Universalism and the importance of a Christocentric Gospel

     This is my once a year blog! Actually, it is a new resolution to start blogging again. And this resolution was inspired by Rob Bell and his latest, soon to be released book Love Wins. As the book hasn't been released yet, I haven't read it, so I understand that it shouldn't be criticized. But unless Bell pulls a "gotcha" publicity stunt and the book is a complete 180 from his promotional video, I am willing to say that he has taken a dangerously significant step away from the Gospel, at least the Gospel as presented in the Bible. It sounds like the Love Wins argument suggest that Christ's love makes it possible for all to escape the punishment of sin, whether or not they proclaim a faith in Him.

     As I reflect on this theology, I realize the importance of having Jesus at the center of your Gospel. The Gospel speaks a wonderful hope to mankind, but its primary focus is on Jesus, and His glorification. The entire Gospel rests on Christ's work on the Cross, and Christ's resurrection, and Christ's ability to completely transform our lives. It is a story that ultimately glorifies Christ. It is accomplished by Him. I like the note in the ESV Study Bible on Romans 4:25- "When God the Father raised Christ from the dead, it was a demonstration that he accepted Christ's suffering and death as full payment for sin, and that the Father's favor, no longer his wrath against sin, was directed toward Christ, and through Christ toward those who believe. Since Paul sees Christians as united with Christ in his death and resurrection, God's approval of Christ at the resurrection results in God's approval also of all who are united in Christ." When Paul says "It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ," he is saying the Gospel is first and foremost about the work of Jesus being good enough to save man, not about the salvation of man. The problem is that when we make the Gospel about mankind and not about Christ, we ultimately end up with a Gospel that looks much different than the Gospel of Scripture. This is what has happened with Gospels such as what Bell seems to be predicting he is going to put forth in his upcoming book. It seems that the universalist argument that the existence of Hell limits Christ's love is very mankind-friendly. The only problem is that this Gospel removes the demand for a worship of Christ. It is a humancentric Gospel, and not a Christocentric Gospel. In a Christocentric Gospel, the end result is the worship of Christ. That is why Paul, in the same letter to the Romans, says "set apart for the Gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations..." Paul's Gospel was for the sake of Christ's name, which was brought about by "the obedience of faith." If the Gospel only rescues men from Hell, but does not bring about a worship of Christ, then Scripture is wrong. The Gospel proclaims to us that we are separated from God's love by our sin, but that love did win on the Cross in order to bring about a worship of Christ through the obedience of faith, not in order to make it impossible for any man to go to Hell. I'm not willing to limit God to say that that was the only way it could have happened, but that is what the way it did happen, and it is beautiful, complete, and brings all glory to Jesus Christ, God's Son. If His death simply paved a way for all of mankind to go to Heaven regardless of whether or not He gains any glory, then Christ becomes some sort of Deist Savior, winding the clock of salvation and sitting back while mankind continues to fall further into sin since sin no longer matters anyways, there are no more consequences with or without faith in Him. It totally removes the work of Christ to build His Church and the need for Him to send the Holy Spirit to guide us in Truth and grow us in our worship of Christ and continual surrender of our lives to Him.

     This is why it is crucial that we constantly monitor our interpretation of the Gospel. Is Christ at the center, is Jesus the end, or is He merely a means to an end? Does the Gospel we believe in bring glory to Christ, or is it formulated to be more palatable to mankind? Do we try to remove the very antinomies (thank you J.I. Packer for that word) that bring Christ glory in order to reduce it to our understanding, thus glorifying ourselves? An anything-but-Christocentric Gospel is a strong step away from Scripture, which is why we must be wary to maintain Christ's central place in the Gospel story we tell.