The Manner of Christ’s First Appearance to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus Road and its Impact and Significance to the True Gospel of Grace Revealed by Paul the Apostle.

By newparadigmthinkers

While visiting a Wild Bird Rehab Centre in South Africa, I learnt a most astonishing lesson.
The now nearly extinct Falcon, while being bred there in captivity, displays very interesting and unusual behaviour for a raptor.
When a little baby Falcon (“eyasses”) is hatched the very first living species its eyes focus on, it will instantly adopt and become in its own mind!
It immediately identifies and assumes as its very own the nature, that of this particular species.
In other words, if the very first thing it sees is a human being, it will fixate upon and consider itself to be a human. It will completely disregard its own genesis of origin as a bird of prey and emotionally and mentally bond with, and even begin to imitate human behaviour patterns. It ignorantly denies and overrides its own original nature and becomes instantly a double product of captivity, not only as one born into captivity but also the victim of a mind imprisoned and held in bondage for a lifetime by the illusion of a false perception.
It appears that there is a parallel between this phenomena and the way many Christians manifest the same pattern in their spiritual life. The seeds of the destruction of their spiritual potential are often sown at its very inception.
Christians absorb and internalize very early in life a picture produced by the religious environment and spiritual ecology within which first open their eyes. Received either by tradition, heritage or subsequent spiritual experience this internalized construct immediately and unconsciously cements the picture of what a Christian is expected to be and sets the limitations end expectations in place for the future.
Not unlike the misguided baby Falcon, the Christian now begins to emulate a superficial and false man made external religious cultural identity. He lives mesmerized and in ignorance and denial of his/her divinely ordained design function as one who has been given the power to believe and live a son of God.
Hence, as people representing different denominations i.e.: Pentecostals, Methodists, Baptists, Charismatic’s, Word of Faith, Catholics, etc., we act out, and strive to excel in imitating this internalized construct of the religious system which first represented Christianity to us, with its peculiarities and unique trappings!
Most Christians live from the cradle to the grave without awakening from the trap of this hypnotic condition.
They never discover the truly liberating nature of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the revelation of the Divine Mystery of the unique union between humanity and Divinity it proclaims. They live with little or no awareness or experience of the true character of their own spiritual nature as being partakers of His Divine Nature.
Saul of Tarsus, a man divinely destined to become Paul the Apostle, to whom the mystery of God in Christ with its deeper and fuller implications for mankind was first revealed, was once himself besieged and driven by the perceived demands of a severe and uncompromising external religious system.
When Paul encountered the Resurrected and Glorified Christ on the road to Damascus, his first vision and attachment was not to a religious system or body of doctrine, but the presence and power of His Divine Personage in human form.
This crucial vision and decisive and dramatic internalization of the first impression of the resurrected heavenly Christ Jesus as the Head of His earthly Divine Body at once became the uncompromising foundation and intrinsic essence of Paul’s Christian life, experience and teachings.
The divine revelation of the super-natural impartation of a new internal spiritual reality, namely, Christ in us, the Hope of Glory! , transformed Paul, and henceforth became his outward expression of life.
This new revelation given to Paul by the Cosmic Christ Himself is the very antithesis of all other failed external religious systems required to be internalized by human striving and self-effort.

Jesus Christ the Saviour of the World……an idea which time has come!

