The Most Googled Questions About God — Episode 7: Is Christianity Exclusive?
Is Jesus the only way? The world needs a straight answer. When the church began, the Roman world was full of all idolatry, superstition and witchcraft. Beliefs were like a buffet where each person chose the religion he liked. But when the apostles preached, they didn’t present Jesus as just another religion. They preached that He was THE WAY. That message is just as needed today.
This is not arrogant. It is not biased. The truth is, Christianity is inclusive. It opens the door to the rich and the poor and all races and nationalities. Jesus died for all.
But it does exclude. This episode helps us see why Christianity is different from every other religion and how we can teach it to others.
Read about this subject
- Scripture: John 14:6; John 3:5; I Timothy 1:3; I Corinthians 6:9-11
- “Christianity is NOT Muslim!”
Listen to more on this subject
Transcript:
Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.
One of the top 10 questions people ask about God and religion is this: Is Christianity an exclusive religion? Is Jesus the only way to be saved and go to heaven?
Of course, the flipside of that question is: Does Christianity accept other beliefs? Do Christians think people in other religions can go to heaven?
This is not a new issue. People used to call Christians “narrowminded.” They used to tell us we need to be more open–minded. Now they use the word exclusive.
Before we look at what the Bible says about this, let me mention something you may already be thinking about. This top 10 religious question is about Christianity. It’s not about whether Islam is exclusive. It’s not about Hinduism. It’s not about Buddhism. It’s not even about Judaism. And I’m wondering: why is Christianity singled out?
But what about Islam? If there’s any religion that excludes others, it’s the religion of Muhammad. The creed of Islam is this: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.” The religion of Islam teaches that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God. It teaches that Jesus did not die on the cross for our sins. So if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, if you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, then Islam rejects you. It excludes you. Islam doesn’t just claim to be a religion. It claims to be the only true religion. Have you noticed how the media and liberal politicians portray people that don’t believe in the Islamic religion? They call us Islamophobes. They accuse us of hating Muslims. But you don’t hear them saying that Muslims are Christianophobes or that Muslims hate Christians.
I’m not saying that all of them do. I’m saying that when the secular media says we are biased, the truth is they are the ones who are biased and prejudiced against Christianity. And when you hear people like this, it makes you wonder if they have any concept whatsoever of what sharia is. Sharia is the law system of Islam. That’s not just religious laws. Sharia is the law of the land where Muslims are in power. The goal of Islam is to make sharia the political system of every country they can. Islam is never satisfied with coexisting with other religions or with other political systems. It aims to abolish the existing form of government in a country, gradually, or, forcefully if necessary, and replace it with sharia. So, Islam is not just an exclusive religion. It is an exclusive form of government.
This is not a lesson about Islam, but I wanted to say a few words about this idea of exclusivism to put things in perspective.
Is Christianity exclusive? The fact is, virtually any religion is exclusive to some degree. Even very tolerant religions draw the line at some point. For instance, the Hindu religion says there are many roads to heaven. If you’re a Christian, that’s fine. If you’re a Muslim, that’s fine too. If you worship an idol, that’s okay as well. You can believe in whatever god or gods you want to believe in. You can worship however you want or you can not worship at all as long as you believe in something. But even the Hindu religion draws lines. Hindus don’t agree with devil worship. They don’t think atheism it’s okay. They’re not as strict as Muslims, but they do have limits.
There is one group, however, that believes everybody will be saved. It’s called universalism. A person who is a universalist doesn’t exclude anybody. They think everybody is going to be saved eventually. Some of them even believe the devil and his angels will be saved. They think God will keep working with them by His infinite grace, and at some point, they will come back to God.
