I AM A CONVINCED UNIVERSALIST
by William Barclay
Professor of Divinity and Biblical
Criticism at Glasgow University and the author of many Biblical
commentaries and books, including a translation of the New Testament,
"Barclay New Testament," and "The Daily Study Bible Series."
I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the
end all men will be gathered into the love of God. In the early days
Origen was the great name connected with universalism. I would believe
with Origen that universalism is no easy thing. Origen believed that
after
death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest
discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the
presence of God. Origen did not eliminate hell; he believed that some
people would have to go to heaven via hell. He believed that even at the
end of the day there would be some on whom the scars remained. He did
not
believe in eternal punishment, but he did see the possibility of
eternal penalty. And so the choice is whether we accept God's
offer
and invitation willingly, or take the long and terrible way round
through
ages of purification.
Gregory of Nyssa offered three reasons why he
believed
in universalism. First, he believed in it because of the character of
God. "Being good, God entertains pity for fallen man; being wise,
he is not ignorant of the means for his recovery." Second, he
believed in it because of the nature of evil. Evil must in the
end
be moved out of existence, "so that the absolutely non-existent
should cease to be at all." Evil is essentially negative and doomed
to non-existence. Third, he believed in it because of the purpose of
punishment. The purpose of punishment is always remedial. Its aim is
"to get the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the
communion of blessedness." Punishment will hurt, but it is like the
fire which separates the alloy from the gold; it is like the surgery
which
removes the diseased thing; it is like the cautery which burns out that
which cannot be removed any other way.
But I want to set down not the arguments of
others but
the thoughts which have persuaded me personally of universal salvation.
First, there is the fact that there are things in
the
New Testament which more than justify this belief. Jesus said: "I,
when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to
myself" (John 12:32). Paul writes to the Romans: "God has
consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy on
all" (Rom. 11:32). He writes to the Corinthians: "As in
Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive" (1 Cor. 15:22); and he looks to the final total triumph when
God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:28). In the First Letter
to
Timothy we read of God "who desires all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth," and of Christ Jesus "who
gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:4-6). The New
Testament itself is not in the least afraid of the word all.
Second, one of the key passages is Matthew 25:46
where
it is said that the rejected go away to eternal punishment, and
the
righteous to eternal life. The Greek word for punishment is
kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It
originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. I think
it
is true to say that in all Greek secular literature kolasis is
never used of anything but remedial punishment. The word for eternal is
aionios. It means more than everlasting, for Plato - who may have
invented the word - plainly says that a thing may be everlasting and
still
not be aionios. The simplest way to out it is that aionios
cannot be used properly of anyone but God; it is the word uniquely, as
Plato saw it, of God. Eternal punishment is then literally that kind of
remedial punishment which it befits God to give and which only God can
give.
Third, I believe that it is impossible to set
limits to
the grace of God. I believe that not only in this world, but in any
other
world there may be, the grace of God is still effective, still
operative,
still at work. I do not believe that the operation of the grace of God
is
limited to this world. I believe that the grace of God is as wide as the
universe.
Fourth, I believe implicitly in the ultimate and
complete triumph of God, the time when all things will be subject to
him,
and when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:24-28). For me
this
has certain consequences. If one man remains outside the love of God at
the end of time, it means that that one man has defeated the love of God
-
and that is impossible. Further, there is only one way in which we can
think of the triumph of God. If God was no more than a King or Judge,
then
it would be possible to speak of his triumph, if his enemies were
agonizing in hell or were totally and completely obliterated and wiped
out. But God is not only King and Judge, God is Father - he is
indeed Father more than anything else. No father could be happy while
there were members of his family for ever in agony. No father would
count
it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family. The
only
triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only
victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by
the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved
by
and in love with God.
[Quoted from William Barclay: A Spiritual
Autobiography, pg
65-67, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids,
1977.]