There exists an unfortunate weakness within the contemporary Christian Church!
Measured against her opportunity and potential for relevance within this desperately needy world we live in, the Church in my opinion, has become tragically irrelevant.
Her flaw lies in the fact that she has lost her unique and distinctive birthright; she lacks a vital revelation and clarifying explanation of the divine‘Living Logos’!
Hence, she is now become largely impotent in fulfilling her mandate and silent in prophetically describing and prescribing the over arching paradigm concerning the One in Whom is found mankind’s single spiritual solution.
The eternal objective reality and absolutelyexclusive status of the only unique Son of God, and simultaneously the implications of the all inclusive Cosmic and Universal nature of Jesus Christ, has become lost in our limited collective and individual perception of reality and religious sentiment, bred from our subjective experience.
The true message and correct representation of Who Jesus Christ actually is within the Trinity, and the far reaching claims He Himself has made and rightfully asserts, have become diluted, corrupted and confused by human reasoning.
Most Christians are blissfully unaware that there is a distinction between the Bible, also referred to as ‘God’s Word’ and the One who is referred to as the ‘Living Word’, the Manifest member of the Triune Godhead!
Many battle to distinguish the ‘Living Word’ out from the collective man made ecclesiastical structures, human doctrines, religious ethics and moral creeds that we consider to be Christianity.
Because the original and authentic apostolic vision and message of Christ Jesus as Himself being the Living Word, is lost in the Church…. she has become partially ignorant of the very reason for her own existence!
Consequently has no truly relevant message about the One Who is in Himself  the very Divine Hope for a religiously confused and spiritually dumbed-down humanity desperately seeking the answer for its pain and turmoil!
A humanity, to use the cliché, who has since its inception, been driven by fear and ignorance to look for love in all the wrong places!
The very reason for our existence as the ‘Ecclesia’, the ‘Church’, the human Body of Jesus Christ in the earth, is not to present to humanity a Jesus as the mere figurehead of a more desirable replacement religion called Christianity!
Jesus is not competing for numbers with the major religions of the world, neither is He seeking their vote of approval or the endorsement of His Supremacy. He is already confidently established as The Christ of God, theover arching spiritual paradigm, in whom all of mankind exists and consists
We are not merely to make  ‘converts’ and pseudo disciples for the religion called Christianity.

"All authority has been given me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.."

Jesus Christ exists and operates in a sphere far superseding and superior to the institutions and formalities of all the religions of the world.
We are  to persuade and win over all the peoples of the earth under the ‘discipline’ of the certain knowledge of supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ and Good News of their inclusion into the life and love of the Trinity through Him.
Indeed to confidently announce Jesus as the very Christ of God!
Unequivocally proclaiming Him not only as the sole Saviour of All Mankind but indeed the Supreme Lord over all the Earth!
Pronouncing His legitimate claim of ownership over all of Humanity!
Jesus Christ is indeed the Saviour of the World……this is now an idea which time has come!

 

 

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The Eternal Divine Mystery….revealed in History ….but hidden to Humanity!

 

The eclipse of the sun.

For the last 2000 years various unbalanced and imperfect expressions and forms of religious activity have presented themselves under the name of Christianity.

Many of the graces and endowments of the Christian Faith, intended to be a blessing, have in fact become a snare and a spiritual death trap to many.
All ‘truth’ exists within the tension of two opposing and often seemingly contradictory polarities. Pulled to far towards any extreme, the very ‘truth’ itself, now out of balance, biased and distorted from its context now becomes the ground for error.
The Apostle Paul in his magnificent exposition of Love distinguishes between the outworking of the Life-giving Spirit of Christ and these fleshly religious aberrations.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels”……referring to the religion of ecstatic emotionalism.
“Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge”……..religion as theological intellectualism.
“Though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains……..an active energized faith for overcoming and achieving great results in the name of God.
“Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor”……. religion as humanitarianism.
“Though I give my body to be burned” – asceticism, the religion of self-sacrifice and self-denial.
And also the fleshly expression of legalism …….producing a judgemental religion that spawns boasting, arrogance, pride and is devoid of love.

The Apostle Paul.

