30+ Bible verses that support universal salvation

FineLinen said:

My friend: rest assured I do not post patronizing comments.

There are many excursions in the God of Glory, all leading in an upward path into more of Him and His mighty movings. Trials & tribulations are all encompassed in being an avenue to Higher Ground to know the Author & Finisher in manifold dimensions.

I wish you well in your journey.

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If you ignore the hell and eternal punishment passages, your approach makes perfect sense.

Dave L said:

Are you saying hell does not exist?

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The answer to that question would be dependent on your definition of hell.

I do not believe in a place of eternal conscious torment (ECT) with no hope of escape.
Reserved for those who had never so much as heard the name of Jesus and for those
who had heard of Jesus but either actively rejected him, or did not actively receive him.

I do not believe that God's justice infers the verdict of ECT. Mercy is the alternative to punishment. (which many conveniently forget) The mercy of God is never-failing. The hell of Damnationism would be a colossal failure of God's mercy and love.

Loving our enemies is a godly trait. (Matthew 5:43-48) The hell of ECT goes directly against that.

The Bible says that we cannot be forgiven unless we forgive others. (Matthew 6:15) Should we expect any less from God? Will God hold an eternal grudge against the aforementioned?

What sort of heavenly Father would devise such a horrible place? And then send the vast majority of those he created in his image to that place for all eternity? (countless billions) Does that sound like the plan God had for his creation? What sort of monster would premeditate such a design?

That being said, I believe there is biblical support for all three doctrines of the final judgment.
- Damnationism
- Annihilationism
- Universal Restorationism

Therefore we will find scriptures that support and conflict with all three views. Those who support UR want to make others aware of the scriptures that support that position.

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Bibles that do NOT contain the word "Hell".

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Scarlett's N.T. (1798)
The New Testament in Greek and English (Kneeland, 1823)
Young's Literal Translation (1891)
Twentieth Century New Testament (1900)
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (reprinted, 1902)
Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903)
Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903)
The New Testament, James Moffat, (1917)
Jewish Publication Society Bible Old Testament (1917)
Panin's Numeric English New Testament (1914)
The New Testament, Charles B. Williams, 1937
The People's New Covenant (Overbury, 1925)
Hanson's New Covenant (1884)
Western N.T. (1926)
NT of our Lord and Savior Anointed (Tomanek, 1958)
Concordant Literal NT (1983)
The N.T., A Translation (Clementson, 1938)
Emphatic Diaglott, Greek/English Interlinear (Wilson, 1942)
New American Bible (1970)
Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1976)
Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, Old Testament (1985)
The New Testament, A New Translation (Greber, 1980)
Christian Bible (1991)
World English Bible (in progress)
Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha [NT Only]
Original Bible Project (Dr. James Tabor, still in translation)
Zondervan Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1975)**
Int. NASB-NIV Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1993)**
A Critical Paraphrase of the N.T. by Vincent T. Roth (1960)
New Testament, Recovery Version, Living Stream Ministry, 1991
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) Roman Catholic
Holy Bible In Its Original Order, Fred R. Coulter, 2007
Etymological N.T. (An Ultra Literal Translation, 2011, Michael Wine)
Aramaic Peshitta New Testament, 2006, Janet M. Magiera
MirrorWord N.T. (Francois du Toit) still in translation
Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, Electronic Ver. (Tentmaker Ministries)
The Source N.T. (Dr. Ann Nyland), 2004, 2007
Jonathan Mitchell N.T. (Jonathan Mitchell) 2009
Tree of Life Version, Baker Bookhouse, 2016******
The New Testament (David Bentley Hart) Yale University Press, 2017

Dave L said:

If you ignore the hell and eternal punishment passages, your approach makes perfect sense.

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Dear Dave: It is a very dangerous enterprise ignoring one single digit of the Master of Glory.

Death, and all dimensions of thanatos, and all four hells, have one destination: the Author & Finisher of ta panta!

Strong in Him said:

And specifically, on this forum and in the churches, universalism is not orthodox belief.

