A dear friend asked me to comment on the question. It is a question that many people ask. Is Jesus the only way? Here is what I have on the topic............
Jn 14:6 says.............
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. NIV
As a Christian minister, I believe that the scriptures teach that Jesus is the way. That is my view and my obligation in visiting with people about faith. I will always point them to faith in God through Christ.
I am concerned when some Christians take the next step though, and begin to determine that because of this passage, we get to decide who is going to heaven and hell. No where in Scripture are we given the right to judge others or to decide who the good ones and the bad ones are. Our job is to plant the seeds and water them and let God do His work.
As a Wesleyan Methodist minister, this is the historic view of our denomination. Many Methodists, when confronted with the question regarding Jesus’ unique claim about himself, take some degree of comfort in reading John Wesley’s sermon 106 on Faith: http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umhistory/wesley/sermons/106/
We cannot say that Jews are going to hell because they have not accepted Jesus. Abraham and many others are mentioned as being in heaven, but they never accepted Jesus. Romans 10-11 makes it clear that the Jews are the original tree that Christians have been grafted into. God is not done with them and although it does not fit into many people’s theological box, in my opinion we cannot scripturally say that they are going to hell.
Romans 1:20 opens the door to another issue, and that is that God has done so much work in creation, that even people who have never heard the name of Jesus are held accountable. They are without excuse. I don’t know what that means exactly, except that God is calling all people to himself and they are accountable, just because of his revelation in creation. If they are being held accountable, then it would stand to reason to me, that some of them will respond well to his revelation. But again, it is not up to me to decide who gets in and who doesn’t, that is God’s decision. I take comfort in knowing that he is working outside the walls of the established church.
Finally, I think we need to understand that salvation is the work of God, not man. Salvation is about God working in the lives of people. God always plays the principle role in the drama of rescue. If we believe that God is all present, and if we believe that he wants to seek and save the lost, [Luke 19:10] then we have to conclude that he is working everywhere with everyone, trying to win them. We may not believe the same as Jewish or Muslim people, but God is working in their places of worship to win them to himself. If God can find Paul on the road to Damascus, Moses hiding in the desert, the woman at the well, the thief on the cross, Cornelius in Acts 10, then I just have to believe that he has people in the world that he has reached that may not fit our theological constructs. Ruth was not an Israelite, neither was Rahab. There are many people who God welcomes into his family in the scriptures that I think some churches sadly would not welcome into their membership.
Most people that I know that consider themselves Christians are ok with Jesus being the way, they just don’t want to have that mean that everyone else is damned to hell. They cannot perceive of a God who sends everyone else, including those who have not heard, to hell. When we understand that God is working in every town, in every “religion” trying to win people to himself, then we can trust in God’s goodness to reach people and we don’t have to try and decide who is saved and who isn’t because that is not up to us anyway.
If I meet a Jew, I will speak to him of Jesus. If I meet a Muslin, I will look for my chances to share about the Savior of the world. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. But, I will always take comfort in the fact that God is bigger than our doctrines, that he is working everywhere to win people, and that mercy rejoices over judgment.
I hope that helps clarify my personal belief. I believe that my views are comprehensively scriptural and completely Wesleyan.
I love you all, and the great questions that you have.
It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.
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2 comments:
I never get tired of hearing you speak/write about this. It helps to deepen my understanding of what it means to follow Christ. It makes my decision that of a choice to have a relationship with God, rather than an act of desperation to be "saved". Thank you!!! InkyLynne
I would add that if we take seriously the Incarnation, that the human Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, then we further strengthen your excellent piece on God working through all creation, for "through him all things were made"
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