Paul explicitly repudiates all these distorted and inadequate representations of the outworking of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in peoples lives.
Yet ironically, by the strange twist of fate, Paul himself the lover of Christ and champion of Grace was at times himself the very embodiment of the elements of religion expressions he refuted.
We see Paul as the chosen revelator of divine mysteries. Yet we encounter Paul as the moralist and judgementalist, Paul the ecstatic visionary thinker. Paul the speculative theologian, often the enterprising organizer and clergyman, Paul the humanitarian, Paul the ascetic.
Unfortunately, of the different depictions of Paul, the one that has historically been the most prominent is that of a dogmatic thinker, the creator of a curriculum of theology, of religious philosophy, of a system of ecclesiology.
This historical misperception and ecclesiastical blunder has done much injury to this great spiritual visionary giant and has ruined Paul revelation of the eternal mysteries of God for many throughout the centuries.
A man of God’s worst enemy is often himself, ruining his own legacy and influence. However, Paul’s greatest ministry adversary, opposing his purpose and influence most down the centuries was not Paul himself…….but Paulinism.
Overlaid by elaborate religious systems and daunting theories and interpretations and forbidding theologies of generations the essence of Paul’s message……..the vital reality of God’s eternal intention of the ‘adoption’ of humanity unto Himself and into union with Him in Christ is mostly denied or treated as common truth.
If mentioned, his great insights into the Mystery of God, of both the Father and of Christ, are projected as a future heavenly destination, instead of presented as our point of departure! 
At the heart of Paul’s teaching was the revelation of at least three remarkable eternal mysteries.
Sadly, not unlike a solar eclipse, where the moon strategically becomes superimposed over the sun, obscuring its brightness, man made religious institutions and dogmas have eclipsed and  dimmed from view  these transforming realities.
Firstly that In Christ Jesus, all the Fullness of the Divine Godhead dwelt bodily. He envisioned Christ as both the genesis and fulfilment of all things.
He described the glorification of His humanity as forever reconciling humanity and divinity within Himself, perfectly satisfying both God and man. As Mediator and Guarantor of an eternal Father and Child relationship contained within the One perfect and unique relationship, the bond between Christ the Son and the Eternal Father.
He saw in the coronation of the Son of Man, withinn the Royal Throne Room of Heaven, at the Right Hand of God the Father, in the very Seat of All Rule and Authority as establishing the Man Christ Jesus as indeed the Cosmic Ruler and Supreme Universal Head over all existence, with an undisputable claim on all Mankind.
Secondly, a divine initiative of abounding and amazing grace, conceived by Divine Love in eternity past within the Godhead, and successfully executed by the Son of God in creation, within matter, energy, time and space, a perfect act of both  reconciliation and adoption between fallen man and his Maker.
Thirdly, Paul saw the resurrection of  Jesus Christ as the First-born and Corporate Head of a New Creation, a new species of Humanity, unlike anything that ever existed before. Jesus Christ now, through the Resurrection from out of death, transcending the limitations of human form … having now become also the  Life- giving Spirit who is all and in all, and fills all in all.
He saw the mystery of the special  ‘ecclesia’ of Jesus Christ, within humanity, of those responding to the ultimate ‘truth’ of their inclusion and infusion in His Life, Those believing and walking in the reality of their participation as being en-Christed men and women, their very life  hidden in Christ in God.
A realization that Christ within man is the very hope of the realization of God’s opinion of man, and the manifestation and completion of our original design!
Like a priceless masterpiece by a brilliantly talented painter, stuck away in the attic of time and completely forgotten, covered with accumulated layers of dust of centuries, such is the greatest Divine mysteries of all the ages and generations!
Victor Hugo once said, …“Nothing is as powerful as an idea which time has come!”
The revelation of these mysteries were known and penned by the Apostle Paul 2000 years ago.
Yet, if there ever was an idea worthy of acceptance, this ancient hidden truth, that Jesus Christ is their completion, their Saviour and also Lord, is indeed the birthright of every every member of the human family.
That Jesus Christ is the Lord and Saviour of all mankind,………….. is an idea which time has come!

Facing some tough questions about “the Gospel”!

