Goicoechea’s Lukan Jesus and his Universalism will frustrate substitutionary atonement and should, as such philosophy entails the absurdity that if Hitler converted on his deathbed he gains paradise, whereas if a good and noble atheist is unable to find faith after a lifetime of trying (you can’t force yourself to believe any more than you can force yourself to love someone), they are destroyed. Goicoechea points to Luke 3:6

To reconcile is to be aware that “all flesh will see the salvation of the Lord (Luke 3:6).” It is to constantly pray with Jesus. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Goicoechea, David. Agape and Personhood: with Kierkegaard, Mother, and Paul (A Logic of Reconciliation from the Shamans to Today) (Postmodern Ethics Book 2) (p. 97). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Goicoechea as a Catholic Universalist thinks Hitler is in purgatory and so we should pray for him to repent – a direct application of loving one’s enemy, however offensive this strikes us. When Luke 3:6 says “all flesh will see the salvation of the lord” could “see” be figurative meaning “experience” and could this relate to the idea that “the kingdom of God is within,” even in the hearts of the hard hearted pharisees? “See” in Luke 3:6 can legitimately be understood in a figurative sense as “perceive,” “understand,” or “experience,” and this does connect thematically to Jesus’ later statement in Luke 17:21 about the kingdom of God being “within you” (or “in your midst”)—even when addressed to hard-hearted Pharisees. This isn’t a forced reading; it flows from the original languages, the prophetic context, and consistent biblical themes about how God’s salvation and kingdom operate.

The Meaning of “See” (ὄψεται) in Luke 3:6

Luke 3:6 quotes Isaiah 40:5 (with slight adaptation for emphasis):

“And all flesh will see the salvation of God.”

The Greek verb here is ὄψεται (future form of ὁράω / horaō). Lexicons and biblical Greek resources show it goes well beyond literal eyesight:

• It commonly means to perceive with the mind, discern clearly (physically or mentally), or become acquainted with by experience.
• Thayer’s Greek Lexicon explicitly includes “to see, i.e., to become acquainted with by experience, to experience” (with examples like experiencing life in John 3:36).
• Commentaries on this verse note that it can carry physical, intellectual, and spiritual dimensions of perception—not just “watching an event” but actively grasping or participating in it.

In Isaiah’s original context (and Luke’s application to John the Baptist’s ministry), this is about the universal revelation of God’s salvation through the coming Messiah. “All flesh” (πᾶσα σὰρξ) means all humanity—Jew and Gentile alike—will have access to it. Many interpreters stress that this isn’t limited to a one-time visible spectacle (e.g., everyone on earth staring at the same event simultaneously). Instead, it points to the opportunity for every person to encounter and experience God’s saving work. Interestingly, Paul uses the same word for the appearances of the risen Jesus, and says things like Jesus was revealed in him.

Luke expands the Isaiah quote precisely to highlight this inclusive, experiential aspect of salvation through Jesus.

Figurative “seeing” as experiencing fits the broader Bible pattern too (e.g., “taste and see that the Lord is good” in Psalm 34:8; “see the kingdom of God” in John 3:3, meaning enter/experience it).

Connection to “The Kingdom of God Is Within You” (Luke 17:21)

In Luke 17:20-21, Pharisees ask Jesus when the kingdom of God will come (expecting dramatic, observable signs like a political overthrow). Jesus replies:

“The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst [or ‘within you’].” (translations vary slightly on ἐντὸς ὑμῶν / entos hymōn).

This is sometimes seen as an interpolation but feels authentic to me. This was spoken directly to Pharisees—often portrayed as hard-hearted, rule-focused opponents of Jesus. Common interpretations include:

• “In your midst”: The kingdom is already present among them in the person of Jesus himself (the King is standing right there, inaugurating it quietly).
• “Within you”: It emphasizes the internal, spiritual nature of the kingdom—it’s not an external, visible political realm you point to on a map, but a reality that takes root in the heart through faith and repentance. Paul talks about the cross/resurrection as a catalyst for the circumcision of the heart

Either way, the point is the same: the kingdom (and its salvation) doesn’t arrive with fanfare that everyone can “see” externally in the way the Pharisees expected. It’s subtle, personal, and experiential—available right where people are.

