This is the third in a mini-series of posts responding to the arguments offered by Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Dr Arnold) against God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation.
His arguments against Universal Reconciliation (UR) are offered under five headings, the first of which is a. The Scriptures Used. (see a previous post "Opposition to Universal Reconciliation" here)
Under the a. The Scriptures Used heading Dr Arnold quotes five (carefully chosen) texts that he claims teachers use to prove the truth of a second probation, as Dr Arnold calls it.
He says, Basically they point to five passages of Scripture ... The third passage is Colossians 1 : 20, which states that God will reconcile all things unto himself, both in the earth and in the heavens.
and through him (Christ) to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
[Colossians 1 : 20 NIV]
Dr Arnold's objection is that in this verse reconciliation does not mean all are saved. In fact, the very term "reconciliation" only means that all are savable. They still must believe and if they die without believing there is no further opportunity.
There are three parts to this objection - the meaning of reconciliation, the need to believe and no after-death opportunities.
Firstly, the meaning of reconciliation.
I can't find any dictionary that offers a definition of reconciliation as making people savable.
My Oxford dictionary offers five meanings for the verb "reconcile":
1. Make friendly after estrangement (between people)
2. Purify (a consecrated place after desecration)
3. Make acquiescent or contentedly submissive
4. Heal, settle (a quarrel)
5. Harmonize, make compatible
To me, people who have been reconciled to God have had their relationship to God saved (to get the word "saved" into the discussion), even if they aren't aware of it during their life on this planet in their earth-suit.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
[2 Cor 5 : 19 NIV]
because
(God) desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
For there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind,
Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself a ransom for all.
[1 Timothy 2 : 4 - 6 NIV]
Why would God bother to reconcile the world to Himself, inflicting such humiliation and suffering on His Son, if He didn't plan to save us all?
Making a distinction between reconciliation and salvation seems quite a stretch for me.
In any case, Paul speaks specifically of the joint ministry of Jesus' death and resurrection in his letter to the Romans - we are reconciled to God by Jesus' death and saved through his life.
For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life.
[Romans 5 : 10 NIV]
Secondly, the need to believe.
God is surely the Saviour of the whole world, including current unbelievers.
That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
[1 Timothy 4: 10 NIV]
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.
[Titus 2 : 11 ESV]
And Christ himself is the means by which our sins are forgiven, and not our sins only, but also the sins of everyone.
[1 John 2 : 2 GNB]
So do people need to believe in order to be saved?
No, not at all.
God has already taken care of our salvation 2000 years ago without any input from us.
So what's this thing about believing?
You can only believe in something that already exists. (If you believe in things that don't exist you are a strange person indeed.)
God chooses to give faith to some so they can appreciate, experience and enjoy the salvation that Jesus has already won for them - as well as become His messengers of reconciliation.
These are the "especially" people mentioned in 1 Timothy 4 : 10 above.
Those not given faith while in their earth-suits, whose salvation has also been won, will need to wait until the Great White Throne judgement to appreciate what Jesus has done for them.
Salvation is our joy right now as God gives faith to those He has chosen to be the advance party (the Body of Christ), and will be the joy of those not in the Book of Life who will see Jesus and come to the knowledge of the truth at the Great White Throne.
So 'yes' we do need to believe, but not so that we will be saved, but to appreciate the salvation already granted to us.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them.
And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
[2 Cor 5 : 19 NLT]
Thirdly, no after death opportunities.
I can't find a text to support or refute Dr Arnold's opinion that people have no after death opportunities.
However God does have a plan for His creation.
With all wisdom and understanding, he (God) made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
[Ephesians 1 : 8 - 10 NIV]
This plan, motivated by God's love for His creation, must be implemented, since God is in sovereign control.
So my logic tells me that
if God's plan is to bring unity to all things, and
if God has already reconciled the world to Himself, and
if God is the Saviour of the world
then people who do not believe in the Saviour Jesus before they die will do so after they die.
Otherwise
God doesn't achieve His unity plan, and
God has not reconciled the world to Himself, and
God is not the Saviour of the world, and
Jesus was not successful on the cross, and
God is not the God of love and sovereignty I serve.
Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.
[Romans 11 : 36 MSG]
Blessings, Barry
This is the second in a mini-series of posts responding to the arguments offered by Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Dr Arnold) against God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation.
His arguments against Universal Reconciliation (UR) are offered under five headings, the first of which is a. The Scriptures Used. (see a previous post "Opposition to Universal Reconciliation" here)
Under the a. The Scriptures Used heading Dr Arnold quotes five (carefully chosen) texts that he claims teachers use to prove the truth of a second probation, as Dr Arnold calls it.
