Introduction
One of the assignments in my course at Emmaus called Introduction to Missions is a class debate about the fate of the heathen. The proposition reads, “Adult, sane people who have not put their faith explicitly in the finished work of Christ are all eternally lost, even though they have never heard the gospel.” Without fail it becomes one of the liveliest classes of the semester. To some of the students it is a “cut and dried” proposition that all people who have not specifically trusted in the atoning work of Christ are doomed to be cast into Hell.
Others will argue that a God of love ought to allow at least some exceptions; especially people who are sincerely seeking for God and are living up to the light they have. Still others will raise the “fairness” issue; is it fair for God to judge people who have never had a chance to hear of the Lord Jesus Christ? Some find it hard to think that God could send a person to a perdition which is everlasting when their sin has only occurred in the short period of his/her life. Occasionally some student finds it difficult to believe the doctrine of eternal punishment under any circumstances. In this article we shall consider these issues in the light of holy Scripture. It alone, not human reason, is our authority.
The Exclusivist Position
The question simplified is this. Is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ necessary for salvation? Most of my readers will immediately answer, “Definitely yes.” These may be subdivided in to those who say “Yes for people in this age”, and those who say “Yes, for all people in all ages.” All in this group are called exclusivists because they exclude from saving faith all those who have not personally and specifically put their faith in Christ. Among them there is a group on the fringe who believe that unbelievers are given a second chance after death. That position is known as post-mortem evangelism.
The Inclusivist Position
Still others will answer the question, “Yes, but.” They widen the scope of “saving faith” to include those who have faith in God, even though they have not specifically heard of Jesus Christ. They believe that people may be saved by the redemptive work of Christ without ever knowing that God provided a sacrifice for sin, because a “God of love will count their faith as effectual.” Such people are called Inclusivists. They include among the redeemed many who have not actually known of Christ. To them, Jesus is the only Savior, but it is one’s faith in God, not one’s faith specifically in Christ which is crucial.
The Pluralist Position
A third category are called pluralists. They believed that people can be saved through any of the major religions of the world. They hold that no one religion is superior to the others or closer to ultimate reality. I doubt if any of my readers will subscribe to this theory, and I will not deal with it in this article. We ought however, to note that a large and growing number of people in the modern pluralistic world are moving in this direction, including some who call themselves evangelicals.
The necessity of explicit faith in Jesus as Savior is being challenged in evangelical circles today. Though it has been looked upon as solidly biblical and incontrovertible by orthodox Christians down through the ages, there is a growing and vocal group of scholars who lean heavily toward inclusivist theology. Well known evangelical names are associated with it such as Clark Pinnock. Bernard Ramm, D. Bruce Lockerbie, J. Herbert Kane, and J. N. D. Anderson. [2] Ronald Nash says, It would not surprise me if a third or more of non-professionals in evangelical churches expressed support for inclusivistic convictions.” [3]
The whole idea of conversion as being total and radical is being lost. Evangelicals are increasingly accepting ideas which are shallow and sentimental.
The purpose of this article is to state what the Bible says about saving faith and to briefly compare it to what inclusivists are teaching.
The Necessity of Explicit Faith in Christ
The Statements of Scripture
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” is one of the statements in Scripture which explains the way of salvation in terms of faith in Christ (Acts 16:31). The Bible makes it crystal clear that in order for people to be saved, they must individually and personally respond by faith to the good news that Jesus died for their sins and that they will receive everlasting life. Their faith must be directed to the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Among the best loved and most used salvation passages is Jesus’ message to Nicodemas in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Later He told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6).
Peter made it equally clear, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Paul states that the only basis of salvation for those who have sinned and come short of the glory of God is by “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:21–24). He goes on to say that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9–10).
Paul speaks of only “one God and one Mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Bible verses such as these have been used by true Christians through the long history of the Church to explain that no one can obtain salvation apart from Christ. People who are saved must understand the content of the gospel message and personally believe it. “But as many as received Him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12).
