All.

The most offensive word in the English language Is… “All.”

No matter how clearly we write or define it, the word “all” still only very rarely gets taken seriously or literally.  It’s almost like we can’t quite wrap our minds around the concept, especially when it refers to people.  We keep reflexively interpreting it as “only some.”

On the other hand we do like to use the word “all” carelessly and pejoratively, as a way of over-generalizing to whole groups from our experience with an individual.  This is where we get nasty stereotypes from.  We will happily apply our prejudice to entire populations.

And we need to be careful to use the word “all” when we really mean some, when it is a matter of fact.  Like declaring “everyone is saying” something, and really mean that we heard it from at most a handful of people.  In those cases we are self-servingly claiming things to apply to everyone that in reality clearly do not.  It is an ego-centric attempt to make our personal views seem natural and accepted by everyone, by all. 

Those uses of the word “all” are easily disproved by evidence since it only takes one single exception to reveal that it is a lie.

But there are times when “all” is intended to say something important and uniting about us.

Jefferson’s famous proclamation in the Declaration of Independence is an example: “All [people] are created equal and are endowed by their Creator” with “inalienable rights.”  Such an affirmation has consequences in the way we subsequently act if we believe it is true.  We would not be able to reasonably treat any human as if they were not created equal to everyone else and did not have the basic human rights Jefferson talked about.  Of course, at the time, Jefferson himself didn’t even believe in the “all” he wrote.  It is taking us a two and a half centuries to take his words seriously. 

More significantly, the Apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “As in Adam all die” — we get that — but then we fail to comprehend it when he says, “even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  We’ve decided that this second use of “all” doesn’t really mean all.  We’ve decided that he must intend “all” to refer to just some chosen people.  Or in Romans 1:18, “Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all.”  All.  As in everybody.  Adam sinned and all died; Christ is raised and all are saved.  It is hard to get around the logic.

But we nevertheless try.  Indeed, the Church has never fully embraced this “all,” although it has usually accepted those who do (like St. Gregory of Nyssa).  

“All” offends and disturbs us because our egos like to think we are special.  We prefer to imagine ourselves as part of an exclusive group.  It makes us feel superior, which means someone has to be inferior.  We feel that salvation might somehow be devalued if it were for everyone, as if it were some scarce commodity being sold on the open market.  

Traditional Reformed theology is notorious for this.  We infer from God’s election of the Church that God must therefore somehow have also chosen others for destruction and condemnation, as if God would intentionally create some humans for the purpose of torturing them for eternity.  That ghastly opinion — called “Double Predestination” — is emphatically not about the God of Jesus Christ.  

Actually, God’s grace is universally available and, I believe, no one is excluded in the end.  In the meantime, those of us who know about God’s grace are blessed with the mission to proclaim this good news to all.  For there are many who don’t know about it and continue to languish under the false impression that God only chooses and blesses a few.  The only difference is that some people know this truth and act on it with compassion, forgiveness, inclusion, and love; and others — the vast majority — don’t know this truth and continue to act as if some were more equal than others.      “Many are called,” said the Lord, “but few are chosen,” and those chosen are chosen precisely to share God’s love with those who don’t yet know it.

In our own country, the main political battle right now is between those who wish to maintain their own supremacy and privilege, and those who wish to see us realize the original hope upon which our nation was based, that all are created equal and therefore are entitled equal treatment, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or economic status.  It is easily the most Christian thing about America. 

“All” is therefore the most revolutionary and radical word imaginable.  Nothing challenges the powers ruling the status quo than the idea that there are no social strata, no castes, no classes, no insiders and outsiders.  No inequality.  No Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female (Galatians 3:28).  “For all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  

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