03.05. CHRIST

Systematic Theology

5. CHRIST THE PERSON OF CHRIST THE LIFE OF CHRIST THE WORK OF CHRIST THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST

Although God alone determines human destiny by choosing to save some and condemn all others, he saves his elect by means of producing within them faith in Christ. This means that one’s destiny is revealed by what he thinks about Christ. Depending on the degree and manner of deviation from biblical revelation, holding to a false view of Christ may result in eternal damnation. Therefore, we must study the biblical doctrine of Christ with care and reverence, rejecting any position that compromises or distorts what the Scripture teaches about him. In this chapter, I will begin with a discussion on the person of Christ with an emphasis on his dual nature. We will then consider several significant points about his life and work, especially pertaining to his work of atonement. The chapter concludes with some comments on the supremacy of Christ and its implications for Christian living and world religions. THE PERSON OF CHRIST

Biblical Christianity holds that Christ possesses two natures, that he is both divine and human. He exists along with God the Father in eternity as the second person of the Trinity, but took upon himself a human nature in the INCARNATION. The result compromised or confused neither the divine nor the human nature, so that Christ was fully God and fully man, and he will remain in this condition forever. The two natures of Christ subsisting in one person is called the HYPOSTATIC UNION.

Some people allege that this doctrine generates a contradiction; therefore, before providing the biblical data for this doctrine, we will first defend its logical consistency.

Recall our earlier discussion on the Trinity. The historic doctrinal formulation of the Trinity says, "God is one in essence and three in person." This proposition entails no contradiction. For there to be a contradiction, we must affirm that "A is non-A." In our case, this translates into, "God is one in essence and three in essence," or "God is one in person and three in person." To affirm that God is one and three (not one) at the same time and in the same sense is self-contradictory. However, our formulation of the doctrine says that God is one in one sense and three in a different sense: "God is one in essence and three in person." Moreover, although each of the three persons fully participates in the one Godhead, the doctrine does not turn into tritheism since there is still only one God and not three. The "essence" in the above formulation refers to the divine attributes, or the very definition of God, so that all three persons of the Godhead completely fulfill the definition of deity. But this does not imply tritheism because the very definition of deity includes the ontological attribute of the Trinity, so that each member is not an independent God. The Father, Son, and Spirit are distinct "persons" because they represent three centers of consciousness within the Godhead. Therefore, although all three fully participate in the divine essence so as to make them one God, these three centers of consciousness render them three persons within this one Godhead. In a similar way, the doctrinal formulation for the personhood and incarnation of Christ states that he is one in one sense, and two in a different sense. That is, he is one in person, but two in natures. To clarify this doctrinal formulation, we need to define the terms and relate them to the doctrinal formulation of the Trinity. The way "nature" is used in the doctrinal formulation of the incarnation is similar to the way "essence" is used in the doctrinal formulation of the Trinity. They refer to the definition of something, and the definition of something in turn refers to the attributes or properties something. Personhood is again defined by the consciousness or intellect. Now, the definition of God includes the ontological attribute of the Trinity, and therefore there is only one God although there are three divine persons who share fully and equally in the same set of attributes that define deity. In the incarnation, God the Son took upon himself the nature of man; that is, he added to his person the set of attributes that define man. He did so without mingling the two natures, so that both sets of attributes remained independent. Thus, his divine nature was not diminished by his human nature, and his human nature was not deified by his divine nature. This formulation also protects the immutability of God the Son, since the human nature did not modify his divine nature at all. The objection that divine and human attributes necessarily contradict one another when possessed by the same person fails to take into account that the two sets of attributes are independent from each other in God the Son. For example, Christ was not omniscient according to his human attributes, but he was omniscient according to his divine attributes, and this remains true even to this day. His divine attributes has not deified his human attributes. This doctrinal formulation of the incarnation is immune to the charge of contradiction, since we do not claim that Christ is one and two at the same time and in the same sense. What we assert is that Christ is one person with two sets of attributes. Since this formulation does not generate a logical contradiction, it is established as true if we can show that Christ is both God and man through biblical exegesis.

We will first consider a number of passages indicating the DEITY of Christ. At the beginning of his Gospel, the apostle John refers to Jesus Christ as the logos, or the Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3)

John 1:1 begins by asserting the preexistence of Christ, saying that he had existed before the creation event. Christ himself confessed his preexistence in John 8:1-59, saying, "I tell you the truth...before Abraham was born, I am!" (John 8:58). The word God (Greek: theos) in this verse refers to the Father, and "the Word was with God" indicates that Christ is not identical to the Father in terms of his personhood. Nevertheless, he is not less than God in terms of his attributes, since the verse continues to say, "the Word was God." This is an explicit statement attributing deity to Jesus Christ. The words, "He was with God in the beginning" in John 1:2 again assert his preexistence and the fact that he is distinguishable from the Father.

John 1:3 credits Christ as the agent of creation, saying, "Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." This agrees with the christology of Paul, who writes in Colossians 1:16, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." Christ not only created the universe, but he is now sustaining its very existence. Paul says that "in him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). It is through Christ that God "made the universe," and it is also Christ who is "sustaining all things by his powerful word" (Hebrews 1:2-3).

Colossians 2:9 says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." Titus 2:13 says, "We wait for the blessed hope ­ the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." In Hebrews 1:3, we read, "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being." Hebrews 1:8 makes a messianic application of Psalms 45:6-7, so that God says to Christ, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom." Thus God the Father himself declares that Jesus is God, and says that his rule will "last for ever and ever." Finally, Paul writes in Php 2:6 that Christ, "being in very nature God," took on human attributes.

Now we will turn to some passages that indicate the HUMANITY of Christ. After strongly asserting the deity of Christ, the apostle John writes in his Gospel, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us" (John 1:14). Hebrews 2:14 says, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death..." Paul is very explicit about Christ’s humanity when he writes in 1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

Various passages in the Bible indicate that in his human nature, Jesus had genuine limitations. For example, he was "tired...from the journey" in John 4:6, hungry in Matthew 21:18, and thirsty in John 19:28. Most significantly, "he suffered death" (Hebrews 2:9) to purchase salvation for his elect.

Some passages in the Bible affirm or imply both the deity and humanity of Christ. For example, John 5:18 says that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because "he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." They saw him as a man, but they realized that he was claiming to be God. John 8:56-59 describes another such conflict:

"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. The people recognized that in his human life, Jesus was not yet fifty years old, but he claimed that he personally knew Abraham. Those who heard him did not dispute his humanity, but they also realized that his words amounted to a claim to deity.

Matthew 22:41-45 also affirms that Jesus was both God and man:

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied. He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ’Lord’? For he says, ’The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.’ If then David calls him ’Lord,’ how can he be his son?" The Pharisees acknowledged that the Christ would be the son of David, and if the son of David, Christ would be human. However, while he was "speaking by the Spirit," so that he could not have erred, David called Christ "Lord" as a designation of deity. Therefore, the Christ would be both the human descendent and the divine Lord of David ­ Christ would be both God and man. THE LIFE OF CHRIST

Jesus Christ was miraculously conceived in the virgin Mary. As Matthew 1:18 explains, "This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit." Matthew 1:20 emphasizes that she was not impregnated by a man, but that the child was "from the Holy Spirit." Christ was "born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4), but rather than being conceived by the union of a man and a woman, he was conceived by "the power of the Most High" (Luke 1:35). Thus, the person born was both divine and human.

