The Surprising God

Some people misunderstand Trinitarian theology and assign to it the label of “universalism.” But this is not accurate, for this theology upholds what Scripture says, namely, that though God, in Christ, has reconciled all humans to himself, he will never force any person to embrace that reconciliation. To do so would remove from them an important God-given gift, namely their freedom to choose (and thus to say “no” to God’s “YES” to them in Jesus). God wants sons and daughters, not zombies who lack the freedom to think and to choose without coercion to love their heavenly Father. Trinitarian theologian T. F. Torrance is on record for rejecting universalism because he sees in Scripture that, in the end, some people will believe while others will not. We can’t fully explain why this is; but neither can we fully explain the presence of evil in a world under God’s sovereign control (see An Introduction to Torrance Theology, by Elmer Colyer, p.54).

I am reading "Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace" by James B. Torrance (Intervarsity Press, 1996). I was struck immediately by J.B.'s words in the preface: When we see that the worship and mission of the church are the gift of participating through the Holy Spirit in the incarnate Son's communion with the Father and the Son's mission from the father to the world, that the unique center of the Bible is Jesus Christ...then the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation, the atonement, the ministry of the Spirit, Church and sacraments, our understanding of the kingdom, our anthropology and eschatology, all unfold from that center.