Thus our tribulation, without ceasing to be tribulation or to be felt to be tribulation, is transformed. We must suffer, as we suffered before. But our suffering is no longer a passive, dangerous, poisonous, destructive tribulation and perplexity, such as invade the souls of those who hate the Judge (ii. 9), but is transformed into a tribulation and perplexity which are creative, fruitful, powerful, promising, by which men are dissolved, cast to the ground, pressed into a corner, and imprisoned, by God ...

Nothing but the Lord Jesus Christ is the means of our salvation. There are means that are necessary to the revealing and enjoying the comfort of it, as the Holy Spirit and ministers to reveal it and faith to receive it; also, there be fruits and effects of the love of God, as faith, love, and obedience to Christ…yet these are no means of our salvation ...

It cannot be that cruelty dwells in God, who is love, and whose goodness is unsearchable, past finding out, far above all we can ask or think. There is such a confused noise among men, of the grace and love of God, so many voices that we are in confusion, and know not what to make of it. Look above, and hearken to the sweet voice in the region of love. What are the voices in heaven? They agree in one: no voices comes from heaven, but love, peace, and good will to man ...

William Paul Young and Brad Jersak discuss some heavy questions in church and theology based on their novel The Pastor: A Crisis. Well worth a listening too! ...

Let the Cross of Christ be the banner under which we fight. Let us maintain that the Atonement made by Him, as it was intended for all, so also must it extend to all, since even the sin of man cannot render the purpose of God of none effect ...

If Jesus gave himself a ransom for all, then are all ransomed: the prey is taken from the mighty, and the lawful captives are delivered – they are ransomed from the dominion of sin, from the curse of the law, and from everlasting death. Thus stands the case with all the children of Adam, as ransomed by Jesus Christ, who, in consequence thereof, are spotless before God ...

Sergius Bulgakov (1871–1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, philosopher, priest and economist. The Lamb of God is the first volume in his great dogmatic trilogy. Though this volume primarily deals with Christology as informed by Bulgakov's sophiology, there are also hints of his commitment to the doctrine of the final restoration of all things. Christ tasted not only His own death but also mortality itself. He died with all humankind; His death included every human death, and it was equivalent to all the deaths in humankind. Christ's death was universal and universally human, just as His sufferings, psychic and corporeal, dynamically included all human suffering. Herein lies the salvific and resurrecting power of Christ's death, as the victory over death, as the "death for every man" (Heb. 2:9)-- Sergius Bulgakov, The Lamb of God, p. 374-375 Get it here: https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/2779/the-lamb-of-god.aspx ...

What will be the final destiny of the human race at God's eschatological judgment? Will all be saved, or only a few? How does Christian eschatology impact Christian political action in the here and now? And what is the destiny of each individual facing the prospect of earthly death? In these essays, Russian Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov (1871-1944) brings the resources of Scripture and tradition to bear on these vital questions, arguing for the magnificent final restoration of all creatures to union with God in a universal salvation worthy of the infinite scope of Christ's redemption ...

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 AD) Hail, O light! For in us, buried in darkness, shut up in the shadow of death, light has shone forth from heaven, purer than the sun, sweeter than life here below. That light is eternal life; and whatever partakes of it lives. But night fears the light, and hiding itself in terror, gives place to the day of the Lord. Sleepless light is now over all, and the west has given credence to the east. For this was the end of the new creation. For the Sun of Righteousness, who drives His chariot over all, pervades equally all humanity, like His Father, who makes His sun to rise on all men, and distils on them the dew of the truth. He has changed sunset into sunrise, and through the cross brought death to life; and having wrenched man from destruction, He has raised him ...

Tr. Frederick Crombie. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 4. (1885) 1. Now, respecting the end of the world and the consummation of all things, we have stated in the preceding pages, to the best of our ability, so far as the authority of holy Scripture enabled us, what we deem sufficient for purposes of instruction; and we shall here only add a few admonitory remarks, since the order of investigation has brought us back to the subject. The highest good, then, after the attainment of which the whole of rational nature is seeking, which is also called the end of all blessings, is defined by many philosophers as follows: The highest good, they say, is to become as like to God as possible. But this definition I regard not so much as a discovery of theirs, as a view derived from holy Scripture. For this is pointed out by Moses, before ...