Patristic universalism seminar 2016

Patristic Universalism Seminar
©David Burnfield Patristic Universalism

• What is Patristic Universalism?
• Presuppositions
• Biblical Support
• Purpose and Duration of Hell
• Mercy Beyond the Grave

Patristic Universalism is the belief that God desires
all men to be saved and achieves this desire through
His Son Jesus Christ.

• All will be held accountable for sin
• Salvation comes only through Christ
• God continues to evangelize after death
• Everyone will be judged after death
• The purpose of hell is remedial and not retributive
• The duration of hell is limited and not eternal
• Everyone will eventually be redeemed

How one interprets Scripture has very little to do with
one’s commitment to the Lord or reverence for His
word and everything to do with the theological
presuppositions or model one holds to.

Biblical Support

Does Freewill Prevent God From Saving All Mankind?
1 Timothy 4:10
“For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the
living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.” (NASB)
If I wrote, “All children will receive a Christmas gift, especially those who
are members of the church,” by this statement, I’m not saying that only
children who are members of the church will receive a gift; I’m saying all
children will receive a gift including church members. Likewise Paul is not
saying only believers will be saved, but that all will be saved including
those who believe.

“All” Means “All”
Psalm 22:27
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, And all
the families of the nations will worship before You. (NASB)
Here the Psalmist tells us that every nation will “remember and turn to the Lord” and
that “all nations will worship before you.” Again, interpreting this passage comes
down to how you understand the word ‘all.’ And it seems the traditional view must
deviate from the most obvious and straightforward meaning of the text (i.e. that every
nation will worship the Lord) and interpret ‘all’ as consisting only of believers.
Nobody reading this without a theological bias would conclude that “All nations”
refers only to the elect among the Gentiles.

Knee Will Bow
Isaiah 45:22-25
22Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no
other. 23“I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in
righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue
will swear allegiance. 24They will say of Me, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness
and strength.’ Men will come to Him, And all who were angry at Him will be put to
shame. 25“In the LORD all the offspring of Israel Will be justified and will glory.
(NASB)
It is clear from v. 22 that those who bow their knee and swear allegiance to God do
so willingly because God asks them to turn to him and be saved. If the bowing
were forced, God wouldn’t ask…it would be commanded.

Romans 5:18
“So then as through one transgression there resulted
condemnation to all men, even so through one act of
righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
(NASB)
Anyone without a theological predisposition to the traditional
model will understand that the major theme of this portion of
Paul’s letter is that the population of those condemned by
Adam’s sin is the same population that will be justified by
Christ’s work.

Most traditional commentators argue that Romans Chapter 5 does not teach
universalism because the population of those who are made righteous is limited to
those who have faith in Christ based on Rom 5:17 and the word “received”.
First, the Greek word translated as ‘received’ (lambano) in v. 17 can be used in an
active or passive sense (“to take” [active] or “to receive” [passive]). For example, a
number of years ago I was at a grocery store and as part of an anniversary celebration,
the store announced free servings of cake if you went to the bakery section. So I
walked to the bakery section and asked for a slice of cake. This would be an example
of lambano used in the active sense of "to take" since it required action on my part to
"receive" the cake.

But suppose you "receive" a check in the mail for $10,000 from a
rich relative you didn't know about who recently passed away.
This would be an example of lambano used in the passive sense
of "to receive" since it did not require any action on my part...the
check came to me. And just like that check received from a
wealthy relative, the justification we obtain from Christ is entirely
outside of our control.

Purpose and Duration of Hell

Purpose of Hell
• God disciplines for our good
• We all undergo discipline
• The Lord corrects those He loves
• God corrects as a Father to a son
• Affliction purifies the soul
In the Patristic Universalist model, there is a purpose to hell and that purpose is
restoration, which is a radical departure from the traditional view, which sees
hell as nothing more than a dumping ground for those who rejected Christ. The
goal of punishment is to move the sinner upwards towards God, not downwards
toward Satan.

Hebrews 12:7-10
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For
what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not
disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are
illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all
had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them
for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our
spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while
as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that
we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at
the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest
of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by
it. (NIV)

I find the traditional view to be quite ludicrous for it
requires us to accept the idea that Christ—who taught
us to forgive as many times as we’re offended—would
undermine His principles and instead of offering
forgiveness, punish us forever unmercifully.

Exodus 34:6-7
6The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God
merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and
faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but
visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children's
children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ (NRSV)

Mercy Beyond the grave

Christ’s into Hell
1 Peter 4:6
“For the gospel has for this purpose been preached
even to those who are dead, that though they are judged
in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according
to the will of God.” (NASB)

Philosophical Support Scriptural Support
• God never far, even after death
• Never heard the Gospel
• Incorrect information
• Mistreated by Clergy/Christian
• Home Hostile to Christianity
• Torture is an attribute of Satan
• 1 Chronicles 16:34
• Matthew 11:23-24
• Matthew 12:32
• Matthew 18:21-22
• Romans 8:35-39
• Christ descent into hell
▫ Isaiah 9:2
▫ Isaiah 49:9,25
▫ Ephesians 4:8-9
▫ 1 Peter 3:18-20
▫ 1 Peter 4:6

1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6 are only controversial for the
traditional view of eschatology. The majority of
church scholars “in the first four or five
centuries,” understood these two verses as
referring to Christ visiting Hades to evangelize to
those who had rejected God during their earthly
lives.

This concludes the Seminar.
May God Richly Bless you.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans
to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Patristic universalism seminar 2016

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