Is Christianity Just Universalism if Hell Isn’t Real?

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One of the most controversial topics that is a part of the Christian religion involves the belief in the existence of hell. It’s certainly a much more comfortable thought to believe that if there’s anything after this life, it’s a place of peace, love, joy, and basically unending bliss. Certainly, there are more people who believe that Heaven exists. In fact, a Pew Research Center poll found that in general, 73 percent of all U.S. adults believe in Heaven, while only 62 percent believe in hell. 

Breaking that down a bit further, 92 percent of Christians overall believe in Heaven, while 79 percent believe in hell. Although the survey didn’t address what their alternative to hell is, some people believe that everyone eventually gets saved. However, such a Universalist type of belief is in direct contradiction to what Jesus said in the Gospel.

What Is Universalism?

Merriam-Webster defines Universalism as “A theological doctrine that all human beings will eventually be saved.”

The Gospel Coalition quotes Christian Professor-Author-Pastor J.I. Packer as saying, “A Universalist is someone who believes that every human being whom God has created or will create will finally come to enjoy the everlasting salvation into which Christians enter here and now.”

He goes on to note that, “the church has officially rated universalism a heresy ever since the second Council of Constantinople (the fifth ecumenical council, A.D. 553).”

What Jesus Had to Say about Hell

For Christians following the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, the teaching of hell is a rather significant one in connection to the teaching of salvation. In a nutshell, hell exists because of sin. Likewise, the evil and wickedness in the world exist because of sin.

As an analogy, jails and prisons exist in various communities because of criminals who choose to break the law (sin). They don’t exist because of law-abiding citizens, but the fact that jails and prisons exist and keep law-breaking criminals off the streets helps to protect law-abiding citizens from criminals. 

Jesus didn’t shy away from warning people about hell. In fact, Ligonier Ministries notes that Jesus, “spoke about hell more than any other person in Scripture, and he clearly taught that – despite the claims of universalism – there would be people who go there.”

One parable in particular that lays this out pretty clearly is Luke 16:19-31, which is about the rich man and Lazarus. When the rich man died, he went to a place of torment that he couldn’t leave, which in this passage, is called Hades. A quick glimpse through a Strong’s Concordance of the Bible reveals that Hades is basically a synonym for hell. 

Jesus compares hell to “a fire that shall never be quenched” in Mark 9:43-48. 

When the apostles ask Jesus to explain the parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:36-42, Jesus is rather direct, beginning with verse 37: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” 

Jesus really went after those who were hypocrites in Matthew 23, running through quite the list of grievances that He had against them. Then He plainly told them in verse 33 that such wicked behavior would land them in hell if they didn’t change their ways.

In Matthew 25, Jesus speaks about the final judgment, and that people from all the nations will be separated into two groups, like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Those who have accepted His gift of salvation and asked Him to be their Lord and Savior are compared to sheep, directed to His right, and invited to “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

The “goats” are directed to His left and are commanded to, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Why Sin, Evil, and Wickedness Exist

The reason sin, evil, and wickedness exist is that it was allowed into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve in the book of Genesis. God gave them 1 command, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die,” (Genesis 2:16-17).

There was an immediate death that they experienced that was spiritual in nature because it severed their relationship with God. They were no longer allowed to stay in God’s garden. Their relationship with each other suffered too, in the sense that Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the snake, who represented the devil, when God confronted them.

The bottom line is that they each could have chosen to obey God’s command at any point prior to eating the fruit, but they chose to rebel and break His law instead. This particular move meant that all of creation fell, too, because Adam and Eve were given dominion over all of it by God. But God is also loving and didn’t want to be separated from them (and us) forever. Since sinful beings can’t be in the presence of a holy God, He had to make a way for them to be redeemed. In a nutshell, this involved the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus because the penalty for sin also had to be paid to satisfy the law. So just as the sin of Adam and Eve caused all of creation to fall, the obedience of Christ brought its complete redemption. (Romans 5:12-19).

Romans 6:23 clearly states that the wages of sin are death. Since Jesus is perfect, His physical death satisfied that requirement. Therefore, whoever wants to be forgiven by God can be when they ask for that. The rest of that verse says that the gift of God is eternal life. So not only does a person with a repentant heart get to be forgiven and in right relationship with God in the here and now, but they also get to spend eternity with Him in heaven when they die, escaping eternal separation from Him and the misery and torment of hell.

It wasn’t possible for people to get restored to the right relationship with God and spend eternity in heaven with him without the death of Jesus. We know this because Jesus prayed on the Mount of Olives, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

God did not step in to stop Jesus’ horrendous beating and death on the cross. So if it was possible to get into heaven by eventually “being good enough,” then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die to pay the price for our sins. Salvation is possible by His gift of grace, and not a result of any works that we do (Ephesians 2:8-9). We have to choose to accept His gift.

God is a gentleman. He doesn’t force people to accept what they don’t want. If someone chooses not to be in the right relationship with Him, He doesn’t try to force them into a relationship. He allows each person to make that decision of their own free will.  Once we make a choice to be in the right relationship with Him, we can grow and deepen it through studying the Word and through worship.

Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Romolo Tavani

Elizabeth Delaney has been a freelance content writer for over 20 years and has enjoyed having her prose published in both the non-fiction and fiction markets. She has written various types of content, including Christian articles, healthy lifestyle, blog posts, business topics, news articles, product descriptions, and some fiction. She is also a singer-songwriter-musician. When she is not busy with writing or music, she enjoys spending time with friends or family and doing fun social activities such as hiking, swing dancing, concerts, and other activities.