Assurance of salvation and the doctrine of ultimate salvation as outlined by an “inclusive gods” doctrine is not the same thing. The fact that all of the nearly three thousand people God added into the Church in Acts 2 came from a religion other than Christianity cannot be denied. Christians do not have and exclusive right to salvation, but it is open to all – Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship that grows out of a faith in God through Jesus Christ. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6a). That does not mean one has to be born a Christian to find the way – being reborn does not have a dependency on the environment of the first birth.

The fact that we are all saved by the same blood of Jesus Christ is a truth of the gospel message. The mystery Paul speaks of is the fact that God always intended to include the gentiles in the salvation plan. “…having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him” (Ephesians 1:9-10). Peter wrote “…who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy” (1 Peter 2:10). Salvation is not only for the Jews and those already Christians by virtue of their parents.

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28). The assurance of salvation comes from a promise spoken by the Savior – the only name given among men by which we must be saved. A minister of the gospel cannot go forward with a gospel message of maybe salvation, and teach a Savior who assures our salvation by His own blood and holds that salvation in His own hands.

God does not know us by our sins but by our inheritance through Christ Jesus. My name has always been my name, and I was never known in heaven by the name of my sins. God does not call those still waiting to be taught about Jesus, or still waiting to understand God’s mercy and grace by their sins. The woman waiting outside the tomb did not know the man in the garden was Jesus until He called her by name. He did not call her Doubt – He called her Mary, and she knew who He was. Jesus called Thomas, Thomas and not Faithless or Unbeliever. Peter is called Peter and not Denier of Christ. A person practicing a pagan religion waiting to be shown the Christ is not known to God by their sins, but by His plan of salvation. The inheritance is not that of a pagan, but one of a child of God through the adoption of reconciliation.

“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” (Matthew 7:21). What is the will of the Father? For Jesus it was to die on the cross for the redemption of mankind. The will of the Father is grace for mankind – we all have the opportunity to dwell in Christ and Him in us. The Holy Spirit was poured out and is ready to teach us all the truth. Is salvation then works based dependent on doing (an action / a work) the will of the Father? “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Those Jesus never knew were boasting of their own works – the will of God for us is that we open the gift of grace.

© 2012, Tim D. Coulter Sr.