How Luke 3:6 Ties In

Both passages stress that God’s salvation/kingdom is universally accessible yet inwardly experienced, not confined to external observation or elite groups:

• Luke 3:6 declares that all flesh (including the hard-hearted) will see/experience the salvation of God. It’s the prophetic announcement that the way is now open for everyone through the Messiah.
• Luke 17:21 explains how that happens: not by looking around for visible signs, but by recognizing the kingdom already present “within” or “in your midst”—even for Pharisees who seemed farthest from it. Jesus is gently (yet pointedly) saying the offer is right here, in the heart-level response to him.

The hard-hearted Pharisees weren’t automatically “in” the kingdom (Jesus frequently warned them), but the salvation was offered to them as part of “all flesh.” The kingdom is internal in the sense that it transforms from the inside out when someone responds in faith—exactly the kind of “seeing” (experiencing) Luke 3:6 envisions. This aligns with Jesus’ teaching elsewhere that the kingdom is like hidden treasure, leaven working invisibly, or a seed growing quietly (Matthew 13). “See” in Luke 3:6 isn’t just passive watching—it’s the personal, life-changing experience of salvation that the kingdom makes possible for anyone, anywhere, even (and especially) those who seem outwardly resistant. It’s an invitation to recognize what God is already doing inwardly. Goicoechea notes

But what he recommended to the Corinthians went beyond even what the Jewish religion asked of her people for Paul recommended celibacy and argued that his would free the followers of Christ who wanted to evangelize others to be totally committed to serving others with their own sacrifice. Paul seemed to sense that his could appeal to Corinthians who knew of Plato’s move away from polytheism to a monotheism and that Platonic love of celibate enthusiasm. Goicoechea, David. Agape and Personhood: with Kierkegaard, Mother, and Paul (A Logic of Reconciliation from the Shamans to Today) (Postmodern Ethics Book 2) (pp. 98-99). Pickwick Publications, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.

For Ehrman, by contrast, the Kingdom is a future reality where all evil will be destroyed. To really understand Jesus’ relation to Judaism, Ehrman says we need to rethink Judaism:

The Torah had always been a central component of Judaism, but not as an incomprehensible set of laws that could not be kept, an unbearable burden on those who wished to be faithful but knew it was impossible. On the contrary, throughout the history of Judaism—and certainly in Jesus’s day—the vast majority of Jews considered the Torah a great joy to keep, the most amazing gift God could give his people. It was not seen as a burden, and it was never considered to be the way to earn salvation. According to Scripture, God gave his people the Torah only after they had been saved. They had been God’s “chosen ones” from the time of their remote ancestors, and he proved his loyalty and commitment to them by bringing them out of slavery in a foreign land, as recorded in the book of Exodus. After that, God gave them his law through Moses, but not as a way to be saved. They had already been saved. The Torah was a set of instructions to guide them as God’s chosen ones. Even today, most people who believe in God want to know how he wants to be worshipped and how he wants us to live. Wouldn’t it be great if God would simply tell us? That’s what the Torah does. Even though the word “Torah” is usually translated fairly woodenly as “law,” it means something more like “guidance” or “instruction.” Nearly the entire Torah focuses on two issues: how God’s chosen ones are to worship him and how they are to live their communal lives together. That is to say, the God of the universe explains what every religious person desperately wants to know. How good can it get? The Law begins with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), which can be grouped into two parts: laws about worshipping God (“You shall have no other gods before me”; “Do not make idols”) and laws about how to live in community (“You shall not murder”; “You shall not bear false witness”). Is there anything particularly burdensome about these laws? Of course not. The same goes for the rest of the Torah, where more issues are addressed, both cultic (how to worship) and ethical (how to behave). Cultic laws include instructions on festivals to observe, sacrifices to perform (and for what reasons), foods to avoid, etc. Ethical laws involve explicit directions about activities to avoid (sorcery; sex with animals) and to do (pay a fine if your ox misbehaves; show respect to the elderly). Many of the laws about community interactions involve case studies: if your ox gores your neighbor, this is the fine you must pay; if you accidentally strike a pregnant woman and she miscarries, this is the penalty. These laws were never meant as a way to earn salvation. Israelites understood they were given as a gracious guide for how to live, and they accepted this guidance and often did their best to follow it out of love and devotion. When they failed, there were provisions for how to dispel God’s displeasure, for example through repentance or certain sacrifices. No one was going to be perfect; that was one reason there was a sacrificial system in the first place. Jews prior to Jesus never imagined they would need a messiah to die for their sins: they had atoning sacrifices and God was forgiving. We have no record of Jews expecting a future, suffering messiah, as I will explain more fully in chapter 5. (Ehrman, Bart D.. Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (pp. 79-80). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.)