We, Christians, the contemporary Church of today, need to look ourselves squarely in the eye, do some soul searching and  and honestly ask ourselves some tough questions!
We have to ask ourselves if, despite the sincere and grand efforts made by so many to preach ‘the gospel’, if the true essence of ‘the Gospel’ has not unknowingly  fallen through the floorboards of the contemporary Church?
If the essence of true message concerning Jesus Christ, has not become obscure in the muddy waters of religiosity, or trampled underfoot by ecclesiastical establishments, in their eager  quest for public approval and their own need for survival? 
Lets consider if everything being promoted as being ‘the Gospel’ today,even though it may be based on what is written in the Scriptures, referred to as the  ”The New Testament” , is necessarily “The Gospel” that we are supposed to proclaim to the world!
For most Christians the New Testament and the Gospel simply comprises the pages between Matthew and the Book of Revelation in their Bibles. In fact most Christians will fall of their pew in shock when told that this is not the New Testament, neither is it the Gospel per se.
The New Covenant is indeed testified to in these pages of Scripture, so is the Gospel, the Good News!
The ‘New Covenant’ is in fact in its deeper implications an ‘us’ inclusive, living relationship between God the Father and God the Son! The Gospel is actually the good news that we, humanity have been reconciled, accepted and included, by the grace of God, into this, the only perfect relationship in the universe.
The wonderful news that Jesus not only brought divinity into humanity by His Incarnation, He has also lifted humanity into Divinity by His Ascension and Glorification.
In the light thereof, let us now examine some questions in reference to our present mode of understanding and proclaiming the Gospel. God’s plea through us, His ambassadors, towards mankind, the heart cry of a Loving Father to His wayward children! An invitation to ‘come home’ and be reconciled, based on the already accomplished Redemptive work of Christ.
Much of our theology and efforts at preaching, although sincere and dutifully based on Scripture, has in fact contributed in producing a mixed Gospel.
Much like making a fruit salad, we have sliced into one mixture everything that ‘sounds good’ from the Bible, everything that would make an impression and produce a decision to ‘believe the Gospel’ in the hearts and minds of the hearers
Many of the scriptures upon which we generally base our preaching of the ‘Gospel’, are historical records of pre-crucifixion events and narratives that took place within a particular past context.
About what transpired in the early period of the infantile Early Church, before the calling and commissioning of the Apostle Paul, who eventually wrote two thirds of the New Testament and was the first to shed true light on the full implications of Christ’s Redemptive act.
All these recorded events unfolded within the backdrop of the passing away of a deeply established judgemental and legalistic religious culture, in particular the Law of Moses and the Priestly order and system of sacrifices introduces through Moses.
This was a rigid and intolerant system based on a deliberate divine demand made on mankind’s self-effort at obedience and moral performance, and was , in the nature of the case never designed to enable or empower man to succeed, but to he contrary to cause him to utterly fail.
Thereby proving to man that his own weakness and inability, despite his best performance, despite legalistic  self-effort religiosity having reached its climax, to redeem him or to establish himself as righteousness before God, based on his own works.
This incapacity of man to pull himself up by his own religious bootstraps was meant in fact, to rub his nose in his ruin, so to speak, and to bring him face to face with his desperate need for a saviour.
The culmination of mans innate spiritual corruption necessitated the ushering in of a totally different, antithetical and counter productive to the old, totally grace based method of redemption.
A previously inconceivable and impossible deliverance from spiritual darkness and bondage based on a once off Divine unilateral intervention on man’s behalf. A divine operation far super ceding and going beyond the mere Divine ‘pardon of man’s sin’‘, but in fact culminating in a spiritual union between Divinity and humanity.
Much of the history of the early Church reflect a co-mingling of the Old and the New and the progressive clarifying of the confusing issues this raised in the lives of those whose mentality had been shaped by the Old and those who had no Law based frame of reference.
The most far reaching and important Divine intervention in the history mankind and the Cosmos was the Incarnation of the unique Son of God into the human body of Jesus of Nazareth as the representative Corporative Man.
Through His birth into humanity and subsequent vicarious Life, Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and Glorification Christ had created the context for interpreting the mystery regarding the nature of God and his relationship with man.
The revelation of this mystery, previously hidden from all previous ages and from all preceding generations has now has been revealed and is now no longer supposed to be a mystery to humanity!
First revealed directly by Jesus Christ and especially to the Apostle Paul, given him the ‘stewardship from God’ in order to fulfil the Word of God and the responsibility to make the revelation of the mystery known.
This by informing and completing man understands of the reason and the implications for the Incarnation, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Glorification of Jesus Christ, Himself simultaneously the Son of Man and the Son of God.
This revelation and understanding had been incomplete in the Early Church up to the launch by Christ Himself personally of Paul’s teaching ministry and only became a reality to Paul through his teachings.
Paul’s ministry introduced a revelation and an explanation of Gods eternal intention and Christ’s earthly intervention without which our interpretation of the ‘Good news from God about man’ what we indeed name ‘the Gospel ‘ would be incomplete.
For the sake of clarity we have to discern and admit that more than one interpretation of ‘the Gospel’ exists within the recorded history of the early Church. For this reason Paul go to great lengths to contrast and set ‘his’ gospel over against the ‘gospel’ others were preaching at the same time?
Paul distinguishes ‘his’ gospel message in this way;
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, ‘according to the revelation of the mystery’, which was kept secret since the world began.  But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith..” Romans 16: 24 – 26
Paul contrasting his ‘certified’ and ‘completed’ Gospel message of ‘reconciliation’ over against those who only understood ‘at that time’ a gospel message based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth with in the backdrop of a Jewish Law based religious dispensation.
Paul’s gospel was based on a revelation of…”Him that is of power to stablish you according to ‘my gospel,’ and the preaching of Jesus Christ, ‘according to the revelation of the mystery’, which was kept secret since the world began,  ’But now is made manifest,” Romans 16:26

1 Vote

People correctly ask… if Jesus Christ is the Saviour of All Men….why does the Bible say we must ‘believe’ or ‘have faith’?

