Redemptive Hell and Universal Restoration in Christ

Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Earthly Delights. A standard picture of hell and judgement for many.

I frequently write and speak about the hope of universal restoration through the work of Jesus Christ. I often teach about how what God did in Christ is for every person who ever lived, and that Christ will not give up until Christ has reached every person who has ever lived. And yet, I also teach about the reality of Divine Judgment on our sin of denying God's Love and destroying God's children in big and small ways. I believe that hell is real, and we experience the judgment of hell in the sufferings and addictions of this life, and if we persist in selfish sin, we will experience it in the next life as well.

So, I am confronted with two seemingly incompatible truths: On one hand, our hope is that Jesus will save everyone who ever lived. This is amply born witness to in Scriptures such as these:

• John 3.16–17 [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 
• John 12.32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.
• 1Corinthians 15.21–26 [21] For since death came through a human, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a human. [22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (cf. Romans 5.12-19)
• Colossians 1.15–20 The Son is the image of the invisible God… For in him all things were created in heaven and on earth… All things were created through him and for him… God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (cf. Philippians 2.1-11)
• Romans 8.37–39 [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, [39] neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

On the other hand, our fear is that some, perhaps many, will perish in the "eternal fire" of suffering and judgment that is usually called by the name "hell". This too has ample Scriptural support in places such as this:

• Mark 9.43–48 [43] If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [46] And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [47] And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, [48] where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’
• Matthew 7.21–23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
• 2 Thessalonians 1.7–9 When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, [he will] inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

So, how do we balance between the hope and the fear? How do we reconcile the universal saving power of Christ with the universal reality of judgment for sin? Is there a better way to understand these issues than simply ignoring one side of the mystery to focus on the other? For instance, some stress the destruction of hell and ignore the intention of Christ to save all persons who have ever lived. Other people ignore hell completely and speak of a bland heaven where everyone will be accepted regardless of how deeply they are infected with sin. And yet others seek to reconcile each side by simply saying that God annihilates unrepentant sinners out of existence, which would result in countless numbers of God's beloved children ceasing to exist. This does not sound like the victory of Love we hope for in Christ.

I think there is a way to balance the hope and the fear, the salvation and the judgment. And this comes by recovering a very ancient vision of "hell" as a redemptive process, rather than a final destination, and realizing even hell is a tool used by Christ to bring about the ultimate reconciliation of all things in Christ. This was the view of some of the earliest and most formative voices in the Eastern Church. For instance, Gregory of Nyssa, and the 4th century Cappadocian Fathers, are remarkable for a number of reasons. They are the originators of much of the language we use to frame Trinitarian and Incarnational Theology. They are the ones who spoke of God as three "persons" in one "essence", insisting that Jesus is of the "same being" as the Father, as the Incarnation of God. But not only did they frame our very understanding of who God is and what Christ is, but they insisted that all humans were on a path of endless growth into Christlikeness (called "epektasis"). And they insisted that even though humans undergo judgment and discipline to turn them from sin, and even though some of them go to "hell", that this journey into Christlikeness will ultimately result in the universal restoration of all things in Christ (called "apokatastasis"). They insisted that our epektasis was much like metal ore being refined in fire: That the "fire" of hell is the very essence of God, heating us up to remove the impurities, until with shine with all the brightness of Christ's Light and participate fully in God's Life. By this process of discipline and healing, all will ultimately be drawn into God through Christ in the ultimate apokatastasis.

Using this as a framework, about 10 years ago I decided to do a series of sermons and lessons on hell and universal restoration called "One Hell of a Bible Study". Although I have hit on these themes and talked about them partially in several places, this series is my most systematic attempt to make sense out of all the theological issues and scriptural data that is relevant to hell and hope. Below I will publish the outlines and teaching materials from this series. May it help you grow into the fullness of Christ.

HISTORICAL OPTIONS IN DEALING WITH HELL

Throughout the history of the Church, there have been five major ways of dealing with the questions raised by the fact that people die in sin:

HELL AS RIDICULOUS: The first option is to say it doesn’t matter. Hell is just a ridiculous fable invented to scare us into good behavior. It doesn't really exist. But, we are "adults" and have "come of age". We no longer need horror stories or devils in spandex with pitchforks to make us behave. But, this is not true. Regardless of whether there is or is not hell, people do not behave. And, if people die in selfishness and sin, what happens? Does God force them to become good and go to heaven (making God guilty of forcing Godself on them against their will)? Or does God just "let it slide" and allow selfishness and sin to infect heaven, and hurt people, just as it has on Earth?

HELL AS RECYCLING: Some have opted for the idea that those who are not "perfect" get another go-round in a new reincarnation. They get all their memories "wiped" and they are "recycled" into a new person, to live life over again, and hopefully avoid the mistakes they made the first time. Now, this seems humane on the surface. But, dig deeper. First of all, how humane is it of God to make people "learn" from mistakes they don't remember, and have no opportunity of learning from? It sounds like a bad practical joke. Second, if they always forget what they have done, then they never have a real opportunity to deal with the wounds they have, and they can never be knowingly reconciled with the people they hurt.

HELL AS RETRIBUTIVE: In this view, hell is the retributive punishment that sinners justly owe to a holy God who cannot stand sin. The central genius of this idea is that sinners must take responsibility for the sin they have committed, and deal with it. People either deal with it by confessing sin, and letting Christ bear the wrath of God for them on the cross. Or, they bear their own wrath by denying, or failing to choose, Jesus. Either way, someone takes full responsibility for sin and its consequences.

If one takes their own consequences, there are two basic versions of "retributive hell": Active and Passive. In active retribution, God actively enjoys the suffering of the damned in hell. Their suffering is said to highlight the joy of heaven in the same way darkness highlights the brightness of light. In this view, God actively casts people into hell. In fact, before time, God actively predestined some to have mercy on, and others to damn, so that his mercy would become more "merciful" by comparison.

Now, if this version of hell does not make you squirm and make you raise questions about whether this "god" is in fact the Devil, this Bible study is probably not for you. Because, active retribution makes God the source of evil and death: He preordained a great many people to unfailingly choose evil and death, not matter what. How this squares with the God of life and love revealed in Jesus, one may never know.

Passive retribution makes God a little more palatable, but only in the way that a neglectful father is better than an abusive father. In this view, God does not actively send anyone to hell forever. He passively allows them to fall in through their own bad choices. This view is best illustrated as a parable: A certain father had an abandoned well in the back yard. Day after day, he told his two sons not to play near the well, because they would fall to the bottom, and suffer, and die. Yet, the father knew that they would fall into the well, because they were curious and stubborn.

As fate would have it, on a winter day, both boys fell through the snow to the bottom of the well. As they lay in the bottom, with gashes and broken bones, they cried out to the father. The father, who had enough strength and rope to save both, nevertheless chose to save only one and teach him a lesson. So, he climbed down the well and saved one, and left the other screaming in agony. At the top of the well, he said to his saved son "My son! Don't you feel grateful! You are not at the bottom anymore!". As he turned his back to the screams of the other son, he said "Now, that wretch will learn his lesson and deal with his consequences forever!"

