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The Evangelical Universalist: the Biblical Hope that God's Love Will Save Us All
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Published January 1, 2012
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February 21, 2026
A LARGELY ‘PHILOSOPHICAL’ AS WELL AS BIBLICAL ARGUMENT FOR ‘EVANGELICAL UNIVERSALISM’
‘Gregory MacDonald’ (is a pseudonym, used “in order to focus the debate on the issues raised, and not on himself”) wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “I began my Christian life by affirming with a vengeance the mainstream tradition of the Church that hell was eternal conscious torment. After a few years a friend managed to wean me onto a version of hell-as-annihilation by lending me a John Wenham book [‘The Goodness of God’] and what, at the time, were theologically contraband books by Basil Atkinson [‘Life and Immortality’] and Edward Fudge [‘The Fire that Consumes’]. Not long after that John Stott ‘came out’ as a tentative annihilationist, giving considerable credibility to our position---a position that is now thankfully considered as a legitimate ‘evangelical option’ by many.
“My crisis began some years later whilst I was reading a superb book by… William Lane Craig entitled ‘Only Wise God.’ Craig was defending a philosophical position known as ‘middle knowledge’ (Molinism)… that seemed to allow the Christian to affirm BOTH that humans have free will AND that God can still exert providential control over our actions… a question crossed my mind: ‘If God can allow us freedom and still ensure that he gets his will done, why is it that he allows anyone to go to hell?’ If William Lane Craig is right, I reasoned, God could save everyone without violating our free will!” (Pg. 1-2)
He continues, “The problem Craig’s book raised for me was that the main argument I had used to defend hell… was that God had given humans free will, and if people choose to reject the gospel, then God would not compel them to accept it. Craig’s book began to remove that argument from my armory… It began to look like God could save everyone … even if he does not [control our actions]… I found the [pro-universalism] arguments Craig was criticizing more persuasive than his arguments in response to them… Then a seed of hope was planted in my heart… As I tried to defend the traditional view … I became more convinced that it simply did not work. I also read [Thomas] Talbott’s book [‘The Inescapable Love of God’], and the seed of hope grew into a young plant… For the first time universalism really became a live option… Over the next year and a half I read widely… My ‘conversion’ to universalism was not sudden but very gradual… I do not expect readers of this book to rush to embrace universalism… I do however wish to sow a seed of hope.” (Pg. 2-4)
He explains, “I am a hopeful dogmatic universalist… a universalist believes that God will rescue all people … The theology outlined in this book … espouses a dogmatic universalism, but I must confess to being not 100% certain that it is correct. Thus I am a hopeful dogmatic universalist… I hope that I will convince most readers that my views are neither heretical nor dangerous but constitute a legitimate … evangelical option.” (Pg. 4-5)
He states that in the traditional view, “the damned are so furious at God that they rage against his treatment of them… This warrants yet more punishment, and a vicious cycle is set up of sin, punishment, sin … which spirals on for eternity. However, this view seems incompatible with a biblical theology according to which in the coming age God DESTROYS sin from his creation…. Hell does not HAVE to be that way. For instance, God could make those in hell fully aware that they deserve the punishment they are receiving [so they] would not rage against God…. Or, God could annihilate them in hell, eradicating both sin and sinner. Alternatively… God could restore those in hell and redeem them from sin… any of these … alternatives seem preferable to the view according to which sin is never REMOVED from creation but merely contained…” (Pg. 14)
He summarizes, “all views of hell as eternal conscious torment suffer from two generic problems. First, the punishment seems out of proportion to any crimes humans can commit… Second, it is hard to see how God could give the redeemed perfect happiness if some of their loved ones are in hell forever. Views of hell as annihilation may … bypass the first criticism, but the second remains a difficulty.” (Pg. 18)
He observes, “Calvinists usually hold to a … view … according to which God places the punishment for our sins upon Christ instead of upon us… All he need do is make Christ’s death sufficient and efficient for all. Hell becomes unnecesary… Calvinism combined with the traditional view… inevitably leads to … a God who COULD save everyone but chooses instead to send some to eternal torment in hell to demonstrate… his justice...” (Pg. 21-22)