Without Christ All People Are Lost
The reason people need to be saved is because they are lost. To be lost is to be without God, separated from Him. The separation, if not reconciled by the blood of Christ through faith during the lifetime of the person, will lead to a lost eternity in hell. It is the doctrine of eternal punishment, however unpleasant it may sound. “They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power” (2 Thess 1:9). The Bible teaches that all people are lost without exception. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). All are “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3). All have a rendezvous with death. “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). The Bible teaches that there are only two destinies for people. One is everlasting life in heaven with God and the other is everlasting separation from God. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
The Faith Which Saves Has Specific Content
Faith does not exist without an object. To have faith is to believe something, to accept it as being true. It should be obvious that in regard to salvation, it makes a difference what people believe. Theology matters and the content of faith is crucial. So we ask, what is the lowest common denominator of understood information necessary for saving faith?
It includes a knowledge of the true God, Creator of all things; that He has been offended by man’s sin; that He has provided a Savior to be the sacrifice for sin; and that all who believe in Him will be saved. This basic information is what I consider to be necessary as minimum knowledge for saving faith. This is the message we call the Good News and is repeatedly stated in dozens of New Testament passages. Down through the centuries it has been retold millions of times resulting in millions of conversions to Christ.
All of these essential elements are necessary for saving faith. Not only are there multiplied references in the New Testament, but the witness of the first century church recorded in Acts and the epistles consistently emphasizes the same core of truth as being necessary. The implications of this are enormous. It means that millions of people who have never heard the gospel are eternally lost. It means that until someone tells them of Christ they have no hope.
The Inclusivist Answer
Conscious Knowledge of Christ and Explicit Faith in Him Is Not Necessary
Our inclusivist friends will agree that no one can be saved apart from the finished work of Christ which is necessary for salvation. But they will disagree that it is necessary for people to consciously know about Christ and explicitly believe in Him in order to be saved. They say that, “the salvation offered in Jesus Christ is available not only for those who hear his name; saving grace must be universally available in all cultures, without regard to geography or age.” [4] Inclusivists use the phrase “universal faith principle” to describe faith in God without a clear object. So their “requirement for salvation is simply trust in God — under whatever form God is known — and obedience.” [5] They believe that God’s saving grace is operative in every culture, at every time and in every place. John Sanders says, “Salvation for the unevangelized is made available by the redemptive work of Jesus, but God applies that work even to those who are ignorant of the atonement.” [6]
The Example of Cornelius
To substantiate these arguments inclusivists point to examples in the Bible, particularly Cornelius the Roman centurion of whom we read in Acts 10 and 11. Before Peter met him he was described as “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household and gave many alms to the Jewish people, and prayed to God continually” (Acts 10:2). They say this proves he was a believer,
But Acts 11:14 indicates otherwise when the angelic visit to Cornelius is recounted announcing Peter’s coming visit. The angel told him, “And he shall speak words to you by which you will be saved.” His salvation was still future before Peter arrived. In the light of the clear biblical teaching of the necessity of explicit faith in Christ and the lack of any clear biblical teaching or examples to support the inclusivists, we can confidently affirm the truth that Jesus told his disciples, “No one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6).
The Role of General Revelation in Salvation
The Nature and Limitations of General Revelation
Bible students very carefully distinguish special revelation from general revelation. General revelation refers to what God has disclosed about Himself and His purposes to all people in every age. It includes what may be known of Him through creation, conscience, and history. It provides some “light” by which people may know that God exists as Creator and Judge. Creation, for instance, implies an intelligent and powerful Creator. The existence of an all powerful Creator implies that we as thinking creatures are morally responsible to the Creator.
Regarding general revelation Paul argues strongly in Romans 1 that people have willfully suppressed the evident truth that God exists. Paul states that “His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:18–20). Instead of seeking after God, man deliberately turned away from this elemental knowledge of God, but claimed that they were wise in rejecting the truth of general revelation. “They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image” (Rom. 1:22–23). They became idolaters instead of believers.
