Dr. Otis A. Skinner published a work titled “A Series of Sermons in Defence of Universal Salvation,” printed by Abel Tompkins in Boston in 1842. Google has kindly digitized this work into the public domain, and this chapter is largely based on one of those sermons. Dr. Skinner advocates what he calls the doctrine of “impartial grace.” It is a doctrine that magnifies the mercy of God and demonstrates His overwhelming love for all. Today, we might call this universal reconciliation.

In his day, Dr. Skinner was alarmed at “the untiring efforts made in this city [Boston], during the past winter, against the doctrine of ‘impartial grace.’” Those who promoted the doctrine of eternal conscious torment attacked universal reconciliation and its advocates with harshness. He described these attacks as “unchristian measures employed to cast reproach upon its advocates.” The spirit of that assault is similar to the charges the Pharisees brought against Christ’s disciples in Mark 6–7. Pharisees need their traditions.

More than 175 years have passed since Dr. Skinner wrote those words, yet the hostility toward the doctrine of universal reconciliation has not faded. Advocates of eternal conscious torment often hold deep enmity toward those who challenge their tradition. Impartial grace and eternal conscious torment cannot both be true. One of them is a lie.

Dr. Skinner passionately embraced universal reconciliation and felt compelled to defend it against the reproach poured upon “his brethren.” He desired to expose false doctrines—eternal conscious torment among them—so that “the world may be saved from those false” teachings, and to teach universal reconciliation in a way that would “bring many to rejoice in the goodness of God.”

Eternal Conscious Torment Cannot Be Reconciled with Divine Goodness

“Yahweh is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.” (Psalm 145:9, WEB) The doctrine of eternal conscious torment is dreadful. It is a doctrine of fear and retribution. Among the many doctrines found within Christendom, this one is especially horrendous. Nearly every denomination that calls itself Christian has, in some measure, adopted it as truth and often views it as beyond dispute. The torments assigned to the reprobate in this doctrine are, by any honest reading, evil in nature. Yet the doctrine is adamantly defended by men and women who are otherwise sincere and well-meaning. It has become deeply entrenched in denominations and congregations worldwide and is often regarded as essential to “orthodox” belief.

Advocates of eternal conscious torment often claim, as Dr. Skinner quotes, that it is “one of the most efficient means, furnished by Heaven, for the prevention of crime, and the promotion of virtue.” In reality, the doctrine has not proven itself effective in stopping crime or promoting genuine virtue. In contrast, “impartial grace” is embraced by millions of Christians around the world. Impartial grace—or universal reconciliation—directly contradicts and negates the doctrine of eternal conscious torment. No wonder, then, that universal reconciliation is viewed as anathema by lovers of the traditional doctrine.

In Dr. Skinner’s day, he saw signs of hope. He observed that more and more people were embracing universal reconciliation and that fewer were convinced by the old terrors of hell. In some countries—Germany, France, and England—hell-fire preaching had almost gone dormant. Dr. Skinner hoped the same would happen in America, believing that people were growing weary of a doctrine that “reeks of evil.” He noted that sermons full of fire and damnation appeared to be decreasing in frequency and intensity. Where preachers once spoke of a “burning hell,” “almighty vengeance,” “arrows of infinite wrath,” and “thunderbolts of an enraged God,” the language gradually softened to phrases such as “the happiness of the future state” or “the stings of conscience.”

In our own time, however, the vigor of hell-sermons has returned in many circles. The fierceness of God’s supposed eternal wrath is again proclaimed in pulpits, and the doctrine of eternal conscious torment is codified in creeds and church by-laws. Still, Dr. Skinner believed the leaven of truth was working. He hoped—and we may still hope—that the doctrine of eternal conscious torment will one day be “exterminated from the Christian world.” He called it a “mammoth error” and urged believers “to persevere in our exertions, to go forward in the work of opposing error and defending truth.” He compiled his sermons to expose error and proclaim that God will reconcile all people to Himself, bringing the matter into the light for the Christian world to consider.

Dr. Skinner’s sermons show that eternal conscious torment “is irreconcilable with Divine goodness.” He pointed out that Christians are broadly divided into two major doctrinal camps regarding this issue in his time: Calvinists and Arminians. In recent generations, a third group has become more visible: advocates of conditional immortality or annihilationism.

