My Questions Concerning an Apparently Unavoidable Theme in St. Paul's Theology
NOTE: This article is an update to that which was originally published on another site in January of 2022. In the period since, I completed my return to the Roman Catholic Church, and have (several times now) been asked how the views herein square with the teachings of the Church, and if I still hold to them. My answers to these questions are articulated in the section marked "addendum" at the end of the piece.
In his letter to the church in Rome (Romans), the Apostle Paul states: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all” (11:32).
I’ve been contemplating the implication in this verse … asking, what is it plainly stating?
In terms of its local context, this verse is among a three chapter portion of the letter that establishes the interlinked destinies of the people of Israel and the Gentiles, in God’s plan of salvation. By “Israel and the Gentile world,” here, St. Paul is carrying on the theme of “all” as being “all humanity.”
In the broader context of Romans, the theme of ALL is pretty hard to miss.
In 1:18 St. Paul says, God’s wrath is being revealed against the wickedness of those who suppress the truth by their wicked ways. But in the pursuant chapters he goes on to establish that this basically applies to everyone, and applies fairly across the board.
In the verses soon following, St. Paul affirms this, saying, “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.”
Why? Because ALL of our ways are compared to the standard of God’s goodness and holiness. Not only to those under the Law (meaning the Jews) but the Gentiles (everyone else) as well, because we ALL have the standards of God’s moral law upon our conscience (2:14-15).
Inasmuch, ALL are under sin (3:9), both Jews and Greeks. And because of that, ALL have fallen short of the glory of God (3:23) – short of that standard of God’s goodness and holiness.
You “Romans Roadies” out there are already thinking ahead. Ahead to: “For the wages of sin is death” (6:23).
BUT … “the gift of God is eternal life” (same verse). The gift is the death he died, once for ALL (6:10). “Once for all” is from the Greek word ephapax (2178). You may not like the way I developed the point by way of it, preferring instead the NASB, which implies “once for all time” as opposed to once for ALL—as in humanity.
But in the theme St. Paul is developing, carried forward to this verse and beyond it, I think my rendering is more consistently supported.
Go back to chapter three and look at the fuller thought that the Apostle has about what “this gift” really is:
“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known … This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe … There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and ALL are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (3:21-24).
The gift is the redemption through Christ via the death he died. Given to whom? Given to ALL.
Now here it is common (has been for me anyway) to limit that to all who believe, as if it implies a conditional. But the rest of St. Paul’s theology in Romans (and even beyond) seems to work against this idea.
This is reinforced by the original verse presented up top (11:32), which tell us, God gives ALL of us over to our disobedience for the delight of having mercy on us … on us ALL. I feel comfortable with using delight there, because St. Paul, as we are seeing, is clear that God delights in mercy and his desire is to gift it upon ALL of us via Christ’s death (Jesus, Peter, and John support that as well).
Note how there is no conditional there. But even if it is meant to be, the Saint seems pretty clear that those who believe includes EVERYONE, as well. In fact, quoting the prophet Isaiah he later says: EVERY knee will bow before God and EVERY tongue will acknowledge/confess God (14:11).
The Greek word behind “acknowledge/confess” is exomologeó (1843), and it expresses a sense of fully agreeing with, and declaring that agreement or conviction. In essence believing and proclaiming.
Isaiah actually puts it this way, “To me (God) every knee shall bow [and] every tongue shall swear allegiance” (45:23).
St. Paul further pursues this theology in his letter to the church at Philippi, believed to be written shortly after (or just after) Romans. Again, he says, “at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and EVERY tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).
As if this wasn’t definitive enough, the better part of Romans chapter five teaches clearly that just as our unrighteousness was “gifted” to us by “one man,” so too is being made right before God the result of the obedience of Christ. We are reconciled to God.
And here is a vital point we cannot overlook. Since basically St. Augustine onward (so 430 CE on), what has been burdened upon humanity by Adam is typically assumed to be far broader and comprehensive in scope than the freedom from that burden given by Christ.
In other words, the sin upon humanity is total in its comprehensiveness. No one is unburdened by it, or exempt from the conviction of it. Far less comprehensive is the Atonement in scope, however, because it is either limited to those God arbitrarily assigns its covering, or available only to those who choose to get under it.
Note the imbalance in this portrayal. Note how Adam’s sin has greater reach than Christ’s work on the Cross in such an economy.
Is that possibly true?
To St. Paul, it doesn’t seem to be so, because he places the scope and gravity of Christ’s work over that of Adam’s.
