LOVE "NEVER" FAILS!

 

LOVE (((((“NEVER”))))) FAILS

1 Corinthians 13 (AMPLIFIED BIBLE)

Date: A.D. 56

Chapter 13

IF I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).

3 Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or [in order that I may glory], but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.

[Understand, Paul here is speaking of things that would look and sound very spiritual, devout and religious. If one could do all this they would probably even be thought to be a preacher… Although he says without LOVE it is NOTHING. The word for love he uses here is the God kind of Love “Agape” The kind of Love that would give anything so that he would not have to condemn anyone for their sin. Like even giving His Son to portray this love. As it is the same word used in Jhn 3:16 in a different form.]

4Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious,[extremely proud in a way that other people dislike or think is stupid - Encarta] does not display itself haughtily.

5 It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong].

6 It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

7 Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening].

8 Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]. As for prophecy (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away [it will lose its value and be superseded by truth].

9 For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).

10 But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).

11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

12 For now [At that present time] we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].

13 And so faith, hope, love abide [faith—conviction and belief respecting man’s relation to God and divine things; hope—joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation;love—true affection for God and man, growing out of God’s love for and in us (all)], these three; but the greatest of these is love.

When Paul was writing 1 Corinthians Paul was giving them the 1st and most important “essentials” of the Gospel which was Faith, Hope, and Love, this he knew to be the first and most important characteristics of the knowledge of God that they would need to learn before progressing to the next level of the revelation of God. Furthermore, Paul knew they must grow up as a learning process in the revelation of the gospel (Good News) before giving them further and deeper understanding  to “fill in” the “incomplete, fragmentary” revelation he wrote about when writing 1 Corinthians. He spoke of their level of understanding earlier in the letter.

1 Corinthians 3:1–2 (NKJV)

3 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;

It is hard for the fleshly, carnal, immature mind to comprehend the magnitude of God’s mercy and love to the extent of saving all mankind. In my own growing process one of the hardest things for me to swallow was that God really loved people that appalled  me. This is naturally how the immature, fleshly,  judgmental, pharisaical, legal mind works. It does not understand and cannot comprehend true love and grace. This is why Paul expounds on Love above all else in this book. Because if you don’t have love as the foundation of your understanding of God; you do not have the true God in mind. Your just putting on a show and making noise as Paul elaborates on above in 1Cor 13:1-3

Jesus told the disciples one time that they were not ready to hear some of the things he could tell them - John 16:12. Paul later as the church was able, begins to share some of that further revelation as the church was ready for it; bringing about a more complete, A greater revelation for a more mature understanding of the Good News which will come to everyone as the church matures. 

I could compound scripture upon scripture into the hundreds expounding the salvation of all; but lets look at just a few that should be clear enough for my point here in this article. Here is one place in the letter to the Colossians 1:25–28

Date: About A.D. 61 (Written 6 years later)

(Gods Word Version)

25 I became a servant of the church when God gave me the work of telling you his entire message.

(EMPHASIZED BIBLE)

²⁶ The sacred secret which had been hidden away from the ages and from the generations､

But now hath been made manifest unto his saints— ²⁷ Unto whom God hath been pleased to make known what is the glorious′ wealth of this sacred secret among the nations, Which is Christ in you [The Nations]､ the hope of the glory,—

²⁸ Whom we are declaring,

Admonishing EVERY ′ man､

And teaching EVERY ′ man､ in ALL′ wisdom,

In order that we may present EVERY′ man complete [MATURE] in Christ;

[PRESENT] Louw Nida 37.111 παραδίδωμι^b; παρίστημι: to deliver a person into the control of someone else

[EVERY] Strongs Gk 3956. πάς pás; ALL; Louw Nida 59.23 πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν; ἅπας, ασα, αν (alternative form of πᾶς): the totality of any object, mass, collective, or extension—‘all, every, each, whole

In other words Paul was teaching the church with a view toward  “the whole of mankind being delivered into the hands of the savior Jesus Christ” when God will be “All in All”  as he says later in the letter.

