Theological Term of the Week

universalism
The view that all persons will ultimately be saved, even those who die in unbelief.

• Scripture teaches that universalism is false:
  

  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:46 ESV)

  And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:9-11 ESV) 

• From The London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689:

  Chapter 32: Of the Last Judgment
  
  1._____ God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ; to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father; in which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.
  
  

  2._____ The end of God’s appointing this day, is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice, in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient; for then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fulness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards, in the presence of the Lord; but the wicked, who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast aside into everlasting torments, and punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof:

  The question of the eternity of the future punishment deserves … special consideration … because it is frequently denied. It is said that the words used in Scripture for “everlasting” and “eternal” may simply denote an “age” or a dispensation, ” or any other long period of time. Now it cannot be doubted that they are so used in some passages, but this does not prove that they always have that limited meaning. It is not the literal meaning of the terms. Whenever they are so used, they are used figuratively, and in such cases their figurative use is generally quite evident from the connection. Moreover, there are positive reasons for thinking that these words do not have that limited meaning in the passages to which we referred. (a) In Matt. 25:46 the same word describes the duration of both, the bliss of the saints and the penalty of the wicked. If the latter is not, properly speaking, unending, neither is the former; and yet many of those who doubt eternal, do not doubt everlasting bliss. 

Learn more:

1. Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry: Universalism
2. Got Questions.org: Is universalism / universal salvation Biblical?
3. Reasoning from the Scriptures Ministries: Is Universalism Biblical?
4. Richard Bauckham: Universalism: a historical survey
5. Dr. Tim Beougher: Understanding the Ism’s: Universalism, Inclusivism, Pluralism, and Exclusivism 

Related terms:

• exclusivism
  
• inclusivism
• pluralism
• annihilationism
  

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.