Bible Stories

Before Jesus put to his disciples the question Who do you say I am‘?’ he asked them Who do people say I am?’ and they answered One of the prophets’. That is the natural answer. To the Muslim, Jesus is one of God’s messengers. To the Hindu he is one of the jeevanmuktas, who have realized identity with Brahman in this life. To the average man in Europe or North America, where religion is an optional leisure-time activity, he is ‘one of the founders of world religions’. This is the ‘natural‘ answer, for if there is a variety of alleged revelations the natural thing to do is to assume that the truth lies somewhere between or beyond them all. This is natural, because it leaves me free to shape my idea of God as I like.

But if in Jesus God is actually present as part of the human scene then I am in a different situation. I am called to account. I must either reject or else accept, believe and worship. But to do this is beyond my ‘natural‘ intelligence. ‘Flesh and blood’, as Jesus said to Peter, cannot reveal it. Only God can bring a man or woman to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. It cannot be proved by argument, for the argument would have to rest on something other than Jesus, and that something other would be the ultimate ground of confidence. ‘Jesus is Lord‘ means ‘Jesus alone is Lord‘. This is not an aspect of the Christian faith; it is the Christian faith. It is not my insight; it is God’s gift.

Salvation apart from Jesus?

To say that ‘in Jesus God is actually present’ does not mean that God is otherwise absent. On the contrary, Jesus, in John’s words, is ‘the light that lightens every man’. And Paul tells us that God has never ‘left himself without witness‘. Every time the Bible is translated into a new language the translators have to find a word for ‘God‘, and this can only be a word which embodies the idea of God which the people concerned have without knowing Jesus. If there was no word for ‘God‘, how would the first missionary begin to preach the gospel? And if there is a word which he can use, it cannot be one which gives a wholly false meaning.

But if, as we must admit, there can be some knowledge of God apart from Jesus, can there be salvation apart from Jesus? Billions of people have lived and died without ever hearing his name. Can a loving God have consigned them all to hell? Surely (many have argued) he must have made some other way by which this multitude could be saved! The argument takes different forms.

Some have said, ‘Jesus is the unique final revelation of God for Christians; for the others who have lived and died in other cultures he must have provided some other way.’

Others say, ‘For the devout Hindu or Muslim, his own religion is the ordinary way for him to be saved.’

Or ‘Just as Copernicus taught us that it is the sun, not the earth, which is the centre of the solar system, so we must learn that it is God, not Christianity, who is the centre.’

But if the first of these options is true, then the human race is for ever divided in its ultimate allegiances; the hope of human unity is gone. If the second is true, God is the saviour of the devout, not of the sinner. The third looks impressive until we ask: ‘Whose idea of God is central?’ Truly God is the centre. The different religions embody different ideas of God. What is offered here is just one more religion.

The Bible Witness

When we turn to the Bible we find, as usual, that it does not simply answer our questions in the way we choose to put them. We must listen to the witness of the Bible, which can perhaps be summarized as follows:

God’s purpose is the blessing of the whole human race and the whole creation. That is made clear in the covenant with Noah. God’s love extends to all he has made. The imagery in the book of Revelation pictures an enormous crowd in heaven, from every race, tribe, nation and language’.

God’s salvation involves judgement. ‘We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ‘ — for he alone is Lord. In his most memorable parable of the last judgement, Jesus indicates that it will turn on whether or not we have responded to the needs of the least of his brothers. Anyone who thinks he can face that judgement with confidence in his own record is a fool.

• Jesus‘ words include terrrible warnings of the possibility of eternal loss. But they are primarily directed to those who are confident that they are ‘on the inside’ — those who say ‘Lord, Lord‘, but do not do his will, the branches of the Vine that do not bear fruit. The judgement day will be a day of surprises. The first will be last and the last first.
• We are not encouraged to speculate about the salvation of others. We are not to judge before the time. God alone is judge. When the disciples ask Are there few that be saved?’, Jesus answers: ‘You try to get in at the narrow door.’

God has not provided the universe with a spectators’ gallery from which I can look down on all the beliefs and unbelief of humankind and pronounce about their end. I am on the ground floor — along with my Hindu, Muslim,

Marxist and just plain, ordinary neighbours. God has made me a witness of Jesus. It is not my doing but God’s. I cannot do other than confess him as Lord, for I know no other source of life. ‘Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.’ But this gives me no authority for judging whether or not my neighbour will be saved. That authority is God’s alone. I have only one duty and joy: to look to him with total confidence, based not on myself, nor even my own faith, but on Jesus Christ the only Lord.

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