Three Days
Number-symbolism within Stephen Jones’ universal-reconciliation theology (IGCSE).
Meaning
Three days: the duration of Jesus’ death. In Jones’ legal argument: proof that the penalty for sin = death (limited in time), not eternal torture.
Jones states:
If never-ending torture in hell were really the penalty for sin, then Jesus would still be there, burning for eternity! Yet we find that Jesus was only required to be dead for three days.
Logic of the Argument
- God as owner — God owns all things (Gen. 1:1); thus God bears responsibility for the Fall (Ex. 21:33–34, pit-analogy).
- Christ paid the penalty — If eternal torment were the penalty for sin, Christ would still be suffering (since He paid for all people: 1John 2:2).
- Fact: only three days — Christ died three days and rose again; therefore the penalty is death (Rom. 6:23: “the wages of sin is death”), not endless torture.
- Consequence — Unbelievers cannot be punished forever; their penalty is also death/subjection to God’s law (bounded by the Jubilee principle, Lev. 25:10).
Scripture
- Rom. 6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- 1John 2:2 — “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
- Lev. 25:10 — Year of Jubilee: all debts released.
- Isa. 26:9 — “When Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (corrective, not eternal torture)
Hermeneutical Point
Jones undermines the eternal-hell doctrine by deploying God’s own liability laws. Because God is Creator, God owns and administers the penalty — and God’s law prescribes no endless suffering. The three days of Jesus’ death is a legal precedent that penalty = death, not torture.
Disciplinary Relevance
- Soteriology — Universal reconciliation via legal kinsman-redeemer model
- Hamartology — Sin as debt (bounded, not ontological)
- Eschatology — Final judgment as corrective, not eternal torture
- Theology Proper — God’s liability and sovereignty
Source: stephen-jones IGCSE — “If God Could Save Everyone - Would He?” (God’s Kingdom Ministries)