How Many Will Be Saved?

[ Philosophical Exegesis ]

The question asked by the title of this page is very difficult to resolve. Judgment is God's business, not ours. He makes the final verdict and meets out the appropriate punishment, if necessary. Isaiah compares God's thoughts and ways to ours:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the LORD.

9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It is not for us to cast ultimate judgment. We are warned to "judge not lest we be ourselves judged." Despite such statements there seems to be a pervasive belief among Christians that the world is going to hell in a handbasket--literally. Many Christians are under the impression that much or even most of the world will not be ultimately saved. Is this view correct? I do not believe it is biblically sound and I think this misconception plays a small role in fostering a negative "us versus them" mentality.

If we were to ask God how many were to be saved and he said "not enough" and if we further asked him, how many are lost and he replied, "far too many" what could we conclude from this? Could we determine any specific numbers? It is my contention that we could not under any circumstances, ascertain any specific numbers from such responses. Jesus told the following parables (Luke 15):

Parable of the Lost Sheep

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."

The Parable of the Lost Coin

"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

All of heaven rejoices when one sinner repents. God will forsake ninety nine sheep to save the one lost sheep. This fatherly mentality prevents us from ascribing any sort of realistic numbers to Biblical admonitions against the state of the world or the number of those left. If ten people throughout the history of the tens of billions of people who have ever lived were lost the author of this parable would greatly lament their loss and possibly engage in hyperbole such as broad is the way....

To illustrate this with an analogy envision a father with ten children--two of whom died in their youth--being asked how many children he had that passed away. His thinking will very likely be "far too many" despite that 80% of them are still living. A loving God does not view his children as statistics but as individual people.

Numbers as to who is lost and who is saved cannot be affixed. Salvation is God's business. For all we know, the vast majority of the entire human race will be found in the kingdom of God. Biblical warnings certainly must be accepted as meaning there is real danger but Christians should simply focus on the love of God rather than on false visions that most of the world is doomed. There is no need for an "us versus them" mentality which views most of your neighbors as hellbound since Biblically such an outlook is unjustifiable in the first place. A more hopeful posture is warranted. After all, if the Christian view is correct, though it may not always seem to be when we look around us, the world and our neighbors are in good hands.

[ Scriptural Exegesis ]

It is believed by many that the road to hell is broad and few will find it. After all, the Bible says this quite cleartly in Matthew. I would like to point out one historical-exegetical issue. If Jesus told his followers in 31 A.D. that the road to destruction was broad and many find it, does that mean this necessarily holds true still today, in 2007? I do not think it does. Exegetes often forget that the words of the Bible have a historical setting and if you believe in genuine libertarian free will, things can change for the better or worse.

Scripture in Support of only a Few Being Saved:

• Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it. 14"For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it."
• Matthew 22:14 "For many are called, but few are chosen"
• Matthew 12:32: "And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come."
• Matthew 25:46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life"
• Mark 16:16 "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."
• Matthew 10:23 "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved"
• Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
• Revelation 21:6-8 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
  

It seems obvious from these verses that some people are not saved and judging by the range of desciptions of those who will be last, and explicit statements to this effect, there will be many who perish and few who are saved. This seems like an open and shut case but it once again affirms the valiity of the proverb which says, "The first to present his case seems right until another comes along and questions him." There are a number of verses teaching limited numbers of those who are lost, some are so limited there are theologians out there that embrace universal reconciliation (belief that everyone will be saved)"

Scripture used to support universal reconciliation:

• John 12:32: "And I [Jesus Christ], when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
• 1 John 2:1-2 "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for[a] the sins of the whole world."
• Acts 3:21: [Jesus] "must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through the prophets."
• Ephesians 1:9-10 "And he (God) made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."
• Romans 5:18-19 "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."
• Romans 8: 18-19 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
• Romans 11:32: For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all
• Colossians1:20: "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-19: "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."
• 1 Timothy 4:10: "We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe."
• Revelation 5:13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.

Some of these verses imply, that going beyond people, Satan and those angels who have fallen will be reconciled to God! Hell won't have anyone to open its gates! I am not going to analyze every passage here, pick a side in this debate and try to reinterpret each one so that they are all consistent. It is clear that there are two trains of thought on this in the Bible, and if taken literally, they are mutually exclusive. I accept inspiration of the Bible but not the doctrine of inerrancy. I believe the Bible has that truth God intended to convey to us and these two streams of thought can be viewed as hyperbolic, or not, but at the very least, they must be viewed by the Christian as reflecting some deeper truth. The important points I glean are to be cautious and modest. It is easy to fall into vice (broad is the way) and that the the dangers of hell are real but God's love and grace are far stronger than sin and death.

One speculation I would make that harmonizes these two streams of thought is compatibilism. I would not take sides on this issue as scripturally, both seem to be clearly taught. One potential way of harmonizing them is via the doctrine of purgatory and a non-eternal hell--or possibly annhilationism. Though again, scripturally, a good case can be made for an eternal hell but that is another discussion reserved for another day.

Vincent Sapone