Great tragedies like the destruction of the first temple were seen as God reprimanding the Jews for going astray. But, the apocalyptic writers saw the people were obedient and so saw tragedy as the result of demonic forces.

It was difficult for some Jewish scholars at the time to imagine that the ensuing tortures and martyrdoms had been inflicted directly by God as punishment, since they resulted from obedience to the law rather than disobedience. This led them to believe there must be other superhuman, cosmic powers standing in opposition to God and his people. These powers could not very well attack God directly; but they could attack the people who sought to obey him. Scholars today label this perspective “apocalypticism,” from the Greek word apocalypsis, which means a “revealing” or an “unveiling.” Those Jews who held to it believed God’s relationship to the world was not as Israelites had always thought. God had now “revealed” to them heavenly truths that could make sense of their dreadful human realities. Ehrman, Bart D.. Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (pp. 85-86). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Ehrman explains apocalypticism that

Different Jewish apocalypticists had different understandings of how these forces of evil came into existence, but all agreed they were not eternal and would not hold sway forever. On the contrary, for unknown and mysterious reasons, God had relinquished control of this world to these alien powers, allotting a set amount of time for them to do their worst. Here at the end of the age, things were spiraling out of control. But the reign of terror was nearly over. Soon God would intervene in human history to overpower the forces of evil, either destroying them or sending them to eternal torment. Ehrman, Bart D.. Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (p. 86). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Jesus was such an apocalyptic thinker though he had his own interpretation.

At the time of judgment there would be a resurrection of the dead. Everyone who had ever lived would be raised back to life, the righteous to be rewarded in the eternal kingdom of God, the wicked to be shown the error of their ways and subjected to a painful annihilation, to last for all time.9 Jewish thinkers had various ways of understanding how all this would happen. In the prophecies of Daniel—the final book of the Hebrew Bible to be composed, around 167 BCE—the protagonist Daniel foresees a sequence of evil kingdoms, portrayed as savage wild beasts emerging from the sea, one worse than the other, creating horrible suffering among God’s people (Daniel 7).10 Then he sees a humanlike figure descending from heaven to destroy the wicked forces and establish God’s new kingdom. Daniel calls this cosmic judge “one like a son of man.” In later Jewish apocalyptic texts, he is called a variety of things, including “the Son of Man”—a term Jesus himself used (for example, Mark 8:38). Jesus taught that the Son of Man was coming from heaven in judgment to bring God’s kingdom. People needed to turn back to God and commit themselves to following his ways. This message is found in the first words Jesus is recorded as saying: “The time has been fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe this good news” (Mark 1:15). It is easy to skip over these words without reflecting on them, but they embody a profoundly apocalyptic message. “The time has been fulfilled”—that is, there is a certain amount of time that has been allotted to this age, and it is up. “The Kingdom of God is near”—that is, the long-awaited utopian kingdom ruled by God through his chosen one is almost here. “Repent and believe the good news”—that is, turn back to God and devote yourself fully to him, trusting that the end of your suffering is imminent. Throughout his teachings, Jesus declared this kingdom was “near” and “coming soon.” In Mark’s Gospel he tells his disciples, “Truly I tell you, some of you standing here will not taste death before they see the Kingdom of God having come in power” (Mark 9:1). In other words, it will happen in their lifetime. Or as he says later: “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place” (Mark 13:30). The end was not thousands of years away, or centuries, or even decades. No one knows exactly when it will come, but it is very near: “And so I say to you what I say to everyone: ‘Watch for it’ ” (Mark 13:36). Ehrman, Bart D.. Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (pp. 87-88). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.