He says, Basically they point to five passages of Scripture ... The second passage is 1 Corinthians 15 : 27 - 28, which states that all things, will be subjected to the Son.
For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
[1 Corinthians 15 : 27 - 28 NIV]
Dr Arnold's objection is that the "all things being subject to the Son" does not mean the salvation of all, but only that the unsaved will be in subjection to Him.
I agree that, as King, Jesus will have all things in subjection to him by the end of the kingdom age.
But that's not all!
What also happens when the kingdom age is completed?
Previous verses, which provide the context for the two verses Dr Arnold quotes, indicate that this subjection to Christ is in a setting of all (people) being made alive in Christ
Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us.
[1 Cor 15 : 22 CEV]
and Jesus having destroyed death as the final enemy.
Christ will rule until he puts all his enemies under his power, and the last enemy he destroys will be death.
[1 Cor 15 : 25 - 26 CEV]
It seems obvious to me, that if all are alive because of what Christ has done (just as all die because of what Adam has done), and death itself is now destroyed, then life is the only condition possible from then on.
And since these events happen at the end when Christ hands over His kingdom to God the Father,
Then after Christ has destroyed all powers and forces, the end will come, and he will give the kingdom to God the Father.[1 Cor 15 : 24 CEV]
and God becomes everything to everyone,
After everything is under the power of God’s Son, he will put himself under the power of God, who put everything under his Son’s power. Then God will mean everything to everyone.
[1 Cor 15 : 28 CEV]
then the life we will all experience together must be eternal life.
So all are indeed saved, given eternal life, even though the verses quoted by Dr Arnold, isolated from their context, only tell part of the story.
Because eventually ...
Everything comes from the Lord. All things were made because of him and will return to him. Praise the Lord forever! Amen.
[Romans 11 : 36 CEV]
Blessings, Barry
This is the first in a mini-series of posts responding to the arguments offered by Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Dr Arnold) against God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation.
His arguments against Universal Reconciliation (UR) are offered under five headings, the first of which is a. The Scriptures Used. (see previous post "Opposition to Universal Reconciliation" here)
Under the a. The Scriptures Used heading Dr Arnold quotes five (carefully chosen) texts that he claims teachers use to try to prove the truth of a second probation, as Dr Arnold calls it.
Before I address these five passages of Scripture, it is worth mentioning that there are many, many more [and more emphatic] passages that demonstrate God's intention to save all His creation, as a quick scan through this BLOG site will reveal.
He says, Basically they point to five passages of Scripture. The first is Acts 3 : 21, which speaks of the times of restoration of all things.
Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. [NIV]
Dr Arnold's objection is that the "all things" is limited to that which was spoken by the prophets, and that did not include any kind of universalism, limited or unlimited.
Well, I wonder what Isaiah and Malachi, for example, might say about that.
Although the Old Testament prophets were usually focused on contemporary Israel for their near-future insights and the Messianic Kingdom age for their far-future insights, their writings did occasionally give a strong hint of God's bigger picture.
Isaiah prophesies that all people will worship God ...
“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked:
Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear.
They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone are deliverance and strength.’”
All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame.
[Isaiah 45 : 22 - 24 NIV]
and that all nations will feast at the table of the Lord
In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
[Isaiah 2 : 2 NIV]
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines.
On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
[Isaiah 25 : 6 - 8 NIV]
Malachi also mentions that all nations will worship, and bring offerings to the Lord.
"My name will be great among the nations, from where the sun rises to where it sets. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.
[Malachi 1 : 11 NIV]
David's description of God's character would back these hints from the prophets.
The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow in anger and rich in love.
The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
[Psalm 145 : 8 - 9 NIV]
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
[Psalm 107 : 1 NIV]
Although Acts 3 : 21 is not a verse that I personally use to "prove" the truth of UR, it cannot be dismissed as being antagonistic to the Biblical theme of UR, as Dr Arnold suggests.
For all things were created by him, and all things exist through him and for him. To God be the glory forever! Amen.
[Romans 11 : 36 GNB]
Blessings, Barry
Dr Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum (Dr Arnold) is a brilliant Messianic Jewish theologian living in USA whose expertise in the Scriptures, particularly regarding Israel's past, present and future, is outstanding.
Although I am learning so much from his written and video publications, I do not agree with his opposition to God's plan to eventually reconcile and save all His creation, a position I find promised in a correctly translated Bible and discussed in my book "The Really Good News About God" published in 2015.
