The Doctrine of Reserve

In my research on the views held by the ancient Church Fathers on the subject of universal salvation of all (USOA), I found something I wasn't even looking for.

Before I disclose my surprise discovery, let me share three related personal experiences as a believer in, and teacher of, USOA.

1. I had a very close friend with whom I enjoyed regular fruitful discussions about the Bible and church life generally.
He would always agree that the Bible did indeed seem to teach USOA, and that he would like to believe it, but it just seemed too far of a stretch and, in any case, contradicted what his church leadership had taught over his lifetime in the church.
He always confessed that he could not fault my exegesis of the Scriptures on this matter, but was unable to dismiss his longstanding position that was formed and frequently reinforced by decades of prior teaching.

2. Interestingly, in one of the churches he belonged to, I was told that I would be welcome to become a member provided I didn't share my views on USOA with other members of the congregation.

3. For over 20 years, my circle of friends included several church ministers of various denominations. One of them confided that he would like to believe in USOA, but even if he did, he would not be able to publicly support or preach it. Why?
Firstly, he would probably lose his denominational ministry position, and consequently his livelihood.
Secondly, he believed preaching USOA could easily lead some of his congregants to careless living and even gross sinning, because they might assume there were no longer any consequences for personal sin.

All three personal experiences were examples of the outworking of my surprise discovery in the writings of ancient Church Fathers - the doctrine of Reserve.

Although I had personally seen it in action, as described above, I had no idea it was a widely practised doctrine of the Christian Church, beginning right back in the second century AD.

So what is the doctrine of Reserve?
This doctrine teaches that it is right to withhold or disguise, or even deny, any Biblical truth if there is sufficient reason for doing so.

It was thought that it was perfectly alright for Church Fathers to hold or reserve the "deeper truths" for themselves, and to consider the people not ready for them. These were professional secrets, and it was considered not wise to confuse or confound the common people.

One such deeper truth that suffered, and still suffers, under this doctrine was USOA. Many of the Church Fathers reserved their belief in the USOA for themselves, and for other "doctors of divinity", but felt that it was not safe for the multitude, and so they taught them endless torment.

USOA is thought by some to be a recently invented belief used to attract people from our "everyone gets a prize" generation.
Not so! It seems the ancient Church Fathers held this belief, even though they were careful to keep it hidden from the masses.
 
Blessings, Barry

What's Next?

Where have I been?
What have I been doing?

Very reasonable questions given my last post was in October and nothing new has appeared on the Worksite Blog or the main Website for several months also.

Apart from time spent in medical waiting rooms and attending funerals (many of my friends are dying), I have been studying topics other than those specifically relevant to this BLOG.

If you've read the Preface to "The Really Good News About God", you will know that my earliest serious Bible studies were in eschatology - until I ran into the question, "What happens to those who have never heard the good news about Jesus?"

This began a search that spanned a few decades and resulted in sermons, writings, this BLOG, and the book mentioned above being published almost ten years ago.

During my "absence" (and a bit more) I have been studying eschatology again. I have explored most of the common views, and a couple of the less common ones, and have tried to put one together for myself using the "good" bits from the others.

However I found both good and not so good points and arguments in every one of them (including my own) and have come to the conclusion that creating an end-times scenario that is Biblically supported at every point is beyond us mere creatures, and is only totally known by The Creator.

So although eschatology is of great and enduring interest to me (now spanning about sixty years), I am returning my major study efforts and writing to the extravagant grace of God and His plan for the eventual reconciliation of the whole of creation to Himself.

So there will be a few new posts here, but my major emphasis will be producing an updated version of "The Really Good News About God".

Although I don't plan to change the popular style of the present book, I do want to make it a little more robust by including (maybe as appendices) things like:
A Scripture Index to the book
A Response to common objections to the theme of the book
An historical journey through the opinions of the early church fathers regarding universal reconciliation.
A Study Guide for Bible Study groups.
 
Even though I work more slowly these days, and therefore my days fill up more quickly, and my mind does drift off to other interests (particularly eschatology), it would be good to see this new project completed and published by the tenth anniversary of the publication of the first edition.

Your comments, as always, are most welcome and appreciated, especially those that challenge opinions I express, and which cause me to "think some more".

Blessings, Barry