He notes, “Contemporary philosophers … often argue that the door to hell is locked from the inside… but, in fact, none (few?) of them will ever [repent, etc.]… But this is also deeply problematic. [Why would] death … fix humans against God… [so that] change is impossible? Why would the CHRISTIAN God abandon people… and effectively give up trying to rescue them? If one says that change is possible, then one opens the door for postmortem salvation…” (Pg. 32)
He admits, “if some [biblical] texts remain that perplex the universalist, this need not pose a serious obstacle … Virtually all the key Christian beliefs have some texts that seem to run against them… Nevertheless, we are content to hold firm our faith in the central Christian claims IN SPITE OF some awkward texts.” (Pg.. 37)
He points out, “some try to avoid the universalist implications of Romans 5:18-19 by arguing that the verses speak only of the salvation… OFFERED to all people… The problem with this interpretation is that Romans 5 says nothing about an ‘offer’ of salvation for all but of a salvation ACHIEVED for all, which all WILL receive.” (Pg. 83-84)
He argues, “the expression [Rev 14] ‘There is no rest day or night for those who worship the Beast and his image’ does seem to refer to conscious sufferings … for a long as the period of suffering lasts… [Rev 20:10 says] They will be tormented day and night … ‘unto the ages of ages (not ‘forever and ever’)… This expression … is compatible with a limited, though VERY long, duration. So, strictly speaking, nothing in Revelation 14 or 20 requires an interpretation in which the damned suffer ‘forever and ever.’” (Pg. 128)
He acknowledges, “There can be no doubt that the main argument against the evangelical universalism I have defended thus far is the presence of many texts about final judgment and hell found across the New Testament… A universalist could argue that the hell texts do not actually affirm ‘everlasting’ damnation but warn of a terrible but TEMPORARY fate… The reader needs to understand that what I am doing in this chapter is not a straightforward exegesis of hell texts. Instead, I am offering a way of theologically integrating such texts within the framework of evangelical universalism.” (Pg. 133, 135)
He says of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, “At first blush, this seems to spell the end for universalism… [But] nowhere else does Jesus ever suggest that the coming judgment precedes the end of the age… This makes us suspect that Jesus is… using the story to make some other point…” (Pg. 145)
He states, “In Mark 9:42-50 we read… ‘For everyone will be salted with fire.’… Presumably, if EVERYONE must pass through eschatological fire to enter the Kingdom… then Gehenna is only one mode of such purification… However, I am willing to admit that this saying is not entirely ambiguous, and I do not want to suggest that it alone can carry the burden of driving us to a universalist reading of hell.” (Pg. 150)
Of 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 he says, “Paul affirms that they will experience the ruin of the age to come, but this need not be their PERPETUAL fate… Paul is simply pointing out that those who have persecuted the Christians will not get away with it but will be punished at the appearing of the Lord.” (Pg. 152-153)
He also admits, “I would not be surprised if … the rise in universalism did lead to an erosion of mission. This… is because the KINDS of universalism that have arisen within some liberal Christian churches have not been the kind of evangelical universalism that I have been developing.” (Pg. 171)
He concludes, “what if I am wrong in thinking that God will save everyone?… Well, if I am wrong, then I will have inspired some false hope in the hearts of some people; but I do not think I will have done any serious damage…. I have not tinkered with any of the key doctrines of orthodox Christianity…. I hope that this book may persuade some at lest to tolerate evangelical universalism as a legitimate Christian position… even if they themselves feel unable to accept it.” (Pg. 176)
This book will be of keen interest to Christians (particularly evangelicals) studying universalism.
‘Gregory MacDonald’ (is a pseudonym, used “in order to focus the debate on the issues raised, and not on himself”) wrote in the Introduction to this 2006 book, “I began my Christian life by affirming with a vengeance the mainstream tradition of the Church that hell was eternal conscious torment. After a few years a friend managed to wean me onto a version of hell-as-annihilation by lending me a John Wenham book [‘The Goodness of God’] and what, at the time, were theologically contraband books by Basil Atkinson [‘Life and Immortality’] and Edward Fudge [‘The Fire that Consumes’]. Not long after that John Stott ‘came out’ as a tentative annihilationist, giving considerable credibility to our position---a position that is now thankfully considered as a legitimate ‘evangelical option’ by many.
