The Bible’s Answer
Universalism is the view which holds that all people will be saved. Although there are some variations in this view (for example, whether or not Hell exists), all universalists hold that even if some people do go to Hell, it will only be temporary, because all people will eventually be saved eternally from sin—whether they died as Christians or non-Christians. The idea of all people being saved is certainly nice, and can be very tempting for Christians to believe—but the question is: is it actually true?
In the Gospel of Luke, someone actually asks the Lord Jesus Christ the question, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” (Luke 13:23, ESVUK). Let’s look at Jesus’ answer:
24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us’, then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:24–30)
Let’s summarise what Jesus has just said:
- Jesus likens the kingdom of God (Heaven) to a “narrow door”.
- Many will want to enter but “will not be able”.
- When the Master (Jesus) shuts the door, he will tell those who want to enter, “Depart from me, you workers of evil!”.
- Outside there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
Jesus’ answer to the question “will those who are saved be few” is fairly simple: many will want to be saved, but few will actually be saved.
“For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 13:24)
Jesus teaches the same thing using similar imagery in his sermon on the mount, in which he says: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13–14).
Jesus’ apostle, St Paul, taught the exact same thing in his first letter to the Church in Corinth. This is when he writes that that the “unrighteous” (i.e. “workers of evil”, as Jesus mentioned) will not inherit the “kingdom of God” (the same expression Jesus used for Heaven):
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9)
Paul’s statement is just as absolute as Jesus’: the unrighteous “will not” inherit the kingdom of God. Both Paul and Jesus provide no exceptions to this whatsoever, which settles the matter: this life is our one chance to repent and believe in Jesus.
Notice that Paul says “Do not be deceived”. In saying this, Paul is warning that we can be tricked into thinking that we will be saved, when actually we are on the road to damnation. The Prophet Solomon uses a similar expression: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12).
Universalism is a deception. It’s one of the many forms of deception that Paul warns against. Universalism deceives people with the false hope that all people will be saved, and in the process, robs many of eternal life. Universalism does this by promoting the false hope of salvation apart from trusting in Christ alone, even though Jesus and his apostles so clearly teach that there is no hope for salvation apart from trusting in Jesus:
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
7 … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, …. (2 Thessalonians 1:7–10)
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:12)
Since Universalism denies that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, it actually directs people away from Christ, and abandons people to whatever belief or lifestyle they hold to. By abandoning people in this way, the Universalist worldview destroys the need for faith in Jesus (John 3:18), it destroys the need for repentance (Luke 13:5), it destroys the need for mission work (1 Thessalonians 2:16), and above all, it destroys love, which seeks to snatch people out of the darkness (James 5:19–20; Jude 22–23). The only thing Universalism can offer is destruction, rather than salvation.
Does God Being the Saviour of All People Support Universalism?
Some proponents of Universalism attempt to support their view by quoting 1 Timothy 4:10, which says:
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10)
However, the fact that God is the “Saviour of all people” does not mean that all people will be saved. A simple analogy proves this. Let’s suppose that you’re in a village during a time of war. An enemy drone is about to drop a bomb on your house, but a soldier destroys the drone with a missile before it’s able to do so. In this case, the soldier is your saviour, because he saved you from imminent death—whether you were aware of this or not. Let’s say that the soldier then visits you and warns you that your house is being targeted, and that unless you leave now, you will die. If you choose to stay and end up getting bombed, the soldier is still your saviour, because he rescued you earlier; but you ended up dead because you didn’t trust in him.
The same is true of the Christian faith. God did save the world, when he sent his Son, Jesus, who made amends for all our sins by dying for us on the cross, and so God is truly the Saviour of all people. But Jesus and his apostles warn us that if we reject what Jesus has done for us, we will remain in our sins, by rejecting our once-for-all perfect sin offering (Hebrews 10:10–14). So, if someone dies in their sins, it’s not because God is not their Saviour—it’s because they chose not to trust in him, as Jesus and Paul so clearly say:
I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24)
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Corinthians 15:17)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked … 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1–2, 8–9)
Jesus Christ: Our True and Only Hope
Contrary to the false hope, deception, and uncertainty of Universalism, the Bible gives us true hope and certainty in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ apostle, St John, says:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)
Through faith in Jesus Christ, Christians can have the assurance and certainty that they will be saved eternally. This is not because of anything they have done or anything that is in them, but through their God-given faith, they have received all the benefits of Jesus’ sinless life, death, and resurrection (Romans 6:3–5; 1 Peter 2:24). After saying that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, St Paul offers the following words of comfort:
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)
Paul is saying that till the day we die, it’s never too late to repent, and receive the righteousness that Jesus clothes believers with. In true, biblical Christianity, there is no hope apart from Christ. Our only hope is Jesus. And this is the greatest comfort anyone can receive.
So, repent, and receive Jesus today as your only Saviour and Lord, if you haven’t already done so.
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