In passive retribution, God allows the damned to suffer forever without doing anything about it, even though he could. While this does not make God the monster who creates evil, it does make God the wicked father who abandons his children. Jesus said: "If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" [Mat 7.11]. God is much better than a wicked father. Our idea of hell should do justice to that fact.

HELL AS REMOVAL: Since it is unthinkable that God should require an endless amount of punishment for a finite amount of sin, many people have opted for the idea of hell as "removal". Once someone has "paid" for their sin by suffering in hell, God annihilates them, and removes them from existence. To use the "well" analogy above: Once the father thinks his son has suffered enough at the bottom of the well to learn his lesson, he throws a grenade to the bottom to destroy him and end his suffering. This seems to be more humane than retribution, but it raises questions: Isn’t God still a wicked father? Why did he keep the son alive only to destroy him? Is it true that death and suffering ultimately defeat love and life?

HELL AS REDEMPTIVE: The final view seeks to hold God's Love, and the fact that sin has consequences, in balance without loosing either one. This view is that hell is ultimately redemptive: God uses hell as a last-ditch effort to bring sinners to repentance. This sees hell as a process, not a final destination. Hell is a tool to accomplish God's Love, not a "well" to throw sinners into. This is to say: Hell is real, but it is not eternal. It has an end and goal, which is healing sinners of sin and restoring them to God's Love. This view draws on material in both the Catholic and Orthodox Christian traditions which speak of a place in the next life where sin is purged and healed by Christ (often called Purgatory).

There are very few direct "proof texts" from the Bible to "prove" any of these views, and quite a few Scriptures that can be used against various views. Yet, our core question is this: Which view of hell best fits the "plot" of Scripture? Which view carries out the "trajectory" which the Bible is aiming us toward? Which fulfills the Love of God we see revealed in Jesus Christ? Is hell ridiculous, recycling, retribution, removal, or redemptive?

TO ADEQUATELY DESCRIBE HELL, WE HAVE TO KEEP ALL THESE PLATES BALANCED AND SPINNING SIMULTANEOUSLY:

1. GOD'S UNSELFISH, UNCONDITIONAL, UNSTOPPABLE LOVE FOR ALL.

1.1. God's primary desire for all of creation is Love: To be brought into intimate personal union with Godself and each other. Mat 22:36-40; 1Co 13; Rom 8:33-39; 13:8-10; Wis 11:21-12:2; Mat 5:38-48; 7:7-14; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 6:27-38; 10:25-37; Joh 3:16-18; 13:34-35; 15:12; Gal 5:13-26; Eph 3:14-4:2; Col 3:12-15; Jam 2:8; 1Pe 1:20-23; 3:8-9; 4:8; 2Pe 1:5-7; 3:9; 1Jo 4:7-5:4;

1.2. God is a Consuming Fire of Light and Love. The flame of His Love refines, purifies, and prepares people for Himself. 1John 1.5; 4.16; Deu 4.24; Heb 12.29; 1Co 3:10-15; Zec 13:9; 1Pe 1:7; 2Co 3:18.

1.3. God loves everyone and hates nothing He has created. 1Co 13; Wisdom 11.21-12.2; John 3:16-17; Rom 8:28-39; Psa. 136:1-3; 1Jo 4:9-10; Rom 5:8; Mat 5:43-48; Psa 145:8-9;

1.4. Because God will not force God's Love on anyone, nor make us receive Divine Love against our wishes, God gives us true freedom to accept or deny His Love. Our free choices have real consequences, and give us real responsibility. Deu 30:19; Gen 2:16-17; Jam 4:4; John 7:17; Josh 24:15; 1Co 14:32;

1.5. God wants everyone to freely choose to come to repentance and salvation. Eze 33:11; 1Ti 2:4; 2Pe 3:9; Mark 1:15; 2Sa 14:14; 1Ti 4:10; 

1.6. God's Love will not give up until God has healed us all and made us fully healthy children of God: Wholly holy, and truly Christlike. 1Th 5.23; Rom 8.29; 13.14; John 17.22-23; 1Co 13.12; 15.49; 2Co 3:18; Eph 1.3-14; 4.24; Phi 3.21; 1Jo 3.2

2. GOD'S PLAN TO SAVE ALL THROUGH CHRIST.

2.1. God has the power to accomplish his will, and nothing can ultimately stop him. Rom 8:28-39; Mat. 19:26; Jer 32:27; Rom. 4:17; 1Co 1:28-29;

2.2. God works all things to ultimately accomplish His redemptive purposes. Isa 46.10; 55.10-11; Psa. 33:11; Rom 8.28-39; Jer 18; Eph. 1:11; 3:11; 

2.3. Jesus Christ is the Center, Core, Purpose, Plot, Plan, and Meaning of all of God's Purposes. Everything God does converges in Christ, and God's ultimate Plan is to unite all things to Himself through Christ. All of History is meant to be "Christ-shaped": Death is always followed by resurrection. Eph 1:3-12; Joh 1:1-18; 5:39: 14:6-7; Luke 24:25-27; Acts 4:12; 10:43; 17:30-31; 26:22-23; Rom 1:1-4; 10.4; 1Pe 1:10-11; 1Co 8:6; 15:20-28; Gal 3:26-29; Phi 2:5-12; Col 1:15-20; Heb 1; Mat 11:27; 28:18-20; 1Ti 2:5-6;

2.4. Jesus is God's ONLY ultimate instrument of salvation. All who are healed are healed through Him alone, for He IS healing IN PERSON. He is Life incarnate. He is Love in human flesh. He is God's Purpose embodied. All who seek Life, Love and Purpose are seeking Christ (even if they do not yet know His Name). All who knowingly reject Him reject healing and salvation. John 14:6-7; 3:17-18; 3:36; 10:7-18; 11:25-26; Acts 4:12; 1Co 3:11; 1Ti 2:5; 1Jo 5:12; Rom 10:4; Heb 2:3; Mat 7:21-23; 10:32-33;

2.5. God has planted "seeds" of the Word of God in all cultures and all religions. All people have hints of Christ's reality, hopes of a Love that defeats death, and clues to seek after the healing and wholeness found in Christ. Acts 14:16-17; 17:16-24; John 1:1-14; 3:8; 10:16; Rom 1:16-27; 2:10-16; 1Jo 4:7-8; Mat 25:37-40; Gen 9:16; 15:16; Gen 14 & Heb 7 (Pagan Melchizedek worships God); Amos 9:7; Heb 11; Mat 2 (Pagans seek Christ)

2.6. Christ works through His Body- The Church- to draw all people to know, love, and follow Him. This mission even extends into "the heavenly realms" (Eph 3.10-11; 2Co 5:18-21; 1Co 12; Rom 12; Mat 5:16; 10:40; 28:19; Rom 10:13-15). As members of His Body, we will be active with Christ in "judging" and liberating the world (Jude 1:22-23; Mat 19:28; 1Co 6:2-3; Dan 7:27; Rev 20:4). In the Bible, to "judge" does not mean to condemn persons, but to diagnose the disease of evil and cut evil away, so people are healed and liberated from bondage (cf. the judges in the book of Judges). In one of Jesus' parables, two righteous men are even sent to give a message to someone suffering in Hades (Luke 16:19-31).

