God can save men in ways known to Himself.

 

41. God can save men in ways known to Himself. What is the Theological dimension of non Christian religions and what are its consequences for the announcing of the Gospel?

Introduction: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). The very commission Jesus reveals the very nature of the Church. The Chuch is the mystical body of Christ, a basic sacrament of salvation. This mission of the Church springs from a FOUNTAIN OF LOVE (the very Nature of Triune God), that is from the love of God the Father, as the principle without principle, from whom the Son is generated and made FLESH and from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds through the Son.  It brings forth the salveficpresen of Christ in the world. This commission also reveals that the salvation is open for all. So the theestablisment of God’s kinfdom entrusted on ttheChuch. So the Church is not the menifestation static nturerathe it is dynamic and missionay which will be dicussed in the folllowing description.   

 

God can save men in ways known to Himself:Salavtion of men is not deopend on human being because it is the act of God which is unknow to men. St. Paul said that “for what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11).

Turn to God. In the OT, God commands people to turn or return to Him, and so be saved (e.g., Isa. 6:10; Jer. 18:8). In the NT, Christ preached that people should turn to God, and Paul summarized his account of his preaching with that phrase: “that they [everyone] should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance” (Acts 26:20; cf. Acts 26:18). Thus, as Paul said earlier, he preached “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). To repent means to turn. And the turning that we are called to do in order to be saved is fundamentally a turning to God. James could refer to the Gentiles who “turn to God” (Acts 15:19). To “turn to,” in this sense in the Bible, is to orient your life toward someone. As God’s people—those who are being saved—we are to play the part of the Prodigal Son who, though conscious of sin, guilt, and folly, flees to the Father (Luke 15:20). Paul at Lystra calls the people to turn to the living God (Acts 14:15). Paul refers to the Galatian Christians as those who had come to “know God” (Gal. 4:9); this is what we do in repentance: we repent to, we turn to God, and henceforth know Him as the God who forgives our sins and accepts us for Christ’s sake.

Turn away from sin. Turning to God necessarily implies our turning away from sin. The whole Bible—OT and NT—clearly teaches that to repent is to “acknowledge [God’s] name and turn from [our] sins” (1 Kings 8:35; cf. 2 Chron. 7:14; Jer. 36:3; Ezek. 14:6; 18:30; Acts 3:19; 8:22; 26:18; Rev. 2:21-22; 9:20-21; 16:11). We cannot start to pursue God and sin at the same time. First John makes it clear that our basic way of life will either be oriented toward God and his light, or toward the darkness of sin. Christians in this life still sin, but against our deepest desires and better judgment; our lives are not guided and directed by sin as before. We are no longer enslaved to sin. Though we still struggle with it (Gal. 5:17), God has given us the gift of repentance (Acts 11:18), and we have been freed from sin’s dominating power.

Believe and trust. Put another way, our response is to believe and trust God’s promises in Christ, and to commit ourselves to Christ, the living Lord, as His disciples. Among Jesus’ first words in Mark’s Gospel are “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). The obedience that typifies God’s people, beginning with repentance, is to result from the faith and trust we have in Him and His Word (e.g., Josh. 22:16; Acts 27:25). Thus sins are sometimes called “breaking faith with God” (e.g., Ezra 10:2, 10). Having faith in Christ, which seals our union with Him through the Holy Spirit, is the means by which God accounts Christ’s righteousness as our own (Rom. 3:21-26; 5:17-21; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 3:9). Paul could refer to “salvation through faith in Christ” (2 Tim. 3:15). Frequently this initial repentance and faith can be simply expressed to God Himself in prayer.

Grow in godliness and battle for holiness. Such saving faith is something that we exercise, but even so it is a gift from God. Paul writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). At the same time, Paul explained that Christians know an internal battle: “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Gal. 5:17). God’s gift of salvation has been given to Christians, but the evidence of that salvation is lived out in the continual work of God’s Spirit. We can deceive ourselves, and so Paul encourages his readers to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13:5). Peter encourages Christians to grow in godliness and so become more confident of their election (2 Peter 1). We don’t create our own salvation by our actions, but we reflect and express it and so grow in our certainty of it. Because we Christians are liable to deceive ourselves, we should give ourselves to the study of God’s Word to be instructed and encouraged in our salvation, and to learn what is inconsistent with it. Jesus’ descriptions of His followers (see Matthew 5-7), or Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us (see Gal. 5:22-23), act as spiritual maps that help us locate ourselves to see if we are on the path of salvation.