General revelation, then, leaves man without excuse and demonstrably guilty before God (Rom. 1:18–32). It serves a most needed purpose in that it awakens God-consciousness in people and therefore leaves them morally responsible for the choices they make. General revelation has enough truth to establish man’s guilt before God, but it does not communicate anything about the redemptive purpose of God. It leaves men without excuse before God, but by itself is not sufficient to lead people to salvation from sin. It neither reveals the need for substitutionary atonement, nor can it lead people to faith in Christ. Therefore it is distinctly separate from the Gospel, which is the Good News concerning the redemptive work of Christ and its reception by faith.
Thus though general revelation is given to all mankind it does not contain or communicate man’s personal need of a Savior or God’s provision of Jesus Christ. It takes man no further than to show him that he is “without excuse” and that the wrath of God is revealed against them (Rom. 1:18–20). Like the Law of Moses, it shows man that he needs salvation, but cannot provide it.
Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for “The righteous man shall live by faith.”
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. (Gal. 3:11, 13, 24).In order for people to be saved they need to know more specific truth about Christ which comes to certain people at certain times. Bible teachers call this kind of truth special revelation. Examples of special revelation include the disclosures God made to selected people like Moses and Isaiah at specified times and in certain places. It was special revelation that unfolded the truth of a coming Saviour who would be a substitutionary sacrifice for sin. Special revelation provided the truth about the way for man to approach a holy God. Much of it has been preserved in Scripture, but some of what God has revealed to certain people at special times was not written down and is therefore no longer available to people today. Special revelation could be passed from one person to another orally, but is subject to distortion and loss much more easily than if it was written. It is only through special revelation that salvation has been made known to us.
Inclusivists and General Revelation
Inclusivists do not agree. They assert that general revelation gives people enough knowledge of God to lead to saving faith. They do this because they insist that salvation must be available to all people everywhere and they know that many people have no access to special revelation. Inclusivist Clark Pinnock says, “The knowledge of God is not limited to places where biblical revelation has penetrated.” [7] In his book, A Wideness in God’s Mercy, he says, “Because of cosmic or general revelation, anyone can find God anywhere at any time, because he has made himself and his revelation accessible to them” [8]
John Sanders, another inclusivist, says that “salvific grace is mediated through general revelation and God’s providential workings in human history.” [9] He finds support for this argument from Romans 10:18 where the people “heard” (the gospel) through the voice of “the heavens” which according to Psalm 19:4 has “gone out into all the earth.”
I do not think this supports any argument for general revelation because the subject of the passage in Romans 10 is quite the opposite. Paul’s subject is the necessity of special revelation so that if people “confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead they will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). The inclusivist arguments are in direct contradiction to other clear biblical passages such as Acts 4:12. John 1:12 and 3:16.
Conclusion
My conclusion regarding general revelation is that it does not provide the basis for saving faith either to people who lived before Christ or to those who have lived after Christ. Jesus is the only Savior and knowledge of His substitutionary death on the cross is the only sufficient and biblical basis for faith which saves.
The Faith of Old Testament Believers
The Issue
Was the Way of Salvation Different for Old Testament Believers?
One of the issues surrounding the doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ is the question of how Old Testament believers were saved. It is important to our thesis because if they were saved in a different way than New Testament believers, there must be more than one way of salvation. And, if there is more than one way of salvation, then is not that second way still available to man? Their knowledge of the coming Messiah was obviously less than that available to believers today through the completed Scriptures.
Inclusivists and the Faith of Old Testament Saints
Inclusivists make the point that the status of Old Testament believers was premessianic, and that their faith was accepted by God for salvation even though they knew nothing of the coming Savior. They argue that the status of Old Testament believers is the same as people today who “believe in God” though they have never put their faith in Christ. Clark Pinnock writes, “A person who is informationally premessianic, whether living in ancient or modern times, is in exactly the same situation.” [10]
In my view, this position is biblically incorrect.