All three systems—Calvinist, Arminian, and annihilationist—limit the number of those who will ultimately be saved, and so Dr. Skinner appropriately calls them “limitarian” doctrines. These groups disagree on many points, but most are united in affirming some form of eternal punishment for the majority of humanity. The tradition of eternal conscious torment is common ground among them.

Divine Goodness

Dr. Skinner cites Dr. John Gill’s description of Divine goodness, summarizing three key characteristics: First, Its Source – There is no cause of goodness outside of God. We love Him because He first loved us. Second, Its Immutability – God’s goodness is like Himself: “the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” It does not fluctuate, increase, or decrease. There are no interruptions or impediments to that goodness. And Third, Its Permanence – The goodness of God endures forever. It can never be dissolved, nor can anything separate us from it. To these, Dr. Skinner adds that Divine goodness is infinitely great. “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, WEB)

Nothing can separate us from His love. Nothing. Further, Divine goodness is impartial. His tender mercies are over all. He is good to all. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.”(John 3:16–17, WEB)

Divine goodness is free, immutable, eternal, infinite, and impartial. The doctrine of eternal conscious torment stands in opposition to these attributes. Universal reconciliation, on the other hand, explicitly affirms them. It is indeed a doctrine of “impartial grace.”

Calvinism Cannot Be Reconciled with Divine Goodness

Calvinism teaches that God has, from eternity, chosen some to enjoy everlasting life with Him while leaving the rest to suffer eternal conscious torment. According to this theology, it is God’s will that not all be saved. The majority of humanity is ordained for eternal misery, and there is nothing anyone can do to change this decree. Calvinist scholars say that the condemned are “reprobates,” and that their destiny was fixed “before the foundation of the world.” Dr. Skinner asks whether these people are condemned in anticipation of what their character would be. God created them—did He create them with a propensity to sin and no remedy for their condition?

John Calvin, in his “Institutes of the the Christian Religion,” wrote that those whom God “passes by” are reprobated simply because it pleases Him to exclude them from the inheritance He gives His children. God’s glory, in this view, is displayed both in saving some and in eternally condemning others. Many Calvinists, historically and today, have defended this as a scriptural doctrine. They insist that those in hell are not there by accident, yet they also teach that God is glorified in their damnation. This raises obvious questions about Divine goodness, impartiality, and love.

Dr. John Piper, a prominent contemporary theologian, has addressed the question, “How does it glorify God to predestine people to hell?” He argues that no one in hell is there undeservedly, and that those in heaven will glorify God all the more when they realize their own salvation could justly have been otherwise. The saved, seeing how narrowly they “escaped,” will praise God for His selective mercy—thus, God is glorified.

The Westminster Confession, in its chapter “Of the Last Judgment,” summarizes this view by saying that the final day will manifest “the glory of His mercy” in the eternal salvation of the elect and “the glory of His justice” in the damnation of the reprobate. In this system, God is glorified both by saving some and by eternally condemning others. Reprobation—endless death and torment—is presented as a necessary counterpart to election. Dr. Skinner rightly observes that such a doctrine is “opposed to impartial goodness.” If God is good to all, He cannot, at the same time, deliberately create some solely for eternal ruin.

“Yahweh Is Good to All”

How can we honestly say, with the Psalmist, that God is “good to all” if He consigns the majority of His creation to eternal conscious torment? Calvinistic predestination insists that God grants saving favor to only a few. Truly impartial goodness would impart love and mercy to all. As Dr. Skinner puts it, God “must deal by all alike and grant to all the same favors and mercies.” Under the traditional systems of belief, the elect receive all spiritual advantages: the enjoyments of life, the benefits of the Gospel, the presence of the Spirit, the promises of heaven. Christ is said to have died for them in a special, saving sense. The reprobate, on the other hand, is not truly favored. Being given life is not a blessing but part of a curse. Dr. Skinner remarks that, for the reprobate, even the blessings of life are curses, for they only serve to increase the misery of eternal punishment.

What genuine blessing belongs to those whom God has supposedly created solely as vessels of wrath? None. Existence itself becomes “an endless curse.” If this is so, Dr. Skinner asks, how can we say God is impartially good? If He is good to the elect, He cannot be good to the non-elect. One group is raised to eternal joy in His presence; the other is cast off into everlasting torment. This stands directly against Scripture: “Yahweh is good to all.” Calvinism’s doctrine of election fails the test of impartial goodness.

