by Pastor Petri Samuel Tikka
For by grace we have been saved and even faith is not our own. It’s the gift of God for us and not the works that we have done. Don’t let anybody boast of this, it’s God’s great gift. Amen.
This is the refrain from the most famous song written and composed by my father, conductor and composer Kari Tikka (who passed away last year—memory eternal). The song is called Grace Song (1976, based on 2 Cor 12:9-10 and Eph 2:8-9; transl. Gracia Grindal). I grew up with this song; or, more to the point, with the sentiment, truth and emotions exemplified by it in my family. We are saved by grace alone (sola gratia). Nobody’s perfect! All are loved by God unconditionally through the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. My father included Grace Song in the penultimate act of his opera Luther (2020) as the titular protagonist’s defence against the accusations of the acclaimed scholar Erasmus, who emphasized the necessity of a free will decision in obtaining God’s grace and abiding in it.
According to the Lutheran confessions, neither receiving salvation nor abiding in it to the end are based on works or decisions. This obviously does not mean that we shouldn’t do good works or have faith and repentance, as has been the accusation since the start of the Reformation. Rather, unconditional grace is the reality in which we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). This all-defining reality is realized in us when we are approached by the Holy Spirit in proclamation and the sacraments. The Holy Spirit frees us from the shackles of pride and sin by his omnipotent power. It is only the Spirit of Christ who gives rise to both faith and good works in us (see Martin Luther’s Small Catechism).
It is trust in the unassailable goodness and love of God, exemplified in the most supreme fashion by the unconditional grace of Jesus, that led me to a conviction on universal salvation during Christmastide 2012. I encountered a Lutheran article claiming that once this life is done, that is it. Faith must be had in this life. But if God loves all, does he not take care of the most important needs of all, especially faith, to the end and beyond? That is why Christ died for all. God wants and can give faith to all. This is so just because faith is a gift, by grace alone, without prejudice. But how would God give faith to all? I was answered by a vision of the Cross and the Trinity. The Father did not give his Son to die only for a possibility; he didn’t gamble with the life of His own Son. The Son gave himself for all, whether those accused or those accusing, in the utmost solidarity with each person’s solitude. And the key to the question: the Holy Spirit, who gives faith, was also at the Cross. He will carry out the Father’s desire in the Son, the desire to redeem all men and women by giving each of us faith.
I found out that my mother and father had had the same kind of conviction all along. Life takes curious turns! The problem was that I had been persuaded by a view that is considered a necessary part of orthodox Christian belief: eternal, never-ending hell—or for me and many others, rather, the possibility of it. I didn’t even notice when my parents were trying to nudge me towards a different interpretation. To be quite frank: there are a manifold blind spots that can be produced by the idea of perpetual hell, including by its slightest possibility. One is essentially capitulating to a reality of fear, without quite fully realizing it on an intellectual level, though certainly feeling it on the level of experience. Yet the Biblical truth is that perfect love casts out fear (1. John 4:18). It is grace that stems from the perfection of love, and as such, grace is a reality that proclaims: ”you are just for Jesus’ sake” (see Theology is for Proclamation by Gerhard Forde). There is no more fear.
Yet the usual option is not to cast out fear but to ignore it. It seems to us easier to forget about our deepest emotions than to let Jesus help us with them. The fear of losing your loved ones is a real emotional concern, whether one speaks of hell or just the fear of annihilation in death. It is too big of a concern to just go away by wishing it to go away. Yet such fears are often simply ignored or buried by other concerns. In addition, such forgetfulness is unfortunately quite regularly encouraged by both the Church (whether liberal or conservative) and a lot of theology (again, whether conservative or liberal). “Liberals” don’t want to talk about the future of hope in Jesus, and so are concerned only with the anxieties of the here and now. “Conservatives” don’t want an unconditional wideness to hope in God, and so are unfortunately often (at least on a conscious level) unaware of a hope that drives out all fear. The fact is that one’s emotions for one’s loved ones, indeed, for any, should by no means be forgotten—ever. Even if this emotion is scary, it can, by God’s grace, reveal a profound truth. All are to be loved, even one’s enemies, by Jesus’ admonition. There is no time limit to love, if God is Love and God is eternal. The God who is Love—the Trinity—is eternal. As Love, He is the one who casts out fear forever, and the only one who can and will do so.