Unlike all other human beings after Adam, Jesus had no imputed guilt or inherited corruption. Now, the Bible does not say that imputed guilt and inherited corruption come from only the father, and we also know that Mary was sinful like the rest of humanity. Although the virgin conception testifies that he was no ordinary human being, by itself it was insufficient to protect the child from all contamination. Therefore, the sinlessness of Christ cannot be due to the virgin conception alone, but it was by God’s sovereign decree that no guilt was imputed on Christ and that no corruption was inherited by him. The "power of the Most High" did not only cause Christ’s conception without a human father, but also kept the child from both the legal guilt of Adam and the corrupt nature resulting from his sin. This is so that the child may be rightly called, "the holy one" (Luke 1:35).

Some people argue that Christ must have been subject to both error and sin simply by being a human person; complete immunity to sin would mean that he was not genuinely human. The tendencies to make mistakes and commit sins seem to be intrinsic to what it means to be human. Therefore, to say that Christ was human means that he was also prone to error and sin. If Christ was not subject to these shortcomings, he must not have been human. After all, these people claim, "To err is human."

However, this view forgets the fact that the entire human race exists in a depraved state that is different from the original condition of man. Adam and Eve were not created sinful, and yet they were fully human. This means that sinfulness is not an essential human attribute. That our sinful state is a universal factor of human life prevents some from seeing that it is in fact abnormal. In other words, it is possible to be a human being without imputed guilt and inherited corruption; however, only Adam, Eve, and Jesus were born without sin. This relates to what Paul says about Christ as the "last Adam" or the "second man" (1 Corinthians 15:45; 1 Corinthians 15:47). The "first man" Adam as a federal head represented every member belonging to the group of people assigned to him in the mind of God, namely, the human race. The "second man" Jesus was also a federal head, and represented every member belonging to the group of people assigned to him in the mind of God, namely, the elect. As for the ministry of Jesus, it was characterized by preaching, teaching, and healing:

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. (Matthew 9:35) But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." (Luke 4:43) His preaching and miracles had drawn increasing hostility from his enemies. After several years of ministry, he was betrayed by his disciple Judas into the hands of those who wished to kill him. After a time of severe and unjust treatment by the Jewish officials and Romans soldiers, he was sentenced to death through crucifixion by Pilate. Jesus died on the cross, and even his death testified to who he was: "And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, ’Surely this man was the Son of God!’" (Mark 15:39).

Jesus had a real human body, and his death was literal and physical. The Gospels make it clear that he had in fact died: The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The Roman soldiers were well-trained, and doubtless had performed numerous crucifixions before this one; they could have easily determined whether their victims were dead or alive. When they found that Jesus "was already dead" (John 19:33), they saw no need to break his legs to quicken his death. But just to be certain, one of the soldiers ran a spear into his side, which brought a "sudden flow of blood and water" (John 19:34), proving his death from a medical standpoint.

Just as the death of Christ was literal and physical, so was his resurrection. The Bible records that Christ rose from the dead on the third day of his death. He was raised with the same body that he had before, but it was changed and enhanced. Paul writes that Christians will also receive such a body when Jesus returns and raises the dead: "So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable" (1 Corinthians 15:42). In any case, the resurrected or "glorified" body could still manifest and function in the physical realm, so that when Jesus appeared to his disciples, he said to them, "Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have" (Luke 24:39).

After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples numerous times over a period of forty days, showing them "many infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3, KJV) that he was alive. Then, the Bible records that he was taken up into heaven and was given a position of authority by the Father: "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight" (Acts 1:9); "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God" (Mark 16:19). THE WORK OF CHRIST The work of Jesus Christ is usually characterized by the ATONEMENT that he had obtained for the elect. The nature of the atonement is one of penal substitutionary death. Paul writes, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), but instead of requiring our own death, God sent Jesus Christ to pay for our sins by bearing our guilt and dying on the cross in our stead.

One question regarding the atonement is whether the substitutionary death of Christ was necessary to redeem sinners. Two significant answers to this question are the HYPOTHETICAL NECESSITY and the CONSEQUENT ABSOLUTE NECESSITY views of the atonement. John Murray explains these two views as follows: The view known as that of hypothetical necessity maintains that God could have forgiven sin and saved his elect without atonement or satisfaction ­ - other means were open to God to whom all things are possible. But the way of the vicarious sacrifice of the Son of God was the way which God in his grace and sovereign wisdom chose because this is the way in which the greatest number of advantages concur and the way in which grace is more marvellously exhibited.... The other view we call consequent absolute necessity. The word "consequent" in this designation points to the fact that God’s will or decree to save any is of free and sovereign grace. To save lost men was not of absolute necessity but of the sovereign good pleasure of God. The terms "absolute necessity," however, indicate that God, having elected some to everlasting life out of his mere good pleasure, was under the necessity of accomplishing this purpose through the sacrifice of his own Son, a necessity arising from the perfections of his own nature.1

If only these two options are available, consequent absolute necessity would be the preferable one. The atonement was not necessary in the sense that God did not have to save anyone at all. Peter writes, "God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell" (2 Peter 2:4). Just as it was not necessary for a loving God to save the angels from sin, neither was he required by his own nature or anything external to himself to save man. Nevertheless, because of his love for the elect, God sent Jesus Christ to save sinners even though he was not required to do so.

Although it was not necessary for God to save sinners, once the decision was made, the death of Jesus Christ became necessary to pay the price of man’s sins. In reference to his death, Jesus prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39). He asked that if it is somehow possible, to let the effects intended by the atonement be accomplished another way, while insisting that whatever was God’s will to be done. After praying this way, "An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him" (Luke 22:43). The Father’s will was for Jesus to go through with the work of atonement, thus implying that the death of Christ was inevitable in order to achieve the intended results. After his resurrection, Jesus said to his disciples, "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" (Luke 24:26, NASB), implying that it was indeed the only way.

We may press further to inquire as to why the death of Christ was the only way. If there were no atonement, everyone would have to die for his own sins (John 8:24), and the Bible indicates that the punishment would be torturous and endless. One can be free from receiving just punishment only if another were to die in his place. But one sinful human being cannot die to redeem another, since any sinner who suffers the wrath of God would only be doing so because of his own sins. Thus atonement requires a perfect and innocent offering. Although God had instituted the practice of animal sacrifice under the Old Covenant, it was only to anticipate the atoning death of Christ, seeing that "it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (Hebrews 10:4). Therefore, Christ was the only acceptable and sufficient sacrifice.

Consequent absolute necessity is the "classic Protestant position,"2 but there is a better answer to the question of the necessity of the atonement. From the perspective of supralapsarianism,3 the decree to redeem the elect is logically prior to the decree of the fall of man:

1. The election of some sinners to salvation in Christ; the reprobation of the rest of sinful mankind.

2. The application of the redemptive work of Christ to the elect sinners.

3. The redemption of the elect sinners by the work of Christ.

4. The fall of man.

5. The creation of the world and man. The redemptive work of Christ was not a reaction to the sin of man; rather, God decreed the fall of man so that the atonement could occur.