Of course this is absolutely false. It is totally biblical. Jesus said hell is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25 verse 41). He said that many will go to destruction, and few will find the way to eternal life. In Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14, Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
That’s the truth about salvation and damnation from the Lord Himself. People can call that exclusive. They can call it being narrowminded. They can say whatever they want, but that’s the truth. And that truth is just the opposite of the way that many people see it. It’s always interesting to look at surveys about God and religion. It’s especially interesting to see how they answer questions about the hereafter. In almost every one of these surveys, there are more people that believe in heaven than believe in hell. They believe the Bible when it says there’s a heaven, but they don’t believe the Bible when it says there’s a hell. And if you look at those surveys, you’ll notice that most of the ones who believe in heaven say that’s where they are going. But that can’t be true. The truth is, the majority of mankind have always turned from God. That was true in the Old Testament, it was true in the New Testament, and it’s true today.
What Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about the broad way and the narrow way is not the only time He talked about this. In fact, one person specifically asked Him if few would be saved. In Luke 13 the Bible says, “Then Jesus traveled throughout the towns and villages, teaching as He made His way toward Jerusalem. “Lord,” someone asked Him, “will only a few people be saved?” Jesus answered, ”Make every effort to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ And he will answer, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you evildoers’” (Luke 13 verses 22 through 27). This person asked if few would be saved, and Jesus answered that many will not be saved.
Think of it this way. Heaven is an exclusive place. That’s what Jesus taught. In Matthew chapter seven He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7 verses 21 through 23). These people won’t be turned away from heaven even though they did what the Bible says. This is not about Christian people who were sincere and did the very best they could even though they weren’t perfect. Jesus is talking about people who talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk. He said they will cry out “Lord, Lord” and say they have done all kinds of wonderful deeds in His name, but the truth is they are hypocrites and fake Christians.
Is Christianity exclusive? Listen to what Jesus taught. In John chapter 8, verse 24, He told the Jews, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Must a person believe that Jesus is the Son of God to be saved? Yes. Jesus said anyone who does not will die in his sins. It’s not enough just to believe that Jesus of Nazareth existed. It’s not enough to say that he was a prophet of God. We must believe that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God in order to be saved. And Jesus said anyone who doesn’t believe that is lost.
In Luke chapter 13, Jesus said anyone who doesn’t repent is lost. In verse 3 He said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” This has been God’s message to mankind from the very beginning. God is a gracious God. He is a loving God. But He is also a just God. Sin is an offense to God. It’s an insult to the Creator. It’s an abomination we ought to be ashamed of. And because God is a just God, our sins deserve punishment. We can either take that punishment ourselves in hell, or we can let the blood of Christ atone for our sins through the gospel. And, speaking of the nature of God, the Bible teaches us that God is an exclusive God. In the Ten Commandments, God said, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20 verse 3). He went on to say, “For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (verse 4). Belief in God excludes belief in any other god. How could it be otherwise? If God is the Supreme Being, the Creator, the all powerful, all knowing, eternal God, then there can be no other. It’s not enough for a person to say, “I believe in a higher power.” What does that mean? A person could mean anything by that. I was having a conversation with a man about religion. He told me he was not an atheist. He said, “I believe there’s something out there that’s higher than us.” At least he didn’t say there’s nothing beyond the physical world. But God is much much more than just something out there that is higher than us. Sometimes people talk like that because they know it’s ridiculous to say there’s no God. They don’t believe in evolution. They don’t believe that all this came out of nowhere without a Creator. Sometimes they say an “Intelligent Designer” made all this. But that’s as far as they’ll go. Now, why is that? Usually it’s because they are afraid to admit that God is a personal God. If they say they believe in a God of power, they don’t feel like they have to live a certain way to please that God. So they make God into some kind of impersonal being rather than the loving and just God that He is. In other words, they make God into the kind of God they want Him to be. But that’s foolishness. It’s nothing but pure arrogance. People like that are as guilty as idolaters who carve images and pray to them. They may laugh at people like that, but they are just as guilty of creating a god in their mind.
The Bible says we must believe in the true God whose works are seen all around us in nature. Hebrews 11 verse 6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Belief in God is exclusive, and belief in the Son of God is exclusive.
