The "widening of God's mercy" was the same language used by Brian McLaren in his "Generous Orthodoxy" to defend religious inclusivity. 

It's the same language used by open theists to articulate God's unknowability of the future and to defend an unorthodox theodicy. 

It's the same language used by liberationists to defend the generosity of God towards the poor and God's hatred of the rich.

 It's the same language used by universalists to portray God's justice as criminal and hell as inconceivable.

It's the same language the serpent uses to cause Adam and Eve to doubt the veracity of God's law in the Garden.

Hays' theological legacy will be forever marred by his compromises on the clear ethics of the Scriptures on sexuality.