But what is the depth of God’s love that brings us an abiding hope? It is, indeed, grace, and it is a love with an infinite emotional core in God. Grace is variously defined as God’s covenant love, steadfast love, and even desire, ardour and zeal (by the meaning of hesed, the Hebrew word for grace). God is patient and loyal, and he by no means is without passion in realizing his love. This is his emotional core:
Adonai your God is in your midst—a mighty Savior! He will delight over you with joy. He will quiet you with His love. He will dance for joy over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:27, Tree of Life Version)
God will never let go of his love—his joy over us, his dance, the Trinitarian dance where the Father sends the Spirit of his unassailable Love through the crucified Son: to you, for you. This is grace.
Curiously, the accusation that a person who confesses the absolutely victorious gospel is the same that any Lutheran faces: what about faith and good works? What about mission? What about sacraments? I have encountered these push-backs. The calling of a grace alone (i.e. Lutheran) Trinitarian Universalist is to believe that she or he is absolutely, unconditionally loved by God in his resolute and real joy—and to exemplify this passionate and yet resolute joy to other people. As I have heard Enrique Ramos, the dean of the (universalist) General Lutheran Church, expressing it: to be a blessing to others.
Grace be with you all!
The Rev. Petri Samuel Tikka is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. He is currently working on his dissertation on the Trinity and universal salvation at the University of Helsinki. He also has a fine singing voice, as evidenced in the video.
Eclectic Orthodoxy 
Regarding concern for family, the Caliph Ali was asked for advice about life. He replied:
“Do not make your wife and children your chief cares and occupation. If your wife and children are friends of God, well, God will take care of His friends, while if they are enemies of God, why worry yourself about the enemies of God?”
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And the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us:
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“for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Islam recognizes two types of mercy: general mercy and specific mercy. General mercy is what the above quote describes, and specific mercy, which is reserved for believers only.
The idea of general and specific mercy are also in Christianity. I just did a Google search:
“In endeavoring to study the mercy of God as it is set forth in Scripture, a threefold distinction needs to be made, if the Word of Truth is to be “rightly divided” thereon. First, there is a general mercy of God, which is extended not only to all men, believers and unbelievers alike, but also to the entire creation: “His tender mercies are over all His works” (Psa 145:9); “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25). God has pity upon the brute creation in their needs, and supplies them with suitable provision. Secondly, there is a special mercy of God, which is exercised toward the children of men…”
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Google is not a reliable guide to what Christians believe. In any case, Eclectic Orthodoxy is an explicitly Christian blog. As a rule, we do not engage in interfaith dialogue, as interesting as it can be. But thank you for your contributions.
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Thank you and point taken. I will refrain from making any further comments.
Having said that, I will continue to read your blog as I find your articles interesting and informative.
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Ahmed Fares,
Are the views you present in your comments on this blog typical of the beliefs of Sufism?
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Robert F,
Yes, I am a Sufi.
I also have ten years in the study of comparative religion.
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Thank you for the comments. In his book The Inescapable Love of God, Thomas Talbott makes some good points in regard to legitimate concern for the future of one’s loved ones, even if they have become inimical towards the good or God. A mother will love her son, even if they have become depraved, a mass murderer even, wanting him to become saved all the more. Talbott gives some concrete examples. Of course, he approaches the issues from a specifically Christian perspective, while not ignoring the existence of other traditions. My point is that some concerns might be there and be granted some general human validity, because of love. Whether or not any specific answer from a specific tradition will suffice is another question, then.
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Dear Pastor Tikka,
Thank you for your lovely blogpost!
I’m in complete agreement with you as concerns “the depth of God’s love that brings us an abiding hope.” That hope sustains me as a Christian, particularly in difficult or challenging circumstances.
