ALL saved - How about those that reject Christ?

Does 'all' actually mean all?

Question from viewer: Again I very much appreciate your response. I read many of the verses you posted as referring to those who receive Christ, but I see it as not including those who reject Him. Yes, all mankind will be redeemed, those who call on Jesus' name. Those who reject Him are not included in this "all". This is why I want you to address the devil and if you believe he will be redeemed. If all really means all, you must also believe the devil will be saved. Yet if the devil is not saved, then neither will those who follow after his lawlessness.

My Response: How can you think that the ‘all’ in 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28 is not ‘all?’ The context of chapter 15 is that Paul was speaking to people that didn’t believe in the resurrection and he says “for even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, In Christ, shall all be vivified (1 Cor. 15:22). Do we not all die in Adam? Is the first part of this verse referring to all humanity, since all humanity dies in Adam? Then, the second part of the verse applies to same ‘all’ as in the first. Notice this verse does not say that ‘all’ in Christ will be vivified, but it says In Christ, ‘all’ will be vivified. The same exact ‘all’ that die in Adam.

Not only does Paul talk about all that die in Adam will be made immortal in Christ, but he talks about all sovereignty, all authority, power and every enemy. This includes Satan and his minions. Paul says that ‘all’ these beings will be subjected to Christ and the only Being in all the universe not subjected to Christ is God Himself. That is the ‘all’ in question. That is the ‘all’ that God will be All in all in. This includes every creature ever created.

So my point is that this vivification that Christ gives is immortality. The second death cannot touch those that are given immortality and have put on God’s righteousness. This is everyone as proven in 1 Corinthians 15: 21-28.

You hit the nail on the head in your last sentence. Those that believe Satan is the creator of evil feel justified in separating this evil and the Adversary from God. Therefore, the natural conclusion is that those that choose evil will also be apart from God for eternity.

However, it is my view, as Isaiah 45:7 declares that God is the Creator of evil and its God that gives man an experience of evil, not Satan (Ecclesiastes 1:13). God, the only Creator, subjects His creation to vanity, not Satan, so that God can free creation from this bondage into children of God.

God is not evil and is not a sinner in doing this because He uses the evil for an eventual, good outcome (Genesis 50:20, Acts 4: 27-28). Evil was a part of the tree in the beginning and is part of God’s plan throughout the ages to show contrast. We experience evil, sin, and death so that we have a greater understanding and joy when we have goodness, righteousness, and immortality.

As far as the second death goes, any choice to be separate from God is a sin. Sin is an enemy and all enemies are abolished through the work of the cross, eventually. I could get into more detail but for time sake I’ll just say that Christ abolishing death only so the ‘2nd death’ will remain doesn’t make any sense.

As far as those that reject Christ, Paul brings all humanity back to Adam on many occasions. For instance, Romans 18-19 says that all mankind is condemned in Adam and justification through Christ is for the same ‘all mankind.’ The phrase ‘thus also’ refers to the ‘all mankind’ and the ‘manner’ in which they get justification. We did not accept the death of Adam to receive it, we inherited it. We did not accept the justification of Christ, we inherited it. Of course, those given belief will have salvation before everyone else.

1 Timothy 4:10 says that God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers. This qualifies unbelievers or those that reject Christ as being saved. If believers have a special salvation, then this verse says that non-believers have a salvation. Unlike believers that come in early through faith, unbelievers come in later through judgement.

How about the apostle Paul? Talk about a man that rejected Christ. He was breathing murderous thoughts and arresting Christians. He outright rejected Christ and did not make a choice to follow Him. Jesus told “what you MUST be doing” and this is a pattern of how believers come in. Paul was chosen by God first, then Paul made his decisions as a result (Acts 9: 6 and 15).

God delighted in severing Paul from his mother’s womb to unveil Christ Jesus (Galatians 1:15-16). If God chose Paul for his ministry from his mother’s womb, then Saul’s rejection was part of God’s purpose. So, what does God do to those that reject Christ? Well, Paul is the pattern (1 Timothy 1: 16).

15 Now, when it delights God, Who severs me from my mother's womb and calls me through His grace,
16 to unveil His Son in me that I may be evangelizing Him among the nations, I did not immediately submit it to flesh and blood -Galatians 1: 15-16

15 Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all welcome, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, foremost of whom am I.
16 But therefore was I shown mercy, that in me, the foremost, Jesus Christ should be displaying all His patience, for a pattern of those who are about to be believing on Him for life eonian. -1 Timothy 1: 15-16

Jesus Christ died for our sins. You stated that Jesus was punished for us breaking the law? No sir. That is for Israel, the law NEVER came to us. Apart from law, we are saved by Jesus Christ’s faith and this is on all that believe and it is for everyone that doesn’t believe, just not yet (Romans 3: 21-23).

Again, Christ died for our sin. He did this while we were sinners and enemies, not when we became believers or accepted His message. Would you agree that those that reject Christ would be considered sinners and enemies? Well, these people are conciliated to God meaning that God is at peace with them.

8 yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes.
9 Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, we shall be saved from indignation, through Him.
10 For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life. -Romans 5: 8-10

See, Christ Jesus saves us because of His death for sin, His entombment, and His resurrection. Faith is just a realization of what Christ has done given to those God chooses, so that then and only then can they accept Christ. The rest (unbelievers) learn about Christ (Isaiah 26:9) through judgement. Nothing changes on how we get salvation, it just matters whether God reveals the completed work of Christ by faith or by judgement. The accomplishment of Christ never changes based on our acceptance or rejection.

Let me end with this…How can a man choose freely to accept or reject Christ when it was determined by God before time began whether he would do so or not?

2 Timothy 1: 9-11 makes it clear that it not up to our acts but the grace is given to us in Christ BEFORE TIMES EONIAN. God chooses who will believe and then works out the circumstances of their life so that they believe. Those God has not chosen will not believe. However, they will in the fullness of time. For God is the Savior of all mankind, especially of believers (1 Timothy 4:10)

9 Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling, not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian - 2 Timothy 1:9

Jesus Christ was rejected and nailed to a tree. Through this rejection came the salvation of the entire universe of God’s creation. If Christ was accepted by Israel, then how would He have gone to the cross? How would anyone be saved?

The truth is that Jesus could have called on His Father and the armies of heaven, but He did not. The truth is that no one took Christ’s life, but He laid it down (John 10:18). Christ died at the hands of those that rejected Him and in fact, He forgave them while they were doing it.

 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” -Luke 23:34

Jesus died for and forgave those that rejected Him. He died for us ‘while we are enemies’ and ‘while we are sinners.’ Yet, Christianity wants to say that Christ died and forgave those that rejected Him only to torture them later, after He gets off the cross?

No way. Christ saves all of His enemies by reconciling them through the very cross that rejected Him.

In Genesis 2:7 it says that God blew the breath of life into Adam and he became a living soul. God is Spirit and it is His Spirit that animates all life. That is why death is a return as mentioned in Genesis 3:19. Our bodies return to the soil and our spirit returns to God. All life is alive because of God’s spirit, so how can any life ever be separate from the eternal God. It can’t, because every life has God’s spirit and God’s spirit cannot die. Resurrection is the return of God’s spirit into a new body. God’s spirit cannot go anywhere else. The ‘all’ has to be all creation.

Grace and peace.