Thesis #58 of 95 - The more liberal churches are in error in believing that anyone other than a Christian can be saved in the gospel sense
BIBLICAL REFERENCES
Acts4:12 There is salvation in no Other; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we can be saved.
Rom1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, also to the Greek.
Mt24:14 This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come
Dan7:27a Then shall sovereignty, dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven be given to the saints of the Most High
Acts20:32 I entrust you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified
Rom8:17 WE are children of God, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
COMMENTS
Many Christians, labelled as liberals, are understandably resistant to the derisory, narrow depictions of God’s providential care for humanity that is the outworking of the prevailing Augustinian-derived biblical theology. Such people have a sense of God’s goodness and intelligible justice and anticipate that providential outcomes will be consistent with His self-declared loving nature. And so they shall be.
But what tends to be lacking on the part of such liberal, open-minded Christians is a substantive delineation of their convictions from Scripture. They are “liberal” with respect to their interpretation of the bible, believing they have to be, given how it is usually interpreted. Not so yours truly – I would sooner be labelled a literalist 😂. For humanly speaking, such is how the seemingly radical synopsis I have set out in the Little Book of Providence came about – by applying a rigorous and highly literal interpretation to the Word of God
And surely, a trustworthy approach to Scripture is needed to provide at the personal level the peace and assurance that comes from a hope for eternity that is solidly grounded. Whilst at the global level, a unified interpretation of the essential teachings of Scripture are necessary to present a clear and coherent Good News message to the world. And such is to be provided in these last days if the gospel and its Hero are to be believed (Mt24:14).
As recent theses have sought to delineate – whilst the Creator desires that all true humanity (cf. 1Jn3:12) are ultimately soul-healed (“saved”) and brought to an understanding of the truth (1Tim2:4), only those who know Jesus Christ in a personal way during their earthly lifetimes can be fitted to share an inheritance with Christ, His saints and angels. As the above references indicate, such an inheritance (co-heirship with Christ, no less😲) is restricted to those who are being sanctified (Acts20:32; Rom8:17)