PETER-JAMES-JUDE and UNIVERSALISM
Did the first Christians suggest to their audiences that salvation is inclusive?
11. The restoration of all things.
Acts 2:39-40. The apostle Peter preached a message of repentance and offered the promise of God to his generation. He said that that promise was for Jews and Gentiles, "all who are afar off." But immediately he qualified his statement with the words, "as many as the Lord our God will call."
The Gospel is for all men of all ages. But there are the called who will receive this message. I speak not here of Calvinism, but of a definite narrowing of the response, that speaks against the Universalist dogma.
Peter makes it even more plain in the next verse when he admonishes his hearers to save themselves from this perverse generation. In this dividing of humanity into saved and perverse, he follows in His Master's steps. It is crucial to comprehend here that there is a separation forever taking place, that has its roots in time and its fruit in eternity.
Acts 3:21. The restoration of all things is coming, says Peter. One can only imagine how delighted a Universalist is when he reads this passage. I hate to be the bearer of such bad news, but this verse is not talking about personal salvation for every man, woman, and child on the planet. It's talking about something that was, is not (in Peter's day) but will be.
Restoration, or restitution, speaks of bringing back a former state of existence. Something existed before that does not exist in its previous form, at this time. Whatever that is, will be fully brought back, says Peter, when heaven releases Jesus once more to this planet.
Peter says that all the prophets spoke of this restoration. Isaiah saw it: (2:2) "Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains..." The old Jerusalem-based kingdom returns, is restored, is renewed.
Jeremiah saw it: (33:15) "In those days and at that time I will cause to grow up to David a Branch of righteousness; ... Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely." Not exactly happening in our day. It did in David's day and Solomon's day. And it will in Jesus' day. A true restoration, plus!
And Ezekiel saw it: (20:40) "For on My holy mountain... there all the house of Israel... shall serve Me; and I will accept them." A few have trickled into the Kingdom in our day. On that day, a mighty Israel ruled by the Mighty One of Israel, King Jesus.
That's only the first three of the Old Testament prophecy books. I think you get the point. It is the Kingdom that is to be restored, in its physical, visible, glorified form. What an absolutely wonderful day that will be!
I Peter. The apostle's first letter is filled with clues about the nature of the saved and unsaved.
• God's people have been born again. That is, they are of a different order all together than the people of the world. God would not send His children to eternal flames. But only the born again are His children.
• The saved are holy unto God, separated from the people of this world, and therefore they will not share in their judgment.
• The disobedient will stumble, and to this they were appointed.
• He quotes the Psalmist who says that the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
Peter seems to have picked up from his Teacher, the fact that Hell is real and God is holy and life is very serious.
12. The spirits in prison, and preaching to the dead
I Peter 3:13-4:6. If you have marveled at difficult passages in Paul's writings, you will also be puzzling over this passage from Peter for quite some time.
I am a literalist. Unless the text screams "parable" I try simply to hear what is being said, and believe it. But there are cases, as this one, where literalism can take a person different directions. A doctrinal choice must be made based on the status of that doctrine throughout the rest of the Scriptures.
Important to understand first here is that this passage was not meant to deal with the afterlife. It is about suffering for and with Jesus Christ. It is about the cross.
A quick paraphrase of verses 13-17:
No one can cause you ultimate harm. But if you must suffer, that's a blessing. Just be ready to answer the persecutors' questions with a good conscience. Be sure you are not being punished for something bad you did.
Verse 18 brings Jesus into the discussion. Jesus also suffered. he did not deserve it. He was put to death in the flesh (His body) but made alive (His Spirit) by the Holy Spirit.
Then comes verse 19. It was while He was separated from His body, and thus in the form that He knew through all eternity, that He made a visit to the spirit world. While there He made an announcement to a very captive audience, called the "spirits in prison."
The Universalist smile widens when he defines these beings as humans now given a second chance to obey God. For the passage goes on in verse 20 to tell us that these spirits were disobedient in the days of Noah during the time the ark was being prepared.
Sounds convincing, doesn't it? These antediluvians defied God, were sent to Hades, but because of what Jesus did, they are given a chance to get out of their punishment by obeying the Gospel.
Whoa. First, there is no mention of Gospel here. Only preaching, "heralding", announcing. Triumphing, if you will, glorying in the victory just won. "Making an open show," says Paul. Colossians 2:15 says that Jesus "disarmed principalities and powers," and "made a public spectacle of them."
Did I just change the subject? We were talking about humans in Hell. But the Bible here and elsewhere is talking about demons in jail. Fortunately we do not have to go out of the writings of Peter to see that his focus is demonic and not human. Look at II Peter 2:4, and you will see that God punished disobedient angels by putting them in hell, bound by chains of darkness, reserved for judgment. That matches well with "spirits in prison" of I Peter.
Let Jude add his part (Jude 6): Angels who left their proper role are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness..."
These are the angels referred to as "sons of God" in Genesis 6. Angels who had the audacity to come to earth and take human females as their wives...
Back to our text. Jesus died but was still alive in Spirit. Now he is in heaven(22), and all those angelic hosts are subject to Him!
Chapter 4:1-5 is connected; here is another paraphrase: So, arm yourself with this same mentality. Enough with sin. Enough trying to keep up with the Gentiles. They may not like it, but one day they will face their judge.