Jesus was different from the Greco-Roman thinkers because he wasn’t concerned with people’s happiness/ contentment (eudaimonia) but the urgent task of getting people right with God because the age was ending.

Not Jesus. For one thing, Jesus was not focused on personal happiness in this life. As I will explain, his ethics ran counter to the quest for a happy and comfortable life. Nor did he urge ethical behavior to promote the welfare of society for the long haul. He didn’t think there was going to be a long haul. Like other apocalypticists, Jesus expected the end of the age to come very soon. People needed to repent in preparation for the imminent day of judgment. They needed to live as God demands because only then would they survive the coming onslaught and enter into God’s eternal, utopian kingdom. Jesus’s ethics were a Kingdom ethics.  Recognizing this apocalyptic context vitally affects how we understand Jesus’s teachings. For one thing, Jesus’s demand for change was urgent: there was not much time left, and those who lived contrary to the will of God faced imminent destruction. Moreover, returning to God involved extreme demands. Over the centuries many, possibly most, people who have heard Jesus’s teachings have thought he just could not mean them. But he did mean them, precisely because he thought there was almost no time left and the crisis of the moment required both urgent and radical action. As we will see in the next chapter, Jesus taught his disciples to abandon their homes, spouses, children, families, jobs, and everything else to be his followers. They were to sell all they had and give to the poor, with no concern to save up for a rainy day or even to have spending money for the current one. The end was imminent, and to enter the kingdom required a radical commitment. (Ehrman, Bart D.. Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (p. 92). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.)

Jesus’s ethical model was to behave as though the Kingdom was being brought about by one’s actions.

The parable of the mustard seed was a symbolic story of a natural phenomenon that holds a deeper spiritual truth. But it was also a kind of prophetic foreshadowing. Jesus and his followers had begun to embody the realities of the future kingdom in the here and now. In the kingdom there would be no hunger, so they were to feed the hungry now; no one would be without clothing or shelter, so his followers were to provide essentials to the impoverished around them; there would be no sickness, so his followers were to heal the sick; no one would be lonely, so his followers were to visit those in prison; there would be no demonic powers, so they were to cast out demons; there would be no war, so his followers were to practice peacemaking; there would be no injustice, so they were to help the oppressed and the outcast; there would be no animosity and hatred, so his followers were to love their enemies. Those who chose to implement the ideals of the kingdom in this brief time before it arrived would be welcomed into it on the day of judgment. Those who refused—who continued their self-centered lives, adopting the Roman ideology of dominance and rejecting Jesus’s urgent message to repent—would be left outside the kingdom with “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” before being sent off to annihilation (see Matthew 8:11–12; 13:42). Even though it appears that Jesus had little, if any, contact with non-Jews in his lifetime, he clearly understood that his ethical instructions were not only for his own people.13 Jews were to treat non-Jews as they treated their compatriots, and gentiles who followed the ethical principles set forth in the Jewish Scriptures would thrive in the coming kingdom. That was because, for Jesus, when God intervened to overthrow the wicked rulers of this age, salvation would come to the whole world, not just to Israel. And so his message applied to those outside. Ehrman, Bart D.. Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West (pp. 92-93). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.