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the
wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. " (Ephesians 5:6)
• Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to
immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to
idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come
upon the sons of disobedience" (Colossians 3:5–6)


Jesus is Coming in Wrath

• ―For David himself says in the book of Psalms, ‗The Lord said to my Lord, ―Sit at My right
hand, Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.‖ ‘ " (Luke 20:42–43)
Sign of execution
• " And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called
Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of
fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one
knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called
The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and
clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that
with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He
treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty."(Revelation 19:11-15)

Word Study – Salvation
Greek Meaning
① Deliverance
Soteria ② Preservation
Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-
English lexicon of the New Testament and other early
Christian literature.
―And there is salvation in no one else; for
there is no other name under heaven that has
been given among men by which we must be
saved.‖ " (Acts 4:12)
(Jude 1-2)

Interpretation & Application
―Jesus Saves‖ is a very familiar phrase that Christians use to describe what Jesus offers to the
unbeliever. But saved … from what? The word salvation literally means ―deliverance‖. Christians
have been delivered by God through the atoning death of Christ. But what have they been
delivered from? Simply bad choices, the consequences that naturally come from sinful living, or
something much more? While there is no question that God provides wisdom through salvation
and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit for proper living, the overarching theme of salvation is that
believes have been saved from the wrath of God that will come.

On an American troopship, the soldiers crowded
around their chaplain asking, ―Do you believe in
hell?‖ ―I do not‖, replied the chaplain. ―Well, then,
will you please resign, for if there is no hell, we do
not need you, and if there is a hell, we do not
wish to be led astray.‖

Is there Biblical Support for Universalism? We‟ll Look at that in Part 3 of this Series…

Heaven, Hell, Universalism and Rob Bell - Part 2

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Heaven, Hell, Universalism and Rob Bell - Part 2