(BTW, today is a good example of why I hope you’ll listen versus read…so much better, IMHO)
Does Jesus claim to be the only way to God? What is religious pluralism? Don’t all roads lead to God?
And what about that story about several blind dudes and dudettes all touching different parts of an elephant?
Hey all, welcome to the Weekend Edition of ForTheHope, and today we’re going to tackle one of the most frequent objections to Christianity – that there are many paths to God. And it’s not uncommon for this to come in the form of someone accusing you of being elitist or smug or arrogant or downright uninclusive.
But this isn’t just an objection by non-Christians. There are many who claim to be Christians who also claim that Jesus is just a way to God, not the way to God.
Sadly, in the eternal sense, this is a life-and-death issue.
The good news – besides THE Good News – is that we can have clarity and confidence in Jesus, and we can learn to respond to such objections, speaking the truth in love with gentleness and respect.
Today we will look at the following:
Does Jesus claim to be the only way to God? What does the Bible say?
Two stories commonly used to object to the idea that Jesus is the only way to God and/or heaven.
Definitions of religious exclusivism, pluralism, etc.
Then tomorrow we will look at two things:
A couple key insights into how worldviews work
A couple answers to these common stories and objections like, “Are Christians arrogant for believing Jesus is the only way?”
Two comments before we get rolling. One, we may end up only looking at part of this objection and response. Indeed, to address if fully would take more time than we have. Two, if you’ve run into some particular flavor of this that I don’t get to, shoot a note to hello@forthehope.com and I’ll address it somewhere along the way.
Did Jesus claim to be the only way to God?
Did you know that there are at least 100 verses in the Bible that make this claim?
I’m not going to read them all to you, but I am going to read some. This is important. If you want a list of all 100, I’ll point you to a little book from Stand to Reason ministries that you can find on Amazon. Link in the show notes today. And it’s like a buck.
Let me read you some verses back to back, then I’ll share the categories that Greg Koukl has identified of the different claims that are being made.
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6, CSB
This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. Acts 4:11-12, CSB
He escorted them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Acts 16:30-31, CSB
For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus… 1 Timothy 2:5, CSB
Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Luke 10:16, CSB
No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well. 1 John 2:23, CSB
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12, CSB
And I say to you, anyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God, but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. Luke 12:8-9, CSB
Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. John 3:18, CSB
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him. John 3:36, CSB
Who provides salvation? Who can save you from your sins? Only Jesus. Therefore, I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. John 8:24, CSB
<NOTE: in the podcast I identified 9 different categories, all found in the little booklet mentioned>
What is the over-arching message?
Both Jesus and the apostles claimed that Jesus is God and, as it relates to today’s program, they claim He is the ONLY way. He is not a religious pluralist.
What is religious exclusivism, pluralism, universalism?
It’s important to define a couple terms using the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.
Exclusivism is the belief that only one religion is true, and the others opposed to it are false(1)
Classically, then, this means that Jesus’ claim to be the only way is exclusive. Let me share three definitions that are counter to Christianity’s exclusivism.
Religious pluralism is the belief that every religion is true. Each provides a genuine encounter with the Ultimate. One may be better than the others, but all are adequate.
Relativism (see Truth, Absolute) claims that there are no criteria by which one can tell which religion is true or best. There is no objective truth in religion, and each religion is true to the one holding it.
Inclusivism claims that one religion is explicitly true, while all others are implicitly true. (1)
Unless you’re talking to someone in academia or who’s been exposed to philosophy, you probably won’t hear these terms. But I want you to be aware that there are different flavors of perspective that are counter to Christian exclusivism.
There’s one other related definition of which you should be aware, and it’s pervasive in the church today.
Universalism is the belief that everyone eventually will be saved. It was first proposed by the unorthodox church Father, Origen (ca. 185–ca. 254). Origen and universalism in general were condemned as unorthodox at the Fifth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople (a.d. 553). The theology of universalism should be distinguished from the Universalist Church, an extreme anticreedal movement born in colonial America whose rejection of historic Christianity extended far beyond the doctrine of universalism itself. This group was a force in the liberal theologies of nineteenth-century North America and continues to the present.(2)
It's worth noting that last weekend’s Weekend Edition looked at the development of theological modernism or liberalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Link in the show notes.
I share all of the above because I want you to see how there could be different perspectives or variations of these when you hear a couple common stories. Tomorrow we’ll look more closely at how these break down, what’s wrong with them logically, and how to respond, but for today I want to simply to raise your awareness, especially in light of the Bible’s claim of exclusivism.
One is a story that I think originated in India. There are multiple versions, but generally it’s about blind men and an elephant. Each blind person is touching a different part of an elephant, one the trunk, another a tusk, another a leg, another the tail. The person touching the leg thinks it’s a tree or a pillar, the one touching the tail thinks it’s a rope, the one touching the tusk thinks it’s a sword, etc. And the point they’re making is that no person has all the truth. Sometimes their point is that we get to truth by coming together. So your view? That’s your perspective.
Another version of this is wrapped up in the quip that all roads lead to the top of the mountain. In other words, all roads lead to God. No one path, not Christianity or Islam or Animism or anything else is exclusive. In other words, we all really serve the same God.
Finally, a variation of this second story is present even among Christians. One big influence today, especially among younger Christians, is a Roman Catholic priest named Richard Rohr. His latest book is called The Universal Christ where he argues that Jesus isn’t the Christ (or Messiah, or Promised One) He’s a Christ. And by the way, do you know how this is sneaking into Protestant, non-Roman Catholic churches? Rohr is a major figure in the Enneagram movement. The Enneagram is not the topic today or tomorrow, but I’ll put a link to in the show notes at the bottom of the page to both what I’ve written about it and a couple resources by someone I know who has done some really deep research.
What’s the point of all this? The narratives that argue that all roads lead to God or you don’t have – or can’t possibly have – THE truth don’t always come wrapped up in simple aphorisms or Hindu fables, they are also disguised as Christianity.
But what happens when you have a false Jesus? You have a false Gospel. And it’s a life-and-death situation.
We should all be humbled. And patient. And knowledgeable. And prayerful that the Holy Spirit will give us discernment and the right way to engage, in Spirit and Truth, with gentleness and respect, with those we meet.
That is, of course, if you’re concerned about their eternal destiny.
Jesus is, of course, and He calls us to be His witnesses, right?
That’s what we’ll look at tomorrow.
I love you.
ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.
Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.
Sources and resources:
[1] Norman L. Geisler, “Pluralism, Religious,” Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 598.
[2] Norman L. Geisler, “Universalism,” Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), 746.
For a two-part Weekend Edition “class” about the development of theological modernism (and why you should care, catch part one here and part two here.
For the review of the Enneagram and a conference I attended (from a “how does this relate to the resurrection?” perspective), check this out. And I do not use the word “heretic” lightly, but we are called to contend for the truth (1 Pe 3:15, Jude 3-4) — here are a good review of The Universal Christ and its falsity and articles on the history and falsity of the Enneagram from ex-New Ager Marcia Montenegro.