1 Corinthians 15:28 (NKJV)

²⁸ Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.

And in a letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:23 (NKJV)

²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Also further on in the letter he wrote the Church giving further revelation to the Ephesians on the same subject. Here in Ephesians 3:2–6 

Date: A.D. 60, 61

(Gods Word Version)

 ² Certainly, you have heard how God gave me the responsibility of bringing his kindness [grace] to you. ³ You have heard that he let me know this mystery [Divine Secret] through a revelation. I’ve already written to you about this briefly. ⁴ When you read this, you’ll see that I understand the mystery about Christ. ⁵ In the past, this mystery was not known by people as it is now. The Spirit has now revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets. ⁶This mystery is the Good News that people who are not Jewish [All other Nations and families] have the same inheritance as Jewish people do. They belong to the same body and share the same promise that God made in Christ Jesus.

Paul’s first teaching to the Corinthians was of true faith and hope in the love of God working in and through us to all people. This further developed into the revelation of the Divine Secret that had been hidden from all mankind throughout the ages had now come to full maturity in revealing God’s Divine Secret plan to save all mankind through Jesus Christ.  Another way of putting it is he was given this revelation of the mystery or secret plan of God which is the Victorious Gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ to all the nations and families of the earth . He had been given the stewardship, administration, and responsibility of sharing this with the Gentiles which simply means all the nations and families of the earth. (other than Jews) Gen 12:3; 18:18; 28:14

Later He would write to a young pastor to whom he had become mentor in about AD 64

1 Timothy 2:3–7 (NKJV)

 ³ For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men [mankind], the Man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, ⁷ for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying— a teacher of the Gentiles [all nations] in faith and truth.

1 Timothy 4:10–11 (NKJV)

¹⁰ For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. ¹¹ These things command and teach.

“Especially of those who believe” means “ Savior of both groups, all men and believers; group 1 is inclusive of group 2. Although believers have a special relationship with God. Paul uses this same word in this same book in 1Tim 5:17 in an inclusive manner not an exclusive manner. Read it and you will see what I mean.

1 Timothy 5:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

So you see it isn’t just the ones whose work is preaching and teaching that are worthy of double honor; they are “included” in the giving of double honor to the group of others mentioned before. The underlying Greek word used here is use in this same inclusive sense 11 times in the New Testament by Paul and 1 time by Peter and it is only used 13 times in the whole N.T.

Ac 25:26;  Ac 26:3; 1Co 14:1; 2Co 10:13; Gal 6:10; Php 4:22; 1Ti 5:8; 1Ti 5:17; 2Ti 4:13; Tt 1:10; Phm 16; 2Pe 2:10; Luke 19:42    

[I have a video Part 1 and 2 “   Pt.1 Especially Believers 1Tim 4:10” on this very topic. Just click on the title to go to it]       

As Paul’s teaching developed it became increasingly clear; when he spoke of “in Christ” or God’s Gift of Salvation or Grace and forgiveness and Reconciliation of mankind, he meant all mankind.

This was not hidden even at the first to those, as the Lord would put it “had ears to hear” or should I say were given ears to hear; for this also is a gift. At the beginning of the record of the purpose, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ An angel gave an announcement that summarized the coming Good News of the New Covenant God would institute through Jesus Christ. It is recorded in Luke’ Gospel.

Luke 2:10-11 (KJV 1900)

¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11. For unto you [all people] is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

First of all in the first announcement of the Good News the angel said “FEAR NOT” one translation says “Put away all fear” (Weymouth New Testament) The Gospel should not be the fear inducing proclamation of “turn or burn” we hear in the majority of the churches today.

Here are just a few more verses of scripture, (there are hundreds) to show the bibles clear teaching of Universal Salvation clearly showing why the early church believed and taught it. They knew that Love does win in the end!

2 Samuel 14:14

For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.