He says:
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, HOW MUCH MORE will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (5:17).
And as a result of that potential St. Paul continues in saying:
“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for ALL people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for ALL PEOPLE. For just as through the disobedience of the one man THE MANY were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man THE MANY will be made righteous” (5:18-19).
The totality of St. Paul’s theology of redemption seems difficult to miss. I will admit that it flies in the face of traditional views that have been reinforced in my traditions of faith. And that always brings a sense of welcome uneasiness for me. Yet, prior to Augustine, this would not have seemed shocking at all.
But in light of Romans as a whole, this next passage takes on the sense of being without the boundaries of those more recent limiting traditional ideas, doesn’t it?
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39)
When St. Paul says that neither death nor time, much less any force in all creation, can separate us from the love of God, does that include the power of one’s own choices and mistakes?
If we say “yes,” however, it seems that we are matching the force of that to the force of God’s intent to reconcile ALL through his love as expressed in Christ.
Thus, I have to ask … is the “good news” that we can be saved? Or is the gospel according to St. Paul, in Romans, really teaching us that we have been saved?
Addendum
The above is certainly a probative analysis of the Apostle's theology, and is by no means the final word on the topic. I am but one theologian who comes at it by way of one possible angle. Thus, in regard to the universal salvation of all humanity, I am not dogmatically taking the universalist stance, as though ...
IT.IS.TRUTH.
As much as I wish I could, I simply cannot plant a flag in the claim. In fact, I fail to see how anyone can. Though they come off pretty convinced by their own arguments, which are at times, admittedly, compelling and well-supported theologically, exegetically, philosophically, and historically, there are (inconveniently, but respectably) points raised by views in the opposition that are as well.
In terms of all being saved? I merely hope that it is so. No, I sincerely hope it is so. I hope, when given the opportunity presented to them, in the face of the raw and unassailable glory of God presently revealed, and actively bearing upon them, (whenever that happens), no soul ever created could, by the stubbornness of their own God-given free will, openly reject Him.
And upon my analysis of St. Paul's theology and the value I find in the alluded to arguments (which I consider only as expert as I consider myself a theologian and biblical exegete), I feel my hope is based in reason, and not just theological rainbows, unicorns, sunshine, and wishful thinking.
I am, quite frankly, doubtful that any finite human mind or will, when given the fully unadulterated chance, will be able to muster the egoism necessary to reject such incomprehensible perfection as the ontological goodness of Father God.
In that, I join with other Catholic thinkers, the likes of who are great theologians such as Gregory of Nyssa, Hans urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, and Robert Barren, in professing there is a rationally justifiable place for optimism when considering the matter, but nothing beyond.
Ultimately, I place my intellect and will under the guidance of the Church.
As for how this aligns with the teachings of that Church, I am confident room for such optimism is secure. Beyond that, I find nothing in the dogmatics of the Church that evaporates the hope that all, eventually, will be saved ... just as God desires (1 Tim. 2:4; Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] 1261).
The Church unmistakably and has historically maintained the stance that "hell" references a thing of reality (CCC 1035). The Catechism teaches us that hell is the "state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed" (1033).
It is accessible not by the "predestinary" will of God upon men, but by the willful and PERSISTENT turning away from Him, by those who wallow in transgression "until the end" (CCC 1037).
According to the Pope St. John Paul II, as relayed by Wacław Hryniewicz,"hell is above all a moral postulate, a requirement of justice in view of terrible human crimes which must not go unpunished. A final punishment is to serve the retention of moral balance in the history of humanity."[1]
It is, then, a peak at the ultimate destination ... the comeuppance ... awaiting those who's volition (if even possible) renders them incapable of choosing what the eternally merciful Father has extended to them.
But as Pope John Paul II and Bishop Barren agree, the Church does not, nor has ever, made claim that any occupy hell.[2]
Thus, my position yields to the Church, which exhorts me to this position:
"In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere 'to the end' and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God’s eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for 'all men to be saved'" (CCC 1821).
I firmly believe that the theology of St. Paul presented in his works, and imagined herein, underlay the rationality for optimistically hoping that all will be saved.
NOTES [1] Hryniewicz, Wacław, “But the Problem Remains”: John Paul II and the Universalism of the Hope for Salvation, Dialogue and Universalism 17, no. 7/8 (2007): 81-105.
[2] For an excellent and concise treatment on the topic see “‘Dare We Hope’ Resource Page,” Word on Fire, accessed March 6, 2023, https://www.wordonfire.org/hope/.
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