Do all religions lead to God?

Speaking to an interfaith group of young people in Singapore recently, Pope Francis said that “all religions are a path to God.” He compared the various religions to “different languages that express the divine” and said that, while there is only one God, we are all his children, adding that the various world religions “express ways to approach God.”

The Pope’s remarks were controversial because they seem incompatible with Roman Catholic teaching. Historically, the Roman Catholic Church not only rejected universalism but taught that there was “no salvation outside the church” - meaning only the Roman Catholic Church.

If Judaism was no longer a path to salvation, why would we think saving truth could be found in Islam or Hinduism?

This position was softened in Vatican II in the 1960s and is reflected in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This recognises that all salvation comes through Christ (846) and that other religions contain goodness and truth, which are regarded as a preparation for the gospel (843).

At the same time, it states that other religions are a deception by the evil one (844) and that salvation is not available to those “who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” (846).

A controversial question

The Catechism does not claim that all religions are a pathway to God, but offers only the narrow possibility that: “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.” (847).

In the modern world, many adherents to other religions have encountered the gospel and the Catholic Church and consciously rejected them, which would mean that they cannot be saved.

Virtually all of the apostles were martyred for preaching this exclusivist message

The question of whether other religions are paths to God is not just a matter of controversy, dispute and confusion amongst Catholics, but also evangelicals. Evangelicals were historically united in believing that those above the ‘age of responsibility’ could only be saved by conscious faith in Christ - a conviction that motivated the missionary movement which carried the gospel to all continents at great sacrificial cost.

However, there are some who think that sincere followers of other religions might be saved, or who even advocate for a universal salvation.

What does the Bible say?

The crucial question, therefore, is what does the Bible teach? It seems clear to me that Jesus and the apostles believed, taught and practised that salvation was only possible by personal, conscious saving faith in Christ.

Jesus declared that he alone was “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), meaning that he is the only path that leads to true knowledge of God. Peter preached that there is “no other name under heaven” by which men can be saved but the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12). Paul taught that Jesus is the “one mediator between God and mankind” (1 Timothy 2:5). Virtually all of the apostles were martyred for preaching this exclusivist message to people who were sincerely following other religions.

A missionary manifesto

While some might dismiss such proof texts, they encapsulate a more comprehensive theological understanding of other religions and salvation. Nowhere is this more fully set out than by Paul in his letter to the Romans. In this missionary manifesto, he urges the Church in Rome to support his plans to take the gospel to Spain, which was then unreached (Romans 15:23-33).

He also teaches that all human beings have some knowledge of God because he has revealed himself in creation (Romans 1:19-20). They know his eternal power and divine nature. It is not surprising, therefore, that other religions contain some truth about God.

However, this revelation in nature, reflected in religion, is inadequate to save. Rather than responding to this revelation, people suppress the truth they know (Romans 1:20). All are enslaved to sin, fall short of God’s perfect standards and are under his wrath (Romans 3:19-20).

Jesus and the apostles taught that salvation was only possible by saving faith in Christ

Salvation is only obtained by those who are justified before God by faith in Christ (Romans 3:21-26), and salvation comes only by the proclamation of the gospel (Romans 1:16-17). As Paul so starkly puts it in Romans 10:9-10, it is only those who confess with their mouths that “Jesus is Lord” and believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead who will be saved.

The lack of sufficient saving truth in other religions compelled the apostles to preach the good news about Jesus to all people, irrespective of their present religious beliefs. They preached the gospel to those who sincerely worshipped the gods of Greece and Rome, claiming that this was foolish idolatry.

Even more significantly, they preached the gospel to unbelieving Jews, on the basis that Jesus was the fulfilment of the revelation they had received in the Old Testament. This was no longer saving in itself because to reject Jesus was to reject the message of the law and prophets, who pointed to Jesus.

If Judaism was no longer a path to salvation, why would we think saving truth could be found in Islam, Hinduism or other religions, which teach a very different doctrine of God, deny Jesus is God’s unique Son, teach a works-orientated way of salvation, and conceive of an entirely different eternal destiny?

Born again

In the past, Christians have made many mistakes in the way they have treated people who follow other religions. It is right that we should uphold religious freedom for all, and seek to persuade people to put their faith in Christ rather than coerce them to do so.

The truth found in other religions is a valuable point of contact, and we can engage in co-belligerence on issues of justice. However, Christ gave us the command to make disciples of all nations by preaching the gospel and calling them to repentance and faith in him for salvation.

In one sense the Roman Catholic Church was right to say that there is no salvation outside of the Church. However, the Church of Jesus Christ is not an institution or human organisation but a spiritual body. To be saved, people need to become members of Jesus’s body by being united with him by faith. They need to be born again.

Our great missionary heroes, like William Carey and Hudson Taylor, were convinced of this and devoted their lives to taking the gospel to those they believed were headed for hell because of their ignorance of Christ.

Later this week, I am travelling to Seoul for the Lausanne Conference, which will be attended by 5,000 Christian leaders from around the world. We will be celebrating the spread of the gospel - and remembering just how much remains to be done to fulfil the Great Commission before Jesus returns.

There would be no worldwide Church or the need for further missionary endeavour if other religions provide a path to God. They don’t, but Jesus does, and so we need to recommit to the task of world evangelisation, supporting, sending and praying.