I concluded last week’s posting about the utter, absolute wickedness of man with the following statement: ”One would think a clear and expanding divine revelation of such personal wickedness, as defined by God Himself, would be
very discouraging, if not devastating, to me, particularly after a full life-time of ‘pursuing God. and His work.’ But, strangely enough, I am finding myself REJOICING, and literally bursting with what I am learning! Next week I’ll tell you specifically WHY I feel that way.”
So, now it’s “next week,” and here is why I am rejoicing. It is because I am just beginning to get an experiential glimpse (ginosko) of what Theology for Dummies #3, really means—3.) God Relates to Man Absolutely By Grace Alone.
I, along with all evangelical, Bible-believing Christians, believed whole-heartedly in this statement for some 50 years and saw nothing unusual or controversial about it. But did I really believe it? Only relatively recently have I realized that I did not.
Yes, I believed enthusiastically in the Reformation “alones”—salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, based on the Bible alone. However, I was blindly unaware of the overwhelming addiction that has gripped all mankind (including me!) since the Fall—an addiction, as Satan said, “to be like God!”
I am realizing that I was unconsciously compelling others, in every situation, to “decide,” to “exercise their own free-will,” to determine what is “good and evil,” “right and wrong,” for themselves. I can see now that I unconsciously believed we must be involved in determining our own salvation!.
In other words, I believed that this “salvation” is not really “by grace alone,” because I must do something—“invite Jesus into my heart,” “make a decision for Christ,” or in some way make a choice myself in order to be saved. If I must save myself by making some decision to do something, that means salvation is not by grace alone!
What if Jesus Christ has already died for the sins of the whole world at the cross, as the Bible teaches, and all human sin has already been forgiven? “Christ is the sacrifice that takes away our sins and the sins of all the world’s people” (1 John 2:2 CEV). This idea, if true, is a total realignment of our orthodox theology since Augustine, and it is the death knell to the addiction that came with eating the forbidden fruit in Adam.
The above verse is simply one of a plethora of other scriptural passages that indicate Jesus’ death “for the sins of the world” on the cross set ALL MANKIND free from eternal damnation, and not just for those who believe in Jesus in this life (1 John_4:14; John 1:29; Romans_5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; etc.). Then, when I personally believe this “good news” (gospel), I will actually experience for myself what is already true!
With this “Grace Alone” relationship with God, Hell, which is very real and just as frightening as the Bible describes it, becomes REDEMPTIVE and not PUNITIVE. It is delivered by a loving, chuckling, Abba Father, who says, ”You are sooo stubborn, but we’ll take care of that. Let’s go to the woodshed!”
So, God is no longer a God of judgment as His judgment has been completely emptied out on Jesus at the cross, where He truly died for the sins of the whole world. But God is a loving Father who faithfully disciplines ALL HIS CHILDREN.
A perfect picture of God’s “woodshed” (Hell) is a loving, earthly father delivering the “fires of Hell” to his little child with the rod. If the father will faithfully and lovingly do this, just as the Bible prescribes, his children’s rebellion will be broken, and they will be ready to be equipped to fulfill God’s eternal purpose for them.
In like manner, all of Adam’s posterity who rejected Jesus in this life, will go to Hell to be disciplined there by their loving Abba Father. There, they too will eventually “see the light” and bow their knees and confess with their mouths that, yes, Jesus Christ is indeed Lord of all (Philippians 2:10, 11). Then they are released from Hell and “welcomed with open arms” into the family of God in Heaven!
All this sends a flood of questions into the minds of interested readers. For example, what about the words “eternal” or “everlasting” that almost universally accompany the Bible’s description of Hell? These inevitable objections to this view of Hell, called Evangelical Universalism or Restitutionism, have very logical and easily understandable answers that are beyond the scope of this blog posting.
In my three-year journey that led to my reluctant, current understanding, I read almost a dozen books on this topic, both pro and con, and eventually wrote a short, 65- page book myself to provide brief, summary answers to these questions—answers that I ultimately could not deny. This book is available free of charge in pdf form here (or as a soft-cover by request for $10.00): .This would be a good place to start your investigation of this life-changing, biblical idea. It contains a bibliography of other books I found helpful, and there is a recently-published book that is particularly good on how we got to our current orthodoxy on Hell, by Mark Beeksma, that I also heartily recommend. Here is the link to my free download:
