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.
Christianity and Other Religions (continued)
Having learned that the claim that “all religions are the same” can only be made by someone who is either ill-informed or deliberately trying to down-play the differences, where do Christians go from here. How are we to think about other religions?
Here Edwards does something I’ve not seen anywhere else. He asks, “What does the Bible say about other religions?” This is a different question from what the Bible says about people who have never heard of Jesus or those who reject Jesus as Savior. The destiny of individuals is, of course, in the hands of God, and He hasn’t given us a clear message on what He will do. The question as Edwards asks it points us to a biblical model we can use as we speak about other religions, not their adherents.
Edwards summarizes almost eight pages with this paragraph (all eight of which you should read to fully understand the summary). Note that there are three different approaches the Bible takes, depending on the particulars of the situation.
“We may summarize our survey of the Bible’s attitudes toward other religions by saying that judgments vary from case to case. Cults that resulted in moral depravity and idolatry were wholly rejected as evil. Other cults were judged as falsifications of true worship, sometimes ridiculous and pernicious falsifications. Their adherents, nevertheless, were not condemned, and certainly not annihilated, but persuaded to abandon their folly and embrace the true God. Finally, some religions are seen as playing a foreshadowing role for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The primary example of a foreshadowing religion is Judaism…”.
Remember, this is not what anthropologists say, nor sociologists, nor teachers of world religions, and not even what pastors or seminary professors say. The Bible’s own approach to other religions is to either (1) reject some as totally evil, (2) judge some as ridiculous, and (3) see some as good, but incomplete—and then to see those as leading to the full revelation of God in the sending of His Son, Jesus. Edwards says, “Paul portrays salvation as a historical process leading from infancy to adulthood.” See Gal. 4:1-7 as an example.
Speaking specifically about the Jews, the idea of “two covenants”, one for the Jews and one for Christians, is rejected. God does seem to have a plan for the Jews, but we are not made fully aware of it. As with other non-Christians, we should share the Gospel with Jews, just as the early Christians did. “If Jesus is the good news of salvation for the world, no people, Jews included, should be excluded.” As Romans 1:16 says, “…it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Such witness must, of course, be in the spirit of Christ and His love, but why should we refuse to share good news with anyone whom Jesus loves as much as He loves us.
Now we get to the question of whether people can be saved without having heard the Gospel.
Before getting to Edwards’ position, I’ll refer you to another book which presents a variety of approaches from diverse Christian points of view. Obviously, a secularist or humanist will either dismiss all religions or diminish their differences. And, someone from another religion may not even use the word “salvation” at all. This book, though, shows Four Views On Salvation In A Pluralistic World from four different, but Christian (Protestant), perspectives. I don’t have space to cover all that’s covered in a 270 page book, but here is a summary of the four views (taken from the back cover of the book):
Pluralism—all ethical religions lead to God
Inclusivism—salvation is universally available, but is established by and leads to Christ
Salvation in Christ—agnosticism regarding those who haven’t heard the gospel
Salvation in Christ alone—explicit faith in Jesus Christ is a necessary condition for salvation
In addition to these Protestant perspectives (and whatever variations or combinations of them are out there), we find in The Documents of Vatican II (1963-1965, Book II, Chapter 16) this Catholic approach, “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience—those too may achieve eternal salvation.” You would have to read more commentary from Catholic scholars to know whether the meaning of “may” in that last phrase is “might, with conditions” or “have a possibility of”, or is “will be (or have been) given the desired privilege”.
In other words, to which of these familiar situations does “may achieve eternal salvation” relate: (1) Yes, you may go to the movies with your friends, once you have cleaned your room; or (2) Yes, you may go to the movies with your friends.
I included all of these to essentially say that there is no universally accepted answer to the question of what will happen with those who have never heard the Gospel. Edwards (and I) would fit most nearly in the “Salvation in Christ” approach above; yet we would both agree that we could be wrong.
The main point is not what my opinion (or yours, or anyone’s) is on this question. The point is that “The church has never been briefed on a Plan B of salvation.” (page 226)
My answer has to be, “I don’t know the answer to that question. I have to leave it to God. What I do know is that Jesus has given me (us) a mission to go to all people, share the good news of salvation with them, and “make disciples”. I can’t let a lack of an answer to a hypothetical question keep me from obeying a direct order from my Lord.
If we do our job of sharing the Gospel message, and let God do His job of convincing people of its truth and their need to accept it, then in the end we’ve done what our Lord told us to do. All the rest is up to Him. Anything more is needless speculation.
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