Isaiah 65:1

“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ To a nation that was not called by My name.

Psalm 22:27

All the ends of the world Shall remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations Shall worship before You.

Isaiah 25:8

He will swallow up death forever, And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 45:23

I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.

John 3:17 (NIV)

¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 12:32 (NIV)

³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

John 12:47 (NIV)

⁴⁷ “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

Acts 3:21

whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. (“things” was added by the translators and is not in the original manuscripts)

Romans 5:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.

Ephesians 1:10

that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.

I will stop there. I could go on and on; but this should be sufficient to show my case.

Now hang on to your hat, get a wet wash cloth, or sit down. I am about to shock you with a statement that is well documented and well known by those who have seriously studied church history. FOR THE FIRST 500 YEARS UNIVERSAL SALVATION WAS THE BELIEF OF THE GREAT MAJORITY OF THE CHURCH!!!

Here are 12 of 31 conclusions at the end of the book on church history By J.W. Hanson, D.D (I will post the others at the end of the article) Here is the title of the book.

Universalism
The
Prevailing Doctrine

Of The
Christian Church
During Its First
Five Hundred Years

(and showing the influence of Greek Mythology
and pagan philisophy on Christian Doctrine)

With Authorities and Extracts
By J.W. HANSON, D. D.

—I Corinthians xv. 28

Boston and Chicago
Universalist Publishing House
1899

Here are the first 12 of 31 conclusions.

XXIII.
Summary of Conclusions.

A few of the many points established in the foregoing pages may here be named:

(1) During the First Century the primitive Christians did not dwell on matters of eschatology, but devoted their attention to apologetics; they were chiefly anxious to establish the fact of Christ’s advent, and of its blessings to the world. Possibly the question of destiny was an open one, till Paganism and Judaism introduced erroneous ideas, when the New Testament doctrine of the apokatastasis was asserted, and universal restoration became an accepted belief, as stated later by Clement and Origen, A.D. 180-230.

(2) The Catacombs give us the views of the unlearned, as Clement and Origen state the doctrine of scholars and teachers. Not a syllable is found hinting at the horrors of Augustinianism, but the inscription on every monument harmonizes with the Universalism of the early fathers.

(3) Clement declares that all punishment, however severe, is purificatory; that even the “torments of the damned” are curative. Origen explains even Gehenna as signifying limited and curative punishment, and both, as all the other ancient Universalists, declare that “everlasting” (aionion) punishment, is consonant with universal salvation. So that it is no proof that other primitive Christians who are less explicit as to the final result, taught endless punishment when they employ the same terms.

(4) Like our Lord and his Apostles, the primitive Christians avoided the words with which the Pagans and Jews defined endless punishment aidios or adialeipton timoria (endless torment), a doctrine the latter believed, and knew how to describe; but they, the early Christians, called punishment, as did our Lord, kolasis aionios, discipline, chastisement, of indefinite, limited duration.

(5) The early Christians taught that Christ preached the Gospel to the dead, and for that purpose descended into Hades. Many held that he released all who were in ward. This shows that repentance beyond the grave, perpetual probation, was then accepted, which precludes the modern error that the soul’s destiny is decided at death.

(6) Prayers for the dead were universal in the early church, which would be absurd, if their condition is unalterably fixed at the grave.

(7) The idea that false threats were necessary to keep the common people in check, and that the truth might be held esoterically, prevailed among the earlier Christians, so that there can be no doubt that many who seem to teach endless punishment, really held the broader views, as we know the most did, and preached terrors pedagogically.

(8) The first comparatively complete systematic statement of Christian doctrine ever given to the world was by Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 180, and universal salvation was one of the tenets.

(9) The first complete presentation of Christianity as a system was by Origen (A.D. 220) and universal salvation was explicitly contained in it.

(10) Universal salvation was the prevailing doctrine in Christendom as long as Greek, the language of the New Testament, was the language of Christendom.