We as human beings are designed to always ‘organize’ or ‘order’ our lives upon or around a certain ‘belief’ or subjective structure of what has become for us our ‘fundamental reality’.
Having ‘faith in’, or ‘believing in’, is basically about being ‘persuaded’ inwardly.
Persuaded enough about something or someone to allow an adjustment in the ‘inward ordering’ of our ‘fundamental realities’.
Convinced sufficiently to allow a new found personal ‘reality’ or ‘value’ to take priority in the  belief structure upon which we will henceforth predicate our future thoughts, feelings and actions.
Believing ‘into’ Christ, corrects our endemic spiritual  ignorance, and informs our consciousness of the true spiritual genesis of our being and of our life, as being not only sourced from, but  literally ’hidden’ ‘in Christ’…Who in turn is ‘hidden’…. ‘In God’!
Believing, or being persuaded aboutthe ‘fundamental reality’ of Jesus Christ,  brings an immediate  shift  in our ‘awareness’ and ‘experience’,altering the very central axis or pivotal point from where  we interpret our ‘existence’ and life. Faith dramatically shifts the pivotal point of our ‘subjective existence’ away form our empty, spiritually darkened, and shame-based self-concept.
It’s this very void in our consciousness that produces an external focus in the perpetual and futile search for meaningful identity outside of ourselves, manifesting inter alia, in man made religion. Faith in Christ shifts it inwardly,the central axis of our focus now becoming the awareness of Christ within…..the ‘hope’ of Glory! Otherwise stated, as a ‘confident expectation’ for the realization of the ‘doxa’ or the very ‘opinion’ of God. His opinion or persuasion about the ‘fundamental reality’ concerning ‘who’ and ‘what’ we as human beings truly are in the sight of God! Faith or ‘belief’ in Jesus Christ, is the only portal whereby humans have access into the ‘conscious experience’ of our inseparable and eternal relatedness to the Father of our spirits. The inward entry into an awareness of our true identity and unique status of sonship. The fundamental reality of our very life and person being held in His loving embrace whilebeing gazed upon as being a valuable and precious child of God the Father!

 

 

2 Votes

Why , after 2000 years do we still not agree on the Bible?

For many years my own  typical conditioned response, reasoning from out of my inherited theological framework, to any point or opinion not consistent to my own, was ‘But the Bible says!‘

"...but 'my way' is the only 'right' way!'

I was so taught and was attempting to ‘micro manage’ Bible truths and principles without considering the overall larger message of the Bible. The larger plan and macro framework!
It was very much like building a puzzle without the picture on he outside of the  box!
My current position however, when faced with sometimes difficult to ‘explain’ scriptures is to first ASK,and ANSWER this vital question;
‘Who is Jesus Christ,the Son, and what has God the Father done to humanity in and through Him?”
The ANSWER to this question is the macro plan and picture!The overarching paradigm of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation!
It is the picture on the outside of the box of a puzzle, without which you cannot successfully put together the pieces to form  the picture!
This has become for me the true interpretive key to unlocking what the entire Bible is all about, namely the Mystery: of both the Father and the Son and their intention to include mankind in the life, the love and the glory of the Trinity.
For myself, I know that I need to interpret every verse in the Bible in the light of this ANSWER, otherwise I am missing the point and  message of the Bible!
What is your ‘interpretive key’ when reading and attempting to make sense of the Bible?

When Professor Willliam Barclay said..”I am a convinced universalist” ....it made me think!

Well, first of all, who was William Barclay?

And why does his opinion matter?

Why does his personal estimate of Who Jesus is in relation to all of mankind, and what the scope and cicumference of the saving Grace of God towards mankind really is, impress you?

For the record William Barclay was a biblical scholar, a world-renowned New Testament interpreter, and minister of the Church of Scotland.