Special Revelation and the Faith of Old Testament Believers
Special Revelation: The Difference between Old Testament Saints and the Unevangelized Today
Pinnock’s idea that people in Old Testament times were in the same situation as the heathen today is unsound. Unlike the heathen today Old Testament believers had both general revelation and special revelation upon which to base their faith. They knew far more by special revelation than is often assumed. It is not therefore true that they are in the same situation as the unevangelized today who have no access to special revelation from either Scripture or missionary upon which to base their faith. Old Testament believers were saved by explicit faith in a coming Savior, rather than by a general faith in God. We will examine the content of special revelation they did have and the basis of their faith. My conclusion is that they were saved by exercising faith in a coming Savior who would suffer and die a substitutionary death for sin; then rise from the grave to be exalted as the reigning Messiah.
Special Revelation in the Old Testament
Special revelation is God breaking into history to reveal His truth to specific people in specific ways. This happened when He revealed His mind to Adam and Eve after the Fall (Gen. 3:14–19). He spoke to Noah regarding the earth’s wickedness, the coming flood and the building of the ark (Gen. 6:9–8:19). Special revelation came again when the God of glory appeared to Abraham when he was living in Ur. Over and over again in the Bible God continued to reveal Himself and His purposes to certain individuals in certain places. Some of that revealed truth is recorded in the Old Testament and specifically spoke of the coming Christ. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of Me” (John 5:39). Note the link between eternal life and the witness of Christ in the Old Testament.
The Revelation of a Coming Savior
What truth regarding salvation did God reveal to Adam which he could personally pass on to his descendants during his lifetime (930 years)? Adam heard God promise that the seed (descendant) of the woman would triumph over the serpent (bruise him on the head). He also heard that the seed of the woman would himself be bruised on the heel (wounded) in the process (Gen. 3:15). In this way the first promise was directly related to a coming Savior who would suffer, and yet triumph over Satan. Immediately following this God made garments of skin, which required blood sacrifice, for Adam and his wife (Gen. 3:21). The great elements of the evangel were already in place; a coming, suffering, Savior who would triumph over Satan and the effects of sin.
There is extra-biblical evidence that this knowledge was universally known in the meanings of the names of the constellations and stars. These names and meanings have been preserved in many ancient languages and have the same meanings in them all. The Bible declares that the stars were to be “for signs” (Gen. 1:14). I believe that the evidence shows that the constellations were a symbol system to keep the special revelation of a coming Savior universally available until the time of written revelation in the Moses era. It gave greater permanence to the special revelation than word of mouth alone. Three times in the signs of the constellations there is a mighty prince with his foot on the head of a snake and at the same time being wounded (Orion and Lepus, Ophiuchus and Scorpio, and Leo and Hydra). [11] It is no accident that they reflect the first edition of the Good News given in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:15).
The basic elements of the truth were that people could be saved by faith in a coming Savior who would suffer and shed his blood in his defeat of Satan and emerge triumphant. Their faith was demonstrated by offering an animal sacrifice which foreshadowed the coming sacrificial Lamb. When the fullness of the time was come, John introduced Him to the world with the words, “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). The faith that saved them was faith in the saving work of the coming redeemer; more elemental, but no less real than faith in the finished work of Christ revealed to New Testament writers.
Examples of Old Testament Believers
Abraham
As the story of the Old Testament unfolds God revealed Himself to one distinct people, Israel. He called Abraham to be their progenitor and entered into a special covenant relationship with him. In him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:1–9). Abraham’s response to revelation was that he “believed in the Lord” and God declared him to be righteous (Gen. 15:6). Abraham’s faith included some knowledge of the coming Savior for Jesus said “Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). The New Testament refers to Abraham’s justification by faith in three places (Rom. 4:3, Gal. 3:6, Jas. 2:21–23).
