‘Universalism is heresy!’ has been the default position of the church for nearly 1500 years, alongside the idea that ‘infernalism (eternal torment) is orthodoxy.’ For this reason, it’s hard for many Christians to fathom a time in which universalism might have been considered orthodox, and the idea of eternal torment heretical. However, the fact is that universalism was actually the majority view for the first four hundred years of the church’s existence. In fact, until the time of Augustine of Hippo, who was one of the first mainstream infernalists, the salvation of all was proclaimed by major champions of early orthodoxy such as Irenaeus of Lyons, the three Cappadocian Fathers, and St. Jerome. This series of posts will go through the history of early church thought on hell and universal salvation, beginning with a look at the orthodox (non-gnostic and non-docetic) apocryphal literature of the early church.
Throughout the early church (up to the mid-fifth century), there were only five major pieces of apocryphal literature (which I was able to find) that didn’t come from a gnostic or docetic background. These are the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Odes of Solomon, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Gospel of Nicodemus. Each of these will be examined in turn in this post, with the purpose of determining whether the author(s) believed in infernalism (eternal torment), conditionalism (annihilation), or universalism. Three other pieces of literature will also be briefly considered.
The Didache
The Didache was a first-century work claiming to be from the hands of the twelve apostles. Whether it was actually written by them or not (and more likely not), it represents the teachings of the early Church from within only a few decades of Jesus Christ’s death. This writing sheds very little light on the beliefs of its author(s) regarding the eventual fate of humanity, because as soon as it begins to describe the second coming of Christ, it ends rather abruptly. The relevant section is quoted below:
And then shall the signs of the truth appear: first a sign of a rift in the heavens, then a sign of a voice of a trumpet, and thirdly the resurrection of the dead. Yet not of all, but as it was said: The Lord shall come and all his saints with him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and dominion to repay each man according to his works, with justice, before all men and the angels. (Didache 4)
The fact that the authors of the Didache believed the resurrection at Christ’s coming would not be “of all” could indicate that they subscribed to conditionalism, the belief that only believers will be resurrected and unbelievers perish forever. This would also fit with one of the main themes of the writing, which is avoiding the “way of death.”
Unfortunately, though, there is no explicit statement as to whether unbelievers will never be resurrected within the Didache, which leaves us only to speculate as to what its authors believed. It could indeed mean that they believed in conditionalism, but it just as easily could mean they were premillennialists who believed that Christ’s second coming was separate from the final judgment when unbelievers would be resurrected. Therefore, in lieu of a clear statement from the Didache regarding the final destiny of unbelievers, this work must be categorized as: Indeterminate.
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Shepherd of Hermas is another work from the late first century which claims to have been written by a slave, Hermas, who received a series of visions. Shepherd received a lot of popularity among the early Church, and was even considered to be canonical scripture by some writers such as Irenaeus of Lyons. This writing is much more explicit in its description of the final destiny of unbelievers. Here are several quotes from this book regarding the fate of unbelievers:
The sheep which you saw merry and leaping about, are those which have torn themselves away from God for ever, and have delivered themselves over to luxuries and deceits of this world. Among them there is no return to life through repentance, because they have added to their other sins, and blasphemed the name of the Lord. Such men therefore, are appointed unto death. And the sheep which you saw not leaping, but feeding in one place, are they who have delivered themselves over to luxury and deceit, but have committed no blasphemy against the Lord. These have been perverted from the truth: among them there is the hope of repentance, by which it is possible to live. (Shepherd of Hermas 3.6.2)
“He that does not know God,” he answered, “and practices evil, receives a certain chastisement for his wickedness; but he that has known God, ought not any longer to do evil, but to do good. If, accordingly, when he ought to do good, he do evil, does not he appear to do greater evil than he who does not know God? For this reason, they who have not known God and do evil are condemned to death; but they who have known God, and have seen His mighty works, and still continue in evil, shall be chastised doubly, and shall die for ever.” (Shepherd of Hermas 3.9.18)
These passages, along with Shepherd 1.3.6-7, seem to demonstrate that the author believed there were two classes of unbelievers: those who have not known God or have turned away from the faith, and those who have blasphemed God by rejecting Him. The first class will be allowed to enter a sort of purgatorial hell and be redeemed, whereas the second will die forever and never return to life. This is very clearly a form of conditionalism and/or annihilation, albeit a ‘soft’ version in which some unbelievers are still saved, and so this work should be categorized as: Conditionalism.
