Another great video. Thank you. Like you, I was long time believer in an eternal hell until I read article by Yale professor Keith Derose entitled “Universalism and the Bible”. It changed my thinking completely. I now believe in “restoration for all”- through Jesus. Keep up the good work. I will send along your videos to others.

I'm thoroughly enjoying your videos. I would also enjoy long form. Thank you for your work, your faith, your patience. May God Bless you and continue to encourage you in your Faith.

I so agree with the central point you make here, how John’s comment is about the nature and quality of Divine Life, not the “duration”. As such, I will often use the term Abundant Life, rather than Eternal Life, to avoid such problems of understanding. Thus I have come that you might have Life, and have it more Abundantly! (John 10:10b) In truth, I think the kingdom of heaven is WITHIN, and we become partakers of that Divine Life as our old life is laid down (kenosis), so that the Life of Christ might become our New Identify (theosis). Thus Paul said… “For I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!” (Gal 2:20). The moment Christ begins to rule and reign WITHIN us (as us), the kingdom of heaven becomes our Reality! Physical death is not our ticket of entry. Laying down the old self is…so the Messiah might be unveiled in our lives. (Col 1:27, 2 Cor 13:5) As we grow in revelation, we come to discover what Archbishop Alexander Golitzin once said (quoting from Macarius), how “the soul is the chariot throne of God”. And thus what Scripture truly unveils as we read it with lenses of the Spirit, is that Christ dwells in us (Col 1:27). And thus we are the Bush Aflame with the Consuming Fire of God’s Love! Meanwhile, I loved how you quoted John 17:3, where Jesus tells us: “And THIS is Eternal Life, that they KNOW You”! Amen to that!! To know the Father’s Love is to live a Life of Abundance!!

Bravo! this channel is fantastic, thank you for everything you do!

As a fallible, envying, jealous, lustful, deceitful, treacherous human being, if I’m able to have mercy on people and thinking that the punishment of hell for everlasting is just not God like specially given that God is good and beyond merciful and good than our mind can phantom. What would be the need to punish human being in hell for eternal life? Specially from God? Or a better question, would you put your own kids or wife or mother or father in constant suffering and pure anguish last forever and forever? I get it if God wants to cleanse us in hell to prepare us for heaven but I don’t know.

Rimelli touches on this The source is eternal It would be like saying “Viking life” or “Viking punishment” Eternal life sin punishment Mark 3:29 """but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness to the age, but is guilty of an eternal sin”"" No one thinks that this sin is Everlasting as though once you start blaspheming it never stops. It is called an "eternal sin" because it is committed against direct contact with the Eternal One. Hebrews 6:2 """of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of Eternal Judgement.""" No one thinks that this Judgment is Everlasting as though Judgement Day never ends. It is called Eternal Judgement because the judgement comes from direct contact with the Eternal One. Hebrews 9:12 ""”Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption""" No one thinks that redemption is Everlasting as though the redeeming never ends. It is called Eternal Redemption because the redemption comes from direct contact with the Eternal One. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 """These people will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,""" Neither should one think that this destruction is Everlasting as though destruction can never be achieved and therefore never ends. It is called Eternal Destruction because the destruction comes from direct contact with the Eternal One. Matthew 25:46 """And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”"" Neither should you think that this punishment is Everlasting as though the punishment never ends and justice is never satisfied. It is called Eternal Punishment because the punishment comes from direct contact with the Eternal One. And it is called Eternal Life because the Life comes from direct contact with the Eternal One. Grammatically the adjective Eternal can only be to do with the duration of the source of the life and not the duration of the recipient of the life.. Hence the Eternal Life can go in and out of you… John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” Eternal Life is IN you. 1 John 3:14-16 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. 16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. Eternal Life is IN you or not IN you. 1 John 1:2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us- The eternal life IS The Word of Life 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. The True God IS Eternal Life

Thank you brother, I am enjoying these.

Matthew 25 gives no support to infernalist claims! Note verse 32 which mentions “nations.” Political entities are either welcomed into God’s kingdom or rejected based on how they treat the “hungry, thirsty , sick …” who actually represent the “brethren” of King Jesus, that is, the church. Mt 28:19 mentions making disciples of nations. There is no mention of individuals in either chapter.

Excellent presentation!

Well said, looking forward to your other videos. On a side note, you mentioned being "pro-life," and I just want to point out that doesn't mean you need to be "anti-choice" or "pro-ban." There are better ways to deal with the issue than forcing 10 year olds to have their rapists baby and endangering the lives of women having miscarriages in their bathtub. 1 Cor 5:12, even a belief that life begins at conception (which I contend the Bible does not actually support) does not mean we should force that idea on secular society.