Israel, the nation made up of his descendants became the special recipient of continuing revelation and was to be a witness to the other nations so that they too might believe. Jewish prophets predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow, though they did not fully understand it (1 Pet. 1:11). The Israelites, however, largely failed in both their personal faith in a promised Savior and in their communication of the good news to other nations.
Job
The nation Israel became the chief means by which people could know the truth from the time of Abraham until Jesus Christ. But there was certainly still enough truth which had been passed on from generation to generation so that some might believe. Job is an example of a man who exercised saving faith from the residual truth passed down to him. He may have lived before Abraham. He was “blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:1). When confronted with extreme adversity he responded with true worship, saying, “Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Jehovah) (Job 1:20–21). Interestingly, he looked for a personal Redeemer (Job 19:25). I conclude he knew this by special revelation.
Melchizedek
Another of these believers whose faith seems to have come from residual truth was Melchizedek. He was the priest-king of Salem and met Abraham returning from his victory over the five kings. He knew God by the same name as did Abraham — El Elyon, the Most High God. Abraham had such respect for him that he gave tithes of the captured spoils to him (Gen. 14:18–20).
Jethro
We might also mention Jethro the Midianite priest and father-in-law of Moses who had his faith in Jehovah confirmed when the Children of Israel arrived in Midian across the Red Sea. He said “Now I know that the Lord (Jehovah) is greater than all the gods.… Then Jethro … took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God” (Ex. 18:11–12). We can assume that he knew the reason for the sacrifices. There were, no doubt, many others of whom the Bible does not speak. And it seems reasonable to assume that the further away in both time and space from the source of special revelation, the less likely it is that the basic elements of truth were preserved so that people might respond in salvation. The possibility always remained that God by special revelation could announce the good news to whomever and whenever He desired.
Conclusion
Inclusivists believe that people may be saved by belief in God based on the light they have. They do not think that faith must necessarily be directed specifically toward Jesus Christ, but that sincere faith in “God” will be accepted on the merits of Jesus’ atoning work. They distinguish between “believers” in Old Testament times and “Christians” in New Testament times. They argue that in Old Testament times there were “believers” who could not and did not believe specifically in a coming Savior. Informationally, they were premessianic. The argument then states that there are many pagan people today who are premessianic and can be saved by believing in the light they have, even though they have never heard of Jesus. This makes the preaching of the gospel and personal faith in Jesus unnecessary for salvation. I can only conclude that this amounts to a second way of salvation. One by faith in the finished work of Christ and the second by a general belief in the God they know. That is unbiblical.
In summary, I believe it is consistent with the Bible that Old Testament believers were given special revelation concerning the basic truth of a coming Redeemer and they responded by faith in the sacrifice yet to be accomplished. This revelation from God was to be communicated to others who had opportunity to believe it. They were saved by believing the truth about the coming Savior, just as people are saved today through hearing and believing the truth about Jesus who finished His work on the cross. Believers who have responded to the gospel are responsible to communicate it to others who have not heard it.
The Fate of the Unevangelized
The Issue
An age old question which comes up in virtually every discussion about the world’s unreached people concerns the fate of those who have never heard the gospel. The question takes many forms. Is there any opportunity for them to get to heaven if they have not heard of Jesus? If they are lost forever, isn’t God being unfair to them because they have had no opportunity to reject him? Does not the whole issue raise questions about God’s goodness? How can a loving God let people go to hell if they cannot consciously turn to Him?
The Fate of the Lost
These are hard questions, but there is considerable light in Scripture about the destiny of lost people. When Jesus said that He came “to seek and to save that which was lost,” what did He mean when He spoke of the lost? (Luke 19:10). We can speak of lostness in different ways. A person may be lost geographically, intellectually, or even emotionally. However, biblical lostness has to do with our relationship to God. All people are said to be lost because their relationship with God is broken by sin which separates man from God. It was pointed out in the section, “Without Christ All People are Lost,” that not only are they lost, but they are doomed to everlasting separation from God (2 Thess. 1:8–9). Following death there is no second chance (Luke 16:19–31). So all who are outside Christ are lost and lost forever.