Odes of Solomon
The Odes of Solomon were a series of Christian hymns from the early Church, which have been variously dated from the late first century to the mid-second century. They may have been quoted by Irenaeus, one of the apostolic fathers, in which case they were a very early compilation. Whether these hymns come from the pen of a single author or several, unrelated authors, it is impossible to say. However, they do seem to have a significant Johannine influence, and so some have suggested that they were written by a student of John the Evangelist.
The Odes of Solomon contain a distinctly universalistic character. In one place, they describe the living water of Christ like so:
For there went forth a stream, and it became a river great and broad; indeed it carried away everything, and it shattered and brought [it] to the Temple. And the restraints of men were not able to restrain it, nor even the arts of them who habitually restrain water. For it spread over the face of the earth, and it filled everything. Then all the thirsty upon the earth drank, and thirst was relieved and quenched; for from the Most High the drink was given. (Odes 6:8-12)
As the patristic scholar Ilaria Ramelli [1] notes, this and other passages seem to suggest that the author believed that salvation came to all people on the earth. Similarly, the Odes present the harrowing of hell as an event which brought salvation to all people who had died, not merely the patriarchs and righteous of the Old Testament:
“Sheol saw me and was shattered, and Death ejected me and many with me… And those who had died ran toward me; and they cried out and said, ‘Son of God, have pity on us. And deal with us according to your kindness, and bring us out from the chains of darkness. And open for us the door by which we may go forth to you, for we perceive that our death does not approach you. May we also be saved with you, because you are our Savior.’ Then I heard their voice, and placed their faith in my heart. And I placed my name upon their head, because they are free and they are mine.” (Odes 42:11; 16-20)
This passage suggests that the author of the Odes most likely believed that Christ’s sacrifice had not only justified the righteous, but every single person, thus bringing about universal salvation. It is significant that no mention of judgment or punishment of the wicked appears in the Odes, and death only appears in the context of Christ’s destruction of death and Sheol (i.e. Odes 15:9). However, unfortunately, the author(s) never explicitly states their belief in universal salvation, and so this work can only be categorized as: Possibly Universalism.
Apocalypse of Peter
The Apocalypse of Peter is a pseudonymous second-century work, which claims to be a record of what was spoken by Jesus to Peter on the Mount of Olives (cf. Matt. 24-25; Mk. 13; Lk. 21). This writing was considered to be canonical scripture by a few early writers, including the universalist Clement of Alexandria. Although it largely comprises a description of the awful torment which sinners will receive in hell, it also contains clear statements of universalism. For example, in one place it seems to suggest that intercessory prayers for the dead in hell will be effective:
“Then will I give to my elect and righteous the baptism and the salvation for which they have besought me” (Apocalypse of Peter 14)
As other interpreters of this work have noted, the elect already received baptism and salvation, and so they couldn’t be asking for these things for themselves. The earliest recensions of the Apocalypse also state that those who receive this baptism will have “a sharing of justification with [the] saints” — clearly referencing the salvation of those who had previously been damned. Moreover, a slightly later recension states in more explicit terms that every person will be saved:
The destiny of sinners - their eternal doom - is more than Peter can endure: he appeals to Christ to have pity on them. And my Lord answered me and said to me, “Hast thou understood that which I said unto thee before? It is permitted unto thee to know that concerning which thou askest: but thou must not tell that which thou hearest unto the sinners lest they transgress the more, and sin… My Father will give unto them all the life, the glory, and the kingdom that passeth not away.” (Apocalypse of Peter 14)
This is significant in more than one way. First, although the punishments which are said to come upon sinners earlier in the book are presented as an absolute, eternal certainty, these will not actually come upon anybody — instead, God will have mercy on all. The soteriology of the Apocalypse of Peter, at least of the later recensions, should therefore be classified as: Universalism.
