Those who believe that there is a way to salvation in all religions

 

Those who believe that there is a way to salvation in all religions

 

In John 14:6 it says, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Based on these words, there is no way of salvation except through the cross of Jesus Christ.

The Christian church uses the word salvation. We must understand the meaning of salvation. Salvation is being delivered from the danger of death. It is God's deliverance of repentant sinners. So, God transforms repentant sinners into righteous people so that they can return to the kingdom of God. The meaning of repentance is important here. The people of the church in this world only think of sins committed in the world. So, church members confess their sins in the world and say they repent to God. However, since they believe that they are inevitably sinning every day, they struggle daily to avoid sinning in the light of the law. When they commit a sin, they immediately confess and seek forgiveness by the blood of Jesus.

There are two sins. There is the worldly sin of the fleshly heart and the sin of the spirit toward God. Some of the sins of the fleshly heart are manifested in actions, but others are not. Jesus said that what people do with their hearts is also a sin. However, the sin of the spirit is not the sin of the world, but the sin of leaving God to become like God. Anything that does not believe in God or opposes God becomes a sin of the spirit. The sins of the world can be forgiven, but sins against God cannot be forgiven. A sin that cannot be forgiven by God must die.

God foreordained Christ before the foundation of the world to save mankind from sin. So, Jehovah God Himself, in the name of the Son of God, took on the flesh through a woman (Mary) and was born into this world by the power of the Holy Spirit. That man is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ died on the cross to save all humans in the world. Hebrews 9:28 says, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

“The event that Jesus died on the cross” was to bear the sins of many people. Sinners must die before God because they have sinned against God in the spirit. So, God has set up a mediator. Those who are united with the death of Jesus Christ means that God will regard him as dead. In Romans 6:4, “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Baptism symbolizes death and rebirth in water. Why should a sinner be buried with Jesus Christ? A sinner who left God on the cross must die, but Jesus Christ is there. So, whoever believes that he died with the dead Jesus Christ, God acknowledges that the sinner is also dead and raises the dead spirit. This new life means the life of the spirit.

This is what it is to be born of water and the Spirit. Water is an expression of being dead with Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 3:20-21, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:

So, those who died in the water, that is, those who believe that they died on the cross with Jesus Christ, God grants them new life by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gives life to the spirit. Those who receive formal baptism are those who do not even know this meaning. When a believer realizes that they are mortal to God, repents and truly believes in being united with the death of Jesus Christ, God gives the Holy Spirit as a gift. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Those whose spirit has been revived by God's grace will be set free from the sins of the world. This is because the blood of Jesus Christ redeems sinners. Redemption means buying a sinner from Satan with the price of blood. In a world ruled by Satan, God redeems sinners and saves them from Satan (the world) with the price of blood. Therefore, those who are united to Christ are also dead to the world. In Romans 6:6-7, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.For he that is dead is freed from sin.”

Those who are united to Jesus Christ on the cross are in Christ. God no longer condemns those who are in Christ, as in Romans 8:1. 『There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 』When Jesus Christ is resurrected and comes to God, He has taken away all the sins of the world. John the Baptist described Jesus as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He who believes in it is freed from sin, for he who believes in it is dead to the law.

Therefore, those who say that there is salvation in all religions are caused by not understanding the content of sin and salvation. Salvation in other religions is the logic that when a person believes in a god, that god leads the believer to paradise after death. There may be many reasons for this belief, but in order for a master-slave relationship to be established between God and the believer, it is a concept in which the believer must devote himself to God, and God rewards the price as a result of the devoted effort. Also, there are people who believe that they make their own efforts to reach the state of God through self-awareness training, and that they will be rewarded by certain laws as a result of that effort. So, salvation in Christianity is very different from other religions.

Those of Christians who say, "There is a way to salvation in all religions" think that "religions other than Christianity also have their own way of salvation." There are people who say that there is not one path, but several paths when climbing a mountain in the same way as religion. However, it is contradictory to discuss the salvation of Christianity with other religions. Those who say that Christian salvation is similar to that of other religions are not in Christ, even if they say they believe in Jesus Christ.