3. OUR JUDGMENT AT DEATH.

3.1. Scripture consistently teaches that there is no "reincarnation". Once we leave this life, we have to deal with the consequences of how we have lived. Heb. 9:27; 2Sa 14:14; Ecc 3:20; 9:5; 12:6-7;

3.2. At death, the "righteous" are separated from the "wicked": The sick are quarantined from the healthy to stop the infection. Mat. 7:13; 7:21-23; 13:47-50; 25:31-46; John 3:18; Pro. 11:7;

3.3. ALL PEOPLE will be "judged" at death. We will all stand before Christ so our motives and deeds are purified by the refining fire of His Love: Our sickness will be diagnosed so we can be healed. 1Co 3.10-15; Heb 12:5-6; Jer 9:7-9; Dan 11:35; 2Co 5:8-11; Gal 6:7-9; 1Pe 4:17;

3.4. Our level of spiritual health or sickness at death will determine the quality of our experience of God's presence: The more we are filled with Christ's Love and health, the more we will experience this as blessedness. The more we are filled with death and sin, the more we will experience it as discipline. Luke 12:47-48 19:16-19; Mark 12:40; Mat 11:23-24; 25:20-23;

3.5. There are strong inferences from Scripture that after death there is a process of purgation and healing, leading to "forgiveness in the age to come", as our sins are burned away in the "refining fire" of God's Love. 1Corinthians 3.11-15; 2Corinthians 3.18; Wisdom 3.1-9; 11.21-12.2; Matthew 5.22-26; Matthew 12.31-32; Micah 7.9; 1Peter 1.6-7

3.6. Furthermore, it seems that the prayers of those on Earth may assist those in God's presence, even as those in God's presence may pray for those on Earth. 2Maccabees 12.39-46; Tobit 12.12; Mark 9.4; 12.26-27; Rev 5.8; Rev 6.9-11

3.7. This is because, as members of Christ's Body, the Church will be active with Christ in "judging" and liberating the world. Jude 1.22-23; Mat 19.28; 1Co 6.2-3; Dan 7.27; Rev 20.4.

4. THE SLOW EVOLUTION OF SCRIPTURAL PICTURES OF JUDGMENT.

4.1. In the early Jewish Scriptures, all people who died went to the shadowy land of "Sheol", where what was left of human beings after death lived a shadowy semi-existence. As the Jews came in contact with Babylonians that believed in a Day of final judgment, Sheol got split in two: One part of Sheol was reserved for the Righteous, and the other for the Unrighteous. By the time of Daniel the Prophet, the idea was that the dead "slept" in one section or the other of Sheol to await the final resurrection of all flesh for judgment. Deu 32:22; 1Sa 2:6; Psa 6:5; 9:17; 49:14-15; 55:15; Isa 38:18; Job 19:25-27; Dan 12:2-3;

4.2. End-of-life issues get more confusing in the Christian Scriptures. Some texts speak of the next life using the Greek word for Sheol, which is "Hades". Hades is seen as a two-compartment holding place for the righteous and the wicked to await the final judgment. Acts 2:31; Rev. 1:18; Luke 16:23; Rev. 20:13-14.

4.3. However, there is also the realization that when we leave this life, we go to directly face the Lord. For those who believe in him, this is called "paradise". 2Co. 5:8; 3:18; Phi 1:21-24; Luke 23:42-43; 1Co 13.12; 

4.4. Jesus spoke of "hell" more than anyone else in Scripture. His "hell" sermons were aimed at religious hypocrites, not un-believers (the opposite of how we use it today). Although he used "hades/sheol" to describe hell, his primary image of hell was the ever-burning trash-pit of Gehenna. Gehenna was a valley outside of Jerusalem where they burned trash so that the city could be kept healthy and habitable. Mat 5.22-30; 10.28; 13.36-43; 18:9; 23.15; 23.33; 25.31-46; Mark 9:42-50; Luke 16.19-31;

4.5. The early Christian writers agree with Jesus and often speak of future judgment as flames, agony, and fiery destruction: In "hell" the sick face the consuming, refining fire of God's Love. Luke 16:22-24; 2Th 1:7-10; Heb. 10:27; Mat 18:9; Jude 1:7; Mark 9:47-48; Rev. 14:11;

4.6. However, Jesus and other early Christian teachings also speak of future judgment speak as eternal darkness, loneliness, and separation: In "hell" the sick must face the dark abyss inside their own soul. 2Pe. 2:17; Jude 1:6; 1:13; Mat. 8:12; Mat. 25:30; 

4.7. This future judgment is said to be "eternal", lasting for "ages of ages". Since this is speaking about a dimension beyond our time and space, it is symbolic. Furthermore, the Greek word "eternal" (aionios) means "perfect amount of time" rather than "unending succession of time". It means that hell lasts as long as we can possibly imagine denying God's Love in Christ. Mat 18.8; 25.41; Mark 9:48; Jude 1.7; 1Th 1.7-10; Rev 14.11; 20.10

5. THE PURPOSE OF DIVINE PUNISHMENT.

5.1. God uses punishment to accomplish His Purpose of Love in several ways. It may be for restitution, to restore imbalance (Lev 24:17-21). Punishment may be a deterrent to warn others to avoid evil (Deu 19:19-21; Pro 21:11). Punishment may be done to protect God's people, and quarantine evil from harming the community (Deu 17:2-7; Psa 37:28-29).

5.2. Divine punishment is NEVER done for revenge or "retribution" (i.e. God never gains pleasure from torturing the wicked or seeing them suffer). Eze 18:32; Lam 3:33; Lev 19:18; Rom 12.17-21; Mat 5-6; 

5.3. Divine punishment is ALWAYS done for redemption: To save those involved through a process of discipline, learning, and healing. Heb 12; Luke 15:20-32; Psa 32:3-6; 2Co 7:10; Rev 2:22;

5.4. Sometimes God "hands over" people so that their sinful nature, and even their bodies, are destroyed, yet their spiritual selves are ultimately saved. 1Co 3:10-15; 5:5; 11.32; Jude 1.22-23; Rom 11:32; Hos 5:14-6:2; [see also section 6.4]

6. HINTS THAT HELL MAY NOT BE GOD’S LAST WORD.

6.1. No one will be "annihilated" out of existence: We will consciously experience being in God's presence- whether as enjoyment or as discipline- for all eternity. Luke 9:28–33; 16:19–31; Ecc 12:7; Rev 14.10-11; Jude 1.5-7; Mat 8:12; [see also section 4.3]

