| “I am love” (101); God cannot act apart from love (102); love is holy (107) | “There is one God whose nature is love” (Creed, 1899) | God is love (1 Jn. 4:9, 16), light (1 Jn. 1:5), holy (3:25), righteous, (2 Thess. 1:6-7) |
| God does not punish sin; he cures it; sin is its own punishment (120) | There is no eternal punishment for sin. The fires of hell are curative and purgatorial. | “Righteous judgment of God” (Rom 1:32); judgment of God is against sin (2:2,3,5-6,9); God will judge secrets by Jesus Christ (v.16; 3:6; etc.) |
| God “redeems” the final outcome (127) | There is no everlasting hell; all repent and go to heaven. | There are two ways, one leading to everlasting punishment, the other to everlasting life (Matt. 7:13ff.;25:46; Luke 16:19ff; Jn. 3:16-19). |
| “Judgment is not about destruction, but about setting things right” (169). | There is no final judgment; but “a setting of all things right” (apokatastasis, Origen, 3rd cent.=1st prominent Christian universalist). | “Jesus will take vengeance and punish with everlasting destruction” (2 Thess. 1:8-9) |
| There is no mention of the Devil in the description of the Fall (134-137), of his present work, or future destiny. | There is no Devil confirmed in his evil choice but he will repent and go from hell to heaven. | The Devil was very real to Jesus as the one who sins from the beginning, who tempted him, is the god of this world, for whom hell was prepared (Matt. 4:1ff., 25:41; 2 Cor. 4:4) |
| At the cross “mercy triumphs over justice because of the cross”; justice was not exercised(164-165); justice flows from love. | Justice is “born of love and limited by love” (decree of 1878). | The death of Christ enabled God to be just (Rom. 3:25); “judgment is without mercy to the one who shows no mercy (he shows partiality); mercy triumphs over judgment” (Jam. 2:13) |
| Jesus is a wonderful companion in a “circle of relationship” devoid of authority, power, prominence of anyone “filling roles is the opposite of relationships” (167). | Jesus is progressively humanized. | To be a Christian is to confess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (Rom. 10:9-10; Col. 2:6; etc.) and “head of the church” (Col. 2:19; Eph. 4:15-16) |
| The whole Trinity became incarnate and was crucified (99). | UR progressively blurs the distinctions within the Trinity (creeds of 1878, 1898). | The Father sent the Son (1 Jn. 4:9-10, 14) to be the Savior; the Father “smote him,” “laid on him our iniquity,” “was pleased to bruise him” (Isa. 53:4-10) |
| God is “reconciled to the whole world” even to those who do not believe (192) | The creeds of 1878 and 1899 never mention “faith” or believing. | People “are saved by grace through faith”; “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Eph. 2:8-9; Heb. 11:6; 3:12; Rom. 10:9-10). |
| Love does not force its will; “relationships are marked by submission” (145) | God’s will to save all cannot be thwarted; all will choose to respond. | “Whosoever will shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13; cf. John 3:16ff.). |
| “love burns away every vestige of corruption” (227) | The fires of hell are corrective, disciplinary, purgatorial, not punitive. | Hell is punishment and torment (Matt. 25:41; Luke 16:24-25, 28). |
| All people are children of God and loved equally by him (155-156) | All are God’s children and loved by him. | While all are the “offspring of God” only those who believe in Christ are forgiven and receive eternal life (Acts 17:22-34; Jn. 1:12; 3:16ff; 11:25; cf. 1 John 5:11-12). |
| There will be a new revolution of “love and kindness” when all will confess Jesus is Lord (248). | In the end, all in hell repent and go to heaven, and love finally triumphs over all. | The enemies of Christ become his conquered footstool (Ps. 110:1; 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Heb. 1:3, 13; Rev. chs. 19-22); God the Judge is able to “save and destroy” (Jam. 4:12; cf. 2 Thess. 1:5ff.). The day of the Lord is judgment (1 Thess. 5). |
| Institutions are diabolical schemes; Jesus “never has, never will” create institutions including the church, government, marriage (178) | UR opposes evangelical churches and revival movements. | Jesus began the church (Matt. 16:18; 18:15-17) & founded it on the apostles and prophets (Eph.2:20; 4:11-16). There are regulations (1 Cor. 11-14), and officers and ordinances (1 Tim. 3; Tit. 1; 1 Cor. 11-14; 1 Pet. 5:1ff.). Christians are to assemble regularly (Heb.10:25). |