If, however, “even faith is not our own” but God’s gift to us, then that begs the question of why God chooses to give faith to some people but not to others. I’m curious to know how you would answer this question. Here, I’m using the word “faith” in the sense of “trust” or, as Kallistos Ware defines it, “not the supposition that something might be true, but the assurance that someone is there.”
On a related note, every Christian has Bible passages with which he/she struggles in terms of reconciling them with the idea that, as St. John tells us, “God is love” and that “in Him is no darkness whatsoever.” For me, one of these passages is the story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts 5. Why would God strike dead Ananias and Sapphira for lying? Peter himself, after all, denied Christ, lying not once but three times and received forgiveness, yet in Acts 5 Peter stands as a merciless judge over Ananias and Sapphira. If, as you write, “the Biblical truth is that perfect love casts out fear (1. John 4:18)”, and this is what I too believe, what is one to make of the tragic deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, such that “great *fear* came over the entire assembly and over everyone hearing of these things” (Acts 5:11)?
Thank you in advance for your gracious reply, and may God bless you!
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Thank you for your very pertinent questions.
My whole journey towards a conviction on universal salvation actually began with the question of why would God give faith only to some but not to others. It felt wrong he wouldn’t give it to all, since he is unconditionally merciful and his Son died and resurrected for all. Trusting that the Holy Spirit will give faith to all removes the central, debilitating sting out of the equation. That sting starts with the claim that God only has only a person’s earthly life to give faith to them and/or for them to receive that saving faith. Eternal hell, annihilation or some other state where no salvation is possible ensues. With universal salvation, there can still for sure be anxiety either about one’s own vacillating faith or about others’ faith. But without the assurance it brings, the anxiety about people’s faith was horrific and scary beyond imagining. One usually just found a rather lackluster way of not thinking about it.
Of course, even with the question of future hope assured, one will still viscerally feel the contingencies, sins and unbelief of this day and age. And they are not things to be belittled, as such. Nevertheless, our assurance that all will have faith, all of us will be healed and saved, is not based on our meager and sometimes seemingly non-existent confidence in the Trinity. It is based solely on the Holy Spirit’s loving character, his nature as insistent love, full of mercy.
This being said, I do not know all the possible answers for why some seem outwardly more resistant towards faith. Answers online also might be more generic than necessary. In me and probably in all, the wounds of our merciless attitudes and other sins make it difficult to approach the Trinity of Love. (The only exception, besides Jesus, being the Virgin Mary; whose wounded heart – in need of help but never resentful – beholds only his own Son.) The God of Love might seem less real when one harbors resentment, for instance. Of course, another part of the problem is that not everyone has heard of a Gospel worth believing in. It is difficult to believe in a just and loving God if one is preached a Gospel where one’s loved ones might be eternally separated from you even if they did not believe in this life. On the other hand, the God of Love who absolutely loves all and would even possibly save all might be too much to think about for someone who knows of people who have drastically and truly hurt them. There are all kinds of misapprehensions around, besides these, and simply lack of information about the one true God of unconditional Love. It might simply be our duty to tell others of God, relay unconditional Love to them, before they can believe in it; that is, rather, in Him.
Of course, there is always the rather baffling issue of free will that is involved, even though my own father would have bypassed the issue. He believed that we are saved by grace without any decisions of faith etc. Nevertheless, I personally believe one can freely ask for faith if one seeks it. I’ve heard of people coming to faith by asking whether God is there, by asking for faith or by being personally approached by Jesus after a long journey (or through a dream suddenly). For me, free will has ceased to be a threat, a condition for God’s unconditional love, through thinking about issues of universal salvation. Perhaps, then, God allows people to freely reject faith until the time is correct for them to apprehend the unconditional nature of his presence with them – that has and will be there for them all the time, every step of the way, in this moment.
In any case, I believe the assurance that God unconditionally creates faith right now – and will thus continue to do so for the future for all of us – is and assurance that can be renewed not only through theology but through prayer and the means of grace, the sacraments and preaching. Of course, it is not easy to find a community where unconditional grace is preached! But one can start by being exhibiting that unconditionality in one’s own actions. Faith and Trinitrian unconditionality will spread.
