Inclusivism…says that though Christ is the world’s only Savior, a person does not need to hear and believe in the gospel in order to be saved… Inclusivists argue that, while putting one’s faith in Christ is the best way to honor God and receive the benefit of what Christ has accomplished, it is not the only way.
Jesus Christ – The Only Way and Our Only Hope by Tim Challies taken from Don’t Call it a Comeback, edited by Kevin DeYoung, copyright 2011, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 131.
Inclusivism holds that although Christianity is the true religion and Jesus the only way to salvation, more people are saved through Christ than the church traditionally has thought. Accordingly, God forgives followers of the world’s religions on the basis of their response to the revelation they have. If those who have never heard the gospel respond in faith, God will save them on the basis of Christ’s saving work. “In other words, people can receive the gift of salvation without knowing the Giver or the precise nature of the gift (John Sanders).
No Other Name: An Investigation into the Destiny of the Unevangelized, Eerdmans, www.eerdmans.com, 1992, p. 215.
Inclusivism is the view that people actually appropriate God’s gift of salvation only on the basis of Jesus Christ’s atoning work, but that the sinner need not explicitly believe the gospel in order to actually receive this salvation. Inclusivism teaches that Christianity is the only true religion (including the belief that Christ is the only Savior of men), but that this salvation could be made available through means other than explicit faith in Christ. The inclusivist believes that adherents of other religions and even atheists can be saved by responding to God’s revelation in creation or through the elements of truth contained within their non-Christian religion.
Got Questions? www.gotquestions.org/inclusivism-exclusivism.html, Used by Permission.
To the inclusivist…although Jesus has accomplished the work necessary to bring us back to God, nonetheless, people can be saved by responding positively to God’s revelation in creation and perhaps in aspects of their own religions. So, even though Christ is the only Savior, people do not have to know about or believe in Christ to be saved.
The One Way, Tabletalk, June 2008, p. 19, Used by Permission.
