Will God Save Only Religious Christians?
Answer: No. To love the lowliest person loved by God is to love Christ.
Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.1 In Matthew, he explained that the way we love the Son is to love one another.2 Thus, he said many will be saved even though they are unaware they have ever met him. When a teacher of the Law of Moses asked Jesus how he could have eternal life, Jesus asked him what the law said.3 The lawyer replied: You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all of your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus agreed, saying: You have answered right: this do and you shall live. Love for one another, Jesus taught, is what brings forgiveness of our sins.4
Jesus gave specific examples of love, such as giving food and drink to those who are hungry and thirsty, taking strangers into our homes, clothing those who are naked, and visiting those who are sick or in prison. According to the Bible, works of love toward one another is evidence God dwells in us: In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither is he that loves not his brother.5
According to Paul, we are saved by grace through faith and created in Christ Jesus to do good works.6 Such works, according to the Bible, are the proof of our faith and the basis upon which Christ will judge all mankind.7 Faith, as the writer of Hebrews explained, is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.8 Anyone can see the commandments that Moses gave, which were written in stone. Acts of love and compassion are the evidence of what is unseen - the commandments God writes in the heart upon salvation of the soul.9
Some Gentiles, Paul pointed out, have never heard of the Law of Moses; yet, they naturally love one another and thus do all that the law requires.10 They are like many who loved Jesus even though they were shunned as sinners by the religious leaders. Jesus said, on the other hand, that many who do religious works in his name will not enter heaven.11 They are like the Corinthians who labored in the name of Christ without love.12 Feeding the poor and visiting the sick , therefore, is not the key to the heaven. It is, however, evidence that one has found the key, which is love. Moreover, it is clear that whoever does not love others does not possess the key.13 According to the Bible, Christ one day will reveal those who have truly loved one another, and thus manifested the love of Christ. Many will be people of different religious backgrounds, or a lack thereof, who religious leaders would not call Christians.
References
1 Jn 14:6
2 Mt 25:31-46
3 Lk 10:25-28
4 Lk 7:36-50; 1Pet 4:8
5 1Jn 3:10; 4:8
6 Eph 2:8-10
7 Ja 2:18; 1Pet 1:17
8 Heb 11:1
9 Eze 36:26-28; Heb 10:16
10 Rom 2:14-16
11 Mt 7:21-23
12 1Corinthians, Chapter 13
13 Rev 2:23; 1Jn 3:14-21 |
