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Is Jesus Christ Man’s Only Hope for Salvation?
1. Posing the Question
The question posed in this title really contains three questions, and they are utterly crucial for the missionary task of the Christian church. We can watch the three questions emerge when we ponder the answers people are giving.
1.1 Many today would answer, “Yes, Christ is man's only hope,” but would mean that everyone is going to be saved whether they hear about Christ in this life or not. For example, even though he has been dead since 1905, the preacher-novelist George MacDonald is being published and read as never before in America and is extending the influence of a kind of universalism that makes hell into an extended means of amendment and atonement through which the justice of God will eventually destroy all sin in his creatures and bring them to glory.1 So we must make clear what we are really asking:
Is anything eternal at stake? That is, will anyone be eternally cut off from Christ and under the wrath of God?
1.2 Others would answer, “No, Christ is not man's only hope.” They would mean that Christ is the provision that God has made for Christians, but for other religions there are other ways of getting right with God and gaining eternal bliss. For example, British theologian John Hick argues that different religions are "equals, though they each may have different emphases." Christianity is not superior, but one partner in the quest for salvation. We are not to seek one world religion, but rather we look to the day when "the ecumenical spirit which has so largely transformed Christianity will increasingly affect relations between the world faiths."2 So we must be clear that we are really asking.." from the article: Is Jesus Christ Man’s Only Hope for Salvation?
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