I can’t keep up with this thread – sorry – but I was so pleased with myself after my morning run in ghastly weather conditions that I decided to tackle Saint Steven’s challenge regarding 1 Corinthians 15:22. This will serve, I think, to underscore the larger points I've been making. (All Bible verses are NASB.)
1 Corinthians 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Three points:
- All of Paul’s letters are written to believers. There are few statements regarding the fate of unbelievers. 1 Corinthians is essentially nothing but instructions and advice to the believers at Corinth.
- The above verse appears in the context of a lengthy discussion of the resurrection of believers and how it will “work.” Universalists – at least those of Saint Steven’s ilk - ignore this context and pluck the verse out of the epistle as though the Holy Spirit had suddenly inspired Paul to preach universalism.
- For Saint Steven’s position to be correct, we would have to believe that Paul was in fact a universalist – i.e., this was his theology. Was it?
Paul wrote epistles both before and after 1 Corinthians. Can they reasonably be read, as a whole, as universalist in character? To suggest this is, frankly, absurd – laughable.
Let’s look at some verses from Paul’s epistles. Because Paul was writing to believers and not to unbelievers, the fate of unbelievers is typically discussed in an offhand way. In selecting these verses, I've omitted those about the predestination of the elect, about “vessels of wrath made for destruction,” and other obvious choices.
Remember, all these are from the author of 1 Corinthians 15:22. If you insist your completely out-of-context interpretation of 15:22 supports universalism, you must also tap-dance your way through all of these – not to mention the huge portions of Paul’s epistles that simply can’t be read as consistent with universalism.
Bear in mind as well that, for the reasons stated above, Paul’s epistles are really among the weakest NT sources for the doctrine of Hell (or at least for the reality that many people will not be saved and will experience an undesirable fate).
Lastly, I will emphasize again that before I adopted a non-traditional position such as universalism, I'd give deep prayerful consideration to what the NT and Jesus specifically say about the prevalence of false doctrine in the End Times.
From 1 Corinthians itself
6:9-10
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11:32
But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
Others:
2 Thessalonians
1:9-10
These people will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified among His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—because our testimony to you was believed.
Romans
2:5-8
But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will repay each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life; but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation.
2 Corinthians
2:15-16
For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing: to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.
4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Galatians
5:19-21
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
6:8
For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
Ephesians
5:5-6
For this you know with certainty, that no sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Philippians
3:18-19
For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things.