6.2. God is present in Christ through every place and every time, even in the depths of Sheol/Hades. To be absent from God is to cease to exist. Therefore, if God is present keeping ANYONE alive in hell, it has to be part of His redemptive purpose of Love. Col 1.15-17; Eph 1:23; 4.10; Psa 139:7-12; Wis 11.21-12.2; Job 34:14-15; Acts 17:28 

6.3. God is said to reach down into Sheol/Hades/Hell and redeem those in misery there. 1Sa 2:6; Psa 49:15; Job 14:13; Hos 13:14;

6.4. God only destroys for the purpose of bringing repentance. He only has wrath for the purpose of bringing about restoration, reconciliation, and redemption. Hos 5:14-6:2; Jer 18; 30:24; 1Pe 4:5-6; [see also section 5.4]

7. THE SURE HOPE OF CHRIST SAVING ALL CREATION.

7.1. Jesus and the early Christians clearly expected Jesus' death, resurrection, and return to result in complete victory over all evil, and the salvation of all of God's creation. John 3:17; 12:32; 1John 2:2; Acts 3:19-21; Heb. 2:9; 1Ti 4:10; Titus 2:11; Rom 11:32; 2Co 5:15; 5:19; 

7.2. Jesus is seen as the "Good Infection" that completely reverses the infection of sin and death which has destroyed humanity. 
1Co 15:21-28; Rom 5:12-21;

7.3. Jesus Christ is ultimately the Center of all reality and will draw all creation into harmony with God's Love. Col 1:15-20; Phi 2:3-11; Eph 1:10; Rom 8:38-39;

7.4. Christ's saving act is an eternal act: It cuts across all time and space, and saves all who receive His saving activity. Heb 9-10; Col 1-2; Isa 53;

7.5. Jesus descended to Sheol/Hades/Hell to destroy death itself and ransom all people who are there and bring them back to God. 1Pe 3:18-20; 4:6; Eph 4.8-10; Heb 2.14; Acts 2:24; Rev 1:18; Psa 68.18;

RE-CONSTRUCTING A REDEMPTIVE VISION OF HELL

Key Scriptures: Deuteronomy 4.24; 1John 4.16; 2Corinthians 3.18; 5.8; Hebrews 9.27; 2Samuel 4.14; 1Cor. 3.10-15; 5.5; 13; 15.22-28; Matthew 5.22-30; 7.21-23; 13.36-43; 25.31-46; 1Thes. 1.7-10; Wisdom 11.21-12.2; Hosea 5:14-6:2; Colossians 1:15-20; Philippians 2.3-11; Romans 8.31-39;

Scripture makes it clear that God's central Purpose for all creation is to bring all things into His Love through Jesus Christ [sections 1-2]. Therefore we should interpret texts on judgment and hell through the lens of God's ultimate loving purpose in Christ, instead of interpreting God's Love in Christ through the lens of judgment and hell. When you reverse this, and make judgment primary, and God's Love secondary, what you get is a God who loves only some (and damns others), or a God who only loves us if we earn His Love (and damns us if we don't "perform").

But, when we "put first things first", we see that God's Love wins in the end. However, we cannot just "wish away" texts on judgment and hell (as some others do). Hell is a real option that people can and do choose. When we look at hell through the lens of Christ's Love, we see that all judgment is a tool to ultimately bring people to God. What we see is very much like healing a disease, and "cutting out the cancer", to save the patient. It is also like refining metal by blazing fire, until all the impurities are removed.

Upon death, there is only one Reality to go to: The Reality of the God of Love found in the person of Jesus Christ. We stand face to face with the Lord of Love and face who we really are inside, beyond all our "masks". God's Love is a consuming fire that will burn away and purify everything in us that is un-love: But only if we allow God to do so. God won't force us to Love him despite our will (to force love on someone who is unwilling is a form of "rape"). Neither will God co-opt us by programming us as "robots" who are destined to choose Love. For Love to be Love, it has to be freely chosen, with all the consequences that freedom entails. Thus, God allows us to face the consequences of our choices, and if we decide we are miserable, to turn away from our self-chosen hell to embrace God's Love. 

For those who know Christ and want to be made whole, this refining is a healing process (often called "Purgatory"). This healing process in Christ's presence brings us to the fullness of joy with all of God's children in God's Love. This joyful community is called "Heaven" or "Paradise". 

For those who knowingly reject Christ, and who do not want to be made whole, God's Love is experienced as suffering. It is being put in "solitary confinement" with a God whom you despise with nowhere else to go. This is called "Hell". God holds the unrepentant there, in his presence, to quarantine them from the community, so they do not infect heaven with their disease. It is self-chosen, not imposed; For restoration, not retribution.

Christ holds the unrepentant in His Love- and in their own self-caused "hell"- in the hope that they will repent and receive final healing and be saved "as one escaping the flames". It also seems that Christ may send members of his Body to intercede for, and reach out to, those in hell, in the hope that they will repent. This "hell" will be "eternal": It will last as long as we can imagine. When we cease to be able to imagine life apart from God's Love, then we repent and Jesus Christ heals us of sin.

But, it is possible that the unrepentant have made themselves so insane with sin that the best God will ever be able to do for them is hold them in His Love. The damned may be so addicted to evil that they forget how to repent. This is the only unforgiveable sin, the only "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit": To deny you are a sick sinner in need forgiveness, and to forget how to repent and return to the Lord.

This is why it is important to repent, and receive Christ as Lord, IN THIS LIFE. That is also why it is so important as Christians to share Christ in word and deed IN THIS LIFE. Because it is IN THIS LIFE that we can be sure that sinners can still repent and turn to Christ. We have a SURE HOPE that God can save all through Christ in the next Age (it is almost unthinkable that any-one can out-stubborn God's Love), but we can be CERTAIN in this Age.

This is also why we pray for those who have died: We pray that they are being fully and finally healed by Jesus Christ in the next life. Our attitude toward the death of loved ones should be grieving, but "not as those without hope" [1Th 4.13]. Rather, it is more like grieving for someone who has moved away for a while, but who will be back in a few years. For those who have accepted Christ as Lord and lived in His Love, we can be certain we will see them again. For those who die in sin, we can have a sure hope that Christ is healing them, so we can all be reunited again.

Our own attitude toward death should be similar to Jesus: Before his death he was rightly afraid of the pain and uncertainty, but he put all his Hope in God the Father. We should ultimately yearn for complete healing in Christ, in assurance of God's Love for us, hopeful of our resurrection. Unhealthy attitudes toward death are either (a) flippant assurance that we are "perfect" and do not need further healing from Christ in the next life, or (b) fear that we will be condemned and tortured by God's retribution.

Once all people are healed and brought to wholeness in the next Age, God will then raise everything back to life in the Resurrection. In our perfected resurrection bodies, our sin will be "judged" and destroyed forever. We will finally liberated from the effects of sin, and be reconciled to each other eternally. God will re-create the New Creation for us to live forever with Him and each other in perfect Love and communion.

DEALING WITH POSSIBLE OBJECTIONS

In this section, I used the format of a "catechesis" of questions and answers to deal with the main objections to a vision of a Redemptive Hell and Universal Restoration in Christ.