He served as Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University, Scotland. Professor Barclay was also the Examiner in New Testament at the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, St. Andrews and Leeds.

He held the Bruce Lectureship (1936 – The Use of the New Testament in the Early Fathers), The Kerr Lectureship (1954-1957 – Educational Ideals in the Ancient World), and the Croall Lectureship (1954-1957 – The Ethical Vocabulary of Saint Paul).

Other academic positions held by Professor Barclay were membership f the Society for New Testament Studies and of the International Conference on Patristic Studies.

He was also a director of the National Bible Society of Scotland, a member of the Translating Committee of the New English Bible, and translator on the Apocryphal Panel.

In the New Year Honours List of 1969 he was made a Commander of the British Empire. Professor Barclay died in his sleep in the early hours of Tuesday 24 January 1978.

Certainly William Barclay was no ‘man of straw’ when it came to Theology! He certainly was no half-informed, wild-eyed, Bible totting, prancing and pulpit thumping  preacher. Professor Barclay was ‘old school’, Scottish conservative and also a highly educated academic.

Indeed a rare and  and exeptional man of God!

This is what William had to say:

“I am a convinced universalist.

I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God.

In the early days Origen was the great name connected with universalism. I would believe with Origen that universalism is no easy thing. Origen believed that after death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the presence of God. Origen did not eliminate hell; he believed that some people would have to go to heaven via hell.

Origen

He believed that even at the end of the day there would be some on whom the scars remained. He did not believe in eternal punishment, but he did see the possibility of eternal penalty. And so the choice is whether we accept God’s offer and invitation willingly, or take the long and terrible way round through ages of purification.

Gregory of Nyssaoffered three reasons why he believed in universalism.

Gregory of Nyssa

First, he believed in it because of the character of God. “Being good, God entertains pity for fallen man; being wise, he is not ignorant of the means for his recovery.”

Second, he believed in it because of the nature of evil. Evil must in the end be moved out of existence, “so that the absolutely non-existent should cease to be at all.” Evil is essentially negative and doomed to non-existence.

Third, he believed in it because of the purpose of punishment. The purpose of punishment is always remedial. Its aim is “to get the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the communion of blessedness.” Punishment will hurt, but it is like the fire which separates the alloy from the gold; it is like the surgery which removes the diseased thing; it is like the cautery which burns out that which cannot be removed any other way.

But I want to set down not the arguments of others but the thoughts which have persuaded me personally of universal salvation.

First, there is the fact that there are things in the New Testament which more than justify this belief. Jesus said: “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Paul writes to the Romans: “God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32).

He writes to the Corinthians: “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22); and he looks to the final total triumph when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:28).

In the First Letter to Timothy we read of God “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth,” and of Christ Jesus “who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:4-6). The New Testament itself is not in the least afraid of the word all.

Second, one of the key passages is Matthew 25:46 where it is said that the rejected go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. The Greek word for punishment is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. I think it is true to say that in all Greek secular literature kolasis is never used of anything but remedial punishment.

The word for eternal is aionios. It means more than everlasting, for Plato – who may have invented the word – plainly says that a thing may be everlasting and still not be aionios. The simplest way to out it is that aionios cannot be used properly of anyone but God; it is the word uniquely, as Plato saw it, of God. Eternal punishment is then literally that kind of remedial punishment which it befits God to give and which only God can give.

Third, I believe that it is impossible to set limits to the grace of God. I believe that not only in this world, but in any other world there may be, the grace of God is still effective, still operative, still at work. I do not believe that the operation of the grace of God is limited to this world. I believe that the grace of God is as wide as the universe.

Fourth, I believe implicitly in the ultimate and complete , the time when all things will be subject to him, and when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

For me this has certain consequences. If one man remains outside the love of God at the end of time, it means that that one man has defeated the love of God – and that is impossible. Further, there is only one way in which we can think of the triumph of God. If God was no more than a King or Judge, then it would be possible to speak of his triumph, if his enemies were agonizing in hell or were totally and completely obliterated and wiped out.

But God is not only King and Judge, God is Father – he is indeed Father more than anything else. No father could be happy while there were members of his family for ever in agony. No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family.

The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved by and in love with God.

[Quoted from William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography, pg 65-67, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1977.]