(11) Universalism was generally believed in the best centuries, the first three, when Christians were most remarkable for simplicity, goodness and missionary zeal.

(12) Universalism was least known when Greek, the language of the New Testament was least known, and when Latin was the language of the Church in its darkest, most ignorant, and corrupt ages.

You can read the whole book at Tentmaker.org here at this link below. I believe you can also still purchase the book from them.

http://www.tentmaker.org/books/Prevailing.html#304

As was said above when Latin was the language of the Church it was in its darkest, most ignorant, and corrupt ages. This was largely because of the lack of education and ignorance of the people. This was when the Church was plunged into the centuries of the dark ages. Then the protestant movement emerged and there was a new type of message with a new style of sharing it. I believe these early preachers meant well but they only added a little more grace to the hell fire and brimstone message that the Church had come out of. Furthermore by reading some of their sermons they were heavy on the hell. You see they found early on that this was a very effective way to convince people to “turn or burn”. Whether they really turned or not is uncertain but out of “fear” they at least bought the ticket out of hell by whatever means, form, or formula the preacher was proposing at the time.

This type of evangelical preaching had its beginning in the 1700s with one of the most remembered and oddly revered sermons ever given by a man by the name of Jonathan Edwards, titled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”

Here is an excerpt from it.

‎”The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
‎‎O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.”

‎In the 1730s Edwards began to notice some startling developments in his congregation. As he read his sermons in his undemonstrative style, parishioners were affected by phenomena such as loud cries, convulsions and fainting spells.

It was in 1741 he delivered his most famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God—perhaps the most famous sermon in American religious history

“The Father of Revivalism”

Charles Finney

A lawyer in Adams, New York, grew disturbed about his soul. Experienced a dramatic conversion.  The next day, Charles Finney resigned from the bar to preach the gospel, saying he was now on retainer for Jesus Christ.

His tall frame, riveting eyes, shaggy brows, beaklike nose, and powerful voice brought many to Christ. His preaching reflected a legal mind for he presented the case for Christ as if convincing a jury. And he was dramatic. Audiences seemed to smell smoke whenever he spoke of hell, as he frequently did.

The highlight of Finney’s career occurred on March 9, 1831, when he successfully concluded a six-month series of meetings at the Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York. The city was dramatically transformed by his preaching.  The Rochester meetings have been called “the world’s greatest single revival campaign,” and 1831 is known as the greatest year of spiritual awakening in American history.

According to some estimates, a half million were converted during his lifetime. His innovative methods (like asking seekers to come forward) paved the way for later evangelists like D. L. Moody, Billy Sunday, and Billy Graham.

A rigid Calvinism dominated the theological landscape, but Finney urged his listeners to accept Christ openly and publicly.. He set about to make his message less pleasing and more productive. At the end of his sermon, which stressed the need for conversion, he took a bold step: “You who have made up your minds to become Christians, and will give your pledge to make your peace with God immediately, should rise up.”

The entire congregation, having never heard such a challenge, remained in their seats.

“You have taken your stand,” he said. “You have rejected Christ and his gospel.” The congregation was dismissed, and many left angry……

The next night Finney gave no invitation after a fiery sermon which then angered many. So after another Hell fire and brimstone sermon on the next night he gave another invitation……But that night, Finney again offered congregants a chance to publicly declare their faith. The church erupted—dozens stood up to give their pledge, while others fell down, groaned, and bellowed.

Traditional Calvinists taught that a person would only come to believe the gospel if God had elected them to salvation. Finney stated that unbelief was a “will not,” instead of a “cannot,” and could be remedied if a person willed to become a Christian.

‎Across the board, many thought that his habitual use of the words you and hell “let down the dignity of the pulpit.”

Such rigid Calvinism, he said, “had not been born again, was insufficient, and altogether an abomination to God.”

During this time, Finney developed what came to be known as “New Measures.” He allowed women to pray in mixed public meetings. He adopted the Methodists’ “anxious bench”: he put a pew at the front of the church, where those who felt a special urgency about their salvation could sit.