Isn’t the idea of a Redemptive Hell a recent invention? 

The Idea of Hell presented here is a strong minority opinion in Christian history. Something like the idea of "redemptive hell" has been taught by many of the ancient Greek Church Fathers, Julian of Norwich, William Law, F.D. Maurice, George McDonald, the N.T. scholar William Barclay, apologist CS Lewis, Swiss theologian Karl Barth, and evangelical philosopher Thomas Talbott.

Here are some books which lead to a Redemptive Understanding of Hell (all written by people with a high view of Scripture and Christ's Lordship). Not all of these people are Universalists, but they all trend toward universal restoration in Christ as a hope, even if they do not affirm it as a doctrine of faith.

• The Writings of ancient Greek theologians such as Origen, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Maximos the Confessor, and the Cappadocians (Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Basil of Caesarea)
• Anglican Divine William Law and many of the Cambridge Platonists
• "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis
• "George MacDonald: 365 Readings" edited by C.S. Lewis
• "The Apostle's Creed" (chap. 10, 15) by William Barclay
• "I am a convinced universalist" Essay by William Barclay
• "The Last Word and the Word after That" by Brian McLaren
• "What about those who have never heard?" Edited by John Sanders
• "Four Views on Hell" Edited by William Crockett
• "Universal Salvation? The Current Debate" edited by Robin A. Parry
• "The One Purpose of God: An Answer to the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment" by Jan Bonda, a Reformed scholar who shows that universal redemption is the only view that truly makes sense out of Reformed doctrines of election.
• The Writings of 20th century Swiss Theologian Karl Barth
• Catholic Theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar in his book "Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?"
• Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware in his essay "Dare We Hope for the Salvation of All?"
• Evangelical Gregory MacDonald in his book "The Evangelical Universalist: The Biblical Hope That God's Love Will Save Us All".
• Evangelical Rob Bell in his book "Love Wins".
• Perhaps the most concise yet complete and irrefutable statement of this position, rooted in Scripture, Tradition, and Logic, comes from Orthodox Theologian David Bentley Hart in his book "That All Shall Be Saved" which I reviewed here.
• As of 2019, the "gold standard" of scholarship of the history of Redemptive Hell and Universal Restoration in Christ is the two volume set written by Ilaria  Ramelli. The first volume examines Biblical foundations through the Middle Ages, and the second volume examines universalism in the Reformation through the Modern Era.

What about being thrown in “the lake of fire” to be “tormented day and night for ever and ever” (See Revelation chap. 14 and 20)? 

The lake of fire is nothing but God’s self, His eternal Love, burning like a consuming fire. This is the “eternal fire” Jesus spoke of (Mat 25.41). To those who know Christ, the fire is comfort, warmth, and caring. To those who refuse His Love, the fire is painful, filled with guilt and regret, like being around someone who really loves you, but who you have hurt, and feel ashamed to be around. 

Those who will not accept Christ’s Love are “tormented”. The Greek word here is “basanizo”, which means to be tossed around like a wave. They are tossed around between the endless abyss of nothingness that is death, and the pain of being in the presence of God’s infinite Love, and not accepting Him.

The words “forever and ever” are literally “to the ages of ages”. They will continually torment themselves for ages until they repent and accept the Love that has been beckoning them forever. Possibly, some may choose to reject God literally forever. But, this would be more like insanity than evil. All evil eventually is nothing but insanely denying Love. 

Yet, Revelation shows only five things actually cast into the Lake of Fire forever: Satan, “the Beast”, the “False Prophet”, Hades, and Death itself. This shows that the ultimate purpose of the Fire is not to torture people, but to put death to death.

But isn’t Hell called “eternal punishment” in Matthew 25.46? 

The word “punishment” here is the Greek word “kolasis”. Kolasis was originally a term used in tending grape vines. It means to “prune” or “lop off”. To be healthy, a vine must have all the bad growth pruned off (see John 15.1-10). Later, the word kolasis came to mean “disciplinary punishment”, the kind of punishment given in order to make someone a better person. Thus, the “eternal punishment” is to eternally have all the evil and selfish parts of our lives “lopped off” so that we are disciplined and can finally become true sons and daughters of God through Christ.

Or to put it another way: Only God is eternal, unending, and infinite. If hell were eternal, unending, and infinite, it would be the same as God. This would mean God made a second God, a God of pain and suffering and torment and evil, to be God’s equal. It would posit a starkly dualistic cosmos governed by two equal infinites, neither of whom could overcome the other. And in such a cosmos, Good could never win or get the Last Word. It would always be a tie. So clearly, hell is less than God. It cannot be eternal, unending, and infinite like God. It has to have a terminus, an endpoint, and a purpose. And that purpose is God’s Love. Hell is a redemptive process meant to eventually bring people back to God through redemptive discipline. Hell is precisely the experience of God by those who have chosen to turn themselves against God, and God holds them in God’s Love to both stop their infection from spreading further, and to heal them so they may eventually share in the joy of eternal Communion and Community. It is thus quarantine and therapy for sinners. As Psalm 139 says “even if I make my bed in the depths of Sheol, you O LORD are there”. 

What about texts like 2Thessalonians 1.7-10 that speak of “eternal death” and “eternal destruction”? 

Like we just spoke about, the parts of our lives that are evil and selfish are cut off from us, forever. They are amputated through "kolasis". Our sin is eternally put to death, utterly destroyed, and totally removed, so that we may become healthy children of God. What is eternally destroyed is sin and evil so that sinners, who are God's children, may be eternally saved.

The view of hell presented here seems to presuppose that we are healed and purged of sin by Christ's presence, and yet 2Thessalonians 1.8-9 (along with some other Scriptures) seem to presuppose that "hell" is being separated from the presence of God. How does this mesh?

The first thing that must be said is that the idea of hell (or anywhere else) being devoid of the presence of God is at odds with the Biblical witness to God's immanence, or omnipresence, in all places at all times. For instance, Romans 11.36 says "from God and through God and to God are all things", while 1Corinthians 15.28 speaks of a time when God being "all in all". And Colossians 1.17 says that "all things hold together" in Christ, while Acts 17.28 says that "in God we live and move and exist". Psalm 139 states it more poetically when it asks God "Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there." 

So any view of hell we hold, and whatever other Scriptures may say about hell, they must account for the fact that God is there in hell with sinners, just as God is present in every other part of creation. Because God alone upholds the Being of all other beings, and if God is absent, reality ceases to exist, period. So, if a person is separated from God, they do not suffer. They cease to be altogether. 

But in the case of this particular Scripture, most English translations of 2 Thessalonians 1.8-9 say something like this: Christ will come "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. These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord (Greek: ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου) and from the glory of his might..."

The problem, however, is that the Bible doesn’t actually say that. Many English Bibles-- even extremely respectable translations such as the NRSV or NIV--- have been mistranslated to support the erroneous Western doctrine of hell as separation. Yet the Greek phrase "ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου" literally translates as "from the face of the Lord". The word "separated" does not occur anywhere in the Greek text. It is an incorrect paraphrase of the Greek preposition "ἀπὸ" (pronounced apo).

