The eleventh doctrine of The Salvation Army includes a belief that the wicked will receive eternal punishment in hell. Is it possible to hold to this doctrine while also believing that all people will be saved?

I think so.

I happily and confidently affirm the Army’s doctrines. But I also believe that in the end all people will be saved. How can those two things go together if the doctrines include a belief in hell and the punishment of the wicked? I intend to show you.

The Harrowing of Hell

On Easter Saturday, also called Holy Saturday or Tennebrae Saturday, the Church has traditionally celebrated Christ’s descent into hell to rescue the people imprisoned there. In the Orthodox Easter liturgy they proclaim that Christ has trampled down death by death. In the Roman Catholic liturgy they say that Christ has defeated the devil and broken the power of hell. For Martin Luther Christ’s decent into hell was part of his victory on the cross so that his Lordship would extend throughout creation.

I want to suggest to you that in the end of all things, when God comes to judge the living and the dead, hell will be empty and all will be saved.

I make this claim not because I think everyone is good or that sin doesn’t matter. Rather, my belief that all will be saved is rooted in the destructive power of sin. I don’t think everyone is basically good, or that everyone can, by their own effort, overcome sin or resist temptation. But because all have fallen short of the glory of God, because all have sinned, then the possibility of grace and salvation for all also exists. Except for me, that is not only a possibility but a promise.

Hell Will Be Empty

I believe that hell exists, but that at the end only the dark and destructive spiritual powers of evil will be in it. I believe Jesus has broken the power of sin, of the dark powers of this world, and the hopelessness of hell. I believe that at the end of all things, hell will stand empty, because all the wicked of the world are not beyond the grace of God and the compulsion of his love for us.

I’m going to work through some key bible verses which I think help to explore and explain this commitment to God’s eventual salvation of all people.

What Does the Bible Say?

A key verse which is used to form a foundation for Christ descending into hell to set people free us 1 Peter 4:6 which says:

For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.

We see something interesting going on here. Jesus went down to the dead to proclaim the Gospel. But the second part of the verse is perhaps the most important. The dead have been judged, but still they are given the Gospel so that they might live in the spirit. The power of the Gospel to bring life to the dead is greater than the consequences of their judgement.

Death is Trampled Down

Paul also develops the image of Christ descending in order make an end of the captivity of sin and to make that captivity itself a captive. Death is trampled down by death, and hell is itself broken, so that those were held captive within are instead released. Ephesians 4: 7-10 says:

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it is said, ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ 9 (When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended[a] into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.)

First, we are given grace measured by Christ’s gift. The gift of the crucifixion and the resurrection. The grace we are given is not because we have earned it or deserved it but is given entirely as the gift of His. But this gift is not limited. It is gratuitously poured out on humanity. Christ descended into the lower parts, the traditional Hebrew phrase for the grave, for death, for hell. He descended so that when he ascended the captivity into which he had descended would itself be taken captive by grace and those who had been captive were released and rose with Christ.

Hell, Jonah, and The Big Fish

A somewhat tangential verse is Matthew 12:40 which provides us a more metaphorical way of understanding that the death of Christ is not just a time when he goes back to heaven, but rather will be the experiences of the depths. Once again, it is the traditional language for death, the grave, and for hell. The verse says:

For just as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth.

The death of Jesus was not simply a nice rest or a break in the proceedings. In the time when Christ descended to the lowest places salvation was still be wrought for us. Christ wrestled with those dark powers and overcame them through his death and through his resurrection

Universalism = Death is Defeated

The very power of death is defeated by Christ and has now power over him. Acts 2:24 says:

But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.

Not only is it impossible for death to hold Jesus in it’s power, the power of sin and death over us has been defeated. It is impossible for death and sin to resist Christ. Nothing is beyond God, including our salvation.

Christ Has Suffered for Us All

One of the most significant verses is 1 Peter 3:18-20 which says:

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former times did not obey

Christ suffered for our sins, once for all. Not for some, but for all. For the righteous and the unrighteous. Because none of us are righteous. All of us have fallen short, all of us continue to sin even in our salvation. We all need Christ to save us from our sins. Then in the second part we see Christ going into the prison holding the spirits of the dead who had not obeyed and there proclaimed the Gospel. So that everyone, including those that have disobeyed, that are unrighteous, that are sinners, will be saved.

Paul develops that theme in a different way in 1 Corinthians 15:20-28 which says:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. 21 For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; 22 for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’ But when it says, ‘All things are put in subjection’, it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.

The last things to be destroyed is death itself. All things will be subjected to Christ, the living and the dead. The destruction of the rules and powers makes way for the Kingdom of God where all shall be made right.

Every Knee Shall Bow

Philippians 2:9-11 says:

Therefore God also highly exalted him
    and gave him the name
    that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus
    every knee should bend,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue should confess
    that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Every knee shall now. On earth, in heaven, and in the underworld beneath the earth. All shall confess that Christ is Lord, and confession of Christ’s Lordship is the foundation of salvation.

We can also see parallels with Mark 3:24-27

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

Christ is binding up the dark powers so that he can plunder their house and rescue those who have been held and imprisoned in their false and corrupting power.

Jesus Has Conquered Sin and Death

Hans Urs Van Balthazar suggested reading Matthew 27:51-53 as the consequences of death being vanquished and Christ conquering hell:

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. 53 After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.

In the death and resurrection of Christ the dead are raised to life, the separation between God and the world is brought to annend, and the power of death is destroyed. Christ came to set us free.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 says:

This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God desires everyone to be saved. God’s will and desires are naturally productive. If God desires all people to be saved then what is to prevent God from saving everyone?

Changing Views of Judgement

There will be a judgement, and for those in sin it will feel like fire. Salvation is experienced by some as gentleness and warmth and coming home. For others, salvation means being confronted by the extent and reality of their sin. For those people, salvation is like a fire that purifies.

No one escapes judgement. Believing everyone will be saved does not mean that everyone just gets away with whatever they have done. Salvation and judgement go together, especially when everyone will be saved. God’s justice does not work in the way that we want it to. Grace is essentially unfair. Which is good because if salvation was fair then no one would be saved.

How We Experience Judgement Is Different For All of Us

The experience of God’s love for one feels like peace and for another feels like condemnation. When we know God’s love. When we experience salvation, we are confronted with the truth of our lives. This truth is not always easy. In being exposed to the truth of our lives we are assured of Christ’s salvation because we know God’s judgement.

Judgement leads to redemption for there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. No matter how far we have fallen, God still loves us. God weeps when we have walked away from him. God is angry when we act against God’s children. God desires our redemption as part of God’s saving justice for the whole of creation.

Ultimately, there is nothing we can do to take ourselves away from God. Our sins are not greater than his grace. The worst things we do in this life are not more powerful than the promises that God makes to us. We will be judged, redeemed, and restored.

Saved by Whose Faith?

We are saved by faith. But by whose faith are we saved?

Ephesians 2:1-10 says:

You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Salvation is the gracious gift of Christ. Our salvation is not something we earn or win. It is a gift. Freely given to us. Some of us enjoy this gift here and now in this world. Some of us will only know the gift of salvation in the world to come.

One day, hell will be empty. All will be restored to the way that it should be. Not because we are essentially good, but because in our sinfulness Christ chooses to redeem us. As all have died in Adam, now in Christ all shall live. Christ will save all people. Not because they deserve it, but because they need it.

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