Even amongst convinced universalists there are varying interpretations of eschatology. For me, I think it is fair to say that the “judgment” spoken of in Matt 25 is its focal point. This judgment day is a “period of time” that has both a beginning and an end. Many may envisage it being short, sharp and quick, but that is not necessarily the case, especially when we consider the words of 2 Peter 3:8. This “day” or this “age” of judgment could well be a considerably long duration, for the scripture does say that he must reign “until” he has put all his enemies under his feet. At this point, it is interesting to note some poor translations concerning the duration of this reign:- Rev 11:15: - “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for “ever/aiōnas” and “ever/aiōnōn” [NASB]….. Emphasis added. Yet, I Cor 15:25 -28 shows us that he will “not” reign forever and ever. I Cor 15:25 -28: - “He must reign “until” He has put all his enemies under his feet etc... Christ's reign as King is perpetual only for as long as it lasts. A more literal translation of Rev 11:15 would read as follows:- Rev 11:15: - And the seventh messenger did sound, and there came great voices in the heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of the world did become those of our Lord and of His Christ, >[and he shall reign to the ages of the ages]< [YLT]...... Emphasis added. This, to me at least, makes some kind of sense concerning the context of Matt 25:46. The timeline being spoken of is a “limited” age of judgment. Jesus reminds us of this when he said “Depart from me, you accursed ones, into the age-during/abiding fire”. During this judgment, the Greek word for life is Zoe which does allow for an understanding of a “type” of life. The same Greek word is used in John 10:10, where it speaks of a better “quality” of life. Those who reign with Christ during this “time period” will share in the wellness and blessings he has to give. In stark contrast, the subjects of the outer darkness will in some way be sorely vexed for the duration allotted to them through this age of judgment. In Matt 25:46, I would say that it wasn’t Jesus’ intention for the reader to be looking beyond the age of Judgment he was speaking about. Jesus was simply contrasting the quality of “life” during this “age”. After all, it’s not unusual for God to deal with people in given “ages” Keep up the good work. Peace

you all are so smart. i'm such a noob to all of this...

Aman

The one thing I have a problem with and that is supposed punishment for sin either temporary or eternally, Christ died for ALL sin there is NO punishment for something that has already been paid for!!

Hi Im amazed by your teaching. Just wanted to ask. If the bible really teaches Universalism. Why do we need to soul win and even the verses in Romans road.?

Do you think there is a reason God does not plainly state the fate of the unsaved? Could there be a reason its been left so ambiguous and debated? For something that seems to have such an enormous weight, uncertainty must be on purpose, but to what purpose?

I’ve been in dialogue with universalists for many years now. For someone like me who’s immersed in academic Biblical studies, honestly the main way you frame your response here immediately raised a big red flag. Hope this isn’t too harsh; but with rare exception I’ve found that few universalists have any familiarity with even the most basic tents of Biblical scholarship, and don’t seem to place any great importance on it. They tend to read the Bible much like fundamentalists (perhaps due to the fact that many are ex-evangelicals, or even still consider themselves evangelicals) - rarely acknowledging distinct authorial perspectives, and often uncritically harmonizing different passages with little argument or justification. As this relates to the argument you made in this video, the first thing I noticed is that you didn’t spend any time acknowledging that the gospel of John is universally understood by scholars to be very distinct from the other three gospels in terms of both language and ideology. This not only calls into question whether “eternal life” in Matthew is exactly the same as what’s being talked about in John; but even more significantly, you didn’t even spend any time arguing for why “eternal life’” in John *doesn’t* entail eschatological immortality. By contrast, though, most biblical scholars think that “eternal life” even in John still implies this - just that the gospel uses unique language indicative of the present, “realized” guarantee of this future immortality. It absolutely doesn’t mean that “this is eternal life: knowing God/Christ” is a formal re-definition, any more than “this is happiness: being curled up with a warm cat” means that we have to redefine “happiness” as being related to felines. Rather, in that instance, for example, “knowing God/Christ” is equated with eternal life insofar as it ultimately and eventually *yields* eschatological immortality.

Very important: "aionios" means the SAME in BOTH cases. Any christian universalist SHOULD understand any repetition of the same word in the same context as meaning the same. I do not go for this interpretation of the text because it leaves the question of "what about all other appearances of 'eternal life'? Do not they mean 'eternal' in the sense of everlasting?" Instead I point out in my free ebook that in this verse there is the ONLY occurrence of the sequence "eternal punishment", the sequence of the words G2851 (kolasis) followed by G166 (aionios), in the entire new testament. Kolasis means correction according to the Mr Strong’s code. In addition, it comes from the word G2849 kolazó, which was used for the word “prune”, as when a tree is pruned. That is to say, that the phrase should be translated as: "eternal correction”. Like a LOVING Father corrects his sons. But there are additional eschatological relations with this passage that are analyzed in the book to see how that "eternal correction" is very intimately related with the "eternal life" mentioned in the passage. They go hand in hand. They are not separate. Just like the "eternal fire" goes also hand in hand with the "eternal life". Have a look it is free.