Does God reach the goal with all people? There is a simple answer here. It is: Yes.
God is Savior of all mankind
God saves all people. This is not wishful thinking, but trusting that God’s Word will provide reliable information about this. For example, it is called:
“Credible is the word, and worthy of every welcome (for to this we labor and are reviled), that we rely on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.”
1Tim 4:9-11
Differences are allowed to be there, but there is no exclusion. All are included. Not today, but in view of God’s work and God’s goal. He is Savior of all people. He will do it and bring about all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:10-11). God is, and He is God. This needs no further explanation, for everything exists in Himself.
God is the All-Asocialist
I recently read a text in which it was said that all-atonement cannot be true because everyone needs Jesus. So people thought they knew that all-reconciliation was without Jesus, and that would be wrong. This is a clear case of ignorance of what the Bible says. God works everything through His Son. There is no teaching that has Jesus at its center more than the All Atonement.
The Bible reports about the reconciliation of the universe in a very concrete and Christocentric way:
“… Since the entire Completion has its pleasure in dwelling in Him [dem Sohn Seiner Liebe] and reconciling the All to Himself (by making peace through the blood of His Cross ) through Him, whether that on earth or that in the heavens.”
Col 1:19-20
That is His stated intention. In no uncertain terms, Paul declares that God will reconcile the universe to Himself. This is not without Christ, but “by making peace through the blood of His cross.”
This goal has not been achieved yet, but it is what everything boils down to. This is how Paul describes it in the first chapter of Colossians. It is not a plan which He has simply conceived on the off chance and where He is now waiting for our approval. It is not an attempt to repair a broken world. God was not surprised by the disaster of this world. He is God. He is the all-auspicious one. He intends to do so. That’s enough.
He intends to bring the whole world back to Himself. For this He sacrificed His Son. It is done. Therefore, the “blood of His cross” is the guarantee that God will reach the goal. The all atonement is achieved precisely through this blood of the cross, and in no other way. This is our God. This is how He works. This is Pauline gospel.
I have confidence in him. And you?