So now you know where much of the style and mode what you see and hear on Sunday morning in many churches across America and around the world today had it’s beginnings.

But as was stated above this was not the intent of the “GOOD NEWS” The angel that came that night of our saviors birth announced a message of “GOOD NEWS” for “ALL PEOPLE” while encouraging them to “FEAR NOT”. But preachers like Edwards and Finney found that imposing FEAR on an unlearned and superstitious audience was quite productive. That being the case this tactic and style was adopted by many of what they would call very successful preachers to follow to this day.

“THE AGE OF INFORMATION”

Now here we are in “the age of information” with the development of digital age we have at our finger tips more information and knowledge than could possibly have been imagined in any prior generation. With the creations of CDs, DVDs, and MP3s we have a virtual library at our disposal at any time we would want to use it. We can listen to books in our home, our cars, or even walking or jogging. We can take all kinds of courses and classes via these medias. The most useful and fastest means of all of course is “The Information Freeway” the internet. Today people can look up answers to any type of question imaginable from cooking to appendectomies, and from biblical Law to Grace, or Heaven to Hell. And the history of it all. Its all right there within seconds! even on a little gadget we carry in our pocket we sometimes use as a phone….

So what’s my point?  In short, “The gig is up.” “The news is out” and might I add quite easily accessible to anybody anywhere that may care to do a little reading, researching, and thinking. There was a time when I myself as a child would get the hell scared out of me at church by a staring or shouting preacher. Now that I know what I know and know that I know (Smile) I would think they are quite humorous to watch if it was not for thinking there may be some uninformed people out there that will take them seriously and be lead into a miserable state of mind going home with much less peace than they had when they came to church to get peace. My heart truly goes out to them. As a matter of fact I have made it my purpose in life to do all I can to help them. This is not right folks. The Gospel is supposed to be “GOOD NEWS” to “ALL”, A message that brings rejoicing and Praise to God for His Gifts to Mankind. There is no reason any seeking heart has to be tormented by such a hideous pagan doctrine any longer. And many are catching on through the use of these digital tools I mentioned above. Also through the new mindset of people today knowing that they don’t have to believe everything someone tells them just because of their title or the letters after their name. I am not downgrading education I am building it up by saying we all should take advantage of its accessibility today. I am saying now even the more common folks have much greater knowledge accessible that generations before us did not have. Not nearly as simply and quickly anyway. We can learn more on Google’s search engine (or others) just typing in words and questions with our PC, tablet or even on our smart phone in a couple hours than we could have in the past going to the library every day for a couple of weeks!

People are getting smarter faster and thinking more for themselves today because of this technology.  And I thank God for it. There was a time when one man could hold sway over a whole community by the things that he told them. Because they didn’t know any better and had no way of knowing any better. Those days are over. We have greatly advanced in our knowledge of every area of science and medicine; building techniques and materials; the universe and solar systems. We drive cars that it takes a computer technician to work on that are the finest automobiles this world has ever seen. Our appliances in our homes are smarter, faster, cleaner, just look at the microwave oven by itself how it has changed our lives. So, WHY DO WE NOT THINK WE MIGHT HAVE GROWN IN OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD AND THE SCRIPTURES! Of course we have and will continue to grow in our knowledge of our creator, Father, and Savior of ALL praise God. Why? because there is no end to Him or deeper and deeper understanding of His Plan, Purpose, Character, Works past, present, and future. There is no end to how much we can learn about an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, GOD who by the way also says He IS LOVE, not loves, but “IS LOVE” itself. Furthermore an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, GOD Who is LOVE Cannot lose – ANYTHING! Especially those He loves and the bible is plain about that; He love us ALL – “ For God so Loved the World” People are beginning to see though thinking for themselves how illogical it is to teach that an an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, GOD is in some kind of a war with the enemy and might lose…. or be unable to carry out his good intentions he had for mankind at the first because of something we do…. As if “we” are really in control – this would be like you letting your 10 year old take over driving the car because he decided he did not want to go the way you were going, so because you want to be fair and not interfere with his will, you get out and give him the keys! If that were the case these attributes I mentioned above could not be true and the whole thing is a lie and God does not exist. I can understand why there are atheist; they take one look at these traditional Church teachings and say ‘”that’s illogical and cannot be true’” and they would be right if traditional Church teaching was all there was. However, there is more much more to learn about God than what has been traditionally known. We will never get done learning about GOD and His ways, Plans, and Purposes especially in the age of information we live in today and even greater tomorrow.