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In the first century, Christianity was not an orthodox belief. Did that make it wrong? Orthodoxy is only valuable to institutions. Have you been institutionalized? - lol

Shrewd Manager said:

Thanks Steve, Rev 21&22 are really the only bits of the Bible I've read (I skipped to the end to find out what happens)...

And I wasn't disappointed. It's a happy ending! Why else did God create everything 'very good' at the outset if He was just prepping for a downward plunge into an eternal bbq for the many, with the saved remnant guffawing as they spectate, safe behind city walls? Hey, I can see my uncle burning and screaming as his flesh is flayed repeatedly, much rejoicing!

No, really, c'mon now. God proclaims 'I am making all things new!' (Rev 21:5). He doesn't say 'I am making most things suffer exquisitely forever', quite the opposite. And with that great proclamation, we have the assurance of one exceedingly good outcome.

'B...b.bb.bb.but the fire?' you stammer out in shock. Well, we know that GOD IS LOVE and also that GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE. So holy fire and love are equated, they're IDENTICAL animals, dagnabbit. God's ontological essence IS pure burning love. But let's look at the fruits for proof, shall we? Just off the cuff: adversarial nations consumed by fire (20:7), return repentant in worship (21:24), come through ever-open Pearly Gates (21:25) to get the healing (22:2). Curse is lifted (22:3). Death and sin thrown into fire (20:15) never to return. Reprobates thrown into fire (20:15, 21:8), encouraged to wash robes and come on in to the city for the free gift of healing eau de vie (21:6, 22:14, 17). What an offer! The message? See how long you can resist the relentless Hound of Heaven. For who can stand in the day of the Lord?

So the fire is spiritual, it's the purifying transformative love of God, His presence which destroys the sins of unbelief, falsehood, idolatry etc, because it reveals God's perfectly trustworthy and true nature. Immerses the unbeliever in a baptism of fire and the Spirit so they might be purified of their sin, 'born again' and repent as they come to truly know His righteousness, and overcome the bad habits of a lifetime.

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From post #295 for @Agallagher from @Shrewd Manager re: Rev. 21+22

Light of the East said:

You do realize you just made a heretical statement, according to several various catechisms currently in use, right?

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Just because something is written in a catechism doesn’t mean it’s true. What exactly did you disagree with in my post? I’ve provided several examples from scripture to support my statements.

Shrewd Manager said:

The message? See how long you can resist the relentless Hound of Heaven. For who can stand in the day of the Lord?

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Reminded me of this one.

Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.

Light of the East said:

What proof do you have that souls are incapable of repenting in the next life?

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I never said they couldn’t repent.

Not everyone who says to Me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew7:21

He who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. Luke 12:10

Saint Steven said:

From post #295 for @Agallagher from @Shrewd Manager re: Rev. 21+22

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Oh thanks Steve, I couldn't find the post you'd referred to and then forgot to @ the poster. I probably just wandered off in a different direction!

Saint Steven said:

In the first century, Christianity was not an orthodox belief. Did that make it wrong? Orthodoxy is only valuable to institutions. Have you been institutionalized? - lol

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That's a good point imho. There's nothing orthodox about the radical superabundant message of the gospel.

Shrewd Manager said:

That's a good point imho. There's nothing orthodox about the radical superabundant message of the gospel.

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It's an interesting phenomenon. Find something unorthodox that you agree with and then build a wall around it. Suddenly the unorthodox becomes orthodox. And the next unorthodox thing is rejected for being unorthodox. Therefore orthodox is a paradox. - lol

Saint Steven said:

It's an interesting phenomenon. Find something unorthodox that you agree with and then build a wall around it. Suddenly the unorthodox becomes orthodox. And the next unorthodox thing is rejected for being unorthodox. Therefore orthodox is a paradox. - lol

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Orthodoxy says that truth is determined by majority agreement. Therefore anything outside of orthodoxy (majority agreement) is considered false.

Seems amazing to me that Damnationists would believe this. Considering the source of their orthodoxy. (the unorthodox)

Saint Steven said:

If your children hated you, would you preheat the oven to 400 degrees, lock them inside and then burn the house down?

