The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. Boon of Immortality Is God’s Gift

1. ASSURED IMMORTALITY VERSUS BLOTTING OUT OF EXISTENCE

In chapter thirty-six Arnobius alludes to the claim that “gods are said to be immortal,” but to the Christian, “the boon [note 16: “bestowed, assured immortality”] of immortality is God’s gift” upon those who receive it. “In the same way will He deign to confer eternal life upon souls also, although fell death seems able to cut them off and blot them out of existence in utter annihilation note 18: “reduced to nothing with annihilation, not to be returned from”].” ⁴⁰ CFF1 925.1

2. “GIFT” OF IMMORTALITY IS THE “GRANT” OF GOD

Denying in chapter forty-eight that souls are the “offspring of God,” Arnobius repeats his contention, in chapter fifty-three, that souls “are of a neutral character”—that is, capable of entering into either life or death—and are made “subject to the law of death” and “perishable.” But, he adds, they “are gifted with immortality, if they rest their hope of so great a gift on God Supreme, who alone has power to grant such blessings.” ⁴¹ Here again the Conditionalist aspect is pointed up by the frequently used “if.” CFF1 925.2

3. EITHER SALVATION OR DESTRUCTION AWAITS ALL

Bringing his lengthy argument toward its close, after declaring that “nothing is made by Him except that which is for the well-being of all,” ⁴² and denying the contention that “the world was not created, and will never perish,” ⁴³ Arnobius earnestly appeals to his pagan readers with the plea: CFF1 925.3

“Your interests are in jeopardy,—the salvation, I mean, of your souls; and unless you give yourselves to seek to know the Supreme God, a cruel death awaits you when freed from the bonds of body, not bringing sudden annihilation, but destroying by the bitterness of its grievous and longprotracted punishment.” ⁴⁴ CFF1 926.1

But the “long-protracted punishment” ends in ultimate cessation of being, he repeatedly attests. CFF1 926.2

4. GOD ALONE IS IMMORTAL AND EVERLASTING

Warning against the “empty delusions” of pagan promises—that “souls become divine, and are freed from the law of death” by certain performances—Arnobius solemnly declares: CFF1 926.3

“None but the Almighty God can preserve souls; nor is any one besides who can give them length of days, and grant to them also a spirit which shall never die, except He who alone is immortal and everlasting and restricted by no limit of time.” ⁴⁵ CFF1 926.4

5. THE GREAT ALTERNATIVES ARE PLACED BEFORE ALL

Declaring in chapter sixty-three that “Christ was sent by God for this end, that He might deliver unhappy souls from ruin and destruction”—souls in a “mortal state before He came” ⁴⁶—Arnobius says that this deliverance is free to all who will accept. “To all, He says, the fountain of life is open, and no one is hindered or kept back from drinking.” ⁴⁷ But he warns: CFF1 926.5

“God compels no one, terrifies no one with overpowering fear. For our salvation is not necessary to Him, so that He would gain anything or suffer any loss, if He either made us divine, or allowed us to be annihilated and destroyed by corruption.” ⁴⁸ CFF1 926.6

6. “PRIZE OF IMMORTALITY” IS BEFORE US

Then he adds this word: “The Almighty Master of the World has determined that this should be the way of salvation, this the door, so to say, of life; by Him alone is there access.” ⁴⁹ Such is the “prize of immortality” set before us. ⁵⁰ CFF1 926.7

Arnobius ends his remarkable appeal by declaring: CFF1 927.1

“The times, full of dangers, urge us, and fatal penalties threaten us; let us flee for safety to God our Saviour, without demanding the reason of the offered gift. When that at stake is our soul’s salvation and our own interests, something must be done even without reason .... Let us commit ourselves to God .... lest ... the last day steal upon us, and we be found in the jaws of our enemy, death. ⁵¹ CFF1 927.2

And all this, be it ever remembered, was not only set forth as Arnobius’ faith, but was accepted as sufficient evidence of his Christianity to open for him the gates of Christian church membership. Nor is it to be forgotten that these two views of man were both held at the time, and that the view of Arnobius, and that of the many holding with him, was accepted as equally the Christian view. Conditionalism, therefore, still was one of the accepted and recorded beliefs of the church in the early fourth century. CFF1 927.3