Dr Arnold sees three different versions of what he calls "Unlimited Second Probation".
1. Universalism, which he defines as "all are eventually saved without the necessity of after life repentance".
2. Restorationism, which he defines as "all are saved because of a second chance to hear the gospel after death and a subsequent repentance after death".
3. Universal Reconciliation, which he defines as "after a long period of existence in the Lake of Fire, all are going to be reconciled back to God, all are going to be saved, including Satan".
We will focus on Dr Arnold's third definition in this series of posts as that definition is closer to what the Bible seems to teach than the other two.
Dr Arnold presents his criticism in a paper titled "The intermediate State Between Death and Resurrection (MBS104)" available for download on the Ariel Ministries website www.ariel.org.
His arguments against Universal Reconciliation (UR) are offered under five headings:
a. The Scriptures Used
b. The Fixed State of the Unbelieving Dead
c. The Basis of the Final Judgement
d. The Final Decision Made in this Life
e. The Contradiction to Scripture.
In the upcoming posts, I will address each of these arguments and demonstrate from Scripture why I think they are insufficient to dismiss God's plan to eventually reconcile all creation to Himself, and thus save everyone.
After all, the Bible does say ...
Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us.
[1 Cor 15 : 22 CEV]
which encourages us to
... put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
[1 Timothy 4 : 10 NIV]
confirming Jesus' words cited by John.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
[John 12 : 32 NIV]
Blessings, Barry
PS. In the following posts, I will use underlining to help identify Dr Arnold's actual words.
Three prominent beliefs regarding salvation, held by most mainstream church-goers, and supported by texts from popular versions of the Bible, provide a real challenge for thinking Christians. They are:
1. God wants to save all people.
(God) intends all human beings to be saved and to come to a full knowledge of the truth.
[1 Timothy 2 : 4 DBH]
The Lord isn't slow about keeping his promises, as some people think he is. In fact, God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.
[2 Peter 3 : 9 CEV]
2. God is all powerful, so always gets what He wants.
Our God is in heaven, he does whatever pleases him.
[Psalm 115 : 3 NIV]
We may make a lot of plans, but the LORD will do what he has decided.
[Proverbs 19 : 21 CEV]
3. Unbelievers will be lost forever.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
[John 3 : 36 NIV]
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
[2 Thessalonians 1 : 8, 9 NIV]
Now let's put on our thinking caps.
How can all three be true at the same time?
How can we believe that God wants to save everyone, always achieves what He wants, yet many (most?) people will be lost forever?
As a set, the three statements are inconsistent.
A bit like this set of three:
1 + 2 = 3. 2 + 1 = 3. 2 + 2 = 3. They can't all be true at the same time.
Let's see how others handle this problem before I share how I do.
There are some Christians, who follow the teachings of John Calvin, a French theologian whose views became the basis of Calvinism, who believe the second and third statements to be true, so challenge the first statement.
They believe that God wants to save only those He has chosen to save (modified statement 1),
that He will achieve what He wants (statement 2),
so the remainder, the unchosen, will be lost forever (statement 3).
There are other Christians, the majority in my experience, who follow the teachings of Jacob Arminius, a Dutch theologian whose views became the basis of Arminianism, who believe the first and third statements to be true, so challenge the second statement.
They believe that God wants to save everyone (statement 1),
but God does not achieve what He wants because He has given people freewill which can override His will (modified statement 2),
so those who choose not to be saved will be lost forever (statement 3)
Notice that statement 3 (unbelievers will be lost forever) is always held to be true regardless of which Christian group anyone belongs to.
It is the only non-negotiable belief in the vast majority of Christendom, so other beliefs have to be adjusted to accommodate it.
Yet for me, this is the statement that needs to be challenged.
Not because I don't like it (although that is true), but because it is not what the Bible teaches.
Indeed, the Biblical texts which are used to support statement 3 are not correct translations of the Greek text from which they come.
Let's examine the supporting texts for statement 3 from above.
Firstly John 3 : 36.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
[John 3 : 36 NIV]
If I use a literal translation for this text, I get the following:
He who has faith in the Son has the life of that Age; and the one rejecting the Son will not see (that) life, but God's ire rests upon him.
[John 3 : 36 DBH]
He who is believing in the Son has life eonian, yet he who is stubborn as to the Son shall not be seeing (that) life, but the indignation of God is remaining on him.
[John 3 : 36 CLV]
he who is believing in the Son, hath life age-during; and he who is not believing the Son, shall not see (that) life, but the wrath of God doth remain upon him.