That is what you are accusing God of doing, only worse.

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It’s completely irrelevant what I would do. You seem to think that if God had deemed that some will burn for all eternity that He would be unjust in His decision but you don’t know what God knows. You don’t know why He has determined that it must be this way. I trust that God is just and loving and has a perfectly good reason for punishing these people for all eternity. I understand that what may seem like a better idea to me couldn’t possibly be a better idea than what God has.

Saint Steven said:

It's an interesting phenomenon. Find something unorthodox that you agree with and then build a wall around it. Suddenly the unorthodox becomes orthodox. And the next unorthodox thing is rejected for being unorthodox. Therefore orthodox is a paradox. - lol

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You know how the Pharisees were renowned 'fence makers', eg in 39 lashes, not saying the tetragrammaton, the whole kosher thing etc. The 'orthodox Jews' I think still use the conceptual approach of 'building a fence' around God's laws to mitigate the risk of transgression lol.

Well it was that kind of thinking Jesus as carpenter/ mender/ builder the Lord's temple - rebuked, as did Paul the tentmaker. Put up a tent and invite everyone in for the feast! Just make sure to have the wedding garments in proper order.

BNR32FAN said:

It’s completely irrelevant what I would do. You seem to think that if God had deemed that some will burn for all eternity that He would be unjust in His decision but you don’t know what God knows. You don’t know why He has determined that it must be this way. I trust that God is just and loving and has a perfectly good reason for punishing these people for all eternity. I understand that what may seem like a better idea to me couldn’t possibly be a better idea than what God has.

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No, what you would do is completely relevant.
What Damnationists claim about God makes him out to be a sadistic tyrant like this world has never seen. To claim that it is just that someone would pay with more than a lifetime sentence is unthinkable and nothing close to justice. (doesn't fit the crime)

To claim that God is more cruel than any human in history is a complete misunderstanding of fatherhood. Human fathers are modeled after our heavenly father.

Matthew 7:11
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

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Saint Steven said: ↑
If your children hated you, would you preheat the oven to 400 degrees, lock them inside and then burn the house down?

That is what you are accusing God of doing, only worse.

Shrewd Manager said:

You know how the Pharisees were renowned 'fence makers', eg in 39 lashes, not saying the tetragrammaton, the whole kosher thing etc. The 'orthodox Jews' I think still use the conceptual approach of 'building a fence' around God's laws to mitigate the risk of transgression lol.

Well it was that kind of thinking Jesus as carpenter/ mender/ builder the Lord's temple - rebuked, as did Paul the tentmaker. Put up a tent and invite everyone in for the feast! Just make sure to have the wedding garments in proper order.

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It seems that humans are bent on containment. We want everything in a nice tidy box. And then put a lid on it.

Present them with something new and they say, "It's not in the box." (duh)

Saint Steven said:

To claim that God is more cruel than any human in history is a complete misunderstanding of fatherhood. Human fathers are modeled after our heavenly father.

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Prof. Daniel Wallace, the textual critic, was saying his 4 boys should have been named after the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse. Fathers have a tough job.

Saint Steven said:

It seems that humans are bent on containment. We want everything in a nice tidy box. And then put a lid on it.

Present them with something new and they say, "It's not in the box." (duh)

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This is the evil of 'systematic theology', which turns God and existence into a kind of black box. Explains why they're so hung up on 'choice' - it's needed for the big decision-tree flowchart.

Saint Steven said:

The answer to that question would be dependent on your definition of hell.

I do not believe in a place of eternal conscious torment (ECT) with no hope of escape.
Reserved for those who had never so much as heard the name of Jesus and for those
who had heard of Jesus but either actively rejected him, or did not actively receive him.

I do not believe that God's justice infers the verdict of ECT. Mercy is the alternative to punishment. (which many conveniently forget) The mercy of God is never-failing. The hell of Damnationism would be a colossal failure of God's mercy and love.

Loving our enemies is a godly trait. (Matthew 5:43-48) The hell of ECT goes directly against that.

