Cedarville Magazine, Spring/Summer 2016

The Exclusivity of the Gospel WeBelieve in Apologetics and the Exclusivity of Christ by Jon Wood There are five categories of objections to the exclusivity of Christ I commonly encounter in personal evangelism. While the truth of the exclusivity of Christ is rarely popular, God’s Word is clear and authoritative. Rather than dismiss the exclusivity of Christ, we should embrace it as an aspect of the glory reserved for the Son of God, and it should motivate us to evangelism. THE FAIRNESS OBJECTION Objection | “It is not fair that those who have never heard of Jesus Christ will not be saved. It is not their fault that they will never have the opportunity to hear about Jesus because of where they were born.” Response | Fair according to whose standard of justice? From the limited perspective of a fallen idea of justice, it might appear unfair, but when you consider the issue from God’s perspective, it appears differently. No human being, other than Jesus Christ, has ever lived a sinless life.The unfairness is that salvation for all nations has been extended to a humanity that is not entitled to it. None of us deserves salvation, and it is only by God’s goodness that salvation is made available to anyone (Rom. 3:23–25). THE UNIVERSALISM OBJECTION Objection | “All religions basically say the same thing; we should be good people, treat others well, and seek after God. All roads lead to the top of the same mountain, so why get caught up in arguing one belief system over another?” Response | A survey of world religions demonstrates there are genuine differences between Christianity and other religions. There are contradictory claims, for example, between the teaching of Christianity in the Bible and Islam in the Quran about the divinity of Christ. Christ cannot be both the fully divine second person of the Trinity as Scripture teaches and merely a human prophet as the Quran teaches. Ultimately, Jesus alone is sovereign over all false gods, and every knee will bow to Him alone (Phil. 2:9–11). THE INCLUSIVISM OBJECTION Objection | “Salvation is made possible by Jesus Christ, but He has provided avenues other than specific and conscious belief in Christ as a way for salvation. All salvation ultimately leads to Christ, but there are other avenues by which people who have never heard and are genuinely seeking God may be saved and eventually come to worship Him in heaven.” Response | The testimony of Scripture is this: “It is appointed for man to die once and after that comes judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Further, the picture of the lost personwho seeks after God is not one who is saved apart fromChrist, but is in need of the revealed knowledge of Christ (Acts 10–11). It is a sobering, yet Christ-exalting, teaching of the Bible that humanity faces eternal judgment and this teaching should motivate us to give our lives completely to Him now. THE JUDGMENTAL OBJECTION Objection | “Christians are judgmental to think they have the only answer about God and salvation. It is overly closed-minded to think a majority of the world is going to hell forever because they do not believe in Jesus Christ, especially when so many have never heard of Him.” Response | Christians do not intend any judgmental attitude and extend the message of forgiveness in Christ because evangelism is the loving thing to do. Ultimately, it is not Christians who are passing judgment on others for their spiritual beliefs but, as followers of Christ, we serve as ambassadors for the message God has communicated about the consequences of sin for humanity and His loving extension of salvation in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:20). THE AGNOSTIC OBJECTION Objection | “We do not ultimately know what happens to those who have never heard about Jesus Christ. We agree salvation is made possible by Jesus Christ, but we just don’t know enough about how God responds to those who might genuinely seek Him and live good Rather than dismiss the exclusivity of Christ, we should embrace it as an aspect of the glory reserved for the Son of God, and it should motivate us to evangelism. 14 | Cedarville Magazine