Theoretical Salvation Is No Salvation
Jesus Christ paid for the redemption of every sinner, and will collect on what is rightfully His. It’s a done deal. Enter those who, upon hearing this Good News, presume they have the sonship and redemption of God while still in their unregenerate state and sin. Their philosophical talk about Christ doesn’t hide their state – it only exposes it.
We received this note:
Hello,
I’m curious as to your opinion of the teachings of a metaphysical Christian Universalist writer like Eric Stetson. Here are the URLs to a few of his articles:
http://www.christianuniversalist.org/resources/articles/body-of-christ/
http://www.christianuniversalist.org/resources/articles/beyond-hell/
http://www.christianuniversalist.org/resources/articles/universalism-urgency/
Please tell me what you make of his somewhat esoteric views. Blessings in Christ Jesus, now and always.
Sean
Paul’s reply:
Hi Sean,
Eric Stetson has much to say and many ideas about salvation, but he doesn’t preach the Gospel of Christ that alone brings salvation. In the three writings you sent us, Stetson barely mentions the essentials of repentance and the cross, and much of what he does say is not what is taught in the Scriptures.
The theory of salvation promoted by Stetson is based on his erroneous assumption that everyone born of flesh and blood is a child of God. That’s true in a limited way, but not in the sense of all inheriting the Kingdom of God in this life. As Jesus said, “…unless someone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3 EMTV).
Most people professing Christ haven’t been born again through repentance and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. They haven’t seen the Kingdom of God.
Consider the parable of the tares and all the things the Lord and the apostles had to say to the counterfeit believers of their day, warning us of worse to come. Till now we have only been in the days of the firstfruits of Christ:
“These are those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, as a firstfruit to God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:4 MKJV).
Read Are All Persons Children of God?
Stetson is another preacher of the gospel of Universalism – The False Kind.
Note, there is the true kind. Read The Good News and other writings in The Restitution of All Things.
Other related writings:
Whose Will Is Free?
Godhood – The Destiny of Those Born of God
How One Is Saved
God Is Sovereign: Man Is Presumptuous
You have plenty to read if you’re interested in hearing more. Let us know if I’ve answered your question and if you have others.