Christ was "chosen before the creation of the world" (1 Peter 1:20) to be the lamb of God. Paul writes that "eternal life" was "promised before the beginning of time" to "God’s elect" (Titus 1:1-2), and that God chose those whom he would redeem "before the creation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4). God determined the identity of the elect, chose to redeem them, and selected Christ as the redeemer before the creation of the world.

Since God is eternal or timeless, it means that the possibility never existed that God would not redeem his elect through the substitutionary death of Christ. In fact, the plan of redemption was logically a certainty even before God decreed the fall of man. Therefore, given the supralapsarian order of the eternal decrees, the substitutionary atonement of Christ was an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY.

Although many people tend to associate the redemptive work of Christ only with his death and resurrection, it is impossible to ignore the other events of his life when discussing redemption. The actions that Christ performed to save his elect from sin were not limited to the events after his arrest, but include those what were before it. We should consider his entire life as one whose purpose was to redeem those whom God had given to him. For example, even his very act of taking on human attributes to become like us and identified with us is part of his redemptive work.

Therefore, some theologians distinguish between the ACTIVE OBEDIENCE and the PASSIVE OBEDIENCE of Christ on our behalf. Both of these terms suggest that he came to succeed at the point where Adam had failed, namely, to live in perfect obedience toward God. Paul writes, "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death ­ even death on a cross!" (Php 2:8). These two terms designate the two aspects of obedience through which Christ paid for the sins of the elect and achieved for them perfect righteousness.

Christ’s active obedience refers to his perfect adherence to the laws of God on our behalf. He completely satisfied the moral demands of God, who in turn credits such righteousness to those who would believe in Christ. Romans 5:19 says, "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous." Many people tend to neglect this aspect of Christ’s redemptive work, but it is a necessary part of what he has done for the elect. To hold that Christ only needed to die for the sins of the elect to redeem them fails to explain why he did so many other things, such as obeying the laws of God, enduring severe temptations, performing numerous good works and acts of mercy, and living a uniquely righteous life. The truth is that besides saving us from sin, Christ also merited a positive righteousness on our behalf. This helps explain why only a short period of time in the life of Jesus consists of active public ministry, while before that he lived in relative obscurity. Before his public ministry, he was not only preparing for his preaching work and waiting for the right timing. The redemption of the elect depends not only on his final years or days, but also on the obedience and righteousness that he demonstrated throughout his life as the federal head of the elect. Through what he had done before his ministry, during his ministry, and in his death and resurrection, Jesus secured a perfect righteousness to be credited to those who would believe on him.

Christ’s passive obedience refers to his suffering the penalty of the sins of the elect. Sin demands punishment, and the just penalty of defiance against God is endless torment in hell. Since the punishment is endless, there is no escape or restoration for those who would come under the wrath of God. Someone else would have to die in place of the sinner for the sinner to go free and for God’s justice to be satisfied at the same time. However, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and so no human being qualifies to die for the sins of another, since each one is himself guilty of sin, and would be receiving just punishment only for his own sins if he were to suffer under the wrath of God. The only solution is for a sinless human being to die for another, and so to truly suffer the penalty of sin that he does not himself deserve. This is what Jesus has done for the elect: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). Although Jesus was without sin (Hebrews 4:15), he suffered as a sinner as God sovereignly imputed the guilt of the elect upon him. Thus those whom he acted as a federal head ­ namely, the elect ­ would receive his perfect righteousness also by imputation.

Jesus suffered many things during his earthly life. These include the intense temptations that he experienced from Satan (Luke 4:1-14), the opposition against him from religious leaders (Hebrews 12:3), and the very fact that he had to endure numerous human limitations and problems such as hunger and weariness, things to which he was impervious in his divine nature. Isaiah 53:3 says, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering," and the writer of Hebrews states the following: In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering....Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. (Hebrews 2:10; Hebrews 5:8) His sufferings intensified from the time of his arrest to his death on the cross. This is the portion of time most have in mind when they refer to the suffering of Christ:

Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. (Matthew 27:27-31)

Although what Jesus had to suffer here was painful and humiliating, and vastly different from the treatment appropriate to God the Son, he nevertheless endured all of it for his elect. But it was not over, for after all this, "they led him away to crucify him" (Matthew 27:31). Crucifixion was a way of inflicting death that produced extreme suffering for the victim.

Even more terrible than the physical pain was the spiritual or psychological suffering of bearing the guilt of the elect. Jesus was perfectly holy and without sin; he had never felt the effects of sin upon one’s consciousness. But it was at that time that God imputed upon him the entire weight of the guilt of the elect:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all....Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:6; Isaiah 53:12)

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Some people may wonder why one person’s death is sufficient to pay for the sins of many. The answer is found in Romans 5:15; Romans 5:18-19: But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Just as Adam represented the entire human race when he sinned, so Jesus represented the elect in his perfect righteousness and atoning work. As for why such a short time of punishment was sufficient to take away the sins of so many individuals, and was accepted as a sufficient substitute for the endless punishment of sinners, we only need to consider the value of the sacrifice and the intensity of the suffering. The perfection of Christ was such that God accepted his once for all sacrifice and his suffering on behalf of the elect as sufficient to have obtained "eternal redemption" for them: "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption" (Hebrews 9:12); "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). In any case, it was God’s sovereign acceptance of the atonement that determined and proved its sufficiency. Just as Adam was an appropriate and legitimate federal head and representative of those who were identified with him in the mind of God (the human race), so Jesus was an appropriate and legitimate federal head and representative of those who were identified with him in the mind of God (the elect). Ultimately, the atonement was sufficient and efficacious because it satisfied God’s own standard of justice. As for the extent or scope of the atonement, many people assume that Jesus died for every human being; however, the Bible teaches that he only died for those whom God had chosen for salvation, that is, the elect. This doctrine is often called LIMITED ATONEMENT, but the term is misleading, since although only specific individuals have been chosen for salvation, Christ indeed saves them to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). Thus, many advocates of this biblical doctrine maintain that it is more properly called PARTICULAR ATONEMENT or DEFINITE ATONEMENT. I consider the term EFFECTIVE SPECIFIC ATONEMENT to be even more descriptive, as the following exposition of the doctrine will show. The popular challenge to the biblical teaching of definite atonement is the view saying that the work of Christ has made salvation merely possible for everyone, but actual for no one. Salvation is applied to a person when he chooses to appropriate for himself the benefits of the redemptive work of Christ. However, Scripture teaches that Christ has successfully achieved actual salvation from sin for everyone for whom his redemptive work was intended, and that he only intended to secure salvation for the elect. The doctrine of definite atonement is closely connected to God’s election of individuals for salvation. While I will deal with the doctrine of election in more detail in the next chapter, it has already been sufficiently established in previous chapters of this book so that we may proceed with the assumption that it is indeed what the Bible teaches. That is, God in eternity has chosen a number of individuals to be saved, while the rest were rejected. Definite atonement teaches that Christ came to die for only the elect, that is, these whom God has chosen for salvation.

If Christ had paid the price for all the sins of every human being, then why would anyone be condemned? Indeed, there are those who teach that in his work of atonement, Christ had completely paid the price for the sins of every human being, and therefore no one will suffer damnation. This position of UNIVERSALISM is blatantly false, since Scripture teaches that many will be sent to hell for their sins on the day of judgment. The Scripture teaches that there is an eternal hell and that many people will in fact be sent there. Below are only several examples:

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matthew 18:8-9) You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (Matthew 23:33)

Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels....Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46) In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire....Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment." (Luke 16:23-24, Luke 16:27-28) But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars ­ their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8) But most of the people who oppose the biblical doctrine of definite atonement do not affirm actual universalism; rather, they assert a position that may be called HYPOTHETICAL UNIVERSALISM. They maintain that Christ has made salvation possible for all human beings, and all of them could be saved if they would only believe in the gospel. However, if Christ had indeed paid the price of sin for everyone, then why would anyone go to hell at all? The usual answer is that one must accept by faith what Christ has done, else although the price of sin for the person has been fully paid, God would still condemn him. But this means that God would punish the same sins twice, once on the cross on Christ, and the second time on the person who had committed those sins.

One preacher tried to escape this problem by saying that the only sin for which God will send people to hell is the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ. But this position contradicts biblical passages saying that God will in fact take account of the personal sins of the reprobates: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. (Romans 1:18-19) For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person ­ such a man is an idolater ­ has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. (Ephesians 5:5-6)

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:5-6)

Also, this view saying that God will only condemn people for their rejection of Christ and not for their personal sins implies that the fundamental and most common sin of unbelief is one that Christ failed to pay for, thus rendering his atoning work desperately incomplete. Another problem is that since the imputed guilt of Adam is by itself sufficient to condemn, this preacher’s position implies, perhaps unintentionally, that no one is born with imputed guilt anymore after the completion of Christ’s atoning work. This is an implication that even this preacher may not accept. Nevertheless, at least he realized that the atonement of Christ made a real and full payment for sins, and not merely a potential payment; however, once he insisted on affirming universal atonement, his position became inconsistent and unbiblical.

Actual universalism is clearly false and heretical, but hypothetical universalism appears to many people as the position that best accords with justice, since everybody gets a chance to be saved. But as we have established earlier when discussing man’s total depravity (Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23), man is in a state of spiritual death (Ephesians 2:1). If so, there is no possibility that one will have positive faith in Christ if left by himself. This means that unless God chooses who would receive salvation through sovereign election, and redeems them through definite atonement, no one would be saved, since none would accept Christ.

Opponents of definite atonement may claim that although all are spiritually dead in sin, some in fact do respond in faith to Christ, not because they were chosen for salvation, but because they decide to be saved by their own wills. However, the very meaning of spiritual death makes this impossible, since a dead man cannot respond to or cooperate with any assistance, or even request it. Accordingly, the Bible says that faith and repentance are things that God grants as gifts to his elect (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Timothy 2:25-26), but he does not grant them to everyone, and so "not everyone has faith" (2 Thessalonians 3:2). Since faith in Christ is the only way to salvation, and it is God who chooses to whom he grants faith and repentance, it follows that it is God who chooses the ones who receive salvation, and not the individuals themselves. For the sake of argument, let us assume for the moment that although all are spiritually dead, some would in fact respond to the gospel in faith by themselves. But this would mean that spiritually dead people require no special grace from God to make the most important spiritual decision in their lives. How then do we explain why one spiritually dead person would accept Christ, while another spiritually dead person fails to do the same? Does it not follow that those who are able to make the positive spiritual decision is more righteous than those who do not? If so, then we will have to say that Christ came to save only the relatively righteous individuals, and not the relatively sinful ones. But this contradicts the premise of the whole gospel. To say that God exerts an amount of influence on individuals to cause them to believe only delays the problem. Some people appear to require stronger influence from God than others. But if God exerts stronger influence on some people than he does on others, then he is in fact choosing who would be saved, especially if the amount of influence exerted does not exactly correspond to the degree of wickedness in the individuals. On the other hand, if God exerts approximately the same amount of influence on individuals, then once again only the relatively righteous will respond, which again means that Christ came only to save the relatively righteous, a notion that contradicts the teaching of Scripture. The necessary conclusion is as follows. Given other aspects of scriptural teaching, UNLIMITED ATONEMENT or UNIVERSAL ATONEMENT is impossible. Since the nature of the atonement involves actual and full payment for sin, universal atonement would necessarily entail universal salvation; however, Scripture teaches that not everyone is saved, but that many people will be lost and suffer endless torment in hell. Therefore, the only scriptural possibility is that in eternity God had selected a definite group of individuals to be saved. Then, in his work of atonement, Christ died for only these individuals, and thus securing actual salvation for every one of them, not making it merely possible. This is why the redemptive work of Christ is an effective and specific atonement. The above shows that definite atonement is a necessary implication of biblical doctrines that are known to be true. Specifically, the doctrine of election, the atonement as a full payment for sin, and the denial of actual universalism converge to render definite atonement a logical necessity. Therefore, that the atonement is specific and effective appears to be true even without direct scriptural evidence; nevertheless, there are many biblical passages that affirm or imply this doctrine, and we will now turn to some of them. We will also discuss the claim that some biblical passages appear to teach universal atonement.

We begin by repeating from Scripture that the nature of the atonement is one of penal substitution, so that the death of Christ made a real and full payment for the sins of those whom he represented:

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. (Acts 20:28) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." (Revelation 5:9-10)

Christ made a full payment to purchase those for whom he died; therefore, the language of these and other passages like them (Mark 10:45; 1 Peter 1:18-19) excludes the conclusion that he made salvation merely possible for those for whom he died, but that he has made salvation actual for them.

Since Christ was "slain from the creation of the world" (Revelation 13:8) in the mind of God, and his death gave him actual legal ownership of all those for whom he died, the identities of all those who would be saved had been unchangeably determined from eternity. Christ then came in historical time to die for only those individuals.

Another clear indication of definite atonement comes from John 10:14-15; John 10:25-29, where Jesus says the following:

I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me ­ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father ­ and I lay down my life for the sheep....

I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

Jesus says, "I lay down my life for the sheep," and he says to some, "You do not believe because you are not my sheep." He came to die for the sheep, but some people are not his sheep; therefore, he did not die for every human being. Those who are Christ’s sheep belong to him since the Father "has given them to [him]," and all of them will believe the gospel, since he says, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." On the other hand, just as the identities of the sheep have already been determined in eternity, there is no possibility that those who are not his sheep would believe, and thus he says, "You do not believe because you are not my sheep." All those whom God has chosen will be saved, and once saved they will never lose their salvation, since Jesus says, "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." Thus within several verses, Christ not only teaches the doctrine of definite atonement, but also the doctrines of election, reprobation, and preservation, which we will further discuss in the next chapter.

Opponents of definite atonement claim that some biblical passages appear to teach that the redemptive work of Christ was universal rather than specific. Here I will respond to two such passages: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men ­ the testimony given in its proper time. (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

Only the most untrained and naïve exegete would assume without argument that the words "all" and "everyone" in the Bible must always refer to all human beings. We can find endless examples in our daily speech in which the scope of these seemingly universal terms are limited by the context. Nevertheless, for our case to be complete, we will first demonstrate this using biblical examples before examining the above two passages.

Jesus says in Matthew 10:22, "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." But the statement does not intend to say that all human beings without exception would hate the disciples of Christ, since at least Christians themselves would love one another. Also, we may assume that those who do not know about Christians cannot hate them. It may be true that the beliefs and practices of even those unbelievers who know nothing about Christians amount to hatred against God and Christians, but this does not seem to be the intent of this verse. The meaning of the verse becomes clearer when we read the verses that come before and after it to obtain its context:

Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 10:21-23)

Matthew 10:21 and Matthew 10:23 contain information that restricts the scope of Matthew 10:22. It appears that the words "all men" in Matthew 10:22 primarily refer to those mentioned in Matthew 10:21 and Matthew 10:23. That is, "all men" means all kinds of people, such as the unbelieving members of one’s family and those who reject the gospel message upon hearing it.4 In Acts 26:4, Paul says, "The Jews all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem." Does he mean that every Jewish person without exception knew him? The next verse says, "They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee" (Matthew 26:5). It appears that the "all" in verse 4 is not intended to designate every Jewish person without exception, but all the Jews who are relevant to the situation at hand.

Psalms 8:6 says, "You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet." Paul applies this verse to Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:27, but he explicitly restricts the meaning of "everything": "For he ’has put everything under his feet.’ Now when it says that ’everything’ has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ."

Romans 8:32 is especially relevant to the atonement, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Opponents of definite atonement may be tempted to understand "us all" as referring to all human beings without exception, but the above examples have shown that we must not assume this without adequate reason. We must allow the context of the verse to dictate the scope of the words "us all."

Paul indicates in Romans 1:7 that this letter is addressed to the Christians in Rome: "To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ." Unless its immediate context widens the scope to include all human beings without exception, the meaning of "us all" in Romans 8:32 must be restricted by Romans 1:7. But the verses that surround Romans 8:32 themselves restrict the meaning of "us all" in explicit terms: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose....He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all ­ how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:28; Romans 8:32-33)

It is clear that the words "us all" refer only to "those whom God has chosen," or "God’s elect" (NASB). Therefore, Romans 8:32 gives no support to universal atonement; rather, it favors definite atonement.

Another example comes from Acts 2:1-47, which begins with a description of what happened on the day of Pentecost: When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 2:1-4)

Peter then rose up to preach, quoting the prophecy of Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people" (Acts 2:17). We have already established that the words "all" and "everyone" do not always refer to all human beings, but we must allow the context of the relevant verses to restrict the meaning of these words. This simple principle holds whether in biblical hermeneutics or ordinary conversations; it is most foolish and unreasonable to ignore it.

Peter is here speaking within the context of the Spirit’s mighty manifestation on the day of Pentecost, saying that God will pour out his Spirit upon "all people." However, the scope of the verse is restricted by the surrounding verses listed below:

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. (Acts 2:5)

Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off ­ for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39) The words "all people" are spoken in the context of addressing people "from every nation under heaven," and thus the universality intended here is one of ethnic universality, not an absolute universality. That is, God would pour out his Spirit upon people from all ethnic backgrounds, and not just the Jews. Acts 2:38-39 say that the promise of the Spirit is indeed "for all"; however, these words do not signal an absolute universality, but they only apply to "all whom the Lord our God will call," thus restricting the promise of the gospel itself to a select group chosen by the sovereign will of God.

We will now return to 2 Peter 3:9 and 1 Timothy 2:3-6, which are two of the favorite passages cited by opponents of definite atonement: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men ­ the testimony given in its proper time. (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

2 Peter 1:1 indicates that Peter is addressing "those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours," and 2 Peter 3:8 refers to the "beloved," which is a term designating Christians. Then, 2 Peter 3:9 says, "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." The word "you" here obviously refers to the group to which believers belong, and not the unbelievers. Therefore, the verse is saying that the Lord tarries so that the elect will have time to become Christians.

1 Timothy 2:3-6 says that God "wants all men to be saved," and that Christ "gave himself as a ransom for all men." Now, we have already established that the words "all" and "everyone" do not always refer to all human beings, and we have also established the doctrine of definite atonement by appealing to other biblical passages; therefore, we must not assume that this passage teaches universal atonement. In fact, since other passages have already made universal atonement impossible, we may assume that this passage does not teach it.

Nevertheless, as with the other passages, there is direct evidence from the context of the passage indicating that Paul does not mean all human beings when he writes "all men." 1 Timothy 2:1-2 say, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone ­ for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." Paul says that believers should pray "for everyone," and proceeds to explain that by "everyone," he means even "kings and all those in authority." Therefore, by "everyone," Paul intends to designate kinds or groups of people ­ Christians are to pray for all sorts of people.

Revelation 5:9-10 was earlier quoted to show that the nature of the atonement involves a real and full purchase by Christ of those for whom he died, but the same verses also suggest that the universality of the atonement is not an absolute universality, but only an ethnic universality: And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." The Bible consistently teaches that the atonement is universal only in the sense that Christ died for people from every ethnic and social background; none teaches that he died for all human beings. Since this atonement is not merely a potential payment for sins, but an actual payment for sins, those for whom he died will surely be saved. Thus the good news is that "the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men" (Titus 2:11), and not just to the Jews. The "good news" of Christianity has never been that Christ died to save every human being, but that he died to save people "from every tribe and language and people and nation." The greatness of Christ’s atonement is that its effects are unlimited by ethnic and social borders: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). This is the good news, and this is how we should understand the biblical passages saying that Christ died for all. An angel says to Joseph in Matthew 1:21, "[Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." The doctrine of definite atonement takes seriously this verse and many others like it, affirming that Jesus came to actually save and not to make salvation merely possible, and that he came to save his people and not those whom God had not chosen. Thus the redemptive work of Christ consists of an effective and specific atonement. THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST Paul writes that after Christ suffered a time of great humiliation, God exalted him to the highest place: Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death ­ even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Php 2:5-11)

I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:18-23) Thus the Bible teaches that Christ is in a state of exaltation under the Father unequaled by anyone else: For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:27-28)

Romans 14:9 says, "Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." An early Christian confession was, "Jesus is Lord" (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3), and Jesus himself tells his disciples in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." The supremacy of Christ illustrated by the above biblical passages implies the sufficiency of Christ. Paul says in Colossians 1:18 that in everything Christ has "the supremacy," after which he adds, "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" (Colossians 1:19). This "fullness" includes "every spiritual blessing" (Ephesians 1:3) and "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). There is no blemish or lack in him: "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority" (Colossians 2:9-10). The sufficiency of Christ implies that through him we have "everything we need for life and godliness" (2 Peter 1:3), and there is no need to seek other sources of spiritual power and guidance. Indeed, there is no other true source of spiritual power and guidance besides what is available through Christ. Nevertheless, many professing Christians in our day are seeking help from illegitimate sources when the solutions for their problems are readily available through prayer in the name of Jesus and knowledge of the Scripture.

Many people who claim to be Christians nevertheless become involved with occult practices such as astrology, horoscopes, necromancy, and all varieties of divination. But these are forbidden by God: Do not practice divination or sorcery. (Leviticus 19:26) Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:31)

I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. (Leviticus 20:6) A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:27)

Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)

Saul died because he was unfaithful to the LORD; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the LORD. So the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14) On the day of judgment, no astrologer or medium can save his followers from hell, and of course he himself will be condemned:

Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror. All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by. That is all they can do for you ­ these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you. (Isaiah 47:12-15) The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars ­ their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. (Revelation 21:8)

One who seeks spiritual assistance or counsel apart from those sources approved by Scripture becomes a spiritual prostitute, and commits adultery against God. The Bible reserves some of the strongest terms in condemnation against such people. Christians have no business getting involved with extra-biblical spiritual activities, and those who wallow in them make their profession of faith questionable.

Isaiah 8:19 says, "And when they say to you, ’Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?" (NASB). Christians by definition have entrusted all of their lives to God, and therefore the purpose of obtaining guidance is to conform their lives to his will in the first place. Why then should they consult the representatives of Satan on how to order their lives in conformity to the will of God?

Christians must obtain guidance from only the sources approved by Scripture. Of course, one may seek counsel from knowledgeable church leaders, but even their authority and direction are legitimate only to the extent that they are derived from Scripture. Thus in this very real sense, the Scripture alone is sufficient.

People commit spiritual adultery not because they have examined the verbal revelation of God and found it inadequate; rather, they have never taken the effort to gain the wisdom of God on the matter at hand by studying the Scripture. Christ is undoubtedly sufficient for all of life, but the apostle Peter explains that it is by obtaining knowledge about the things of God that we may walk in the provisions that he has given us:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. (2 Peter 1:2-3) This is why the study of theology is the most important human activity. However, because of their slothfulness and wickedness, many people prefer to spend time consulting sources that are forbidden by God. Involvement with occult practices is adequate reason for excommunication; negligence in church discipline only allows such abominations to foster and spread. The sufficiency of Christ in turn implies the exclusivity of Christ. This means that Christ is the only way to salvation, and that Christianity is the only true religion or worldview The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name. (Zechariah 14:9)

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:18)

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5) He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:12)

All other spiritual leaders are unworthy of worship, and those who accept or demand worship are liars and frauds. All non-Christian religions and worldviews are false, including those that retain the name of Christianity without upholding biblical orthodoxy; all of them lead to eternal damnation and endless punishment in hell.

Jesus calls himself "the way" ­ - there are not many ways to God. Jesus calls himself "the truth" ­ truth is not relative or changing. There is only one eternal being who is truth, and the New Testament writers identify Christ as this logos, or the eternal unchanging principle of reason and order in the universe (John 1:1; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:1-3; Hebrews 13:8). Therefore, Jesus calls himself "the life" ­ - all other options lead to everlasting death and torment. No one can reject Jesus Christ who at the same time finds God and life; apart from him there is only despair, death, and damnation.

Jesus says in Matthew 12:30, "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." Any religion or worldview that does not affirm total biblical orthodoxy is anti-Christian. Some religions claim to uplift Jesus Christ, but they admire him only as an example of morality or mystical enlightenment. However, the biblical faith demands the affirmation and worship of the complete and unadulterated Christ. This entails belief in his preexistence and deity, virgin birth, incarnation and humanity, earthly life and ministry, atonement through his substitutionary suffering and death, and his physical resurrection. The Christ of Scripture is God manifested in human flesh. He is fully God and fully man. The apostle John testifies, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). He also gives us a warning in 1 John 4:2-3: This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. The true Christ is the historical Jesus of Nazareth. Paul gives us a summary of the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, placing great emphasis on the historical nature of Christ’s redemptive work:

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

Faith in the historical Jesus and his work of redemption is of "first importance" (1 Corinthians 15:3). The apostle states that it is "by this gospel you are saved," and that we are to "hold firmly" to it. The biblical Christ is not a mystical or ideological figure, but the second person of the Triune God manifested in time and space. His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension were historical events with spiritual significance, and not symbolic or mythological ones. Peter says, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16).

There are a number of false religions in which Christ is presented as little more than an ideological symbol or moral example. At most he is recognized as a true prophet, but not as God the Son. But any religion that does not affirm the person and work of Christ in the biblical and historical sense is of the antichrist. A symbolic Christ who is nothing more than an idea and robbed of his redemptive work performed in history cannot save anyone. A Christ who is not fully God and fully man is not the biblical Christ at all.

True Christianity must uphold the supremacy and exclusivity of Christ. However, the founders of some non-Christian religions had declared themselves the latest prophets from God; they claimed that they superseded the authority of Christ and that they had the authority to add to the biblical revelation. Although some of these who came after Christ each claimed to be the final prophet, others arose and declared the previous ones to be obsolete, that they were now the authoritative voice of God to humanity, and that they were the truly enlightened ones. The student of apologetics or comparative religion should honor Christ by examining the errors and contradictions within these false systems of thought, and thoroughly annihilate their claims to truth. All false religions such as Islam, Mormonism, and Buddhism are easily demonstrated to be foolish and incoherent.

Now, Paul says the following: My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge....For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Colossians 2:2-3; Colossians 1:19) In Christ are "hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Of course, this has to be true if Jesus is the omniscient God. Christ possesses all wisdom and knowledge, and he "has become for us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). No previous prophet could claim to have possessed "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" or to be the incarnation of God. As Hebrews 1:1-3 says: In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

God spoke through the prophets in the past, but now he had spoken through his Son, in whom are "hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." He is also the one who has created and even now sustains the universe. Therefore, the biblical Christ has exhaustive knowledge of all things.

If all wisdom and knowledge are in Christ, then unlike the prophets who went before him, he was the full and final revelation of God to mankind. Since he was the complete expression of God (Hebrews 1:3), there is nothing else that anyone after him may reveal that is not already in Christ. Both the prophets before Christ and the apostles after Christ only proclaimed him as the full revelation of God, and no biblical writer claimed to supersede him. Since Christ is the full expression or revelation of God, there is no one after him who can rightly claim to be his equal or superior, nor may anyone offer "revelations" that contradict, update, or supersede the Christian revelation in Scripture.

It is strange that many of the prophets who claimed to supersede Christ would at the same time attempt to honor him as a true prophet of God. However, this person whom they acknowledge to be from God also said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). Jesus was the perfect and complete revelation of God because he was God himself. How then can there ever be a greater or more current and relevant messenger or revelation?

If one admits that Christianity is true, then he must also confess that all other religions and worldviews are false; otherwise, he would not be really admitting that Christianity is true, since exclusivity is integral to it. If he claims that Christianity is false, then he distances himself from the Christian worldview and assumes another one. This generates a collision of worldviews, giving the Christian an opportunity to totally annihilate the beliefs of his opponent in debate and to make him a public example.

One either believes that Christianity is true, or he believes that it is false. If he believes that Christianity is true, then all other religions and worldviews are false; if he believes that Christianity is false, then he must defeat it in the battlefield of rational argumentation. To claim that Christianity is only partially true or even mostly true is tantamount to saying that Christianity is false, since Christianity itself claims to be wholly true in every aspect and detail.

It is popular to say that there is some truth in every religion, that one should not affirm his own religion to the total exclusion of others, and that one should always respect another’s religion. But this is an act of cowardly compromise. That even some professing Christians consider this a legitimate option reflects their feeble or non-existent commitment to Christ, the lack of proper biblical teaching, and the lack of church discipline.

If a religious worldview is a revelation from God, then no aspect of the system may be false or irrelevant. God does not reveal falsehood, and if he does, it would be impossible for one to distinguish the true from the false. If a given worldview consists of both true and false propositions, one would not be able to distinguish the true from the false on the basis of that worldview itself.

If one distinguishes between the true from the false in a given worldview, it necessarily implies that he is presupposing another worldview as his standard of truth, which he knows or assumes to be wholly correct, by which he is now evaluating the worldview in question. He must assume his standard of truth as wholly correct, since otherwise he would not be able to evaluate whether different aspects of another worldview is true or false. This being the case, he would not be learning anything from the worldview that is under scrutiny, since he has already adopted one that he assumes to be entirely true. For example, one who tests a truth-claim with the "scientific method" presupposes a worldview in which such a method for testing truth-claims is assumed to be reliable. But if the worldview based on which he makes this assumption is not wholly true, then he cannot know whether the scientific method is reliable in the first place. Therefore, a worldview that is only partially true is also a worthless one; it logically collapses into complete epistemological skepticism so that no knowledge is possible at all. The Christian claim is that all of the Bible is true, and if all wisdom and knowledge are in Christ, then anything that is true in other religions and worldviews have been stolen from Christianity. If the non-Christians then claim that such information comes from their own worldview, they have become plagiarists and hypocrites even from a human perspective. But it is much more serious from God’s perspective: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them....For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools. (Romans 1:18-19; Romans 1:21-22)

Paul affirms that all human beings have an innate and inescapable knowledge of the Christian God, but the non-Christians refused to acknowledge him. They did not glorify or thank him as God and creator. Instead, they perverted their innate knowledge and tendencies, resulting in idolatry. Then they credited anything that is true in their system of thought to the idols that they worship. Romans 1:25 says, "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator." This condemnation applies equally to the non-Christian scientists as it does to the Buddhists and Mormons.

Therefore, to say that non-Christian religions and worldviews possess some truth only serves to condemn them, and does nothing to support their credibility or usefulness at all. The recognition that false religions nevertheless have something true to say does not imply that we must respect them, but it only means that we have caught them "red-handed" in their crime of spiritual robbery against God. They have received from God, and yet they deny him.

We are not saying that God reveals himself in a limited way through non-Christian religions while he reveals himself most fully and truly through the Christian religion. Rather, we are saying that God does not reveal himself through any non-Christian religion or worldview at all. Each person is born with an innate knowledge of the Christian God, but in defiance against him, non-Christians suppress this knowledge and construct their own worldviews based on non-Christian premises. However, they cannot completely suppress all traces of Christian truth, and thus we see that all non-Christian religions and worldviews nevertheless borrow Christian principles that are impossible to justify on the basis of non-Christian premises. That is, the Christian principles in their religions and worldviews cannot be deduced from their non-Christian first principles. Therefore, any "truth" in non-Christian religions and worldviews is evidence of deceit and wickedness, and not evidence of genuine divine revelation.

They have set up their "golden calves" and loudly declare, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt" (Exodus 32:4)! However, God has said, "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols" (Isaiah 42:8). Rather than giving the glory due to the God of the Christian Bible, they suppress their knowledge of this true God, and give glory to idols instead. Therefore, adherents to non-Christian religions and worldviews are "without excuse" (Romans 1:20).

God "causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). An idol worshiper fails to give glory to whom glory is due, since he does not receive rain and other provisions from his idol, but from the Christian God. Although God has given him an innate knowledge concerning himself, the person suppresses the truth because of his wickedness (Romans 1:18), and chooses to honor an idol instead (Romans 1:21). Likewise, an atheist receives rain and other provisions from God, but he credits them to natural causes instead. For this reason, the wrath of God is poured out upon all non-Christians.

If Christ possesses all wisdom and knowledge, then the fact that any non-Christian can know 1 + 1 = 2 means that Christ, who is "the true light that gives light to every man" (John 1:9), has given him this knowledge. This knowledge does not originate or reside in his non-Christian religion or worldview, but it is an integral part of the Christian system. If he does not give thanks to the Christian God for this knowledge, then he is committing spiritual and intellectual robbery in failing to give credit to the proper source of his knowledge. On the other hand, Christians receive knowledge freely from the one they worship: "It is because of [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God" (1 Corinthians 1:30). Since Christ has a monopoly on truth, any person who knows anything at all owes his knowledge to Christ, and a failure to worship him and give him thanks is a sin deserving the ultimate punishment.

Therefore, it follows that it is sinful for Christians to say that they can learn anything from non-Christian religions and worldviews. Suppose that a non-Christian religion has within it a piece of true information. From our premise that Christ is the possessor of all wisdom and knowledge, this piece of information must necessarily be a "Christian" truth that this other religion has stolen, and therefore it is first a part of the Christian revelation. Attempting to learn a Christian truth from a non-Christian source is irreverent and foolish. Only the biblical revelation sets forth truth without mixture or distortion. To revisit an aforementioned issue, if a religious system is only partially true but not entirely true, it would be impossible to distinguish the true from the false on the basis of this religion itself. Christians who say that other religions contain some truths are able to recognize these truths for what they are precisely because they have already learned them from the Christian worldview, which they affirm to be entirely true; otherwise, there is no way to tell the true from the false.

Suppose a given system of thought includes the following propositions: (1) X is a man, and (2) X is an accountant. If in reality (1) is true but (2) is false, how will one know to affirm (1) and deny (2), unless he is already acquainted with X? Unless a given worldview A is true in its entirety, there is no way to tell which proposition is true without importing knowledge gained from outside of the system, such as a given worldview B, in which case the system in question (A) would be evaluated by the system from which one has obtained the said imported knowledge (B). But if one has already obtained this knowledge from another system of thought (B), how is he learning from this system in question (A)? He is judging it, not learning from it.

There is nothing to learn from a religion or worldview that is not wholly true. One can only learn from a system of thought if it is true in its entirety, and then one may use the knowledge acquired to evaluate another system that is not wholly true, but not to learn from it. To say that a given non-Christian religion or worldview possesses "some truth" is therefore to condemn it as unfit for belief, and not to praise or honor it at all.

There is nothing true that any non-Christian religion or worldview may teach that is not first part of the Christian system. All true and knowable information is already stated or implied in the Christian worldview; any true information not stated or implied by the biblical revelation is unknowable. To say otherwise would be to deny our basic premise that all wisdom and knowledge are in Christ, in which case we may question whether the one making the denial is a Christian in the first place.

Therefore, I conclude that there is nothing that Christians may learn from non-Christians that is not already included or implied in the Christian worldview, only that the Bible reveals these truths without impurity or mixture, and in a way that is comprehensive and coherent. For me to say that other religions have "some truth" is to insult them ­ I am implying that their prophets are wicked thieves, certainly not worthy of anyone’s trust and respect.