This is because ἀπὸ with a genitive noun can mean either separation (away from) or cause (proceeding from). Here as in many other places ἀπὸ plus the genitive of face (προσώπου) means “proceeding from the face of the Lord”, hence destruction in the presence of, and because of, the arrival of Christ in glory. This is a similar usage to Acts 3:19–20:

"Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord (ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου, literally “from the face of the Lord” as in 2Th 1.9) and that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus."

If the argument was correct that ἀπὸ προσώπου meant “separated from the face of the Lord”, then that would mean Acts 3.20 is telling us that our sins are wiped out and refreshing comes by being separated from Christ. That’s an anti-Christian position. Therefore, in light of the actual text itself, and in light of the fact of God's omnipresence in all of creation, it is a complete error to think of "hell" as separation from God or abandonment by God. God is there, suffering alongside sinners for as long as they keep harming themselves and others. But we can only choose death so many times before we eventually choose life. And the very moment we decide to stop choosing death and start choosing Life-- like the prodigal son coming to himself in a far away land-- God is there in Christ to welcome us with open arms. 

But if Hell isn’t forever, why does Jesus talk about Hell so much? 

Because it is REAL, and more HORRIBLE than anything ever experienced. As Heaven is the perfection of earthly joy, so Hell is the fulfillment of earthly pain. What could be worse than being quarantined from community of true joy, and realizing your life was completely wasted on selfishness? Christ doesn’t want people to go there, and neither should we. Hell is deadly serious, and it will happen if we deny Christ.

However, we must also note that the word "hell" is actually of Pagan origins. The word seems to come from Old Norse mythological Hel (from Proto-Germanic halija "one who covers up or hides something"). In Norse mythology Hel was the name of Loki's daughter who rules over the evil dead in Niflheim, the lowest of all worlds (nifl "mist"). It was a pagan concept and word fitted to a Christian idiom, and as such it drew upon all kinds of pagan images of the underworld as a place of retributive torment. In this Pagan idea of "hell" (or more accurately "hades") we get retributive images such as Sisyphus rolling his boulder for eternity, Tantalus being forever thirsty but never drinking, and Prometheus getting his liver eaten by a vulture every day forever.

In reality, the word translated as "hell" is actually the Hebrew word "Gehenna". Gehenna means "Valley of Hinnom", just to the south of the old city of Jerusalem. In Jesus' day it was the trash dump for Jerusalem, where the refuse from the city would be disposed and burned, so that the city would not become polluted and toxic, and stay healthy and habitable. In ages before Jesus, Gehenna was also used as a place of sacrificing children to bloodthirsty Canaanite gods, and thus was considered cursed and unfit for human dwellings. Yet, beggars would rummage amongst the burning trash, searching for anything of value or anything that could be recycled. Recently, on a trip to Jerusalem, I went to hell. We drove right through Gehenna. Today it is a lush public park, filled with grass and trees, where goats eat and pets run and people play. This is a great metaphor for the ultimate purpose of Gehenna. It is a place to burn up everything that is toxic, so that what is valuable may be redeemed, until hell itself becomes a habitable place for human flourishing.

How can Hell be darkness AND fire? 

It is an attempt to capture in language what is beyond our experience. Hell is “basanizo”, where the lost toss themselves back and forth between the infinite abyss of their dark soul (which they cannot live with), and the infinite fire of God’s Love (which they will not accept). When they finally surrender to His Love, He purifies them and Christ draws them back to God.

Quotes from George MacDonald (CS Lewis' Theological Mentor) about the nature of God's purifying fire of Love:

• All that is not God is death.
• The fire of God, which is His essential being, His love, His creative power, is a fire unlike its earthly symbol in this: it is only at a distance it burns - that the further from Him, it burns the worse.
• Endless must be our terror, until we come heart to heart with the fire-core of the Universe, the first and last of the living One.
• Such is the mercy of God that He will hold His children in the consuming fire of His distance until they... drop the purse of selfishness... and rush home... inside the center of the life giving fire...
• Never could we have known the heart of the Father, never felt it possible to love Him as sons, but for Him [Jesus] who cast Himself into the gulf that yawned between us.

As Gregory of Nyssa and Maximos and Origen and others in the East have affirmed: Hell is real, but it is not eternal. As with everything created, there is a redemptive purpose in God making it. Or perhaps a better way to say it: There is a redemptive purpose in God allowing humans to experience it. Because the most reasonable interpretation is that the fire of hell is eternal, but the duration of hell is finite. Why? Because the “flames” of Hell are none other than the refining fire of God’s Love, the very Glory of God, the uncreated energies of the Trinity bathing the sinner in Light. This Flame purifies and refines until all the dross is melted away, and what remains is in harmony with God. And as the mystics have repeatedly told us, this Divine Light is so bright that it darkens the senses, and plunges us into Divine Darkness. If this is true of Saints who have willingly purified themselves in the Light of God, how much more so for sinners who are not in harmony with God? Hell is the name we call it when someone who has turned their souls against Love comes to meet that undying Love face to face. It is pain and purgation. It is discipline leading to redemption. For as Romans says “nothing in all of Creation will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ”. And for that reason, Love will not give up refining and purifying every one of us, until we are able to radiate the Glory of God. It may take ages upon ages, and strip away later after layer of illusion and sin. But eventually, all of us will come home to Love. Or to put it another way: Christ will lead us all to heaven, even if he has to go through hell to do it. 

But isn’t death the “last chance” to accept Christ (see Hebrews 9:27)? 

Yes, death is the “last chance” before judgment. Hell IS death, death IS hell. In that infinite moment, we have the choice to accept or deny Christ forever. And God can make that moment of death last as long as he wants to, until we accept His Love. It is beyond our ability to truly understand this in our world of time and space.

What about those passages that speak of loosing salvation? 

Such as: Hebrews 6:4-6 For [it is] impossible for those having been enlightened, having tasted of the gift of heaven, and having partaken in the sharing of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good word of God and the powers of the coming age, and having fallen away, again to renew [them] to repentance, while they are crucifying to themselves the son of God and ridiculing Him. 

Notice the differences in the verb tenses. All are past actions until the last verse, when "crucify" and "ridicule" are present, ongoing tenses. This verse says what we have been saying all along: It is impossible for God to save someone who is actively denying Christ and His Love. But, as soon as they repent and stop rejecting, it is possible to save them. Yet, God may have to discipline them severely to bring them to that point:

And also: Hebrews 10:26-27 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume God’s enemies.

Yes, if we deliberately keep on sinning (i.e. willfully rejecting Christ), then we are denying the only sacrifice that can cover our sins. The only thing that is left is to go to hell, and suffer, until we decide we don't want to keep rejecting Christ.

Doesn’t Jesus say that “few” will enter the Kingdom of God, and that the way is “narrow”? 

Admittedly, the words of Jesus are at the very heart of this objection: 

Luke 13:23-24 "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door! Because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.”

Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 

First, we need to understand that the “narrowness” is Jesus Himself. He is the ONLY door, way, and route to the Father (cf. John 14.6). Many will try and avoid hell and enter heaven apart from Christ, but will not be able to (cf. Mat 22). But God will not rest until all know the narrow door. Those who will not enter through Jesus choose to go to “destruction” (i.e. hell) until they repent and receive Christ, and tread His narrow path. 

Jesus’ first answer to the question is NOT “Yes, only a few will be saved”. Instead it IS “Strive to enter!” Jesus gives us the narrowness passages for two reasons: First, to make us take seriously the need to come to God through Him alone. Second, to spur those of us who do know Him on to help “the many” who cannot find the door alone.

But what about the “Elect” of God? Aren’t there only a few elect? 

In all of the narrowness passages of the Bible (such as “many are called, but few are chosen” in Matthew 22.14), we must remember the PURPOSE for God’s election of the few. The few are elected and blessed IN ORDER TO share that election and blessing with the whole world, not to keep it to themselves. The elect are elected by God to elect others into the Kingdom. Our election is election to service, not self-satisfied sloth! 

In all the narrowness texts of the Bible, we have the choice: Do we interpret the universal love texts in light of narrowness? If we do this, we get a version of “When God says He loves all, He really only loves the few, and that’s it. We would love to help you, but only if you’re elect. Sorry.” 

Or, do we interpret the narrowness texts in light of God’s universal Love? If we do this, we get a version of “When God elects the few, He elects them to serve. He gives them the mission to share His Love with all the world. God elects and blesses, so that we can share that election and blessing with everyone. No exceptions.” Which method of interpretation best aligns with the radically self-emptying Love God gives us in Jesus Christ?

If we need help answering this question, let us look at the example of the “original elect” apostles of Christ. Did they sit around, self-satisfied in their election? Or did they share their election and blessings with others, so that others could become elect too?

So, on one hand we have a vision of inclusive election: Those who are elect in Christ are elected to service, to bring others into the elect community of Christ, and to use their blessings to bless the world. The opposite of this is exclusive election: That God has predestined a large swath of humanity be saved forever, and destined another (often larger) swath of humanity to be damned forever. Depending on whether one goes with Augustine or Luther or Calvin or Arminius, the details may differ on how this happens. God may actively choose the damned to be damned, or passively allow them to slide into damnation because he did not elect them to be saved, or perhaps God foresaw that they were not good enough to save because they lacked faith or good works or baptism or some other qualifying factor. But the end result is the same: A significant portion of humanity is destined for hell, and no one can do anything to change that. Not even God.

If someone still believes in exclusive election rather than inclusive election, I have a thought experiment about the practical ramifications of such an idea. What does it logically entail about the way we ought to live? For those who believe God has predestined some to suffer eternally, and others to inherit eternal life, we need to take seriously the words of our Lord:

“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” (Luke 12:47–48)

Thus, it follows that those who are predestined for salvation have distinct duties toward the Elect and the Damned. 

Toward the Elect: Those who are predestined for eternal life will receive it no matter what humans do or don’t do. Our evangelism and prayers and sacraments do nothing for them, because God has ordained they will be saved regardless. So our duty to the Elect is non-interference. Allow God to do what God wills in their life without meddling. 

Toward the Damned: We see from our Lord’s teaching that those who live longer and have deeper knowledge of their sin will suffer even more in eternal hell. Furthermore, our Lord tells us to love even our enemies (cf. Matthew 5.44). If our love for our enemies cannot save their souls (as they are destined for hell), our love can at least lessen their suffering. And the only way to lessen their suffering is to cut short their lives, so they will sin less and have less knowledge of the sins they commit. Therefore, as the Elect, our primary duty is to identify the Damned and kill them as swiftly as possible, as young as possible, so they will suffer as little as possible in eternal hell. We need to come up with the most efficient way to identify the Damned, find the Damned, and eliminate the Damned. 

Yet, this clearly seems like an absurd and morally reprehensible conclusion, especially compared with the Love that Jesus commends in places like the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew ch. 5-7). This is because the logic of exclusive election is flatly contradictory to the life, ministry, and teaching of Jesus. The only kind of election that makes sense in the Light of Christ is inclusive election: We are chosen to choose others and to reach out and include them in Christ.

But doesn’t this redemptive view of hell presume upon God’s mercy? 

In the past I have been satisfied with the argument that goes like this: “We are all sinners. Sinners deserve death and hell, because they cannot be allowed to infect Heaven with their sin. Furthermore, Heaven cannot be forced on someone who does not want to spend eternity with Christ. Forced love is not real love. Therefore EVERYONE deserves hell. If God saved JUST ONE person from Hell, that would be more mercy than anyone has a right to ask for. So, do not worry if many go to hell forever, because God has saved more than could ever deserve heaven.”

This argument is TRUE, but it fails to take into account ALL the Biblical evidence. There are dozens of passages that seem to explicitly say that God will save EVERYONE. Furthermore, many more hint that hell is not final. If we look solely at human abilities and intentions, then YES, the majority of humanity deserves hell forever. But we are never to look to man for our salvation (cf. Psa 33). We look only to God and His promises. And God’s intentions and promises revealed in Christ Jesus are this: to reconcile all things to Himself, to destroy death forever, and become our “All in All” (cf. 1Co 15).

Either hell is a destination of no hope, or a tool of final hope. You decide.

But if Heaven is for all, doesn’t that destroy our freedom? 

No, because God gives the real choice of Hell, for as long as we desire it. Hell is the logical, natural consequences of living in sin, and God allows us to have those consequences until we get tired of them, and choose God instead. At that point, Christ takes our sin and consequences on Himself, and draws us back to the Father’s Love. This is true in this life, as well as in the next. 

But in the parable of the Rich Man in Hades (Luke 16), it doesn't seem like he has the ability to repent and return to God. What about that?

This is an interesting parable. And we must start by noting that it is a parable, and not a literal description of the afterlife. So, we cannot look for it to give us a precise topology of future judgment. Yet, it does give us some hints of both the severity of divine judgment, and also the hope of redemption in Christ.

In the parable, the Rich Man goes to the flaming punishment of Hades (one of many Greek words for the afterlife) because he failed to minister to Christ in the person of Lazarus. In the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew: Whatever we do not do to the least of these, we do not do to Jesus (cf. Matthew 25.31-46). And the anonymous Rich Man failed to feed and shelter and have compassion on Lazarus, and in so doing denied Christ and the Good News of compassion and healing found in Christ. As such, he has separated himself from Christ.

Note that the way he denies Christ in this parable is not by denying ideas about who Christ is, but by denying Christ in the vulnerable and needy, by failing to have compassion. So, "denying Christ" should be seen as a failure to love, not as a failure to believe or know certain truths. In the words of First John, it is a failure to "do the truth" (1John 1.6) so that we merely "love with words and tongue but [not] with actions and in truth" (1John 3.18). Or to use Jesus' own words from Matthew 7: It is possible to call Jesus "Lord Lord", and even do religious acts in his name, and yet deny him in our hearts and in our failure to love others. 