The Bible teaches that people of every description in every age need to be saved, because all are under condemnation. Good and devout people like Nicodemas need to be saved (John 3:5). Pagan seekers like the Roman centurion need to be saved (Acts. 11:14). Intellectual people like the Greek philosophers in Athens need to be saved (Acts 17:30–31). Blue collar unbelievers like the jailer in Philippi need to be saved (Acts 16:31). So what about the heathen in the remote places of earth who have never heard the Good News?
The words of the risen Christ to Saul when he was on the Damascus road have a clear answer. Saul heard the Lord tell him that he was appointed to witness to the Gentiles:
To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me (Acts 26:18).Note that in the words of Christ Himself, the Gentiles to whom Saul was to preach were (1) spiritually blind; (2) in spiritual darkness; (3) under the power of Satan; (4) without forgiveness; and (5); without any spiritual inheritance. They are all lost and all on their way to Hell. Thus Saul was called to the ministry of evangelizing the Gentiles. They were the unevangelized and the Lord Jesus Christ offered only one hope to them. Their one hope was that they hear the gospel of salvation and respond by faith in Christ The answer to the problem of the unevangelized problem did not come through “living up to the light they had,” but only through “faith in Me” (Christ). They all needed to be saved because they were all lost. All are on their way to hell.
The Necessity of Explicit Faith in Christ
The lost can only be saved through explicit faith in Christ. The section on The Necessity of Faith in Christ highlights the clear biblical teaching that personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation for any person in any age. The other side of that truth is that without faith in Christ people are lost, even though they have never heard the gospel. This is hard for many Christians to accept.
Inclusivists believe that this is far too restrictive an approach and is not consistent with a loving God. “For inclusivists, God’s saving grace has pervaded the cosmos from the beginning, always offering love.” [12] In rejecting explicit faith in Christ Clark Pinnock says, “Fewer and fewer are willing to tolerate a doctrine of salvation that favors a few over all the others.” [13] John Sanders, another inclusivist, says, “If people moved by the Spirit of God exercise faith in God, no matter what revelation of God they have, they are saved by the merits of Christ.” [14] Or as Pinnock quotes from C. S. Lewis, “There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it.” [15] Sanders makes this claim, “Everyone must eventually pass through Jesus to reach the Father, but there is more than one path for arriving at this place.” [16]
To me, all these statements lead to another way of salvation, which is less than explicit faith in Christ. Thus I must reject them. The unevangelized are lost until they respond in faith to the Good News of Jesus Christ. “There is not the remotest hint in the New Testament of any way that people are saved without personally putting their trust in Jesus and Him alone.” [17]
Yenner Karto, a current student at Emmaus Bible College from Liberia where his own grandfather died without hearing the Gospel says, “The Africans who died before the missionaries reached Africa are without excuse, because according to Romans 1:20, they saw God’s invisible attribute in His creation and still went ahead to do their own thing. They are damned and lost forever because they rejected God’s revelation.” [18]
My favorite story regarding the unevangelized in the position of Yenner’s grandparents is the story of an African man who lived in Chad, Africa. The story was told by a pioneer missionary in that area, F. W. Rogers. His name was Dubari and he had broken his wooden idol. He was busy carving another when the thought occurred to him, “If my hands are carving this idol, my hands must be greater than the idol.” His reasoning continued, “If my head is telling my hands what to do, then my head is greater than my hands.” He continued, “If my head is able to think in this way, then there must be a god who made me. If there is such a god then I should know who He is so that I can worship him.” Dubari then made a daily habit of climbing a tree on the edge of his village and calling out asking the God who made him to reveal Himself. At that point Pinnock and other inclusivists would probably say that Dubari was saved. But that is not the end of the story. After some time Mr. F. W. Rogers, an assembly missionary arrived in the village to bring the Gospel. He was soon told about Dubari who came down from his tree, listened to the Gospel, and put his faith for salvation in Jesus Christ, Son of the eternal God. Dubari subsequently grew in his faith and eventually there was a church in his village and he became an active elder for many years. The point of the story is that when Dubari sought the truth, God orchestrated the circumstances for him to hear the truth so that he could put his trust in the Savior.
