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Does the Bible Teach Universal Salvation?The Watchtower—1955 | November 15
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As for Romans 5:18, its meaning is made clear by the New World Translation: “So, then, as through one trespass the result to men of all kinds was condemnation, likewise also through one act of justification the result to men of all kinds is a declaring of them righteous for life.” Time and again when the term “all” is used in the Greek Scriptures, “all kinds” is meant, not literally “all.” A case in point is Acts 2:17. According to most translations God there states: “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh.” Now we know that at Pentecost God’s spirit was not poured out literally upon all flesh, but only on a comparative few. But God did pour it out on ‘sons and daughters, young men and old men, on men slaves and women slaves.’ And so the New World Translation reads: “I shall pour some of my spirit out upon every kind of flesh.” The same is true regarding 1 Timothy 2:3, 4 (NW); it is God’s will “that all kinds of men should be saved.”
HARM OF THE TEACHING
Can there be harm to the teaching that eventually all intelligent creatures that ever lived will be reconciled to God? Yes, because first of all it robs God of his glory as one worthy to be worshiped by free moral agents. Further, it makes void the very issue for which God has permitted mankind to remain and in which he takes the greatest delight, namely, Can intelligent creatures keep integrity in spite of all that Satan can do to turn them aside through temptations or persecution? Why should Jehovah have directed Satan’s attention to Job’s integrity-keeping course if all mankind and even Satan himself eventually will become reconciled to God and gain everlasting life?
Universal salvation is a snare of the Devil to throw Christians off guard by promising them salvation regardless of what they do or do not do. It is frequently embraced by those who once appreciated the light of truth that God is letting shine upon his Word today but who for one reason or another became offended and separated to form their own little movement. By subscribing to universal salvation these, apparently unconsciously, make room for themselves in spite of loss of integrity. But for such there is no more a hope for salvation than there was for Judas whom Jesus termed “the son of destruction.” As both Peter and Paul show, concerning these once having been enlightened and then fallen away, ‘it is impossible for them to be revived again to repentance.’—John 17:12; Heb. 6:4-6; 2 Pet. 2:4-22, NW.
Although many well-meaning professed Christians from the second to the twentieth century of our common era have taught universal salvation, the Bible does not teach it. God is love, but he is also just. In love he offers everlasting life to those who meet his conditions, and in justice he has decreed that those who spurn his gift merit everlasting death.
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Churches Compromise with WorldThe Watchtower—1955 | November 15
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Churches Compromise with World
The early Christians never compromised with the ancient pagan world. But from the time of Constantine in particular professed Christians were quick to sanction or adopt pagan practices for whatever advantage might be derived from the compromise. Thus Henry Dwight Sedgwick, writing in In Praise of Gentlemen, makes the comment: “Christianity, as we have it, did not overcome the world, but compromised by letting the world continue as it had been, on condition that the world should call itself Christian, turn temples into churches, put saints in the niches in place of the demigods, and don a cassock over the pagan tunic.”
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