I want to end with a passage in Isaiah Chapter 52:13 – 53:11 which condenses The Saviors life, death work and purpose.

Isaiah 52:13 (GNB)

13 The Lord says,

“My servant will succeed in his task;

he will be highly honored.

The LORD starts out by saying that The Savior WILL BE SUCCESSFUL in his task! and end up being HIGHLY HONORED!

Isaiah 52:14 (The Message)

But he didn’t begin that way.

At first everyone was appalled.

He didn’t even look human—

a ruined face, disfigured past recognition.

And as in the physical, so it has been in the spiritual. The message about Jesus Christ – the gospel – of Jesus preaching and teaching hell fire and eternal torment was appalling beyond what any human could perceive or would do to another. Hence, it ruined the way we saw him to the point of being beyond recognition of who he really was and disfigured the gospel past recognition. But hang on, listen to the next glorious verses!

Isaiah 52:15.A (The Message)

Nations all over the world will be in awe, taken aback,

kings SHOCKED into silence when they see him. [Really see him as he is, not disfigured and ruined by horrific doctrines]

Isaiah 52:15.B (NIV)

For WHAT THEY WERE NOT TOLD, they will see,

and WHAT THEY HAVE NOT HEARD, they will understand.

Here is this verse in the NCV

Isaiah 52:15 (NCV)

¹⁵ But now he will surprise many nations.

Kings will be amazed and shut their mouths.

They will see things they had not been told about him,

and they will understand things they had not heard.”

Isaiah 53:1 (The Message)

¹ 53 Who believes what we’ve heard and seen?

Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?

And in the GNB

Isaiah 53:1 (GNB)

53 The people reply,

“Who would have believed what we now report?

Who could have seen the Lord’s hand in this?

Then the passage tells of the Lords suffering, crucifixion, death and resurrection in verses 2-10. Then in verses 10-11 we hearthis magnificent, victorious declaration!

Isaiah 53:10b–11a (GNB)

10 and through him MY PURPOSE WILL SUCCEED.

¹¹ After a life of suffering, he will again have joy;

he will know that HE DID NOT SUFFER IN VAIN.

Rememeber, this passage started out with the LORD foretelling in Isa 52:13

“My servant will succeed in his task;

he will be highly honored

YES! The LORD ALWAYS  SUCCEEDS in his purposes! There will be NOT 1 LOST ! As the Lord foretold in the parable of the lost sheep Lk 15:4-7 Lest the LORD could be accused of failure.

YES! LOVE WINS!

Pastor Dennis

Addendum:

I can’t help but include what New Testament verses came to mind as I read these verses.

Isaiah 52:13 (CEV)

The Suffering Servant

¹³ The Lord says:

My servant will succeed!

He will be given great praise

and the highest honors.

Philippians 2:8–11 (NKJV)

⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. ⁹ Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

And also:

Isaiah 53:11 (The Message)

Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,

will make many “righteous ones,”

Romans 5:18–19 (NIV)

¹⁸ Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Note: I appreciate the NIV showing as it is in the manuscripts the definite article “The” here before “Many” made righteous” showing the subject is the same “the many’” that were made sinners” – ALL OF US. Many translations chose not to include this even thought it is in the original. To me, it is clear to see why they left it out.