And now another very difficult verse: Let me paraphrase once more:
Many have already died. But the Gospel was preached to them, that even though men judged and killed them, they will live on in the Spirit.
The text actually reads that "the gospel was preached to those who are dead." This, and the whole "spirits in prison" idea has led people through the years to say that indeed we receive chances after death to go on with God.
But believing that cancels out a host of other Scriptures that teach the opposite. For example, "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment." Look again at the rich man and Lazarus, and the "great gulf." Teachings that are clear must not be abrogated by teachings that are not clear.
Peter is telling us that just as Jesus was unjustly killed, we may be also, but because we know Him through the Gospel, we shall live with Him still, though we die in the flesh.
The message he is delivering sounds very much like a portion of a book circulating in Peter's day called The Wisdom of Solomon. It has been grouped with a collection of other books known as the Apocrypha, writings "of doubtful origin." Though not prophetic or apostolic in their beginnings, these books were held in high regard, contained much truth, and were even included in early Bible translations, notably the King James Version!
So we think it not strange that Peter might have read and been influenced by the truth of these words (3:1-7):
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be an affliction, and their going from us to be their destruction; but they are at peace. For though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope is full of immortality (II Peter 4:6b). Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good...
In summary, we do not believe that Jesus preached to Noah's audience. If that had happened, the question would immediately rise, "Why only Noah's?" Why not those who defied Moses, and the prophets, and Jesus Himself? The term for "spirits" here is almost always in reference to the supernatural, not the human. It seems to me that Jesus spoke to His arch-enemies in the spirit world, announcing to them that their captivity was not only just, but secure, and that He was now their eternal Master.
And in 4:6, which at first sight seems to relate back to chapter 3, all we have is the fact that the Gospel was preached to people who are now dead.
Yes, Jesus tells us in John that the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live! But Colossians 2:13 reminds us that all of us in Christ now were once dead. Jesus goes on to speak of dead bodies immediately after this (in John 5) when He says that all in the graves will also hear this voice, and come forth to two separate resurrections, one of which is the resurrection of condemnation. First he speaks of the spiritually dead hearing His voice, then the physically dead.
Let us be diligent to track down all that comes against the veracity and authority of what God has said. His word cannot change. He must be sought with all of our hearts so that we will not change either.
13. Peter, James, and Jude agree: Not all will be saved.
I Peter 4:17-18. Peter tells us to expect the church to be judged. He implies, though that there is no comparison between our judgment and the judgment of those who dot obey the Gospel. Righteous people will hardly be saved. Ungodly people will not appear in that City at all.
II Peter 2/Jude . There is a huge similarity between the writings of Peter here, and Jude, the half-brother of Jesus. Both of them sound one of the most serious notes of Scripture regarding those spreading lies about the Gospel.
False teachers are to perish utterly in their own corruption. They are accursed children. The gloom of darkness is reserved for them. Forever. They have been marked out for this condemnation. God will execute judgment on these ungodly men.
Does it sound to you that, after all of this, God will finally say to them, "Maybe we can work this thing out?"
I think not. To be saved from their fate, says Jude, is to be rescued from the fire. That is the consistent message of God's Word on this subject. May we be rescuing many even this day.
II Peter 3:7-9. Our world is headed for a baptism of fire, the fire of destruction and judgment. All the ungodly will be judged and lost. But Peter adds that God is waiting a long time for this. He is giving His church the time to get out and do their job. He is giving the lost a chance to hear and believe. Why?
Because He really wants everyone to be saved. He wants everyone to repent. The damnation of the wicked gives Him no pleasure, but so it must be.
Does God always get His way? Absolutely not. Abortion and homosexuality are rampant in my country. Rape and murder abound. Poverty and sickness are everywhere. Are these God's will? Of course not. But they are here anyway.
So when Peter tells us that God does not want anyone to be lost, He is not saying that, therefore, no one will be lost! He is communicating the great love of God for us, the love that sent Jesus to Calvary, that "whoever believes in Him shall not perish..."
But those who do not believe will suffer eternal loss. His Word cannot change. He cannot lie. He will judge the ungodly.
Acts 15:16-19. A word from Brother James. By this time in the book of Acts, the apostle James has been martyred by Herod. The James mentioned here is the half-brother of Jesus, brother of Jude (Judas). He became a leader in the first Jerusalem church, and is here giving some advice to Peter and Paul about how to deal with Gentiles. In doing so, he says some things that could set off a Universalist...
Actually it is a quote from the prophet Amos (9:11-12). Amos says that one day the tabernacle of David will be restored so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, specifically those Gentiles who are called by His name.
James says that since there are Gentiles turning to the Lord, we Jews better leave them alone. This is the beginning of what God said would happen.
What the Universalists want to grab from the passage is the portion which reads "...all the Gentiles who are called by My name..." In their thinking, the "who" is not there.
But a simple reading of text and context assures us that it is not every Gentile, but a select group, that comes out for the Jewish Messiah.
Jesus, Peter, James, Jude all agree that not all will be saved. That leaves for us the words of Paul and John, which encompass the rest of the New Testament. Will they follow suit?