Arminianism Cannot Be Reconciled with Divine Goodness

Dr. Skinner sums up Arminian theology this way: “God is good. Guided by goodness, he placed all men in a situation where they might be saved; and, therefore, if they are not, it is no fault of His; so that those who are lost have none but themselves to blame.” Arminianism seeks to defend God’s justice and goodness by assigning responsibility for damnation entirely to human choice. God offers salvation to all, but only those who accept that offer are saved. On the surface, this appears fair and even generous.

Dr. Skinner, however, finds this theory “vastly more defective” than Calvinism. Arminian preachers often say that God’s goodness can be seen in all creation: in the stars, the earth, the beauty of nature, and the blessings of life. They insist that God is not partial to any person or nation, and they reject the idea that God created some specifically for hell. In their view, eternal conscious torment is the result of human refusal, not Divine decree. But is this truly impartial?

Every human being is shaped by circumstances beyond their control: Some are born into peace, others into war. Some are raised in loving homes, others in violence and neglect. Some enjoy wealth and education, others face deep poverty and ignorance. Some grow up hearing the Gospel clearly, others never hear it at all. The conditions into which we are born are uneven. Some people have “advantages vastly superior” to others, including moral teaching, access to Scripture, and exposure to the Gospel. If salvation depends on hearing and responding rightly, then those with greater advantages “stand a much better chance of salvation.” Many, especially among the so-called “heathen,” may never truly hear or understand the Gospel. They die “ignorant of Him of whom they have never heard” and are then, according to this theology, consigned to an eternity of torment.

This makes God’s goodness partial in practice, however impartial it may sound in theory. If eternal destinies differ with such infinite consequence, largely because of circumstances God Himself ordained, then His goodness cannot honestly be called impartial. Arminian theology claims that “all may be saved,” and that if they are not, the blame rests solely on man. But this shrinks the greatness of God’s goodness and ignores the unequal conditions in which people live and die.

God’s Immutable, Relentless Love

Let us agree that God is love; that He is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful; and that His goodness is perfect. Nothing we do can change His character. Dr. Skinner reminds us: God’s goodness is part of His nature, not something produced by human virtue or even by the death of Christ. The action of Divine goodness does not depend on anything we do. God pursues His purposes of love when we are sinful just as surely as when we are virtuous. His love is uncaused by us and unearned by us.

Sin does not prevent God from bringing us into the enjoyment of His grace; rather, it is precisely His goodness that destroys sin and subdues the heart so that grace may be received.

God is Sovereign the moment He creates. His goodness is perfect over His creation from that moment and never changes. All mankind dies, but He does not abandon them to death. In Christ, He raises, restores, and reconciles.

Scripture overwhelmingly supports the magnitude and universality of His saving purpose: Christ tastes death “for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9). God “desires all people to be saved” and Christ “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:1–7). Christ came “to save sinners,” and Paul calls himself the chief (1 Timothy 1:12–15). Through Christ, God will “reconcile all things to Himself” (Colossians 1:16–20). God is love, and He sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice “for our sins” (1 John 4:7–12). Christ must reign until every enemy is under His feet and “God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24–28). – Jesus promises, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:32).

These testimonies reveal a God whose goodness is free, immutable, eternal, infinite, and impartial. A God whose purpose is not to torment some forever, but to save and reconcile all.

Dr. Skinner concludes that Scripture teaches exactly this: “The free, immutable, eternal, infinite and impartial goodness of God will save all men from sin, and exalt them to immortal glory.” The theologies of Calvin and Arminius, as they are commonly taught, stand opposed to these attributes. Under the light of God’s Word and the character of His relentless, impartial love, their doctrines of eternal conscious torment are exposed as false.

Closing

In the end, the choice before us is not between a harsh God and a soft God, but between the traditions of men and the testimony of Scripture. If God is truly and eternally good, if His love is genuinely impartial and His purpose is to be “all in all,” then we need not cling to doctrines that make Him appear weak, divided, or cruel. Instead, we can rest in the relentless love and impartial grace revealed in Christ Jesus—a grace that will, in God’s own time, reconcile all things to Himself and exalt all His children to immortal glory.