By Russ Atmore
It was not long ago when evangelical
Christians believed that those who were unevangelized were lost and
destined for hell. Sadly, this is no longer the case. In the past the
great missionary effort was spurred on by the fact that millions were
dying, outside of Christ and that every effort to bring the gospel to
them was thus undertaken. Those who trust Christ are recognized as the
saved. The view of evangelicals has long been “exclusive” in the sense
that those who have never heard are perishing and will perish without
Christ. Exclusivism simply means that salvation is restricted only to
those who have trusted Christ for salvation. Inclusivism means that the
mercy of God is so wide that embraces all other active religionists
regardless of whether they have come to faith in Christ or not. In other
words, an active Hindu or Muslim is not excluded simply because he
worships “God” his way. This is foreign to the biblical teaching that
the way to the Father is only through Jesus the Son (John 6:37,39,40,44;
14:6).
There are evangelicals (and I don’t know
how they can be called evangelicals) who advocate “inclusivism”. There
are those who actively state that God will save people of other faiths
even though they do not know Christ or believe in Him. There are those
who while acknowledging that Christ is mankind’s only Savior, still
argue that God will save those who have never heard of Him through the
revelation of God in creation and nature. In other words, they say that
a person can be saved by trusting in the revelation revealed in nature
without knowing anything about Jesus Christ.
John Stott, long considered a leading
evangelical represents an agnostic position. He believes that all men
outside of Christ are lost, but with regard to the “eternal punishment”,
his view is that of “final annihilation”, and of those people who have
never heard off Christ, his comment is, “I believe the most Christian
stance is to remain agnostic on this question…the fact is that God,
alongside the most solemn warnings about our responsibility to respond
to the Gospel, has not revealed how He will deal with those who have
never heard.”
There are others who represent this trend
of leaving the final salvation of those of other religions and those who
have never heard in the hands of God. Can general revelation save an
individual? God’s special revelation is the Scriptures. Is the Bible
silent on the question of those who have never heard, or does it speak
with resounding clarity. The Bible is clear in asserting that all have
sinned in Adam, and as a consequence of this are estranged from God,
hating Him, dead in their sins and in reality and practice, sinners by
action. By nature they are children of wrath (Eph.2:3). They are already
under condemnation (Rom. 3:19,20). These statements and many more could
be made describe all those who have never heard. These is no such thing
as the “noble savage”.
Some evangelicals argue that those who
have never heard are “holy pagans” or “anonymous believers”. No one can
call on the Lord unless a preacher is sent to them. They cannot hear
because no one has come to preach. They cannot believe unless they first
have heard” (Rom. 10:13-15). What must be preached to them? The answer
is simply “Christ”. The missionary’s (or sent preacher) labor is the
link between the saving work of Christ and the individual’s salvation.
The inclusivist denies “conscious faith”
in the Lord Jesus. He will argue that the Old Testament Jews believed
without knowing Christ. However, those who believed in the Old Testament
did know that God was going to send a Messiah to save them, that He
would die for them in their place and they had to trust in His
anticipated coming and work in dying for them. This “conscious faith”
must in reality be saving faith. The inclusivist will argue that a
person may have a kind of faith in Christ and that this is sufficient
for salvation. In other words, it is not the “content” of faith that is
important but simply faith “in”, a sort of mental acquiescence of faith
in God. People can be saved, they say, not by the “object “ of their
faith, but simply by mental gymnastics of the mind that says, yes, I
believe in God.” Thus, the Muslim or Hindu (or nay other) is saved, for
he does say that he believes in God. Can an evangelical possibly say
that the Muslim is saved? I say, NO, because his view of God is not the
same as the Bible’s view. In fact, it is no the same God, is it. The
inclusivist would accept another’s “conception” of God has been
ultimately valid which is the same as saying “there are many paths to
God”. There are not many paths to God. There is only one and it is Jesus
Christ.
Salvation is not by the “act of
believing”. The value of faith depends completely upon its object. To be
precise, it is not faith in Christ that saves, but it is Christ Himself
who saves. The Bible is clear in pointing out that all are sinners, and
that those who have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, nor have had
the opportunity to believe are necessarily outside of Christ. They are
still in their sins, and thus destined to eternal punishment. Therefore,
if we truly believe that the lost cannot be saved without Christ, what
are you doing to convey that truth to them? Let us pray more; let us
give more; let us send out more missionaries; let us boldly declare to
friends and family that apart from Christ, they must all likewise
perish.
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