And as I promised here is the complete list of 31 conclusions in the last chapter of J.W. Hanson’s Book

“Universalism:The Prevailing Doctrine Of The Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years”

XXIII.

Summary of Conclusions.

A few of the many points established in the foregoing pages may here be named:

(1) During the First Century the primitive Christians did not dwell on matters of eschatology, but devoted their attention to apologetics; they were chiefly anxious to establish the fact of Christ’s advent, and of its blessings to the world. Possibly the question of destiny was an open one, till Paganism and Judaism introduced erroneous ideas, when the New Testament doctrine of the apokatastasis was asserted, and universal restoration became an accepted belief, as stated later by Clement and Origen, A.D. 180-230.

(2) The Catacombs give us the views of the unlearned, as Clement and Origen state the doctrine of scholars and teachers. Not a syllable is found hinting at the horrors of Augustinianism, but the inscription on every monument harmonizes with the Universalism of the early fathers.

(3) Clement declares that all punishment, however severe, is purificatory; that even the “torments of the damned” are curative. Origen explains even Gehenna as signifying limited and curative punishment, and both, as all the other ancient Universalists, declare that “everlasting” (aionion) punishment, is consonant with universal salvation. So that it is no proof that other primitive Christians who are less explicit as to the final result, taught endless punishment when they employ the same terms.

(4) Like our Lord and his Apostles, the primitive Christians avoided the words with which the Pagans and Jews defined endless punishment aidios or adialeipton timoria (endless torment), a doctrine the latter believed, and knew how to describe; but they, the early Christians, called punishment, as did our Lord, kolasis aionios, discipline, chastisement, of indefinite, limited duration.

(5) The early Christians taught that Christ preached the Gospel to the dead, and for that purpose descended into Hades. Many held that he released all who were in ward. This shows that repentance beyond the grave, perpetual probation, was then accepted, which precludes the modern error that the soul’s destiny is decided at death.

(6) Prayers for the dead were universal in the early church, which would be absurd, if their condition is unalterably fixed at the grave.

(7) The idea that false threats were necessary to keep the common people in check, and that the truth might be held esoterically, prevailed among the earlier Christians, so that there can be no doubt that many who seem to teach endless punishment, really held the broader views, as we know the most did, and preached terrors pedagogically.

(8) The first comparatively complete systematic statement of Christian doctrine ever given to the world was by Clement of Alexandria, A.D. 180, and universal salvation was one of the tenets.

(9) The first complete presentation of Christianity as a system was by Origen (A.D. 220) and universal salvation was explicitly contained in it.

(10) Universal salvation was the prevailing doctrine in Christendom as long as Greek, the language of the New Testament, was the language of Christendom.

(11) Universalism was generally believed in the best centuries, the first three, when Christians were most remarkable for simplicity, goodness and missionary zeal.

(12) Universalism was least known when Greek, the language of the New Testament was least known, and when Latin was the language of the Church in its darkest, most ignorant, and corrupt ages.

(13) Not a writer among those who describe the heresies of the first three hundred years intimates that Universalism was then a heresy, though it was believed by many, if not by a majority, and certainly by the greatest of the fathers.

(14) Not a single creed for five hundred years expresses any idea contrary to universal restoration, or in favor of endless punishment.

(15) With the exception of the arguments of Augustine (A.D. 420), there is not an argument known to have been framed against Universalism for at least four hundred years after Christ, by any of the ancient fathers.

(16) While the councils that assembled in various parts of Christendom, anathematized every kind of doctrine supposed to be heretical, no ecumenical council, for more than five hundred years, condemned Universalism, though it had been advocated in every century by the principal scholars and most revered saints.

(17) As late as A.D. 400, Jerome says “most people” (plerique) and Augustine “very many” (quam plurimi), believed in Universalism, notwithstanding that the tremendous influence of Augustine, and the mighty power of the semi-pagan secular arm were arrayed against it.