And so we return to the Rich Man in torment in the flames of Hades. Abraham and Lazarus make an appearance across a wide chasm above him, and the Rich Man begs them to rescue him. Abraham replies "between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us" (Luke 16:26). But this begs the question of why Abraham and Lazarus appeared in the first place. What purpose does their observation of Hades serve? Are they merely there to gloat and enjoy the torment? Or is there a redemptive purpose for their arrival?

Since everything in the Gospel is ultimately redemptive, obviously the narrative purpose is that of warning: That denying God's Love by denying compassion to God's children has dire consequences. But is there also a deeper purpose in the narrative for their arrival: They witness to human inability to save ourselves, and the fact that we must rely on God's power to cross the chasm we cannot cross. It is true that no mortal can cross the chasm and rescue the Rich Man. But if he repents and seeks God, God himself can cross the chasm. In fact, God did precisely this in the person of Jesus. He crossed the chasm to the depths of death, to the furthest reaches of hell, and then overcame death by the power of the resurrection. This is celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church in the "harrowing of hell" by which Jesus destroyed hell from the inside out, so that those held in hell may be redeemed. 

So when seen in the context of the entire narrative of Luke's Gospel, this parable not only serves as a warning to us in this life, but also points to the cross and empty tomb at the end of the Gospel of Luke. And thus, in the words of Psalm 139 even if we go to the depths of Hades, God is there sustaining us. So, this parable points ultimately to the hope that even if we turn away completely from God, God will not abandon us. Even at our furthest alienation from God, God gives us grace to repent and return and say "Father O have sinned against heaven and against you" so that God will have mercy on us and embrace us and clothe us in Christ's salvation (cf. the parable of the Prodigal Son one chapter earlier in Luke 15). 

What about Matthew 12:32: “anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come”? 

Correct. To “speak against” or “blaspheme” the Holy Spirit (in Mark 3:29) is to reject the Spirit calling us Love God and accept Christ. As long as we do this, we cannot be forgiven, in any age, now or later. BUT, as soon as we stop rejecting the Spirit, and repent, we can be forgiven, in any age, now or later.

Jesus is clearly saying that the rules don’t change now or in any age. We still have to cooperate with the Holy Spirit leading us to Christ to be healed and saved. And if that can happen in this age, it can happen in the age to come. Just like if we deny and refuse the Spirit, we cannot be saved in this age, or the age to come. This is entailed by the idea that hell is real, but not eternal. And when we repent and return to the Lord, either in this age or the age to come, we exit hell and embrace life. 

But doesn’t this idea of Hell destroy our sense of immediacy and desire to live for Christ in this life? 

No. It frees us to live more fully in God’s Love, because we know Jesus loves us forever. No exceptions. We know He will not stop or give up until He has brought us all to become God’s children, which is what we were made for. It makes us want to tell others. 

If the only reason you follow Jesus is the “get out of hell free” card, then do you really love Him in the first place?

This assumes a very shallow and selfish vision of what salvation is. If we are only coming to Jesus for a ticket out of hell, perhaps we are not coming to Jesus at all. And perhaps part of the very process of living is to deepen our self to the point that we want the fullness of God, and not just selfish gratification. In this case, hell is a redemptive process to deepen our souls to accept the fullness of God. The following quotes and ideas get to the heart of this insight:

• "Some people would rather receive salvation from God than God their salvation" (George MacDonald). Which person are you?
• What would you think if you married someone now, but they only wanted to be with you after retirement? How does this relate to God? 
• Hell is life without Jesus: Now and later... So why wait to accept Him?
• Jesus is the only source of healing and wholeness... So why would you want to wait and withhold Him from yourself and others?
• You would have to be crazy to want to go to Hell... It is horrid.
• You would have to be evil to want anyone else to go to Hell.
• It is STILL possible to be so selfish and unrepentant that Hell lasts forever... So why take the chance?
• If someone is loving, kind, and fulfilled without explicitly knowing Christ, they will be EVEN MORESO by personally knowing Christ.

So, is getting out of hell as simple as saying “Oops, I was wrong! I choose Christ!”? 

We often want answers short and sweet, in simplistic terms. But, this is not merely a yes or no question, because the question does not frame the issues correctly. It would be like someone asking “To get from Dallas to Chicago, all I have to do is head north, right?” Or, it is like a drug addict saying “To get my life straight and become whole, all I have to do is accept Christ, right?” Or, it is like a cancer patient saying “To get healthy, all I have to do is go on chemotherapy, right?”

Sure, to get from Dallas to Chicago, a northern orientation is a first step, but it is much more complex than that as you actually read the maps and travel the roads. It is a first step for the healing of a drug addict to accept Christ and surrender to His Lordship. But complete wholeness will only come after years of hard work and relying on other members of the Church. And yes, to be healed from cancer it is necessary to undergo chemotherapy and radiation (in most instances). But this process is very painful in itself, and it may not be all that is needed. To be healed, sometimes amputation is necessary.

THE LAST WORD

So, these are the issues involved in the idea of “Redemptive Hell”. If salvation happens in this life or beyond, then it requires first accepting the Lordship of Christ. It also requires SUSTAINED surrender to Christ’s discipline, as we allow his PROCESS of pruning us to get rid of all evil and selfishness in our self. Finally, it may require amputation of parts of our lives. And there is the possibility that if we have completely denied Christ and lived completely for self, then after amputation, there may be nothing left of us. Sin puts one’s soul in the danger of becoming a non-person, forever rejecting God's Love.

The Biblical teaching on time, eternity, heaven and hell is both incredibly simple, and infinitely complex. And the apparent simplicity, on deeper inspection, gives way to a profound depth. As such, new believers need to hear the clear teaching of the Gospel about hell:

• Hell is the natural consequence for denying God’s Love in Christ.
• Hell is utter isolation and complete quarantine from the joy of heaven.
• Hell is the worst suffering imaginable.
• Hell is "eternal": It lasts as long as we can imagine denying God.
• The only way to avoid hell is to receive Christ as Lord of our lives.

But, when believers really dig deep and ask questions about God’s desire to save, and God’s ability to save, in light of the reality of Hell, then they need to understand that Hell is not God’s last word. God's Last Word is the same as God's first Word. And that Word is Christ (John 1). The Word that is Christ is not death and hatred and alienation, but Life and Love and Reconciliation. God's final Word is a Word of Creation and not destruction!

Hell, in the end, beyond time and eternity, seems to be ultimately redemptive. We may all eventually get to heaven, even if we have to go through hell to get there. That seems to be what Scripture strongly hints at. I cannot presume to pronounce this as dogma, as if God has to save all to be God. I have to preserve room for both God's freedom to act, and our freedom to reject God. But it seems like God will not give up until God has gathered all his children to himself in Christ. So in the end, I am not a dogmatic universalist, but I am a hopeful universalist. And if Scripture is to be believed, hope does not disappoint (Romans 5.5).