“My crisis began some years later whilst I was reading a superb book by… William Lane Craig entitled ‘Only Wise God.’ Craig was defending a philosophical position known as ‘middle knowledge’ (Molinism)… that seemed to allow the Christian to affirm BOTH that humans have free will AND that God can still exert providential control over our actions… a question crossed my mind: ‘If God can allow us freedom and still ensure that he gets his will done, why is it that he allows anyone to go to hell?’ If William Lane Craig is right, I reasoned, God could save everyone without violating our free will!” (Pg. 1-2)
He continues, “The problem Craig’s book raised for me was that the main argument I had used to defend hell… was that God had given humans free will, and if people choose to reject the gospel, then God would not compel them to accept it. Craig’s book began to remove that argument from my armory… It began to look like God could save everyone … even if he does not [control our actions]… I found the [pro-universalism] arguments Craig was criticizing more persuasive than his arguments in response to them… Then a seed of hope was planted in my heart… As I tried to defend the traditional view … I became more convinced that it simply did not work. I also read [Thomas] Talbott’s book [‘The Inescapable Love of God’], and the seed of hope grew into a young plant… For the first time universalism really became a live option… Over the next year and a half I read widely… My ‘conversion’ to universalism was not sudden but very gradual… I do not expect readers of this book to rush to embrace universalism… I do however wish to sow a seed of hope.” (Pg. 2-4)
He explains, “I am a hopeful dogmatic universalist… a universalist believes that God will rescue all people … The theology outlined in this book … espouses a dogmatic universalism, but I must confess to being not 100% certain that it is correct. Thus I am a hopeful dogmatic universalist… I hope that I will convince most readers that my views are neither heretical nor dangerous but constitute a legitimate … evangelical option.” (Pg. 4-5)
He states that in the traditional view, “the damned are so furious at God that they rage against his treatment of them… This warrants yet more punishment, and a vicious cycle is set up of sin, punishment, sin … which spirals on for eternity. However, this view seems incompatible with a biblical theology according to which in the coming age God DESTROYS sin from his creation…. Hell does not HAVE to be that way. For instance, God could make those in hell fully aware that they deserve the punishment they are receiving [so they] would not rage against God…. Or, God could annihilate them in hell, eradicating both sin and sinner. Alternatively… God could restore those in hell and redeem them from sin… any of these … alternatives seem preferable to the view according to which sin is never REMOVED from creation but merely contained…” (Pg. 14)
He summarizes, “all views of hell as eternal conscious torment suffer from two generic problems. First, the punishment seems out of proportion to any crimes humans can commit… Second, it is hard to see how God could give the redeemed perfect happiness if some of their loved ones are in hell forever. Views of hell as annihilation may … bypass the first criticism, but the second remains a difficulty.” (Pg. 18)
He observes, “Calvinists usually hold to a … view … according to which God places the punishment for our sins upon Christ instead of upon us… All he need do is make Christ’s death sufficient and efficient for all. Hell becomes unnecesary… Calvinism combined with the traditional view… inevitably leads to … a God who COULD save everyone but chooses instead to send some to eternal torment in hell to demonstrate… his justice...” (Pg. 21-22)
He notes, “Contemporary philosophers … often argue that the door to hell is locked from the inside… but, in fact, none (few?) of them will ever [repent, etc.]… But this is also deeply problematic. [Why would] death … fix humans against God… [so that] change is impossible? Why would the CHRISTIAN God abandon people… and effectively give up trying to rescue them? If one says that change is possible, then one opens the door for postmortem salvation…” (Pg. 32)
He admits, “if some [biblical] texts remain that perplex the universalist, this need not pose a serious obstacle … Virtually all the key Christian beliefs have some texts that seem to run against them… Nevertheless, we are content to hold firm our faith in the central Christian claims IN SPITE OF some awkward texts.” (Pg.. 37)
He points out, “some try to avoid the universalist implications of Romans 5:18-19 by arguing that the verses speak only of the salvation… OFFERED to all people… The problem with this interpretation is that Romans 5 says nothing about an ‘offer’ of salvation for all but of a salvation ACHIEVED for all, which all WILL receive.” (Pg. 83-84)