The Bible says that we cannot be forgiven unless we forgive others. (Matthew 6:15) Should we expect any less from God? Will God hold an eternal grudge against the aforementioned?

What sort of heavenly Father would devise such a horrible place? And then send the vast majority of those he created in his image to that place for all eternity? (countless billions) Does that sound like the plan God had for his creation? What sort of monster would premeditate such a design?

That being said, I believe there is biblical support for all three doctrines of the final judgment.
- Damnationism
- Annihilationism
- Universal Restorationism

Therefore we will find scriptures that support and conflict with all three views. Those who support UR want to make others aware of the scriptures that support that position.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bibles that do NOT contain the word "Hell".

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Scarlett's N.T. (1798)
The New Testament in Greek and English (Kneeland, 1823)
Young's Literal Translation (1891)
Twentieth Century New Testament (1900)
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (reprinted, 1902)
Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903)
Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903)
The New Testament, James Moffat, (1917)
Jewish Publication Society Bible Old Testament (1917)
Panin's Numeric English New Testament (1914)
The New Testament, Charles B. Williams, 1937
The People's New Covenant (Overbury, 1925)
Hanson's New Covenant (1884)
Western N.T. (1926)
NT of our Lord and Savior Anointed (Tomanek, 1958)
Concordant Literal NT (1983)
The N.T., A Translation (Clementson, 1938)
Emphatic Diaglott, Greek/English Interlinear (Wilson, 1942)
New American Bible (1970)
Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1976)
Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, Old Testament (1985)
The New Testament, A New Translation (Greber, 1980)
Christian Bible (1991)
World English Bible (in progress)
Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha [NT Only]
Original Bible Project (Dr. James Tabor, still in translation)
Zondervan Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1975)**
Int. NASB-NIV Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1993)**
A Critical Paraphrase of the N.T. by Vincent T. Roth (1960)
New Testament, Recovery Version, Living Stream Ministry, 1991
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) Roman Catholic
Holy Bible In Its Original Order, Fred R. Coulter, 2007
Etymological N.T. (An Ultra Literal Translation, 2011, Michael Wine)
Aramaic Peshitta New Testament, 2006, Janet M. Magiera
MirrorWord N.T. (Francois du Toit) still in translation
Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, Electronic Ver. (Tentmaker Ministries)
The Source N.T. (Dr. Ann Nyland), 2004, 2007
Jonathan Mitchell N.T. (Jonathan Mitchell) 2009
Tree of Life Version, Baker Bookhouse, 2016******
The New Testament (David Bentley Hart) Yale University Press, 2017

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Dan 12:2 NASB 2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace [and] everlasting contempt.

Rev 14:11 NASB 11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

Rev 20:10-15 NASB 10 [those who fought against the saints] And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one [of them] according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Gup20 said:

Dan 12:2 NASB 2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace [and] everlasting contempt.

Rev 14:11 NASB 11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

Rev 20:10-15 NASB 10 [those who fought against the saints] And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one [of them] according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

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Is that your final answer? - lol
Those texts have a Damnationist bias.

One of the most common biblical manuscripts used to make our modern English translations is known today as the Nestle Text. Yet it was Prof. Eberhard Nestle himself who warned us in his Einfhrung in die Textkritik des griechischen Testaments: "Learned men, so called Correctores were, following the church meeting at Nicea 325 AD, selected by the church authorities to scrutinize the sacred texts and rewrite them in order to correct their meaning in accordance with the views which the church had just sanctioned."

St. Jerome wrote: "They write down not what they find but what they think is the meaning; and while they attempt to rectify the errors of others, they merely expose their own" (Jerome, Epist. lxxi.5).

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"The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge"
by Schaff-Herzog, 1908, volume 12, page 96
German theologian- Philip Schaff writes :

"In the first five or six centuries of Christianity there were six theological schools, of which four (Alexandria, Antioch, Caesarea, and Edessa, or Nisibis) were Universalist, one (Ephesus) accepted conditional immortality; one (Carthage or Rome) taught endless punishment of the wicked. Other theological schools are mentioned as founded by Universalists, but their actual doctrine on this subject is not known."