[John 3 : 36 YLT]
The literal translations show that eternal life is NOT being addressed in this verse (and verses like it), but life in the Age, life in the millennial Kingdom.
Secondly 2 Thessalonians 1: 8, 9.
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
[2 Thess 1 : 8, 9 NIV]
If I use a literal translation for this text, those not seeing life in that Age are:
... those who do not know God and do not heed the good tidings of our Lord Jesus - who will pay the just reparation of ruin in the Age, coming from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might
[2 Thess 1 : 8, 9 DBH]
... those who are not acquainted with God and those who are not obeying the evangel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall incur the justice of eonian extermination from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His strength
[ 2 Thess 1 :8, 9 CLV]
... those not knowing God, and to those not obeying the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall suffer justice — destruction age-during — from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength,
[2 Thess 1 : 8, 9 YLT]
Again, missing out on life in the Millennium in the Lord's presence is the loss worn by unbelievers. It is not eternal destruction.
It is only believers who have been chosen to live and rule with Christ during the age of the millennium kingdom.
However, the unbelievers, who have not been chosen for that role and responsibility, will be raised at the consummation of the ages when death is destroyed (1 Corinthians 15 : 26) and God becomes "everything to everyone" (1 Cor 15 : 28) so that God's plan "to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ" (Ephesians 1 : 10) is completed.
To help convey the correctly translated Scriptures supporting statement 3, I would re-word it so that the set, as a whole, becomes consistent.
Here's the result:
Statement 1 - God wants to save all people. (agreed - it's a good summation of its supporting texts)
Statement 2 - God is all powerful, so always gets what He wants. (agreed - it's a good summation of its supporting texts)
Statement 3 - Unbelievers will not see the millennial kingdom. (agreed - it's a good summation of its correctly translated supporting texts)
Blessings, Barry
The idea for this BLOG was inspired by the theological and philosophical discussions of Thomas Talbott, Professor of Philosophy in USA, in his book "The Inescapable Love of God" published in 1999, and referenced by Gregory MacDonald in his book "The Evangelical Universalist" in 2006. (Gregory MacDonald is a pseudonym for Robin Parry, Professor of Systematic Theology in USA.)
Special Creation (the belief that the origin of the universe and all of life came into being by divine decree) was a feature of the predominant worldview in the time when some of our great scientists of the past lived.
For example, Sir Isaac Newton in writing about the planetary system said, "Though these bodies may indeed continue in their orbits by the mere laws of gravity, yet they could by no means have at first derived the regular position of the orbits themselves from those laws. Thus, this most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the council and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."
(note the capital B)
Biologists also, before Darwin that is, thought that the study of life gave the appearance of having been purposefully designed.
But Darwin caused the whole discipline to change direction.
Darwin's famous "Origin of Species" was a long argument against creation by design, promoting the theory that all living things were produced by unguided natural forces from a common source.
In fact he was quoted as saying, "I would give absolutely nothing for my theory of natural selection, if it require miraculous additions at any one stage of descent."
Typical modern Biology textbooks include statements like "By coupling the undirected, purposeless variations to the blind, uncaring process of natural selection, Darwin made the theological or spiritual explanations of the life processes superfluous.
(Douglas Futuyma's "Evolutionary Biology" College Text)
However, science is beginning to show signs of realising the limits of space-time based explorations.
In 1953, the discovery of DNA opened some eyes.
Not only does DNA contain information, but functional information not dissimilar to computer software code.
BIll Gates, Microsoft pioneer, said that "DNA is like a computer program, but far, far more advanced than any software we've ever created".
In 1996, Michael Behe, a university biochemist, published a book titled "Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution" which focused on biological systems which are 'irreducibly complex' at the molecular level and could not have been developed slowly over long periods of time.
Even modern neo-Darwinists admit that undirected natural selection and random mutation can produce organs and structures that give 'the appearance' of having been designed.
The Center for Science and Culture in Seattle, Washington was founded in 1990 and describes itself as "the institutional hub for scientists, educators, and inquiring minds who think that nature supplies compelling evidence of intelligent design".
Dr Stephen Meyer, philosopher of science and director of Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture, publicly claims that Intelligent Design is detectable by science, and has written two books, "Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design: and "Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design" to advance his argument.
However, let's be clear.
The sort of evolution that is being challenged by most proponents of Intelligent Design is Darwinianism, not the 'small changes over time' type of evolution, nor the small adaptations due to environmental changes (microevolution), nor even the production of new species from a common ancestor (macroevolution).
But Darwinianism, chance macroevolution, which asserts that all organisms, including mankind, descended from a common ancestor without any input, either at its beginning or on the journey, from an intelligent source.
Such is the fleeting glimpse of God currently being seen: there's still a long way to go to get back to the view of our great scientists of the past.
However if scientists continue to be brave enough to be honest about what they see in the science they explore, especially at the molecular level, their influence might spread widely...
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. so that people are without excuse.
[Romans 1 : 20 NIV]
Of course, I have omitted mentioning the many Creation Scientists who have either never been Darwinianists, or have transferred from that camp as they became Bible-believing Christians during their careers.
Creation Ministries International is staffed by several of these men and women and https://creation.com is a great website to visit and explore evidence and arguments for special creation.
Blessings, Barry
Simple answer: it depends on what you want to use it for.
If you are reading history, poetry or illustrative stories like parables then use a free-flowing translation or a paraphrase.
There are many of these available as most Bibles in our bookstores are of this type.
Popular "easy-read" versions include translations like
New International Version (NIV),
Contemporary English Version (CEV),
Good News Translation (GNT), and
The New Living Bible (NLB);
and paraphrases like
The New Testament in Modern English (PHILLIPS),
The Living Bible (TLB), and
The Message (TM).
A common difficulty with these non-literal translations of the New Testament is they usually translate the Greek words that end up as "eternity" or "eternal" or "hell" in the English text quite wrongly, which helps to conceal God's ultimate purpose for His creation. You can read more on this issue by searching previous posts on the BLOG.
So, if you are wanting to form Bible-based opinions about God, His character, His purposes and His plans to achieve them, you will need to search out a more literal translation which does not insert the translator's theology (personal views) into the text.
Literal translations include
Young's Literal Translation (YLT),
Concordant Literal Version (CLV), and
David Bentley Hart's New Testament: A Translation (DBH).
I don't mind if a literal translation provides personal views as comments below the text or in a sidebar beside the text provided that the text itself remains free of such inclusions.
I also don't mind if the text includes a word or two that is not in the original in order to help the readability of the resulting English provided the extra words are designated in some way to show they are additional to the literal text. Using italics or a different text font are common ways of doing this.
There are also other popular Bibles which claim to be "easy-read" or literal translations or both easy reading and literal.
Bibles like
King James Version (KJV),
New King James Version (NKJV),
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV),
English Standard Version (ESV),
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), and
New American Standard Bible (NASB).
My research suggests that none of these are literal consistently and only some people might find them to be easy reading.
A warning: I have found some Bibles to be downright deceitful in two subtle ways.
Firstly, Bibles which might claim to be accurate translations and promise to place additional words in italics to show they are not words in the original Greek text sometimes insert extra words which accommodate their personal views without placing them in italics.
Here's an example from The Passion Translation (TPT).
When the non-Jewish people in the crowd heard these words, they were thrilled and they honored the word of the Lord. All who believed that they were destined to experience eternal life received the message.
(Acts 13 : 48 TPT without the italics it promised to include for additions words)
Now compare it with Young's Literal Translation (YLT).
And the nations hearing were glad, and were glorifying the word of the Lord, and did believe -- as many as were appointed to life age-during;
(Acts 13 : 48 YLT)
God's appointment in YLT has been replaced by man's choice in TPT by using additional words without the promised warning.
(By the way, notice the incorrect translation that produced "eternal".)
Secondly, some Bibles might have the words correctly translated, but change their order to accommodate the translator's theology.
Here's The Passion Translation (TPT) again.
Even as all who are in Adam die, so also all who are in Christ will be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15 : 22 TPT)
Compare with Young's Literal Translation.
for even as in Adam all die, so also in the Christ all shall be made alive, (1 Corinthians 15 : 22 YLT)
Once again the TPT has added words without designating them as being added and, together with changing the order of the remaining correctly translated words, has totally changed the structure and therefore the meaning of the verse to accommodate their doctrine that only Christians will be made alive.
The TPT translation has now made this verse conflict with so many other verses, for example:
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
(1 Corinthians 15 : 25 - 26 NIV)
This plan, which God will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together, everything in heaven and on earth, with Christ as head.
(Ephesians 1 : 10 GNT)
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), 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.
(Colossians 1 : 19 - 20 NIV)
So which is the best Bible version for you?
I suggest you start out with an easy-read translation or paraphrase for engaging with the story-line, but then use a literal translation to check the accuracy of what you have read and to filter out the theology of the translator(s) if you are building a Biblical point of view on a particular subject or issue.
Blessings, Barry
