- "(the testimony in its own eras,)," - I Tim. 2:6

In the days when Jesus Christ was on earth, the era for the testimony mentioned in the context of the above quoted scripture, was not present.  Therefore our Lord did not say all that was in His heart.  He told His disciples He had many things to say to them that they were not able to bear, John 16:12.  I have not the slightest doubt that, if He had said all that He wanted to say, even His own disciples would have clamored for His death!  They just could not have borne it. 

They were pleased at what He did teach - blessings for Israel, with the nations getting crumbs as puppies under the table.  They would have been very indignant had He disclosed to them the then forthcoming administration of pure grace, when His chosen from among the nations would be blessed far above any glory Israel had ever seen.  Much more would they have been indignant if He had told them plainly that all mankind would be saved, and that God would become All in all.  

His loving heart was almost bursting with the joy of the salvation of all humanity, but He did no more than hint at it, and the truth of it seems to never have registered on their minds.  He declared that if He should be exalted out of the earth He would be drawing all to Himself, John 12:32.  John, who recorded it, explains that He was talking about His death, but I doubt that even that writer understood the import of the words, "I - shall be drawing all to myself."  In the light of later revelation, we believe He meant He would save all.  But He did not plainly say so.  It was not the proper era; the people could not have borne it; He did not plainly teach it.  

The period of Paul's ministry was one of its eras.  He taught it, and thousands believed it.  The doctrine of the salvation of all humanity was never questioned in any ecclesia.  While they had trouble over other questions, they had none over this.  So far as we know, after the saints were taught it, none of them ever doubted that as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award for all mankind for life's justifying, (Romans 5:18); that God wills all mankind to be saved and to come into a realization of the truth, (I Timothy 2:4); that as in Adam all are dying, thus also in Christ all shall be vivified, (I Corinthians 15:22).  

The era is present again.  God has brought about conditions that make it a propitious time to teach this truth.  It is only by the most strenuous efforts that any semblance of fellowship can be maintained in the churches of this section.  The same condition exists in many other vicinities.  People are looking for something better than the creeds of men, that consign millions to untold agony, or to endless death.  

With the coming of the era for this testimony to go forth again, God gave us a better translation of His word.  Brother A. E. Knoch, then of Los Angeles, California, worked almost day and night for many years, aided by a few others.  The result was the Concordant Version of the Sacred Scriptures.  This version brought to light, among other things, the fact that the word "eonian" never denotes endless duration.  This is the word that had been used to translate "everlasting" and "eternal," words which, perhaps did not have the meaning of endlessness when they were first put in the Bible, but which had through theological manipulation, assumed that meaning.  

Eonian life, instead of being endless life, is life within the eons.  Eonian extermination, (destruction, as the King James Version has it), and eonian chastening, (punishment, according to that Version), is extermination and chastening within the eons. 

According to the rendering of some passages in the King James Version, an eon is an age, not endless duration.  This is correct.  There are "ages," or eons - more than one.  The adjective eonian, cannot denote duration beyond the eons.  Thus, what chastening, extermination or death there is for unbelievers, cannot last beyond the consummation of the eons.  

The believer, as such, has eonian life.  But death is to be abolished at the consummation (I Cor. 15:22-28), and of course believers will continue to live after the eons.  This is life, but not eonian life.  Unbelievers do not have eonian life, but they cannot escape having life after the eons, when death is abolished.  they shall have endless life, just the same as believers.  What the believer has,  that the unbeliever does not have, is eonian life.  

With the publication of the Concordant Version, saints in many places began to believe and rejoice in race-wide salvation.  The era was definitely here for the testimony to go forth and to be accepted.  

The King James Version says all things are to be reconciled to God through the blood of the cross, Col. 1:20.  This has never registered on the heart of the people.  It is too vague.  How can inanimate things be reconciled?  The Concordant Version finds that "the all," is the Greek rendering.  And "the all," when the context shows no numerical limitation, means the universe.  So the universe, in the heavens and on the earth, is to be reconciled to God.  In other words every creature that is at enmity with God shall be reconciled through the blood of the cross.  This is universal reconciliation, and goes further than race-wide salvation.  Not only all mankind, but all other creatures in the universe, shall be God's friends.  This could never be accomplished short of universal salvation. 

It is good to know that sin, judgment, chastening, enmity and death will have an end, and that God will be All in all - that is, All in every one of His creatures.  This is a happy out-look that the creeds of men know not.  And it has a wholesome affect on our lives - an effect that the teachings of endless torment or endless death cannot produce. 

Yes, the era is here for this testimony!  There are many other things that are to be taught.  I do not underrate the importance of any of them.  But it seems that God has laid on my heart, within the last few days, the supreme importance of teaching universal reconciliation.  This must be paramount in The Messenger for the next few months, unless He orders otherwise.  

Beginning with the March issue, I want to reach at least five hundred additional people.  And I am anxious to make any sacrifice that is necessary, in order to reach them.  I believe there are at least one hundred of my present readers who are anxious to have part in this work.  Therefore I make the following request:  

Send me the names of five persons who love the Lord.  Send one dollar with the names, and I will enter the five for a year's subscription.  You can think of five; and you can spare the dollar.  And you may be sure I will put far more money into the work than I am asking any of you to put in.  Please do this within the next few days, so I will have plenty of time to arrange my list to meet the new requirements.  

Now, who will send the first dollar?  

CORRESPONDENT RANSOM

These words are found in I Tim. 2:6.  In the Greek it is antiputron.  That lutron is ransom, in not denied.  But the statement has been made that there is  no word for "correspondent" in the text.  What, then does "anti" mean?  

Literally, it means instead.  As applied to the antichrist, it means one who comes instead of Christ.  In the text under consideration, it is "instead loosener."  The latter word is idiomatically rendered ransom; idiom requires that the former word be rendered correspondent. 

It has been said that Brother Knoch put this word in his Version, as a concession to International Bible Students.  I know, and so does everyone who is acquainted with his works, that he puts in no word as a concession to any group.  He is concerned with truth. 

Christ's death is the exact equivalent of the need of the human family.  And that need is more than to simply be restored to the Adamic "purity."  We need the grace that superabounds - not grace that puts us back in Adam's condition.  

Everything that is needed to affect the salvation of all mankind, (I Tim. 2:4), is supplied in Christ.  It is in this sense that He is "the One giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all."  

Nor would it be amiss to consider the meaning of ransom.  It will secure the release of the person for whom it is paid, unless the one accepting the ransom intends to deceive the one paying it.  If Christ gives Himself a correspondent Ransom for all, and any part of the human family is not subsequently released, then God has deceived His Son.  In other words, since Christ gives Himself a correspondent ransom for all, all must be saved, or else God stands eternally discredited as dishonest.  Perish the thought!  

No one can read I Tim. 2:3-6, and believe every word of it, without believing in the salvation of all humanity.  

Thanks to everyone who remembered us with cards and greetings during the Holidays.