In light of the multi-culturalism that brings the religions of the world together in one place, many people affirm religious pluralism. This is the idea that there are various equal paths to religious truth and salvation. Pluralism holds that all religions are of equal value, as they all essentially teach you to be a good person, and they all worship the same supreme being or ultimate reality.
How does God respond to other religions?
The influence of pluralism leads Christians to ask questions like:
- Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?
- Is it possible that those who haven’t heard about Jesus Christ can still be saved on account of Jesus’ saving work?
- Will God save some people who participate in other religions?
These are all questions worth asking. And it turns out that Bible-believing Christians do not answer all these questions in the same way.
In a survey that Adam Stewart and I conducted, we found that 38% of PAOC clergy agreed with the statement, “God will save some people who have never heard the gospel.” And 21% agreed that “God will save some people who are part of religions other than Christianity” (see here and here).
Scripture is clear
But regardless of how one answers the above questions, the Scripture makes it clear that those who do have faith in Jesus Christ will be saved, and that believers are called to proclaim the saving work of Jesus Christ to others—even those of other religions.
Pentecost sheds light on this.
Pentecost and engaging other religions
Leading up to Pentecost, Jesus told the disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
And this is exactly what happened in the book of Acts. After the early Christians were baptized in the Spirit, they spread the gospel in Jerusalem (Acts 1-7) and Judea and Samaria (Acts 8-12), and throughout the Roman empire, all the way to the “ends of the earth” or the empire—Rome (Acts 13-28).
And who did they preach to?
In Jerusalem and Judea, the Christians witnessed about Jesus primarily to fellow Jews. People of very similar faith. People who even shared the same Scriptures as them.
In Samaria, they shared the message of Jesus with Samaritans, who were also part of the “Abrahamic faiths.” They likewise directed their worship to the God of Abraham and Moses.
And throughout the Roman empire they preached about Jesus to those who were polytheistic, worshipping many gods.
Sound familiar?
Preaching to a similar religion
We see an example of this on the day of Pentecost. After the Spirit was poured out, a crowd gathered—a crowd of Jewish people. Peter then preached about Jesus’ ministry, how some people in Jerusalem killed him, and how God raised Jesus from the dead.
The Bible says that the crowd was “cut to the heart” and asked Peter, “What should we do?” (Acts 2:37).
Peter didn’t respond by saying, “Don’t worry. You are already religious. And your religion is similar to Christianity. Everything is good.” No.
Peter told them to “repent” or turn from their sin. And he told them to be baptized—an act of identifying with and declaring their faith in Jesus (Acts 2:38-39).
Is God limited to Christians?
Does this mean that people of non-Christian religions never experience God? I wouldn’t say that. God is omnipresent and not locked up in the Church.
As some Pentecostal theologians have emphasized, “The pneuma [Spirit/wind] blows wherever it pleases” (John 3:8). And, as I have written previously, the Holy Spirit works among non-Christians in various ways.
But Pentecost reminds us that the Spirit empowers Christians to witness to Christ—even to people who are already very religious, and even to those who are of very similar faiths to Christianity.
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You might also be interested in these posts:
- Pluralism, Christianity, and World Religions
- Reflections on the PAOC booklet, “His Witnesses: Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World”
- 3 Ways the Holy Spirit Works Among Non-Christians
Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author of Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit as well as three academic books, including The Lord is the Spirit. He is a theology professor at Horizon College and Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.
I wonder if your survey might have benefitted by determining if the other religion was Judaism the respondent was considering as an only exception. This would be an indicator of degree of pluralism.
A fair comment. To be clear, though, none of those who responded positively to the questions I listed would be pluralists. Even Billy Graham would have answered yes to those two questions, and he was certainly no pluralist! Finally, no pluralist would say that people are saved on account of Jesus saving work.
I will add a clarifying note above.
I would like to suggest that the first several chapters of Romans settles the matter of the only hope for mankind. Old Testament believers looked forward to Christ. We look back to Calvary. Jesus alone is the acceptable sacrifice that the Godhead agreed upon in eternity past and worked out in time. He will certainly make no mistake about anyone’s standing at the time of judgement. What a Savior!
Hi Lawrence, I would certainly agree that there are many other passages in the Bible that would speak to this issue.