Here’s another verse we need to look at. It’s John chapter 3 verse five: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” No matter how a person looks at that verse, it is exclusive. Only people who have been born of water and the Spirit can enter the kingdom. Those that refuse are left out. They are excluded because they have excluded themselves. To be born of water is not a mystery. John the Baptist had been telling the people to repent. He preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3 verse 3). A few verses later in this chapter, the Bible says, “After these things, Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized.” John 3 verses 22 through 23). Then when John chapter 4 opens, the Bible says,
“Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but his disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee” (John 4 verses 1 through 3). This is the context of John 3 verse 5 where Jesus said a man must be born of water. That water is not the water of childbirth. Jesus was talking to a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus, and when Nicodemus heard Jesus say a person must be born again in John 3 verse 3, he thought being born again meant a literal, physical rebirth. Jesus is correcting him. He is showing him that this rebirth is being born again spiritually, and He said that happens when you’re born of water. People in the first century would have no trouble understanding what this water was. Like we just saw in the context, their minds would immediately think of baptism in water for the remission of sins.
But there’s another passage you may have been thinking about that answers this question directly. That verse is John 14 verse 6. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus is THE way, not a way. Do you remember the old hymn “There is Just One Way to the Pearly Gate…’Tis the old cross road, or the way called straight”? There is just one way. That’s how they Bible talks about it. The Bible says in Acts 9 verse 3 that Paul went to Damascus “so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” Of course, his plan didn’t go like he expected. Later in Acts 19 Paul was preaching in Ephesus, a city full of idolatry and superstition. The Bible says some “did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude” (Acts 19 verse 9). Later the Bible says, “And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way” (Acts 19 verse 23). If you’re reading the New King James Version, you’ll notice that the word Way is spelled with a capital W every time. Christianity is THE WAY to heaven.
People say all kinds of things about the hereafter. It’s not unusual to hear someone say, “No one religion has a monopoly on the truth” or “There are many roads to heaven, but they all lead to the same place. Christianity is just one of them.” Back in 2006, billionaire Warren Buffett announced that he was giving billions of dollars to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which, among other things, wants to control the earth’s population. When he was interviewed, Buffett said, “There are many ways to heaven, but this isa great one.” That was about as arrogant as it was foolish. From what this rich investor said over the years, he never believed in God or heaven. He was an agnostic. So what he said about buying his way into heaven was more of a joke. But that makes it even worse. I can’t help but think of what God said to a certain rich man in one of Jesus’ parables: “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?” (Luke 12 verse 20). And the even sadder part is that a lot of people who will never be millionaires or billionaires are trusting in their money or their good deeds to get them to heaven without the blood of Jesus Christ. They don’t see any need to be in Jesus’ body, the church, even though the Bible says He is the Savior of that body (Ephesians 5 verse 23). They think they can do a good deed here or there and not steal or kill and on that basis God will let them into heaven. But that won’t happen. Every man has sinned. The Bible says, “For all have sinned” (Romans 3 verse 23). And, it tells us that the wages of sin is death in Romans 6 verse 23. That death is spiritual death. And the only way a person can have remission of sins is through the gospel. There is only one way and that’s through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says Jesus will come “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel oft our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thessalonians 1 verse 8).
Look at John 14 verse 6 again. Jesus said, “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus is the truth. We are living in a time when people lie so much they don’t care what the truth is anymore. They’ve heard so many lies, they don’t believe anything. They’re to the point where they feel like the Roman governor Pilate. He was a politician. He showed that by what he did with Jesus. He knew Jesus was innocent. He even said it himself. He knew Jesus hadn’t done anything worthy of being put to death. But he gave in to the Jewish leaders and ordered Jesus to be crucified because he wanted to be on good terms with the Jewish leaders. When he questioned Jesus, the Lord told him, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18 verse 37). When Jesus said that, “Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’” And walked away (John 18 verse 38). What did this Roman official mean when he said, “What is truth?” He wasn’t asking Jesus for an answer. If he had wanted an answer, he would have stayed and listened. He was being sarcastic when he said “What is truth?” He had told so many lies and heard so many lies that he didn’t know what the truth was anymore. There are people like that today in politics. There are people like that in business. The word “truth” to them means nothing. It’s all about getting what they want any way they can get it.
