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(verse one) I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice,

And it told thy love to me;

But I long to rise in the arms of faith,

And be closer drawn to thee.

(chorus) Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord,

To the cross where thou hast died;

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord

To thy precious bleeding side.

(verse three) O, the pure delight of a single hour

That before thy throne I spend,

When I kneel in prayer, and with thee, my God,

I commune as friend with friend.

Hymns for Praise and Worship (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Press, 1984).

Protestants define sin in many different ways – as an expression of the innate egoism of human beings, as a transgression of God’s moral law, as a failure to act when action is required – but, however sin is defined, most Protestants use legal language to describe the result. People are “guilty” before God and that guilt must be addressed before a new and positive relationship with God can begin. Christ is sometimes described as humanity’s advocate in the court of heaven, pleading with God to forgive people’s sins based on the fact that Christ’s own death paid the full legal penalty for human sin.

Protestants are divided on the question of precisely who gets to be saved. One view, closely associated with the Reformed or Calvinist tradition, is predestination, which says God chooses some people for eternal salvation, while damning others to hell. This was the majority view for the first century or two of the Protestant movement, largely because predestination underscores the belief that salvation is a pure gift from God with no element of human choice or volition involved. Faith – believing and trusting in God – was necessary to obtain salvation, but faith itself was seen as a gift that God only gave to some. Over time, however, many Protestants came to view predestination as being out of synch with their vision of God as a God of love. They argued that because of that love God offers salvation to everyone, and it is then each person’s choice to accept or reject that offer. This alternative view was first articulated by the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius (1560–1609), and it has been called Arminianism ever since. The great majority of Protestants in the world today affirm this Arminian or “free will” understanding of salvation, but a third option is gaining ground. That third option is universalism, and it combines predestination’s emphasis on God’s choice with Arminianism’s vision of God as love. According to this view, God by God’s own choice will eventually redeem everyone from sin and grant them eternal life. Whether they like it or not, everyone will eventually be saved.