Substitutionary Atonement, Christ in All and Universalism

Good Morning and Welcome to this week’s Gospel and Culture update, by Alan Vink
Substitutionary Atonement, Christ in All and Universalism
Monday 12th December 2022

POV. Last week I wrote a blog titled, Is Progressive Christianity, Christian? I wrote because I am concerned by the influence that this particular brand of ‘Christianity’ is having on the church in NZ and in the western world more generally. I called it ‘another gospel’. Galatians 1:6-10

Not surprisingly it created a bit of discussion both by way of email responses, telephone calls and on my personal face book page.

This week I thought a follow up blog that details my concerns about three key doctrines might be useful and I will come back to that in a moment.

First this. I do not presume to be a theologian not by a long shot. I do write as a former pastor, Bible College tutor and now a leadership coach and mentor. More importantly like so many of you, my readers, I really care about biblical accuracy, orthodoxy and discovering and knowing The Truth. There is so much that can be known, thankfully. A verse that has guided me since early days is 2 Timothy 2:15.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”. (NKJV)

“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth”. (NLT)

That said I also acknowledge that it is impossible to understand everything about God and therefore accept the fact that there is also some mystery (that which cannot be known) on this side of heaven.

Substitutionary Atonement. I believe in the vicarious and substitutionary death of Christ. The meaning of ‘substitution’ in this context is one life given in the place of another. (see Isa.53:6, 1 Pet.2:24: 3:18, 2 Cor.5:21). God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us. Christ Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree – this is substitution. Christ therefore died in our place, paid the penalty that was due to us and all this not by force but willingly (John 10:17 & 18).

John Stott gives us a compelling case in The Cross of Christ, that the love revealed in Jesus’s death was a holy love. The cross both satisfied God’s justice and demonstrated His love—therefore the death of Christ cannot be viewed as an act of divine love in isolation from divine justice.

Progressive Christianity struggles with this truth at best and in many cases re-interprets it. For example in Rob Bell’s ‘Love Wins’, Bell takes aim at major teachings, in particular, the notion of eternal damnation in hell and the image of God as a cruel punisher. In his book Love Wins, he points out that the concept of hell in the afterlife isn’t biblical, and also says that the image of God as a violent taskmaster is “psychologically crushing.” But despite his willingness to deconstruct these beliefs, he still maintains that Jesus is the only path to God. He tells us that because Jesus is one with God, we can be one with God too, by going through Jesus as a conduit. In Bell’s words, this will allow God to “rescue us from death, sin and destruction.

Christ In All. The question here as I understand it, is this: Is Christ only in those who place their faith in him or is Christ in everyone regardless of their faith? Many progressives believe the latter based on these words in Ephesians 4:6….”one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all”. and to a lesser degree, “the one in whom we all live and move and have our being”. (Acts 17:28)

As evangelicals we believe that By the Spirit’s agency, believers only are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

Universalism. Universalism is a school thought focused around the doctrine of universal reconciliation – the view that all human beings will ultimately be saved and restored to a right relationship with God irrespective of what they have done or what they believe or how they responded or didn’t to Jesus’ message of ‘repent and believe’.

As evangelicals we do not agree. The whole of our salvation past present and future is dependent upon faith in Christ. Our acceptance of Christ (John 1:12), our justification (Rom.5:1) our adoption (Gal.3:26), our sanctification (Acts 26:18), in fact our whole salvation from start to finish is dependent upon faith in Christ (Eph.2:8-9).

A few sources (and further reading).

Progressive Christianity on Toxic Theology.

Impact 360 Institute

Who are the Progressive Thinkers?

The Gospel Coalition. Article on Universalism.