I will answer the question on Acts 5 hopefully soon.
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do not have an exact answer in regard to Acts 5. I am not a Biblical scholar, for that matter, though I also have difficulty with various passages. The text does not say that God killed them, for that matter. Sometimes when you do not do what you are supposed to do there can be even physical repercussions to your body, as far as I gather, stress of one kind or another. Death is of course an extreme reaction, but those were extreme times – for both good and evil.
Having been inexplicably murdered, Jesus had just resurrected “And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” It was as if universal redemption and a kind of utopia was happening right then and there in that context, perfection of virtues, no one thinking of themselves among the very first Christians. Ananias and Sapphira were exhibiting an entirely different world, so to say, with their selfishness amidst a persecuted minority. That does not warrant destruction, but sometimes the Bible only describes inexplicable events without necessarily drawing inference from them for the divine character. Fear and confusion is a natural reaction after such events, even if they are not part of God’s own intention.
Indeed, perhaps the very point is that there was no fear in the followers of the Resurrected until greed and self-protection brought it back, stemming as they do from primal fears. The Resurrection of Christ removes fear, but if we forget and ignore its power, it is we who accidentally bring fear back. It is not from God, nor from his Spirit, never was, never will be.
I don’t know if this helps, just thinking out loud. Perhaps someone else might have something more erudite to say
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Regarding the difficult story of Ananias and Sapphira, we are again left to speculate. We don’t know their motivations, and the story does not provide details other than the fact that they were both aware of what they were doing when they did it. Unlike Peter’s spontaneous denial of Christ three times out of fear, Ananias and Sapphira didn’t seem to be acting out of fear (or at least the same kind of fear as Peter). What they did was premeditated.
The text does not explicitly say that God killed Ananias and Sapphira, but to me it is clear that He did. Otherwise, a very literal fear of God would not have come “upon all who heard of it” (Acts 5:5) and “upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things” (Acts 5:11). Why God chose to withdraw their breath at that particular time is ultimately a mystery that must have a hidden purpose.
I’ve read several interpretations of this story, but none mitigates the horror I feel upon reading it. Arguably, that’s the point. Luke doesn’t offer us a palatable story but deliberately shocks us. I still don’t know how to reconcile this story with, for example, the theology of John’s letters, except to approach everything in Scripture with great humility until God reveals to me what he wants me to understand.
Over at the Orthodox Church in America website, Fr. John Jillions writes, “Saint Luke recounts this [story of Ananias and Sapphira] as factual history, but he has also put his finger on the besetting sin of church life: pride. We want to look a certain way to garner the praise of others. And we are willing to lie to do that. This particular story is very dramatic, but lying about who we are and puffing ourselves up can become an almost natural part of daily life as we just tweak and spin our image. We do this as individuals, as families, as nations, and especially as churches. And thus we build up an idol that we like, defend and protect. We convince ourselves that we are acting correctly. And all of this destroys the honesty and trust that is the basis of any genuine community life.” I don’t know if pride motivated Ananias and Sapphira, but Fr. John makes a good point.
Forgive me for straying from the main thrust of your original post. I hope to read an English translation of your dissertation on universal salvation and the Trinity when you finish it.
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Thank you for your very gracious reply. I’m in agreement with what you wrote, and I’m grateful to hear your thoughts on the matter.
Ultimately, the question of why God grants faith to some people but not to others is, like the question of suffering, a mystery about which we can only speculate. I’ve been blessed with a strong sense of God’s presence in my life, but I have some friends and family don’t think much about God. In other words, they live their lives and don’t seem to be bothered by questions about the Creator, our place and purpose in the cosmos, the need for salvation and to struggle against personal sin, or what happens when we die. For them, God is either nonexistent or a deity in whom other people feel the need to believe. Trusting that God will not abandon them, or me, or anyone else in creation, takes the “debilitating sting out of the equation,” as you aptly put it. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the One who leaves the 99 sheep to go out in search of the one lost sheep, and He will not stop until that lost sheep is found, whether in this life or in the life of the age to come. Thank God for that!
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