Question: Dear Greg,

I tend to believe that God is not trying to save all mankind at this time. I also understand that this is not a “Salvation Doctrine”. However, when I listen to Christians who take the opposing view, they seem to have a more fervent desire to share their faith. I will share my faith with others, but not to the point where I believe an individual is lost forever if they decide not to accept. I then wonder if I would have more of a zeal and concern for others including my own family if I believed they would be lost forever. I also realize that this is tied to life after death and the various doctrines regarding hell.

If I believed that my son would burn in hell forever and that this was the only time for his salvation, I would be more motivated to bring him to God ASAP—not that I’m not motivated now.

According to which side a Christian falls on regarding this doctrine, it does seem to dramatically affect how one would approach others with the gospel. This seems to be a complex subject with many views and I know that there isn’t a short, concise answer to this question. I was just interested in hearing your opinion.

Thank you and God bless you,

Bill

Answer: Dear Bill,

You asked whether God was “trying” (an interesting word if we think about it in context with God) to save the world now, or if he is only calling a few now, etc.—and about a biblical approach to this topic.

What is the biblical truth? First of all we should realize that God does not call Christians to use artificial contrivances and constructs to proclaim the gospel. Whether a contrivance be some unbiblical idea that explains that God will proclaim the gospel in a way or time not specified in the Bible, or, on the other hand, Dante’s Inferno with compartments of hell reserved for particular types of sin and sinners, those contrivances are just that. We should not speculate beyond biblical revelation.

Some churches bring urgency to evangelism by preaching that people will be lost if they are not reached with the gospel. The idea is that the gospel is their particular brand—their denominational views, etc. The Greek Orthodox view, Lutheran or Catholic missionaries will not do—it has to be that denomination’s missionaries. Well, that idea is not supported biblically.

Our zeal to do God’s work can, at times, get ahead of God, or seem to obligate him, or attempt to add items to his agenda that he is not necessarily endorsing, sponsoring or teaching. The salvation of sinners is first and foremost God’s work. He, by his grace, includes us, using our bumbling efforts so that others may see what God is doing in our lives. Sometimes, however, our bumbling efforts go beyond pointing people to Christ. We get so excited that we want to point them to additional little insights that our denomination has that other denominations do not have, and soon we are into the “my church is better than your church” game once again. Or, we are into the “scare them to death” method of evangelism.

All Christians should realize that the salvation of others does not depend upon us. Thank God! God is able to work in many ways we do not know of and that he hasn’t revealed to us. Elijah, for example, having just won a great victory over the prophets of Baal was running for his life from queen Jezebel (1 Kings 18). Elijah was feeling a little discouraged because his life was on the line, and seems to have thrown himself a pity party. He had a little of the “how will God’s work be done if I’m not doing it” martyr complex and he expressed that to God (1 Kings 19:14-18). God told Elijah that Elijah was not the only one doing God’s work—that there were 7000 others that Elijah did not know about.

Of course we should be zealous to share the gospel but we should not dogmatically preach that God will reach people in some way that we don’t know about to assure ourselves and others that one day God will save those who are not in our church. After all, Jesus saved the thief on the cross. No catechism, no disciple classes, no 20 years of perfect attendance at church, no baptism (infant or immersion)—just salvation. Was the thief the only one who was ever or will ever be saved outside of the ways that we humans devise as evangelism? I don’t think so. We shouldn’t, on the other hand, scare people into conversion because there is no biblical warrant for doing to.

What do we know? We know that salvation is through Jesus alone. We know that universalism (the idea that everyone will be saved—whether Hindu, atheist, Jehovah’s Witness, etc.), for example, is an unbiblical teaching. We know, on the other hand, that God’s desire is that all should be saved (2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:4). We also know that humans have a choice. We can accept or reject Jesus Christ. The Bible is clear—not everyone accepts God’s grace (see Matthew 23:37 and Matthew 7:13-14). The parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 clearly teaches that there are two groups that are not destined for the same judgment.

We know that God, by his mercy, grace and love allows us to be helpers in proclaiming the message of salvation. We are thankful that God doesn’t entrust the entire work of salvation and the proclamation of salvation to us. He simply gives us a chance to help point others to Christ as we can. But the salvation of others does not ultimately rest with us. It rests with God and the choices that others make.

Hope this helps, Bill.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht