The Church and the World Religions: It is to be admitted that according to the soteriological necessity all religions can be said to be necessary for salvation for their followers. If so, what is the special relevance of the Church for the salvation of the whole world? Its special relevance derives from the claim of being the Body of Christ whose head is Jesus Christ himself. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ in the plan of salvation devised by God is a matter of faith revealed as a part of the revelation of the full truth into which the believers are gradually led. It is a free gift of God to those who genuinely believe according to the graces given and there is nothing to be argued about. However, the external manifestation of this faith in Jesus Christ may take many forms the most outstanding of which is the visible Church. It does not mean that all those who are visibly members of the church are real believers in Jesus Christ nor that all real believers are invariably members of the visible Church.
Relevance of Religions: What then is the relevance of all other religions, if the church claims for itself such an exalted status? The answer to this question may be gleaned from what Paul tells us about the need and relevance of the Jewish Law before the revelation of faith. It may be added here that in as far as the Church projects itself as a religion, it would be bound by the requirements and limitations of any other religion. As promoter of faith in the one and only God and Jesus Christ, the Church transcends the limits and requirements of any religion and permeates through the boundaries of all religions.Thus we see that according to Paul, all religions are mere tutors with a view to bringing about true faith in their adherents. "Before this faith came, we were close prisoners in the custody of law, pending the revelation of faith. Thus the law was a kind of tutor in charge of us until Christ could come , when we should be justified through faith ; and now that faith has come, the tutor's charge is at an end" (Galatians, 3: 23-25). The tutor, that is all religions, should disappear and allow the faithful to grow on their own once they are trained to be on their own. It should be like a mother who should be happy that her son is on his own feet and does not need her anymore for which she had prepared him all along.
Savior of the World: How should we understand explicit references to Jesus Christ as the sole savior of the world, if salvation may be attained through other means? Peter himself, the chief of the Apostles, strongly believed in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ when he was examined by the Jewish authorities. He said: "This Jesus is the stone rejected by the builders which has become the keystone - and you are the builders. There is no salvation in anyone else at all, for there is no other name under heaven granted to men, by which we may receive salvation" (Acts, 4: 11-12). In order to understand this and similar passages of the Bible we should make two vital distinctions that have far reaching consequences. The first distinction is between objective and subjective salvation . In subjective salvation, the second distinction is between explicit and implicit belief in Jesus Christ. We shall explain them in some detail for a clear perspective of the issues involved.
Objective Salvation: By objective salvation is meant the infrastructure of salvation prepared by God Himself independent of all human appropriation of the same. It derives directly from the Will of God and is freely offered to the humans for their acceptance. It is something which comes from above and not from below and is deeply associated with God's revelation of Himself that always comes about by the self-revelation of the humans themselves. The self-understanding of the humans and the true understanding of God are always interdependent. The Scriptures of all religions present us with this kind of interdependent knowledge of the humans and God that is called revelation. Faith in the revealing God is set up by God Himself as the objective salvation to which all are called. It becomes subjective salvation the moment the humans submit themselves to the Will of God by an act of faith in Him. There are different levels and shades of this faith that is seen in various Scriptures. The faith seen in the old Testament of the Bible is only a preparatory phase for the fuller faith in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Similarly, the Scriptures of other religions reveal various grades of faith required to please the one true God. In the above quoted passage of Peter's address, Jesus is proclaimed as the only means of salvation in the objective sense. It is clear from the fact that it is God Himself who has set up the name of Jesus for salvation of the whole world. It is an act of God constituting the order or the infrastructure of salvation and therefore refers to the objective salvation.
Objective salvation refers to the new creation resulting from the death, resurrection, ascension and sitting of Jesus Christ at the right hand of God till the end of time. It is independent of our acknowledgement of the same just like the old creation of the entire universe. That is why it is called objective salvation as distinct from subjective salvation whereby the fate of individuals is decided. Thus it is clear that every single human being starting with Adam and ending with the very last person to be born into this world comes under the sway of objective salvation. There is no distinction between religions, race, cultures, creeds, sexes, ideologies, etc., when it is a question of coming under the objective salvation constituted by God Himself. By the very fact that Christ died for all on the cross defeating death itself and vanquishing the power of Satan, human nature has been propped up by eternal hope fatally shattered by the sin of Adam. If the first sin committed by our first parents could affect the fate and prospects of all their progeny, the reversal of the same fate by the saving act of Jesus Christ could not be less pervasive. This state of affairs affecting the whole humankind is called objective salvation. Baptism is one of the concrete ways of appropriating this objective salvation into subjective salvation, if the implications of the meaning of baptism are understood and practiced by the baptized. (To be Contd).
Relevance of Religions: What then is the relevance of all other religions, if the church claims for itself such an exalted status? The answer to this question may be gleaned from what Paul tells us about the need and relevance of the Jewish Law before the revelation of faith. It may be added here that in as far as the Church projects itself as a religion, it would be bound by the requirements and limitations of any other religion. As promoter of faith in the one and only God and Jesus Christ, the Church transcends the limits and requirements of any religion and permeates through the boundaries of all religions.Thus we see that according to Paul, all religions are mere tutors with a view to bringing about true faith in their adherents. "Before this faith came, we were close prisoners in the custody of law, pending the revelation of faith. Thus the law was a kind of tutor in charge of us until Christ could come , when we should be justified through faith ; and now that faith has come, the tutor's charge is at an end" (Galatians, 3: 23-25). The tutor, that is all religions, should disappear and allow the faithful to grow on their own once they are trained to be on their own. It should be like a mother who should be happy that her son is on his own feet and does not need her anymore for which she had prepared him all along.
Savior of the World: How should we understand explicit references to Jesus Christ as the sole savior of the world, if salvation may be attained through other means? Peter himself, the chief of the Apostles, strongly believed in the uniqueness of Jesus Christ when he was examined by the Jewish authorities. He said: "This Jesus is the stone rejected by the builders which has become the keystone - and you are the builders. There is no salvation in anyone else at all, for there is no other name under heaven granted to men, by which we may receive salvation" (Acts, 4: 11-12). In order to understand this and similar passages of the Bible we should make two vital distinctions that have far reaching consequences. The first distinction is between objective and subjective salvation . In subjective salvation, the second distinction is between explicit and implicit belief in Jesus Christ. We shall explain them in some detail for a clear perspective of the issues involved.
Objective Salvation: By objective salvation is meant the infrastructure of salvation prepared by God Himself independent of all human appropriation of the same. It derives directly from the Will of God and is freely offered to the humans for their acceptance. It is something which comes from above and not from below and is deeply associated with God's revelation of Himself that always comes about by the self-revelation of the humans themselves. The self-understanding of the humans and the true understanding of God are always interdependent. The Scriptures of all religions present us with this kind of interdependent knowledge of the humans and God that is called revelation. Faith in the revealing God is set up by God Himself as the objective salvation to which all are called. It becomes subjective salvation the moment the humans submit themselves to the Will of God by an act of faith in Him. There are different levels and shades of this faith that is seen in various Scriptures. The faith seen in the old Testament of the Bible is only a preparatory phase for the fuller faith in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Similarly, the Scriptures of other religions reveal various grades of faith required to please the one true God. In the above quoted passage of Peter's address, Jesus is proclaimed as the only means of salvation in the objective sense. It is clear from the fact that it is God Himself who has set up the name of Jesus for salvation of the whole world. It is an act of God constituting the order or the infrastructure of salvation and therefore refers to the objective salvation.
Objective salvation refers to the new creation resulting from the death, resurrection, ascension and sitting of Jesus Christ at the right hand of God till the end of time. It is independent of our acknowledgement of the same just like the old creation of the entire universe. That is why it is called objective salvation as distinct from subjective salvation whereby the fate of individuals is decided. Thus it is clear that every single human being starting with Adam and ending with the very last person to be born into this world comes under the sway of objective salvation. There is no distinction between religions, race, cultures, creeds, sexes, ideologies, etc., when it is a question of coming under the objective salvation constituted by God Himself. By the very fact that Christ died for all on the cross defeating death itself and vanquishing the power of Satan, human nature has been propped up by eternal hope fatally shattered by the sin of Adam. If the first sin committed by our first parents could affect the fate and prospects of all their progeny, the reversal of the same fate by the saving act of Jesus Christ could not be less pervasive. This state of affairs affecting the whole humankind is called objective salvation. Baptism is one of the concrete ways of appropriating this objective salvation into subjective salvation, if the implications of the meaning of baptism are understood and practiced by the baptized. (To be Contd).
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