He argues, “the expression [Rev 14] ‘There is no rest day or night for those who worship the Beast and his image’ does seem to refer to conscious sufferings … for a long as the period of suffering lasts… [Rev 20:10 says] They will be tormented day and night … ‘unto the ages of ages (not ‘forever and ever’)… This expression … is compatible with a limited, though VERY long, duration. So, strictly speaking, nothing in Revelation 14 or 20 requires an interpretation in which the damned suffer ‘forever and ever.’” (Pg. 128)
He acknowledges, “There can be no doubt that the main argument against the evangelical universalism I have defended thus far is the presence of many texts about final judgment and hell found across the New Testament… A universalist could argue that the hell texts do not actually affirm ‘everlasting’ damnation but warn of a terrible but TEMPORARY fate… The reader needs to understand that what I am doing in this chapter is not a straightforward exegesis of hell texts. Instead, I am offering a way of theologically integrating such texts within the framework of evangelical universalism.” (Pg. 133, 135)
He says of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16, “At first blush, this seems to spell the end for universalism… [But] nowhere else does Jesus ever suggest that the coming judgment precedes the end of the age… This makes us suspect that Jesus is… using the story to make some other point…” (Pg. 145)
He states, “In Mark 9:42-50 we read… ‘For everyone will be salted with fire.’… Presumably, if EVERYONE must pass through eschatological fire to enter the Kingdom… then Gehenna is only one mode of such purification… However, I am willing to admit that this saying is not entirely ambiguous, and I do not want to suggest that it alone can carry the burden of driving us to a universalist reading of hell.” (Pg. 150)
Of 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 he says, “Paul affirms that they will experience the ruin of the age to come, but this need not be their PERPETUAL fate… Paul is simply pointing out that those who have persecuted the Christians will not get away with it but will be punished at the appearing of the Lord.” (Pg. 152-153)
He also admits, “I would not be surprised if … the rise in universalism did lead to an erosion of mission. This… is because the KINDS of universalism that have arisen within some liberal Christian churches have not been the kind of evangelical universalism that I have been developing.” (Pg. 171)
He concludes, “what if I am wrong in thinking that God will save everyone?… Well, if I am wrong, then I will have inspired some false hope in the hearts of some people; but I do not think I will have done any serious damage…. I have not tinkered with any of the key doctrines of orthodox Christianity…. I hope that this book may persuade some at lest to tolerate evangelical universalism as a legitimate Christian position… even if they themselves feel unable to accept it.” (Pg. 176)
This book will be of keen interest to Christians (particularly evangelicals) studying universalism.
May 3, 2026
This is an amazing book! I never considered the idea of a universalism that could be compatible with a serious study of scripture, and yet that is exactly what the author presents here. MacDonald's thoughts are well-reasoned and backed by extensive research. His humble attitude and considered tone deserves a hearing.
For me, the biggest payoff in reading this book has been the clearer picture of God I believe I have glimpsed in the process. This view of God makes Him bigger and better and more loving than I had ever dared hope.
To clarify, the author believes that the only way that any of us is saved is through Jesus. The thing that sets this apart from the current majority Christian view is his belief that everyone WILL be saved through Jesus — whether in this life or afterward. (I specify “current” because in the first years of Christianity, this was considered a valid, orthodox view by many, including church fathers such as Gregory of Nyssa.)
I don't know that we can ever really know some of these things, but I am hopeful...extremely hopeful...
For me, the biggest payoff in reading this book has been the clearer picture of God I believe I have glimpsed in the process. This view of God makes Him bigger and better and more loving than I had ever dared hope.
To clarify, the author believes that the only way that any of us is saved is through Jesus. The thing that sets this apart from the current majority Christian view is his belief that everyone WILL be saved through Jesus — whether in this life or afterward. (I specify “current” because in the first years of Christianity, this was considered a valid, orthodox view by many, including church fathers such as Gregory of Nyssa.)
I don't know that we can ever really know some of these things, but I am hopeful...extremely hopeful...
November 6, 2025
Logical, persuasive, concise.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews