By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him.1Unless otherwise indicated, all passages cited will be from the ESV; when citing a passage from the LLX the hyperlink will be for the ESV so I will provide the translation for the LXX in the endnotes. The LXX translation will be NETS, Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, eds., A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Primary Texts), (Oxford University Press, 2007).
Isaiah 45:23-24
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11
One of the most important Old Testament texts about salvation for the Gentiles is Isaiah 45:20-25. It clearly reflects a post judgment salvation for the nations.
Gregory MacDonald2Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist: The Biblical Hope that God’s Love Will Save Us All, 2nd ed., (Wipf and Stock: 2012), 67.
Isaiah tells us in chapter forty–five that God says to look unto him to be saved. It goes on to say, he has sworn by himself that every knee should bow, and every tongue swear. This is God’s oath to save every bowed (subjection) knee to swear allegiance to Jesus.
Carroll D. Timothy3Timothy D. Carroll, Christ—The Original Matrix: God Face-to-Face, Kindle ed. (Resource Publications: 2020), Kindle locations, 1440-1449.
A careful consideration of the context of Isaiah 45:23 which Paul cited in Philippians 2:11 makes it clear that he meant to convey the truth that someday all will have bowed to Christ, confessing Him as Lord.
Other than Robin Parry (aka, Gregory MacDonald) and George Sidney Hurd, universalists do not seem to do more than cite Isaiah 45:23-24 to simply conclude it supports universalism. Many do not even mention these verses, despite the fact they are the OT source text for one of the more popular universalist proof texts: Philippians 2:10-11. To a certain extent, this is understandable. After all, does not Paul plainly say that all will swear allegiance to God?
What about Isaiah 45:24? Does that verse not indicate those who have been angry towards God will be ashamed? Would that not indicate that not all will swear allegiance to God? Robin Parry thinks not. Parry would say ‘When they turn away from idols to Yahweh as the one true God, they do so because they are ashamed of their past.’4MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist, 69. The point is people could very well be ashamed for their past sins while submitting to God in worship. That is, I think, a decent reply. However, exploring the way that the theme of shame is utilized in Isaiah may shed a different light on the subject.
The theme of shame has already appeared in Isaiah 45:14.
Thus says the LORD: “The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying: ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.'”
The language of ‘come over to you’, ‘be yours’, ‘follow you’, and ‘bow down to you’ has led several commentators to think the statement that ‘they shall come over in chains’ connotes a voluntary surrender.5e.g. John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66, (William. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 1998), 215; Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 7 (Peabody: 1996), 447. However, Motyer notes that Isaiah is using military imagery to describe these nations ‘willingly accepting their place as Israel’s conquered foes.’6Alec Motyer, Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation, Kindle ed., (Christian Focus Publications: 2011), Kindle loc., 6234-6248. These nations may come voluntarily, but they do so as vassal states who present themselves subjects and slaves of Israel.7Keil and Franz, Commentary on the Old Testament, 447. This reading of the verse would be more likely if Shalom M. Paul is correct that the Hebrew behind ‘men of stature’ involves ‘an Akkadian loanword meaning “tribute”, which would then imply the Sabeans were paying a tribute to Israel as a vassal state.8Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing: 2012), 265. It is heavily debated whether verse 15 expresses the viewpoint of the nations, Israel, or the author/editor. Nevertheless, it is a recognition and affirmation of God as savior.
In any case, a clear contrast is made between Israel and those who produced idols in Isaiah 45:16-17.
All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. But Israel is saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity.
Israel will forever be saved and never put to shame. The much-debated Hebrew word, ôlām, is behind ‘everlasting’ and ‘all eternity’. Though in both instances ôlām is plural, semantically speaking, the sense conveyed is ‘eternity’ or ‘perpetuity’.9I have no training in Hebrew so I consulted Shalom M. Paul’s commentary on Isaiah 40-46 and then consulted an acquaintance who also has expertise in the relevant ancient languages named Stewart James Felker. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, 268. For interaction with Paul see this link to Felker’s Reddit page where he catalogs his discussions of ancient language relevant to eschatology. https://www.reddit.com/user/Prosopopoeia1/comments/17o7frh/comment/kjs8woa/. LXX Isaiah 45:1710the NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘Israel is being saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; they shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever’ has σωτηρίαν αἰώνιον (‘eternal salvation’) and οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται οὐδὲ μὴ ἐντραπῶσιν ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος (‘they shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever’) as the parallel.11Note that Hebrews 5:9 affirms that Jesus is the source of σωτηρίαν αἰώνιον (eternal salvation) for all who obey him. In LXX Isaiah 26:412the NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘have they hoped, O Lord, forever—the great, everlasting God,’ the same combination of this language is used of God – O Lord, forever (ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος) the great, everlasting (ὁ αἰώνιος) God. This is a context where God saves the righteous and conquers those Moabites13c.f. LXX Is 25:10, he NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘because God will give us rest on this mountain, and Moabitis shall be trodden down as they tread a threshing floor with wagons’ who lived in lofty places and strong cities.14Is 26:1-6 In Isaiah 26:4 this kind of language assures the audience that God’s victory is permanent for he himself is eternal. In Isaiah 45:17 the same kind of language (in Hebrew and Greek) reinforces the idea that Israel’s salvation is permanent and so she will never be put to shame.
In contrast, the idol makers will be put to shame (bôš) and will be confused (kālam).15These two verbs are not the only words that might be used to refer to shame in the OT. However, I will focus my attention on them for the purposes of this discussion. Since I am not trained in Hebrew I will use the transliteration of Hebrew words. Shame (bôš) and confound (kālam), overlap significantly with respect to nuances relating to shame and disgrace. They can even be used interchangeably.16kālam is used in 2 Sam 19:3 and bôš appears in 2 Sam 19:5; see also Psalm 40:14; 69:6; 70:2 They can be juxtaposed to emphasize a great degree of shame and dishonor.17Ezra 9:6; Job 9:3; Psa 35:4; Isa 50:7; 54:5 Jer 6:15; 8:12; 14:3; 22:22; Eze 36:32 In Isaiah, judgment is connected with shame (bôš) and disgrace (kālam), which is bound up with a shameful death.18Is 14:18-19; 66:24 For Isaiah, salvation involves the removal of shame and disgrace with a restoration of honor.19c.f. Is 61:7; 65:13; Is 29:22; 43:4 Restoration ensures one will never again be put to shame.20Is 49:23; 54:4
Set in this broader context, Isaiah 45:16-17 emphasizes that Israel will be saved from judgment while those from other nations who continue in their idolatry will be judged and punished. The main point here is, despite language indicating that Egyptians, Cushites, and the Sabeans would become followers of God, Isaiah was making a distinction between the recalcitrant idolaters of the foreign nations and faithful Israel. The two groups of people would be treated quite differently from each other, with only one group being eternally saved.
Noting this is helpful for our discussion of the apparent universalism of Isaiah 45:23. There are several verbal connections between Isaiah 45:14-17 and the following paragraph in 45:18-25.21Smith describes these verbal corrections: ‘A connection between these two paragraphs is created by the repetition of several words: (a) “shame” (bôš) in 45:16, 17 and 45:24; (b) “hide, be secret” (sātar) in 45:15 and 45:19; (c) “there is no other, there is no other” in 45:14, “there is no other” in 45:18, “there is no other God besides me” in 45:21, and “there is no other” (ʾēn ʿôd) in 45:22; (d) “Savior” (môšîaʿ) in 45:15 and 45:21; and (e) “idols” (ṣîr, pesel) in 45:16, 20. God’s act of saving Israel and many people from the nations is a central theme that runs throughout this section.’ Gary Smith, Isaiah 40-66, (Broadman & Holman Publishers: 2009), 268. One verbal connection is the use of shame (bôš). It will be helpful to quote Isaiah 45:23-25 again.
By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’ “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed (bôš) all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”
This is part of a literary unit spanning verses 18-25. Note verse 20,
Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge, who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.
This has led several commentators to conclude that the surviving remnants of a conquest where many had been killed are now being called to gather together.22For instance, see Paul, Isaiah 40–66, 270; Geoffrey W. Grogan, “Isaiah”, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, (Zondervan Publishing House: 1986), 272; John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66, (William. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 1998), 221. This means the gathering of people from the ends of the earth is not truly universal in the sense that all who had lived to that point would attend. Only survivors will be present to bow before God in verse 23, but the survivors in view here are those who have continued to engage in idolatry.23Paul, Isaiah 40–66, 270. They are then told to present their best arguments in defense of themselves (v21). This is hardly a context in which the salvation of these idolaters is assured.
In any case, Isaiah goes on to draw a distinction between two groups. Verse 24 and 25 both begin with ‘in the Lord’, which provides a structure to the passage enabling Isaiah to emphasize this distinction. This is missed by universalists when they do get around to discussing the passage in any detail. For instance, though George Sidney Hurd claims the context supports universalism, he omits quoting and discussing verse 25, and so completely misses the full point being made by Isaiah. Vese 24a is a statement about God, not those who might be saved by him. In the second half of the verse, the focus is on how those who were incensed against God would be put to shame. The Hebrew word bôš is not used in conjunction with kālam as it is in Isaiah 45:14. This phraseology has already been used in Isaiah 41:11-12,
Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame (bôš) and confounded (kālam); those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish. You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all.
In this context, judgment of the pagan nations is overtly in view (Is 41:1). This involves pagan kings being subdued as they are ground to dust and driven like stubble (Isaiah 41:2). Shalom M. Paul says that ‘be as nothing’ and ‘shall perish’ express nonexistence and so reiterates the point that had previously been made in the passage about the utter insignificance of Israel’s opponents.24Ibid., 168. Despite experiencing shame, the opponents of Israel will end up being no more. As Watts puts it, they will be ‘doomed to extinction’.25John D. W. Watts, Isaiah 34-66, revised ed., (Zondervan: 2005), 639. This is what is being highlighted in Isaiah 45:24. Rather than coming to God to voluntarily admit to their shame, those who are incensed against God will be subdued in shame and then will be killed.
In contrast to this, Isaiah 45:25 has the descendants of the Israelites being justified. The Hebrew word behind ‘justified’ has already been used in verse 24, where Isaiah states that righteousness is only found in the Lord. Verse 25 indicates that only the Israelites will be justified. Those who are angry at God will not. Just as Isaiah has previously spoken of the Israelites as the group who will be eternally saved (45:17) here they are the group which will be justified.
These data show how Isaiah 45 supports conditionalism, not universalism. In fact, we now have evidence that when Isaiah stated that every knee will bow and every tongue will swear allegiance to God, he had in view all the faithful Israelites and not necessarily all people universally. There is no statement of universal salvation as most universalists assume.
Robin Parry objects,
those who are ashamed are all the nations. If this shaming excludes them from salvation, then, presumably, none of the nations turn to Yahweh and are saved, which flatly contradicts the teaching of Isaiah elsewhere (e.g., 60:1ff.; 66:18-23; 2:1-4), and the divine oath becomes something of a joke. We may better understand the contrast when we appreciate that the nations throughout Second Isaiah are idolaters. When they turn away from idols to Yahweh as the one true God, they do so because they are ashamed of their past. Israel, on the other hand, is vindicated and rejoices.26MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist, 69.
The chief problem here is Isaiah later opens up the possibility of salvation for non-Israelites, he continues with his distinction between those who will finally be saved and those who will not. It is true that Isaiah 66:18-23 indicates Isaiah did not think only Israelites could be saved. However, Parry omits verses showing the prophet believed not everyone will eventually be saved. For instance, Isaiah 66:15-16 speaks of how God will kill his enemies,
“For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.
Likewise, Isaiah’s last word is to make it clear that the still-living righteous will continually view the corpses of the slain enemies of God.
“And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
So, despite talking in ways that show he thought people from the nations could find salvation, Isaiah continued to maintain his distinction between those who will finally find salvation and those who will not.
Of interest here is Isaiah’s reference to ‘all flesh’.27sometimes rendered as ‘all humankind’ or ‘all people’ Universalists often point to such language, arguing as if this is indisputable evidence that the Bible teaches universalism. However, read in context, the phraseology patently refers to all the righteous. This is no denial that the word ‘all’ retains its normal meaning, but rather recognition that the context shows that ‘all’ in a particular group of people is in view. I find that universalists tend to ignore the limiting contextual clues when citing their ‘all’ proof-texts so Isaiah 66:24 is particularly useful for addressing their exegetical misstep.
This has a bearing on how we should view Paul’s statement in Philippians 2:9-11.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Like Isaiah, Paul maintained a distinction between those who are saved and those who will be destroyed, Consider Philippians 1:26-28.
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.
In Philippians 3:18-21, Paul will reiterate this distinction,
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
The Greek word behind ‘destruction’ in both pericopes is ἀπώλεια (apōleia, ‘destruction’). In the first, ἀπώλεια is used in apposition to σωτηρία (sōtēria, ‘salvation’). The noun ἀπώλεια was a strong word for expressing the notion of annihilation and complete ruin.28William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, (Zondervan: 2000), 532). Putting aside the debate on the exact meaning of ἀπώλεια, the idea here is only one group of people will be saved to be transformed to be immortal like Christ (c.f. Phil 3:20-21; 1 Cor 15:50-54). The ultimate end of the other group is their annihilation/ruin. The use of the Greek word τέλος (telos, ‘end, goal, outcome’) has an emphasis on the final outcome of something.29See BDAG, ‘‘the goal toward which a movement is being directed, end, goal, outcome’ William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 998. The thrust of the phrase this phrase, which has the plural relative pronoun ὧν τὸ τέλος ἀπώλεια (‘their end is destruction’), is on the final outcome for these ‘enemies of the cross of Christ’ (v18). This becomes even more obvious when read in conjunction with Philippians 1:28.
Gordon Fee summarizes Paul’s point well,
In calling them enemies of the cross of Christ Paul is, as the first matter, intentionally setting them over against both Christ (2:8) and himself (2:10–11) … That their destiny is destruction makes it clear that Paul does not consider them to be followers of Christ at all … as in 1:28, which it echoes, the language cannot be softened to mean anything other than eternal destruction.30Gordon D. Fee, Philippians, (IVP Academic: 1999), 162.
I have searched universalist literature as much as I am able. I have not seen any prominent universalist even attempt to explain their reading of Paul’s ὧν τὸ τέλος ἀπώλεια (Phil 3:19). This seems to be part of a general trend in universalist ranks of ignoring or downplaying this kind of text that might show Paul was not a universalist.
Another passage shedding light on his perspective is Romans 6:20-22.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end (τέλος) of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end (τέλος), eternal life.
Note the contrast between the end result of being slaves of sin as opposed to being slaves of God. This passage helps us see that Paul used τέλος in such contexts as a way of emphasizing the final fate of both unbelievers and believers. Just as the final outcome of our sanctification is eternal life the final outcome of those who remain slaves of sin is death. The point is, Paul’s use of τέλος in Romans 6:221-22 was a way to refer to the final date of a person who remained on a certain trajectory. In Philippians 3:19, Paul affirms that some people will indeed remain on the trajectory that ends in their destruction. We know that this must have to do with their final fate, since Paul goes on to talk about how Christ will transform our (i.e. Paul and the faithful Philippians) ‘lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself’ (Phil 3:21). This last comment echoes 1 Corinthians 15:35-56, where Paul outlines his belief that believers will be resurrected with imperishable and immortal bodies. This means the contrast in Philippians 3:19-21 is between those who will finally be made immortal on their resurrection and those whose destiny is to be destroyed.
All of this fits with what Paul says elsewhere in his letters using other words such as ὄλεθρος (olethros, ‘destruction’). In 1 Timothy 6:9 ἀπώλεια is used with ὄλεθρος ‘to drive the point home that the ultimate destiny of those who pursue riches is complete and total ruin.’31Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, 532. Though a traditionalist, Mounce is compelled to also say that ‘Their end is total annihilation’.32Ibid. In 2 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul uses ὄλεθρος when referring to how those who had oppressed the Thessalonian church would be punished with eternal destruction. In this respect, in Philippians and 2 Thessalonians, Paul uses the language of destruction when describing what would happen to those who had become enemies of the church. Paul also adapts phraseology from LXX Isaiah 66:1533(the NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘For see, the Lord will come like fire, and his chariots like a tempest, to render vengeance with wrath and repudiation with a flame of fire.’ (ἐν φλογὶ πυρός, διδόντος ἐκδίκησιν, (‘in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance’) in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 (ἐν θυμῷ ἐκδίκησιν καὶ ἀποσκορακισμὸν ἐν φλογὶ πυρός (‘the Lord will render his vengeance … in a flame of fire’).34Beale notes that this is ‘the only place in the Old Testament where this combination of terms is found.’ G. K. Beale, 1–2 Thessalonians, (InterVarsity Press: 2003), 189. In Isaiah, God will slay his enemies (66:16) to leave their corpses unburied, to be consumed by worm and fire while being abhorred by the still living righteous (66:23-24). This is evidence that though Paul was willing to draw on the apparent affirmation of universalism from Isaiah 45:23, he also was well aware of Isaiah’s distinction between all those who will be finally slain and those who would live on and worship God. Perhaps Gerald Hawthorne summary statement on the thrust of Philippians 3:19 best captures Paul’s point of view,
For Paul, then, to reject the crucified Christ and live a life not shaped by the diaconal character of Jesus and its cruciform pattern as the sole means of salvation is in effect to reject salvation. It is to lose one’s soul and thus to forfeit life.35Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians, revised by Ralph P. Martin, (Thomas Nelson: 2004), 223.
This is all evidence that, like Isaiah, Paul could speak in terms that at first blush appear to show he was a universalist (as in Phil 2:9-11), he continued to maintain a distinction between those who are saved to be made immortal and those who will not.
If I am correct that Isaiah and Paul maintained there will be some who will be finally slain while only a select group of those remaining faithful to God will be saved, then their statements that all will bow and confess cannot be assumed to be an affirmation of universalism. Isaiah and Paul could simply have been affirming that all who a finally saved will bow and confess. It is therefore incumbent on universalists to do more than simply point to Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10-11 and then conclude they provide clear support for universalism. They must argue for their interpretation of these verses.
I hope that this article will alert my fellow Christians who are universalists that simply citing Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:9-11 is problematic. To do so is to ignore the surrounding context of each passage and is therefore exegetically indefensible. This should shape how we read Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10-11 are more about who is the ultimate authority deserving to be worshiped than who will be finally saved. For Isaiah, it is YHWH who is Lord overall. There is no other God that should be worshiped.36Ex 20:14; Deut 5:8-9 In Philippians 2, Paul revolutionized this centerpiece of Israelite theology to position Jesus Christ as one who, like YHWH, is Lord overall. Though these two texts have been traditionally cited as support for universalism, when read in context, they prove to be better support for conditionalism.
| ￪1 | Unless otherwise indicated, all passages cited will be from the ESV; when citing a passage from the LLX the hyperlink will be for the ESV so I will provide the translation for the LXX in the endnotes. The LXX translation will be NETS, Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, eds., A New English Translation of the Septuagint (Primary Texts), (Oxford University Press, 2007). |
|---|---|
| ￪2 | Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist: The Biblical Hope that God’s Love Will Save Us All, 2nd ed., (Wipf and Stock: 2012), 67. |
| ￪3 | Timothy D. Carroll, Christ—The Original Matrix: God Face-to-Face, Kindle ed. (Resource Publications: 2020), Kindle locations, 1440-1449. |
| ￪4 | MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist, 69. |
| ￪5 | e.g. John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66, (William. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 1998), 215; Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 7 (Peabody: 1996), 447. |
| ￪6 | Alec Motyer, Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation, Kindle ed., (Christian Focus Publications: 2011), Kindle loc., 6234-6248. |
| ￪7 | Keil and Franz, Commentary on the Old Testament, 447. |
| ￪8 | Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing: 2012), 265. |
| ￪9 | I have no training in Hebrew so I consulted Shalom M. Paul’s commentary on Isaiah 40-46 and then consulted an acquaintance who also has expertise in the relevant ancient languages named Stewart James Felker. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, 268. For interaction with Paul see this link to Felker’s Reddit page where he catalogs his discussions of ancient language relevant to eschatology. https://www.reddit.com/user/Prosopopoeia1/comments/17o7frh/comment/kjs8woa/. |
| ￪10 | the NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘Israel is being saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; they shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever’ |
| ￪11 | Note that Hebrews 5:9 affirms that Jesus is the source of σωτηρίαν αἰώνιον (eternal salvation) for all who obey him. |
| ￪12 | the NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘have they hoped, O Lord, forever—the great, everlasting God,’ |
| ￪13 | c.f. LXX Is 25:10, he NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘because God will give us rest on this mountain, and Moabitis shall be trodden down as they tread a threshing floor with wagons’ |
| ￪14 | Is 26:1-6 |
| ￪15 | These two verbs are not the only words that might be used to refer to shame in the OT. However, I will focus my attention on them for the purposes of this discussion. Since I am not trained in Hebrew I will use the transliteration of Hebrew words. |
| ￪16 | kālam is used in 2 Sam 19:3 and bôš appears in 2 Sam 19:5; see also Psalm 40:14; 69:6; 70:2 |
| ￪17 | Ezra 9:6; Job 9:3; Psa 35:4; Isa 50:7; 54:5 Jer 6:15; 8:12; 14:3; 22:22; Eze 36:32 |
| ￪18 | Is 14:18-19; 66:24 |
| ￪19 | c.f. Is 61:7; 65:13; Is 29:22; 43:4 |
| ￪20 | Is 49:23; 54:4 |
| ￪21 | Smith describes these verbal corrections: ‘A connection between these two paragraphs is created by the repetition of several words: (a) “shame” (bôš) in 45:16, 17 and 45:24; (b) “hide, be secret” (sātar) in 45:15 and 45:19; (c) “there is no other, there is no other” in 45:14, “there is no other” in 45:18, “there is no other God besides me” in 45:21, and “there is no other” (ʾēn ʿôd) in 45:22; (d) “Savior” (môšîaʿ) in 45:15 and 45:21; and (e) “idols” (ṣîr, pesel) in 45:16, 20. God’s act of saving Israel and many people from the nations is a central theme that runs throughout this section.’ Gary Smith, Isaiah 40-66, (Broadman & Holman Publishers: 2009), 268. |
| ￪22 | For instance, see Paul, Isaiah 40–66, 270; Geoffrey W. Grogan, “Isaiah”, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, (Zondervan Publishing House: 1986), 272; John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40–66, (William. B. Eerdmans Publishing: 1998), 221. |
| ￪23 | Paul, Isaiah 40–66, 270. |
| ￪24 | Ibid., 168. |
| ￪25 | John D. W. Watts, Isaiah 34-66, revised ed., (Zondervan: 2005), 639. |
| ￪26 | MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist, 69. |
| ￪27 | sometimes rendered as ‘all humankind’ or ‘all people’ |
| ￪28 | William D. Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, (Zondervan: 2000), 532). |
| ￪29 | See BDAG, ‘‘the goal toward which a movement is being directed, end, goal, outcome’ William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 998. |
| ￪30 | Gordon D. Fee, Philippians, (IVP Academic: 1999), 162. |
| ￪31 | Mounce, Pastoral Epistles, 532. |
| ￪32 | Ibid. |
| ￪33 | (the NETS translation of the Greek of the LXX is, ‘For see, the Lord will come like fire, and his chariots like a tempest, to render vengeance with wrath and repudiation with a flame of fire.’ |
| ￪34 | Beale notes that this is ‘the only place in the Old Testament where this combination of terms is found.’ G. K. Beale, 1–2 Thessalonians, (InterVarsity Press: 2003), 189. |
| ￪35 | Gerald F. Hawthorne, Philippians, revised by Ralph P. Martin, (Thomas Nelson: 2004), 223. |
| ￪36 | Ex 20:14; Deut 5:8-9 |
Gregory MacDonald. The Evangelical Universalist (Second Edition). Eugene: Cascade, 2012.*
Rethinking Hell contributors Nick and Allison Quient join Chris Date to respond to some clips from Dr. Robin Parry’s plenary speech at the 2015 Rethinking Hell Conference, in which he presented a theological case for universalism. This episode contains the second half of their two-and-a-half-hour discussion; listen to the first half in episode 76.
Two weeks ago about 100 evangelicals gathered to discuss the perennially hot topic of hell. What transpired was, by all accounts, unprecedented. As Jerry Walls put it, “Historic? I’m not sure it’s too strong a word. I can’t think of anything quite like this!” Seldom, if ever, have passionate evangelical proponents of competing views on a controversial topic gathered with the express purpose of discussing (arguing about) it, while nevertheless voicing their critiques with respect and in Christian love, enjoying the kind of camaraderie, fellowship, and unity to which their Lord has called them.