Second, the truth of universal salvation is presented as something that should not be shared, lest sinners not be compelled to convert to Christianity and stop sinning. This was a common concern of universalists in the early Church, even Origen of Alexandria, and must be kept in mind as we move through our study. Although some writers may seem to support eternal torment, they could have believed universalism privately; unless they explicitly deny the eventual restoration of all, their belief in universalism cannot be ruled out.
Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate)
The Gospel of Nicodemus, or as it was occasionally called, the Acts of Pontius Pilate, was an apocryphal work of the fourth or fifth century. This writing, like the Odes of Solomon, presents the harrowing of hell by Christ as a miraculous event by which all people who had died, not merely the saints, were saved and brought up out of Hades.
[Hades speaking to Satan:] If, therefore, we receive [Christ] here, I am afraid lest perchance we be in danger even about the rest… Wherefore also I adjure even you, for your benefit and for mine, not to bring him here; for I think that he is coming here to raise all the dead. And this I tell you: by the darkness in which we live, if you bring him here, not one of the dead will be left behind in it to me. (Gospel of Nicodemus 20)
Even more significantly, the anonymous author of this Gospel later says that every single person who was touched by the consequences of the tree in the Garden of Eden will be raised up by the Tree of the Cross (Gospel of Nicodemus 24). This uses the same sort of parallelism as Paul uses in Romans 5:18 and 1 Corinthians 15:22 to teach the salvation of all, and should be viewed in the same way. Therefore, this apocryphal Gospel should be classified as: Universalism.
Other miscellaneous works
Three other works of literature were also influential in the early Church: the Epistle of Barnabas, the Acts of Paul, and 2 Clement. The first of these, written in the late first century, was likely written by a conditionalist or annihilationist, as it repeatedly contrasts the “way of life” with the “way of death.” The second, the Acts of Paul, was written in the late second century; this displays signs of conditionalism, for example, in the following sections:
“For [the Son of God] alone is end of salvation, and the basis of immortal life; for He is a refuge to the tempest-tossed, a solace to the afflicted, a shelter to the despairing; and, once for all, whoever shall not believe in Him, shall not live for ever.” (Acts of Paul and Thecla 37)
However, there are also signs of universalism in other sections of this work:
For by His own body Jesus Christ saved all flesh, presenting in His own body a temple of righteousness through which we are saved. (3 Corinthians 16-18)
Finally, the last of the three, 2 Clement, is a pseudepigraphal work from the second century attributed to Clement of Rome. This seems to be one of the first works to describe a belief in eternal conscious torment, as it states that the wicked will receive torments in fire (chap. 17) and that there will be no hope of repentance for them (chaps. 6-7). However, it is also possible that the author was an annihilationist, believing that the wicked would be annihilated after torment, because they state that immortality is a gift given only to Christians (chaps. 14, 19).
Overall, these apocryphal works of literature demonstrate the heterogeneity of opinions on the fate of unbelievers among early orthodox Christians. All three doctrines, universalism, annihilationism, and infernalism are represented in these works.
Conclusion
Of the five early orthodox Christian works of literature discussed here, three appear to be universalist in their soteriology (Odes of Solomon, Apocalypse of Peter, Gospel of Nicodemus), whereas only one is conditionalist (Shepherd of Hermas) and the Didache is indeterminate as to its author(s)’ beliefs on the fate of unbelievers.
Based solely on these writings, the early orthodox Church seems to have had a great variability of belief, between full universalism and annihilation of the lost, whereas in later centuries universalism clearly won out. Significantly, none of these early works of literature clearly espoused infernalism, the belief in eternal torment. It seems that many, if not the majority, in the early Church believed in universalism, while the idea that unbelievers might be tormented eternally after death was far removed from their minds. This pattern is repeated throughout the writings of the early Church fathers, as will be seen in the later posts in this series.
Part 2: https://universalistheretic.blogspot.com/2022/02/indeed-very-many-part-2-apostolic.html
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