Jesus and Salvation Series (Part 17)

Welcome to the Summer 2006 study for the Koinonia Class of Calvary Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado. We’re looking at the issue of Jesus and Salvation, using the book “Is Jesus The Only Savior” [James R. Edwards, Is Jesus The Only Savior? (Grand Rapids/Cambridge: 2005)]. We encourage each person to buy a copy and follow along.


Choosing One Way Instead Of Many

“There are many paths to God, and all of them are equally valid.” “I don’t think that just Christians will be saved.” Both of these statements reflect a philosophy that dominates 21st Century American culture. It’s got a name most people have never heard of; and those who have heard of it have trouble defining it. Yet everyone recognizes the concepts inherent in this philosophy, and we are confronted by them every day.

In Chapter 9 of “Is Jesus The Only Savior?” Edwards takes on this cultural bias, which goes by the name “Postmodernism”, and contrasts it with the gospel of Jesus. It’s a fairly long and complex chapter which I will attempt to cover briefly and simply (and hopefully not simplistically).

Postmodernism obviously refers to something that came after “modernism”. When we think about “modernism” in terms of Rationalism or the Enlightenment, with their emphases on logical or scientific answers to every question, we get a clue to its meaning. Postmodernism, which is something of a rebellion against the certainty of previous eras, says there are no answers, only opinions; no facts, only interpretations; no standards of right and wrong, only what’s right for me and what’s right for you; no objective Truth, only individual truths; no universal values, only moral and cultural relativism.

It’s easy to see, then, why the Gospel sounds harsh and arrogant to many, and why the two statements at the beginning of this post are heard today, even in Christian churches. This is why some have changed the unique Gospel message to one gospel among many. It’s seen clearly in this quotation from Marcus Borg in “Meeting Jesus Again For The First Time” (on page 37):

“Imaging Jesus as a particular instance of a type of religious personality known cross-culturally undermines a widespread Christian belief that Jesus is unique, which most commonly is linked to the notion that Christianity is exclusively true and that Jesus is ‘the only way’. The image I have sketched [of Jesus as a “spirit person” who knew God but was not God] views Jesus differently: rather than being the exclusive revelation of God, he is one of many mediators of the sacred.”

For Postmodernism, not only is Jesus not the only savior, there is a question of whether a savior is needed at all. If there are no universal values, then whatever is acceptable within a particular society is OK, even if it would not be acceptable within another society. If values and morals are relative to various cultures, it’s not a big leap to say that there is no such thing as sin which needs to be forgiven by some unseen “God”. In addition, it is totally unacceptable to say that God did something unique in sending Jesus to provide forgiveness and salvation through his vicarious sacrifice.

Yet that is our message: “The story of the Bible is the story of an unfolding drama in which God intervened from time to time by sending special actors on stage” and the focal point of this drama was that “in Jesus, the Son of God, God spoke the last word” (Edwards, page 174 & 175).

The title of Chapter 9, “The Gospel and Postmodernism” shows the conflict. The two concepts are polar opposites. The Gospel claims that Jesus is the unique revelation of God and the redeemer sent by God. Postmodernism claims that there can be no one Truth for all and that there can be many paths to many different “gods”. In other words, it would say that Jesus may be the savior for us, but we can’t claim Jesus as the savior for the world.

In contrast, when we preach the Gospel as it is presented in the Scriptures, we have to say “ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12 NIV)
So, today there is the Gospel of Christ and the “gospel” of Postmodernism, and the two claims are irreconcilable. One who says “all paths to God are equally valid” is preaching Postmodernism, not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Both “gospels” cannot be “equally valid”? Galatians 1:6,7 applies today just as it did when first written: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

The perversion of the Gospel infiltrating the churches in Galatia that Paul was concerned about was the notion that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was of no use by itself to those who were gentiles. They wouldn’t be real Christians unless they also submitted to the Old Testament law and became a Jew.

The perversion of the Gospel infiltrating churches today is that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in of no use to us because we cannot be saved through the sacrificial death of someone else, especially someone who was in reality not God, but just a “spirit person” who knew God in a more profound way than others. We won’t be real Christians, they say, except by patterning our lives after Jesus who was our model.

These are, in the end, the same perversion—salvation by works instead of by grace through faith in the saving work of Jesus. Chapter 9 is a difficult chapter to read because for most of us it introduces a confusing philosophy; but it needs to be read in its entirety. The Letter to the Galatians is also a difficult book to read because it confronts some false prophets who weren’t named directly in the book (the Judaizers—those who thought all Christians should also be Jews). It also needs to be read in its entirety.

If you do read all of Galatians, you’ll see that it sounds incredibly harsh, especially Galatians 1:8-9. It probably sounded harsh in Paul’s day, too. The term “Postmodernism” wasn’t around then, but an attempt to change the Gospel to something that negated the cross was. In Galatians 6:12 Paul said, “Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised [i.e., to become a Jew]. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ “

As today, the Gospel first went out into a multi-cultural society where there were many competing religions and philosophies, including the one that tried to re-enslave Christians to a religion of works. It was important then to preach the Gospel as it had been received; and it is just as important today.

Today it’s possible to buy “knock-off” goods that appear to be the real thing. Do you want a “Rolex” watch, “Levis” jeans, or “Ping” golf clubs? No need to pay full price. You can get a pirated version that looks like the real thing for a fraction of the price. I heard a story this week of someone who bought a whole set of “Ping” golf clubs including the bag in China for less than $150. One real Ping club would cost that much in the U.S. Some people take the risk of less-than-perfect goods just to fit in with a certain crowd. So what if the watch doesn’t function quite like a Rolex, or the golf clubs aren’t exactly the same as the real Ping clubs. It doesn’t hurt anyone, does it?

It’s also possible to accept a “knock-off” version of the message of salvation. But do we want to bet our destiny on it? The real Gospel says Jesus is the only Savior. The “knock-off” version says Jesus may be a good model for us to follow, but each person can choose the model that fits them best in their own culture. One path or many? A Savior or just a model? Our choice.