96).ĭoesn't Scripture say that there will be some (or even many) who will reject the reconciliation? Of course it does. Resurrection is not a reward for the chosen few it is the only game there in in the whole eschatological town (p. There is no one anywhere in the final scheme of things who is floating around in his own old unrisen state. But my point is that if they do go, they go even there in the power of a resurrection by which God in Christ has reconciled all things to himself, hell included. What I do object to, however, are the hell-enthusiasts who act as if God's whole New Testament method of dealing with evil will, in the last day, simply go back to some Old Testament 'square one' - as if Jesus hadn't done a blessed or merciful thing in between.Admittedly, the Bible talks about all sorts of creatures going to hell. To be sure, Scripture says clearly enough that the sovereign, healing power of Jesus can and will be refused by some. Take, for example, the question of whether we are in a position to discuss the meaning or even the possibility of ultimate human rejection of the reconciliation. We simply don't know how or to what degree that power affects the eschatological situation. And since the resurrection of the dead (of the just and the unjust alike) is something that happens to them solely by virtue of Jesus' resurrection.everything that happens after the second coming of Jesus - judgment, heaven and even hell - happens within the triumphantly reconciling power of his death and resurrection.

The judgment occurs only after the general resurrection of the dead. For a related article from theologian Baxter Kruger, click here. I recommend a careful reading of the whole book for the details, including Capon's careful scriptural argumentation. In this book, Capon analyzes Jesus' parables, which speak frequently of judgment and hell. In answering this and related questions, I've found help from Episcopal priest-theologian Robert Farrar Capon in Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus.

Kingdom grace judgement