One simple thing people don’t want to admit is that truth is absolute. That just means if it’s true, then it’s true no matter what. People can deny it but it’s still the truth. They can laugh at it, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. They can try to explain it away but it will still be there. People today don’t like the idea of absolute truth. They want everything to be relative. They want everything to be up in the air so they can do what they want and live as they please and say in the end, “Who really knows what the truth is?” Surveys in the last twenty years show that more and more people say they don’t believe that anything is absolute. Everything is up in the air—especially God, the hereafter, and even more especially, right and wrong. Here are some findings of a recent survey about moral truth. People were asked whether there can be multiple conflicting moral truth views in any given situation without anyone being wrong. In other words, they were asked if what’s right for one person is right for another, and whether what’s wrong for one person is wrong for others (and that means all others). 58% of all the people who were surveyed said they agreed. 56% of those who said they were Christians agreed with that statement.
Now think about that. If morals are relative, if nothing is absolute, then there is no real right and wrong. Every person decides for himself what is good or bad. This would mean that stealing may be wrong for one person and right for another. It would mean that murder is wrong to some people but okay for others. If there are no absolutes, then anything goes. Every man is a law to himself. It’s dog eat dog, the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest. It’s what happened in Israel long ago when “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21 verse 25). That was anarchy then and it’s anarchy now and it’s dangerous.
Now the truth is, they don’t really believe that. When they want to live a certain way, they will argue to the end that it’s their right to do it. If someone steals their car or kills their daughter, they don’t say, “I can’t say for sure, but I think this was wrong.” They know better. In other words, they are absolute about it.
Truth is absolute because God is absolute. He does not change. And, Jesus is God and He doesn’t change. The Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13 verse 8). Jesus is the way and the truth.
Jesus is also THE LIFE. He is the only source of life, that is, spiritual life, eternal life. That’s why you find so many coming to Him with this question: “What shall I do to have eternal life?” That’s what the rich young ruler asked Him in Matthew 19 verse 16. That’s what the expert in the law of Moses asked Him in Luke 10 verse 25 just before he taught the story of the good Samaritan. That’s why Peter said what he did in John chapter 6 when many of Jesus’ disciples walked away from Him. Jesus looked at the apostles after all those followers left, and said, “Do you also want to go away?” Peter spoke up and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6 verse 68).
People want to live a good long life. They want to live as long as they can and enjoy their life. But they know they will die. They don’t like to think about it, especially if they’re lost, but it’s always there in the back of their mind, hanging over them like a dark cloud. And yet here is Jesus saying He can give them life—eternal life, not the kind of life on earth where we have good days and bad days, where we have joy and pain, but a life that’s always filled with sunshine and peace and lasts forever. So why do so many say no to His offer? Do you remember what the rich young ruler did? He came running to Jesus and kneeled to Him and asked Jesus what he had to do to have eternal life. But when Jesus told him to part with his earthly possessions, he went away sad. His money and things meant more to him than eternal life.
Is Christianity exclusive? Let’s go the the apostles after the church was established. Let’s see what they said about this. In Acts chapter four, Peter and John were arrested for preaching Jesus and the resurrection from the dead. They were brought before the Jewish high court—the Sanhedrin. The first thing the members of the court asked them was this: “By what power or by what name have you done this?” (Acts 4 verse 7). They were talking about the crippled man that Peter and John had healed. Now imagine what this was like. Peter and John were fishermen by trade. They didn’t have a lot of formal education. They didn’t have money or clout. They’re standing before the most powerful judges in the nation of Israel because they preached Jesus and the resurrection. And the first thing Peter said was that the crippled man was healed “by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead” (Acts 4 verse 10). Peter affirmed the very thing he was arrested for preaching! Talk about courage!
