Capon summarizes his broad view of
salvation as follows:
- "I am and I am not a universalist.
I am one if you are talking about what God in Christ has done to save
the world. The Lamb of God has not taken away the sins of some — of only
the good, or the cooperative, or the select few who can manage to get
their act together and die as perfect peaches. He has taken away the
sins of the world — of every last being in it — and he has dropped them
down the black hole of Jesus’ death. On the cross, he has shut up
forever on the subject of guilt: “There is therefore now no
condemnation. . . .” All human beings, at all times and places, are home
free whether they know it or not, feel it or not, believe it or not.
- "But I am not a universalist if you are talking about what people
may do about accepting that happy-go-lucky gift of God’s grace. I take
with utter seriousness everything that Jesus had to say about hell,
including the eternal torment that such a foolish non-acceptance of his
already-given acceptance must entail. All theologians who hold
Scripture to be the Word of God must inevitably include in their work a
tractate on hell. But I will not — because Jesus did not — locate hell
outside the realm of grace. Grace is forever sovereign, even in Jesus’
parables of judgment. No one is ever kicked out at the end of those
parables who wasn’t included in at the beginning."
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- Father Capon passed into glory yesterday.
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