Imperishable Inheritance

The more I grow in the faith the more I am astounded by certain revelations in the Scriptures. I believe that the Scriptures teach God alone saves sinners through His Son (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Rom 8:29-33; Eph 2:8-10). That is already an amazing teaching! But what strikes me even more than that is that our omnipotent god has chosen to use those vessels of mercy as an instrumental role in the salvation of those He has chosen before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:3-11)!

Throughout history God has used prophets to rise up and proclaim truth to others. He used men such as Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jonah all of which pointed to Jesus who is the apex of all God's revelation. Jesus Himself even enunciated the importance of preaching in the commissioning of His disciples: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mat 28:19-20). Jesus teaches that in order to fulfill His Father's promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3), God's people must "go" and "teach" out of "all the nations."

The Challenge of Inclusivism

There is a string of theologians today that teach that a man can be saved apart from hearing the Gospel and faith in Jesus the Christ. Scholars such as Clark Pinnock and John Sanders (who can't seem to get anything right) evangelize such a view. Their position is that one can be saved without conscious knowledge of Jesus Christ by general revelation. Such a view I believe not only distorts Biblical soteriology, but it also undermines the urgency that the Biblical characters had to reach the lost. Why be considered and involved in the missionary endeavor when an unreached people group can be saved simply by looking into creation?

This is problematic for several reasons. First, no one in the Scriptural narrative is saved apart from hearing the word of Lord. Receiving the gift of salvation comes by God-given faith by grace alone in Christ alone. Paul tells the inquiring jailer that in order to be saved one must believe on Jesus as the object of his faith (Acts 16:31). Further, Paul rebukes the thought that one can be saved by general revelation alone in Romans 1-3. He proclaims boldly and proudly that he is "not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek" (Rom 1:16).

How Then Will They Hear?

What prompted this thought was first reading Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper which includes a fantastic apologetic against the doctrine of inclusivism (and pluralism), but before that Paul's teaching in Romans 15 has always astounded me.

"For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for 'WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.' How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!' However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, 'LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?' So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Rom 10:12-17)

Paul walks right through the teaching that in order for one to be saved they must have faith, and faith only comes by hearing, therefore a preacher must be sent. It was the impetus for Paul to continue to labor in the Gospel despite persecution. It also gave him great motivation to go to the unreached peoples of the world: "And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation" (Rom 15:20).

A Motivation For Action

I hope and pray that Paul's passion and desire to see Christ exalted amongst the unreached peoples of the world would seep into my consciousness and the church at large. If you have been saved then you should have a burning desire to see others come to the same saving faith. The great pastor and theologian says of this: 'Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that."

People all around us and to the ends of the earth are on the broad road which leads to destruction. Let the truth that the Gospel is God's ordained means of salvation give us a burning desire to tell others.

"What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Mat 10:27-28)