But then Peter said something else the proud Jews didn’t want to hear. In verse 12 he said, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men by which we must be saved.” These Jews didn’t believe in Jesus. They thought Jesus was an imposter. And yet here is this uneducated fisherman telling them that Jesus is the only way to be saved! The members of this court were an exclusive group of men. Not just anybody could be a member. But Peter tells them they can’t belong to the number of the saved unless they believe in this Jesus they rejected.
Let’s go next to what Paul wrote. In Galatians chapter one, he said, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1 verses 6 through 9). How many true gospels are there? One. Notice how the Bible puts it: “If anyone preaches any other gospel… let him be accursed.”
Here’s what Paul said in Ephesians chapter four: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4 verse 4 through 6). There is one Lord, Jesus, not many. There is one faith, not many. There is one baptism, not many. There is one God. There is one body, which is the church.
Sometimes people say all that matters is believing in Jesus. They say it doesn’t matter what doctrine you hold to as long as you have faith in Christ. But listen to what Paul said in the book of First Timothy: “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.” He said: Timothy, make sure you warn these people they are to teach NO OTHER DOCTRINE. And what did that mean? What did that doctrine say? That’s what Paul explains in the rest of the book. Here are some things that one doctrine teaches. It teaches that Christians can fall from grace, and they need to do everything they can to keep that from happening. In chapter 1 verse 6 he said some had strayed and turned aside to idle talk. He named two men that made shipwreck of their faith—Hymenaeus and Alexander (chapter 1 verses 19 to 20). He said that some would depart from the faith and teach doctrines of demons like forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from certain foods (chapter 4 verses 1 through 3). He said some of the young widows in the church had cast off their first faith and turned aside after Satan (chapter 5 verses 11 through 15). Here’s something else in this doctrine that we are to teach and no other. He said that God wants all men to be saved ( First Timothy 2 verse 4). Now what does that say about the doctrine of Calvinism, which says that God decrees who will be saved and who will be lost? Number three: this exclusive doctrine teaches male leadership in spiritual matters like praying and teaching in chapter 2 verses 8 and 11 and 12. This doctrine also teaches that there are two offices in the church—bishops which are also called elders and deacons (First Timothy 3 verses 1 through 13). Now how many churches follow this doctrine today? The Bible gives a pattern for church organization, for church leadership. Men who meet certain qualifications are to oversee a congregation. Those qualifications are in first Timothy chapter 3 verses one through seven. These are the bishops or elders. Then there are deacons who serve under them. They have to meet the qualifications in verses 8 through 12. It is amazing that God gave these instructions in the one doctrine and yet churches of different kinds have cardinals, priests, a man they call “THE pastor” when the Bible shows that pastors are the same as elders and bishops; they are different words for the same office, and the Bible never authorizes one man to run a church. It does talk about having elders in every congregation (Acts 14 verse 23). These are just a few points in the doctrine we are to teach. How can so many say that they have the right to formulate their own doctrine when God gave us His and said we are to teach no other? If you’re studying this question or talking to someone about this, I would urge you to read the books of First Timothy, Second Timothy and Titus because those books have a lot more on this subject.
Here are a few more verses on the question “Is Christianity exclusive?” In Second John verses 9 through 11 the Bible says, “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.” And, in First Corinthians 6 verses 9 through 11, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
Let’s remember that when a person is lost, he excludes himself from God. God didn’t push him away. If a man wants to be saved, Jesus made a way and he can find that way. But he must understand that Jesus didn’t die for just any way. If we could be saved any other way, there would have been no need for Him to come to the earth and die on the cross for our sins. He is the only way. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
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