Salvation: Few/Many/All ?

Salvation:  Few/Many/All 

As discussed previously, within the covers of the Bible you are sure to find whatever conclusion you would care to believe concerning the final destiny of mankind.  However, through the lens of the Gospel with the eyes of a child the clouds of confusion dissipate, revealing God’s immutable intention to win us all back to active inclusion within His family.

So let us consider briefly a few of the many Biblical references to this big picture view (where all will be saved), as well as some referring to the little picture view (where few will be saved) and to everything in between (where many will be saved but many lost).

               

First a few verses that state or imply that only a FEW will be saved (on which an endless array of sermons have been preached to scare us into accepting God’s way):

• ·         “Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  (Luke 13:23-29), (Mat 7:13, 14)

• ·         It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich  to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 19:24)  … and surely anyone could be considered rich compared to an orphan on the streets of Calcutta

• ·         “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  (Mat 7:21)   …now let’s be honest, how many really consistently do the will of the Father?

Next some verses that state or imply that MANY BUT NOT ALL will be saved (on which an endless variety of schizophrenic sermons have been preached containing an incomprehensible mishmash of irreconcilable threats and promises)

• ·         those to be made alive “…each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits, then, when he comes, those who belong to him”  (1 Corinthians 15:23), but see 15:22

• ·         …if we disown him he will disown us (2 Tim 2:12)

• ·         “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose” (KJV Rom 8:28)

• ·         …will eternally separate the sheep from the goats (Mat 25:33-46)

• ·         “For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating without mercy…”  (Joshua 11:20)

• ·         I will harden Pharoh’s heart… (Ex 7:3-4, 10:1-2)

• ·         I have raised you (Pharoh) for this purpose (Ex 9:16)

• ·         (Rev 20:10) …Devil, Beast, False Prophet cast into Lake of Fire and tormented forever

• ·         If anyone not found in the Book of Life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:15)

• ·         But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. (Rev 21:8) …sounds like about everyone I know!

• ·         Slave children will not share in natural children’s inheritance (Gal 4:30)

• ·         They were not of us  (I John 2:19)

• ·         Those who believe in him will be given eternal life (1 Tim 1:16)

• ·          “Just as it is written: Jacob I loved, Esau I hated”  (Rom 9:13)

• ·         “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”  (Rom 9:21-24)

Jesus has more to say about Hell/eternal torment/gnashing of teeth, etc. etc. than any other figure in the Bible, as follows: (See blog post "Responsibility & Glory: HIS vs ours" for an enlightening discussion of one such reference.)

• ·         “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”  (Mat 7:19)

• ·         The “Foolish Virgins” are locked out of the kingdom.  (Mat 25:11-13)

• ·         The “weeds” are thrown into the fire on Judgement Day (Mat 13)

• ·         Those not “chosen” at the Wedding Banquet are “thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  (Mat 22:13,14)

• ·         The “worthless servant” without talent was “thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  (Mat 25:30)

• ·         The “goats” to eternal punishment but the righteous “sheep’ to eternal life.  (Mat 25:46)

• ·         “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”  (Luke 12:10)  … this one leaves little room for any of us to enter the Kingdom

• ·         In the story of “The Rich Man and Lazarus” the rich man is in hell with a “great chasm fixed between him and Lazarus in Paradise such that those who want to cross over cannot.”  (Luke 16:26)

• ·         At the coming of the Son of Man, “two people will be in one bed; one will be taken, the other one left.  Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”  (Luke 17:34,35)

• ·         “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.”  (Rom 5:19)  {But note the more accurate use of the word ‘all’ in Rom 5:18 listed below under the “All” category.   Since through Adam, all were made sinners, the logically intended message that follows is that in Christ, all would be made righteous.  Sadly the general consensus within the organized church is that on the one hand, while all were made sinners, on the other hand, at best many and perhaps only few will be made righteous.}

And finally, and most importantly, here’s many many verses that state or imply that ALL will be saved (on which virtually no sermons have been preached acknowledging God’s eternally active unconditional love for, and commitment to, each and every one of us):

• ·          “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head even Christ.  In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” (Eph 1:9-12)

• ·         “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”  (2 Cor 5:18-20)

• ·         “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Col 1:18-20)

• ·         God wills that all be saved (1 Tim 2:3-6), (2 Pet 3:9)

• ·         “God is Love” I John 4:8, 16)

• ·         “mercy triumphs over justice” (James 2:10)

• ·         “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”  (Luke 23:34)

• ·         “But I, when I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.”  (John 12:32)

• ·         “… every knee shall bow…” (Rom 14:11, Phil 2:10, Is 45:23)

• ·         “Our faithlessness does not nullify God’s faithfulness” (Rom 3:3-4)

• ·         “Many are the plans in a man’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”  (Prov 19:21)

• ·         “He will never leave nor forsake you” (Heb 13:5), Deut 31:6)

• ·         “For I am convinced that neither death, nor angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Rom 8:38,39 )

• ·         “Therefore it does not depend on our desire or efforts but on God’s mercy” (Rom 9:16)

• ·          “… though your mother may forget you, I will not…” (Ps 27:10), (Is 49:15)

• ·         “…though you make your bed in hell, I am there.” (Ps 139:8)

• ·         “All things work together for good for those whom God loves” JJFOX translation (Rom 8:28), see actual translation above in “many but not all” category

• ·         “The Lord Almighty has sworn, Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.”  (Isaiah 14:24)

• ·         “the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”  (Jer 18:4)

• ·         “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress.  Love here as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods…” (Hosea 3:1)

• ·         “The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces;”  (Isaiah 25:8)

• ·          “I hold the keys of Death and Hell” (Rev 1:18), what do you think Christ will do with those keys, lock them up once and for all, or set them free?

• ·         “…God will provide Himself the lamb…”  (Gen 22:8)

• ·         “her offspring shall crush your head” Gen 3:15, referring to Jesus crushing Satan

• ·         promise to Abraham that all peoples on earth will be blessed through him –given before any mention of Abraham’s faith (Gen 12:3)

• ·          “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”  (Rom 5:18)  {But see Rom 5:19 in the “Not All” listing above to see how the general interpretation of both verses have somehow come to be interpreted such that all are condemned through Adam and only many are redeemed through Christ.}

• ·         “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor 15:22), but see 15:23

• ·         “But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.”  (Rom 5:20)

• ·         handed over to Satan for his salvation (1 Tim 1:20)

• ·         “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”  (Rom 11:32)

• ·         the lamb slain from the foundation of the world who takes away the sin of all the world (1John 2:2), (John 1:29)

• ·         God is able to keep that which he has entrusted to us (2 Tim 1:12)

• ·         All creatures praise God in Heaven and Earth (Rev 5:13)

• ·          “… I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth”  (Isaiah 49:6) (Acts 13:47)

• ·          “If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off… In the same way  your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”  (Mat 18:12-14)

• ·          “He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”  (Acts 3:21)

• ·          “If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward.  If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” (1 Cor 3:14-15)

• ·         “…hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”  (1 Cor 5:5)

Ah yes, and the wonderfully enigmatic Surprise Swaps between the Chosen and the un-Chosen: (just when we think we can limit God to a two-dimensional universe where blessings flow towards those appearing to lead “good” lives and curses towards those who appear to be “bad”, God turns human reasoning on its head and proceeds to blow the self-righteous mind)

• ·         “I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.  But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  (Mat 8:11-12)

• ·         “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit”  (Mat 21:43)

• ·         …and in (Luke 13:29-30) Jesus adds… “Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

• ·         “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one”  (Rom 9:25)

• ·         I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.  I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’  ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”  (Hosea 2:23)