 

Result

God’s plan is to save His people from their sins—and to bring His people fully and finally to Himself (Matt. 1:21; 2 Tim. 2:10). Christians experience salvation in this life in both a past and present sense, and we anticipate salvation in a future sense. Christians have been saved from the penalty of our sins; we are currently being saved from the power of sin; and one day, when God’s plan of salvation is completed and we are with Christ, we shall be like Him, and we shall be saved even from the very presence of sin. This is God’s plan of salvation.

 

The Explaination of the Thesis from Theological Dimension: It brings the clear view on the theology of mission. There are many sgnificant events in the scripture that help us to understand this thesis. It becomes very clear from the life of the apostles. After the crucifixion of Jesus, they were afraid and hid themselves in a room. at the very moment when tey received Holy Spirit,  they were so strenghtene that nothin can resist them from preaching the Kingdom of God. The apostles aWe can see  St. Paul as example.  who was anti Christ became most vibrant disciple of Jesus who preached the good news both to the jews and the gentiles. Paul did not by himself that he will be the follower of Christ. It is moment when he saw Christ meaning by that when he receives grace as the power of the Holy became new man, the great instrument of Christ.  Paul declared cofidently that ^“but he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power^* is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor.12:9-10). The same is true to us. we might be weak but the work of the God is not know to us. It is only known to God.

Its consequences for Proclamation of the Gospel to the Adherents of other Believers: “For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,“I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”  When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and praised the word of the Lord; and as many as had been destined for eternal life became believers. Thus the word of the Lord spread throughout the region” (Acts 13:47-48). It becomes very clear to us that Church is gudied by the Holy Spirit who inspiers us all to carry the mission beyond the realigious boundary. So the proclaimation of the kingdom of God is the chief concern of the church from the begining till end of the time for salvation is universal and open for all. Paul asserts that God’s universal salvific will revealed to all and His specific will revealed through His Son is same. His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Eph 3:9-10). Christian revelation is rooted in revelation of Triune God and human experience. Son of God who has two natures: Divine and human, revealed the salvific plan of God. The entire human race shares in the one image and likeness of God and the same destiny that is determined by God. In this human destiny lie God’s glory and the salvation of all humanity. This project continues through the Spirit and through the Church. In the death-resurrection of Jesus, humanity’s love for and obedience to God find their highest expression and fulfillment. All humanity can share in the total self-emptying of Jesus and attains self-realization by sharing in the death-resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through his total self-emptying (kenosis), Jesus stroke at the root of all forms of evil; through his resurrection he attained to perfect communion of life and glory with the Father. Some of the insights of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam regarding humanity and its redemption or salvation (surrender, moksha, nirvana, mukti) are very profound and appealing; so too are the means toward achieving it because they imply some radical form of self-emptying and submission to God. Christians may discover them as some way of participating in Kenois of Jesus Christ, as expressed and practiced in other cultural and religious contexts. They can enrich one’s own understanding of redemption and even hasten its attainment by using the added means provided by other religions.

 

 

Conclusion: The whole Church is of its  its nature missionary and the work of evangelisation is to be considered a fundamental duty of the people of God, all Christ's faithful must be conscious of the responsibility to play their part in missionary activity. From the time of Christ, we are given the great commission of Christ -“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). It deals with the missionary mandate to evangelize. It is not our mission but God’s mission in this world, in the Church and the entire cosmos which is entrusted to us. As Christian, it is our duty to prcalimthe that mission from church to the entire world, from faith in Christ to believers of other faiths by word and deed the coming of the kingdom of God in Jesus Christ.  This task is achieved by means of the church's participation in God's mission of reconciling people to God, to themselves, to each other, and to the world, and gathering them into the church through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit with a view to the transformation of the world as a sign of the coming of the kingdom in Jesus Christ.