Everything serves this goal: God All in all

Do you have 'free-will' when God is your All?

When presented with undeniable scripture that proves Jesus Christ saves all creation through the blood of the cross…Why do Christians think this would cause people to sin more?

What do I mean? Well, our goal is to walk worthily of the calling. The problem with most Christians is that ‘walking worthily’ means performing for God to earn salvation. Therefore, if you do or don’t do certain things, you are not worthy of salvation.

On the other hand, those that have come to a realization of the cross ‘walk worthily’ because Christ saved them, something they could never be worthy of. So, why does Christ saving all mankind and every creature cause Christians to say that this causes people to sin more? Especially when the apostle says that this grace is the reason why believers ‘behave themselves’ in the world (2 Corinthians 1: 12-13).

As if the only motivation God could use for us to walk worthily is the threat of not being saved if you don’t. As if God couldn’t use love and thanksgiving and the assurance of salvation to motivate His creatures to walk worthily.

So, the reason Christians believe that Christ saving all will cause people to sin is because the only reason they behave themselves is to earn salvation. The motivation, for them, cannot be out of appreciation and thanksgiving for Christ’s accomplishment because if they don’t ‘walk worthily’ then salvation is NOT accomplished. It is always up to them, not Christ.

The tragic flaw in the Christian walk is that they reject grace and replace it with an ultimatum. Paul says that where sin increases, grace superexceeds (Romans 5: 20). The Christian says that where sin increases, you are not worthy. However, our worthiness, according to scripture, is based on Christ’s accomplishment for us and not our worthiness to get or maintain that accomplishment. REALIZATION that its Christ’s accomplished work on the cross that saves and not our reaction to it is what separates the believer from the unbeliever.

So, here is my point that sets up the purpose of this article: The order of salvation occurs through the process of God replacing ‘self worthiness’ in an individual to ‘Christ worthiness’ in that individual. God replaces the idea of walking worthily to earn salvation with the fact that salvation was accomplished by Christ alone. Then, walking worthily is done out of a grateful and pure heart, not out of fear and ‘self’ accomplishment.

This is part of the process in how God replaces ‘self’ with Himself. So, now on to the All in all…

God states His end-game goal in scripture. He has a target and a plan to get there. Everything that happens in creation leads to this goal being accomplished at the end of the ages.

This goal is God being All in all. The Almighty God being All to every single one of the creatures that He created. Sin, evil, death, goodness, joy, and every detail of experience and creation serve this purpose and nothing can stop God from accomplishing it.

In the past, I’ve focused on the fact that the second ‘all’ in All in all is every creature ever created, which it is. However, in this article, I am going to focus on the first ‘All.’ What does it mean for God to be All in a person?

Well, we need to look no further than Jesus Christ to see what God being all looks like. While engaging in His earthly ministry, Jesus said that He can only do what He sees the Father doing.

19 Jesus, then, answers and said to them, "Verily, verily, I am saying to you, The Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son also is doing likewise.
20 For the Father is fond of the Son and is showing Him all that He is doing. "And greater works than these shall He be showing Him, that you may be marveling. -John 5: 18-19

This gives us an idea that when God fills us up, we, as well, will only do the things we see the Father doing. However, this is just a preview because Jesus, when HE uttered these words, had not yet gone through death and resurrection to become the Firstborn of a new creation. Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God and His name is above every name in creation. We will be conformed to the image of the Son. First believers, then the rest of creation will become children of God.

So, when Christ perfects us, what will it be like for God to be our All? First, will we have a free will to do anything outside of what we see the Father doing? If God is everything to us, then every experience we have is divine. We can only act according to God’s good pleasure when He is our All. We have no free will but only God’s will. In fact, because of vivification, we are delivered from our bodies of death so that we will be ‘free’ to live as the Creator intended.

The reason so many people believe in false doctrines such as ‘human free will and eternal conscious torment’ is because they do not understand God’s end goal. Once a person truly understands God’s plan and purpose, they will realize that everything serves the accomplishment of God’s desire. Christians put judgement, death, sin, and separation from God as the end. However, these things are not the end but a means to the end of God being All in all.

Alright, back to the free-will issue. Our future bliss is only as secure as the One that promises and provides it. Therefore, when God is All in His creature then we can know that creature’s future is secure because God is everything. As A.E. Knoch states regarding God being All in all: “He will be everything to us. There will be nothing in our experience that will not be divine. Every occurrence, each incident, large or small, important or trivial, will come to us consciously as a gratuity given by God, and it will bring a constant response of adoring worship.”

So again, I ask all free-willers out there: Do we have a free-will to go against God when He is our All? Could Jesus do anything He didn’t see the Father doing? The answer, I believe, is obvious.

Then, why do so many have a problem with not having a free-will in God’s process of getting us to the All in all? Its okay for God to force Himself on us in the All in all, but not okay in the creative process of our life here on earth? Our earthly life is a necessary experience of evil that shapes the contrast and glory of the All in all. Our lives and every decision we make sets up the All in all.

My objectors would say that God only fills those who have accepted Christ in their lifetime or followed certain rules. However, this is self-salvation in believing that you made a decision or action, apart from God, that someone else didn’t do or make in order for God to save you and not them.

The problem with this thinking is ‘self.’ The All in all results from God disposing of all self-righteousness in order for Him to be All in us. How can God be All in a creature that relies on ‘self’ for anything? He cannot. Therefore, how can God leave it to ‘self’ in a creature to achieve the All in all? He doesn’t. Christians want to say that God will be All in them and yet the accomplishment of this great feat is all up to a ‘self’ decision.

No way! God completes the All in us by cleaning out ‘self righteousness’ and replacing it with Him. That is the reason God is All in the believer first, because they realized God’s righteousness in Christ Jesus and His completed work. The rest will answer for ‘self righteousness’ through judgement which will eventually lead to God being their All.

So, God will be All in His creation. However, each in their own order or class. First, Christ, then believers, and last…everybody else. The beauty of this process is that God uses those that He fills to reach those that are not yet filled with God.

Christ is filled first. God is All in Jesus Christ. Jesus can do nothing He doesn’t see the Father doing. The Son of God is the perfect image of the Father and represents the Father in every way. Through Christ, God fills the rest of creation.

First, believers are filled with God’s righteousness at Christ’s appearing. Therefore, God fills them and becomes All in each and every believer. Now, believers have a special salvation (1 Timothy 4:10) in that they are filled by God first and become the COMPLEMENT of the One completing the All in all (Ephesians 1:23).

Okay, now let’s follow this logic. As Ephesians 1:23 says, believers are Christ’s Complement in completing the All in all. Therefore, believers are working with Christ in order to complete the All in all. Since believers are already included with Christ as complements, the completion of the All in all could only be God becoming All in unbelievers. Of course at this time judgement has occurred and the all will be subjected to Christ so all will believe.

Salvation is all of God and it is a glorious process. First, God becomes Christ’s All. Then, through Christ, God becomes All in believers. Then, through Christ and believers (complements), God becomes all in everyone else. All saved and subjected to Christ that God will be All in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).

Grace and peace.