The Implications for Mission
Missions is deeply affected by the view we take regarding explicit faith in Christ. If inclusivists are correct that the “faith principle” is all that is necessary for salvation, then perhaps we are wiser to leave the unevangelized without ever hearing the message so that God will not hold them accountable for rejecting it. However if all people are eternally lost without Christ, as I believe the Bible clearly teaches, then we have a very strong motive for missions to “rescue the perishing.” The founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance wrote correctly,
A hundred thousand souls a day,
Are passing one by one away,
In Christless guilt and gloom,
Without one ray of hope or light,
With future dark as endless night,
They’re passing to their doom.
—A. B. Simpson
Books for Further Reading
- Crockett, William V and Sigountos, James G. Through No Fault of Their Own. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1991. Twenty-one chapters by as many authors speak to various issues and biblical passages surrounding the fate of those who die without hearing the gospel. The contributors range from universalists to restrictivists.
- Hick, John. Problems of Religious Pluralism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. Hick presents his pluralist view that there is salvation to be found in other religions.
- Lindsell, Harold. A Christian Philosophy of Missions. Wheaton: Van Kampen Press, 1949. Lindsell argues for the historic biblical view that there is no salvation apart from personal faith in Christ — the particularist view.
- Nash, Ronald H. Is Jesus the Only Savior? Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994. The author explores the pluralist and inclusivist views and then makes a strong case for his particularist view.
- Okholm, Dennis L and Phillips, Timothy R., eds. More Than One Way. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995. Four views on religious pluralism are set out side by side, each presented and defended by its proponent.
- Pinnock, Clark H. A Wideness in God’s Mercy. Zondervan Publishing House, 1992. Well-known evangelical theologian Pinnock explains his inclusivist view on salvation which includes all who seriously seek after God.
- Sanders, John. No Other Name. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992. Sanders argues that God must make salvation universally available and offers hope for those who have never heard.
- Sanders, John, ed. What About Those Who Have Never Heard? Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995. Its subtitle is Three Views on the Destiny of the Unevangelized. Sanders, Nash, and Gabriel Fackre each present and defend their views on evangelism.
- Ken Fleming has taught missions at Emmaus Bible College since 1977 after serving as a missionary among the Zulu people in South Africa for twenty-five years.
- Ronald H. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 107–108.
- Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior? 107.
- Dennis L. Okholm and Timothy R. Phillips, eds., More than One Way (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 24.
- Okholm and Phillips, More than One Way, 25.
- John Sanders, ed., What About Those Who Have Never Heard? (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press: 1995), 36.
- Clark H. Pinnock, “The Finality of Jesus Christ in a World of Religions,” in Christian Faith and Practice in the Modern World, ed. Mark A. Noll and David F. Wells (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 159.
- Clark H. Pinnock, A Wideness in God’s Mercy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995), 182.
- John Sanders, No Other Name (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 131.
- Clark Pinnock, A Wideness in God’s Mercy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 161.
- Some readers may care to consult the author’s book, God’s Voice in the Stars (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Bros., 1981).
- Dennis L. Okholm and Timothy R. Phillips, More than One Way (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995), 25.
- Okholm and Phillips, More than One Way, 101.
- Gabriel Fackre, Ronald H. Nash, and John Sanders, What about Those Who Have Never Heard? (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1995), 48.
- C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1967), 176.
- Okholm and Phillips, More than One Way, 119.
- James Borland, “A Theologian Looks at the Gospel and World Religion,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 33 (March 1990): 9.
- Yenner wrote this in a letter dated Feb. 21, 1996 to a young person who had asked about the state of his grandparents who never heard of Christ.”
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