(18) The principal ancient Universalists were Christian born and reared, and were among the most scholarly and saintly of all the ancient saints.

(19) The most celebrated of the earlier advocates of endless punishment were heathen born, and led corrupt lives in their youth. Tertullian one of the first, and Augustine, the greatest of them, confess to having been among the vilest.

(20) The first advocates of endless punishment, Minucius Felix, Tertullian and Augustine, were Latins, ignorant of Greek, and less competent to interpret the meaning of Greek Scriptures than were the Greek scholars.

(21) The first advocates of Universalism, after the Apostles, were Greeks, in whose mother-tongue the New Testament was written. They found their Universalism in the Greek Bible. Who should be correct, they or the Latins?

(22) The Greek Fathers announced the great truth of universal restoration in an age of darkness, sin and corruption. There was nothing to suggest it to them in the world’s literature or religion. It was wholly contrary to everything around them. Where else could they have found it, but where they say they did, in the Gospel?

(23) All ecclesiastical historians and the best Biblical critics and scholars agree to the prevalence of Universalism in the earlier centuries.

(24) From the days of Clement of Alexandria to those of Gregory of Nyssa and Theodore of Mopsuestia (A.D. 180-428), the great theologians and teachers, almost without exception, were Universalists. No equal number in the same centuries were comparable to them for learning and goodness.

(25) The first theological school in Christendom, that in Alexandria, taught Universalism for more than two hundred years.

(26) In all Christendom, from A.D. 170 to 430, there were six Christian schools. Of these four, the only strictly theological schools, taught Universalism, and but one endless punishment.

(27) The three earliest Gnostic sects, the Basilidians, the Carpocratians and the Valentinians (A.D. 117-132) are condemned by Christian writers, and their heresies pointed out, but though they taught Universalism, that doctrine is never condemned by those who oppose them. Irenaeus condemned the errors of the Carpocratians, but does not reprehend their Universalism, though he ascribes the doctrine to them.

(28) The first defense of Christianity against Infidelity (Origen against Celsus) puts the defense on Universalistic grounds. Celsus charged the Christians’ God with cruelty, because he punished with fire. Origen replied that God’s fire is curative; that he is a “Consuming Fire,” because he consumes sin and not the sinner.

(29) Origen, the chief representative of Universalism in the ancient centuries, was bitterly opposed and condemned for various heresies by ignorant and cruel fanatics. He was accused of opposing Episcopacy, believing in pre-existence, etc., but never was condemned for his Universalism. The very council that anathematized “Origenism” eulogized Gregory of Nyssa, who was explicitly a Universalist as was Origen. Lists of his errors are given by Methodius, Pamphilus and Eusebius, Marcellus, Eustathius and Jerome, but Universalism is not named by one of his opponents. Fancy a list of Ballou’s errors and his Universalism omitted; Hippolytus (A.D. 320) names thirty-two known heresies, but Universalism is not mentioned as among them. Epiphanius, “the hammer of heretics,” describes eighty heresies, but he does not mention universal salvation, though Gregory of Nyssa, an outspoken Universalist, was, at the time he wrote, the most conspicuous figure in Christendom.

(30) Justinian, a half-pagan emperor, who attempted to have Universalism officially condemned, lived in the most corrupt epoch of the Christian centuries. He closed the theological schools, and demanded the condemnation of Universalism by law; but the doctrine was so prevalent in the church that the council refused to obey his edict to suppress it. Lecky says the age of Justinian was “the worst form civilization has assumed.”

(31) The first clear and definite statement of human destiny by any Christian writer after the days of the Apostles, includes universal restoration, and that doctrine was advocated by most of the greatest and best of the Christian Fathers for the first five hundred years of the Christian Era.

In one word, a careful study of the early history of the Christian religion, will show that the doctrine of universal restoration was least prevalent in the darkest, and prevailed most in the most enlightened, of the earliest centuries — that it was the prevailing doctrine in the Primitive Christian Church.

 Peace,

Pastor Dennis