Paul says, "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 3:10). God intends for the church to glorify him by manifesting his wisdom in the context of the proclamation of an exclusive message. He certainly does not intend for the church to praise non-Christian religions and worldviews for the wisdom and knowledge that they have stolen from us, and still less does he intend for the church to affirm the falsehoods in other religions and worldviews as truths. Non-Christian religions and worldviews may contain several true propositions ­ always enough of them to render them culpable, but never enough to make salvation possible. The same criticisms against non-Christian religions apply to worldviews that claim to be non-religious. For example, Christians can learn nothing from the atheistic worldview unless atheism is true in its entirety. The atheist can know nothing at all if not for Christ the logos, who facilitates knowledge and communication among men. There is nothing in the non-Christian worldview that can offer any truth to the Christian that is not already in the Christian worldview. For example, a Christian may obtain a drink of water from an atheist, who has it to offer through collecting rain. But the rain does not come from, and cannot ultimately be explained by, anything inherent in the atheist’s worldview; rather, rain comes from the Christian God. The difference is that the Christian gives thanks to God for the water, but the atheist does not, and in failing to acknowledge the true God who is the ultimate source of rain, the atheist sins and commits his soul to everlasting damnation.

Likewise, a Christian student may learn that 1 + 1 = 2 from an atheist tutor, but this piece of information belongs to Christ, who has all wisdom and knowledge. The atheist is simply teaching the Christian something that is inherent in the Christian worldview, which he has learned from Christ the logos without giving due thanks to God. On the other hand, the Christian acknowledges that all knowledge belongs to Christ, and gives thanks to God for this piece of information. To speak in terms of propositions, all true propositions are in fact Christian propositions ­ they are the property of Christ; therefore, they are much more appropriately and accurately expressed within the context of the Christian worldview. Thus, to say that Christians may in fact learn true knowledge from non-Christians, such as 1 + 1 = 2, does not mean that it is desirable to do so, since some degree of distortion and limitation inevitably results because of the non-Christian presuppositions of the one who teaches.

Even knowledge that is seemingly non-religious in nature is best expressed and taught within an explicitly Christian context. For example, if God is the ruler and planner of history, then a textbook on Western civilizations that fails to mention divine providence is not a good history text at all, since it neglects the very factor that determines all historical events and progress. If what the Christian Scripture says about creation is true, then "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) is a superior explanation to the existence of the universe than any sophisticated system of cosmology that fails to acknowledge him as the first and sustaining cause of all that exists (Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3). Similar things can be said about the fields of economics, literature, music, and even sports.

One who insists on thinking independently from the biblical propositions revealed by God must refute the worldview challenge presented by the Christian system. If all things have been created and are now sustained by the divine logos, Jesus Christ, then thinking itself is without ultimate justification without first presupposing the Christian worldview. Reasoning cannot even be intelligible without the existence of an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and rational mind, from whom we who are made in the image of God and thus patterned after his mind have received the laws of logic and grammar. The non-Christian must show on the basis of his worldview, without borrowing Christian presuppositions, that the laws of logic are not arbitrary rules or mere conventions; otherwise, any argument that he makes may be dismissed as based on arbitrary rules or mere conventions. Failing to overcome this obstacle, the non-Christian cannot even debate the Christian on any topic before presupposing the entire Christian worldview.

Unbelievers often accuse the exclusivity of Christians as indicating a lack of love toward people. However, the Bible teaches that true love "does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:6). Christians are under no obligation to allow non-Christians to define the meaning of divine love for us. The intellectual coward who cannot refute the biblical worldview says that Christians are narrow-minded, hateful, and bigoted. But we reject all non-Christian religions and worldviews because they are false. An "openness" that would accept the lie just as quickly as it assents to the truth betrays a stupid, depraved, and twisted mind, not a sign of intellectual acuity or moral progress. Christians who boldly condemn all non-Christians religions and worldviews as false do so not because they are bigoted, but because they would believe the truth rather than the lie, and because they are not stupid.

Therefore, let us submit to the following apostolic declarations:

If anyone does not love the Lord ­ a curse be on him. Come, O Lord! (1 Corinthians 16:22) But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:8-9) So be it. Let anyone be eternally condemned who advocates a religion or worldview that disagrees with biblical Christianity.

We must insist that only Christianity is true and that all non-Christian religions and worldviews are false, because this belief is an integral and necessary part of biblical Christianity, and those who claim to be Christians do not have the option to reject it. As Christians, we should glory in the exclusive nature of our faith instead of being ashamed of it. The matter is not whether one finds the claim emotionally satisfying, although we should, but whether it is objectively true that Christ, and therefore Christianity, is the sole possessor of truth, and that any so-called truths in other religions and worldviews are nothing more than stolen goods and evidence of their guilt. The Bible itself claims an exclusive status, and no name-calling against the Christian, saying that he is advocating hate and bigotry, can change the truth of this claim. Anyone who rejects the Christian’s claim to exclusivity must be ready to confront the Christian worldview with his own non-Christian worldview. Those professing Christians who oppose the total exclusivity and superiority of Christianity should recognize that they have rejected biblical infallibility, that they have repudiated the authority of Christ, the prophets, and the apostles, and thus they have no biblical grounds from which to call themselves Christians.

If Christianity dares to declare itself as having a monopoly on truth and expect others to comply, then it is only right that it should demonstrate its superiority when assaulted by other worldviews. However, it would be intellectually dishonest and morally despicable for the non-Christian to remain resistant to the Christian worldview, including its claim to exclusivity, after the Christian has triumphed in argumentation. In connection to this, the church in general is at fault for not providing believers with better training in apologetics, so that many of them have succumbed to the cowardly appeal of the unbelievers to practice "tolerance," and thus have ceased to confront the false religions and worldviews embraced by them. Although Christians should be courteous toward unbelievers on a social level, those who are sympathetic to non-Christians on a theological or ideological level commit treason against Christ and his kingdom.

Colossians 2:9-10 says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." If "all the fullness of Deity" is in Jesus Christ, no subsequent prophet can be greater than him, because there is nothing left to be revealed by another prophet that is not already in Christ, and those who claim to do so must be false prophets. Christ is "the head over every power and authority," and no one who comes after him may supersede him. If we "have been given fullness in Christ," who in turn has "all the fullness of the Deity," then there is nothing to learn from non-Christian religions and worldviews. If Christ is not merely a messenger or manifestation of God, but God himself, no prophet may alter, update, contradict, or add to the Christian revelation. Those who do are impostors and liars.

One may think that this type of language is surely too harsh and unkind; however, the Bible speaks of unbelievers as brutes, vipers, dogs, pigs, fools, hypocrites, whitewashed tombs, and sons of the devil. We do not use harsh words out of bitterness, anger, or discourtesy, but as an attempt to give adequate descriptions of the stupidity and depravity of unbelief. In addition, we do not assert that non-Christians must remain as they are. Those of us who are saved "also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). However, "because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions ­ it is by grace you have been saved" (Ephesians 2:4-5). We do not gloat and triumph over the failures of non-Christians because of some superior qualities inherent in ourselves, but "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31). And even now, we can do nothing apart from Christ (John 15:5).

Christians who have professed faith in Christ should understand to whom and to what they have committed themselves. Those who call themselves Christians who at the same time experience great difficulty with the biblical claims to exclusivity should examine themselves to see if they are genuine Christians (2 Corinthians 13:5), or whether they had greatly misunderstood the gospel message, and therefore experienced false conversions. Many people have accepted a diluted and distorted version of Christianity who at the same time would immediately reject an accurate presentation of biblical Christianity.

If they understand the true nature of Christianity as an exclusive religion and worldview, but continue to deny the supremacy and exclusive authority of Christ, thus repudiating the Christian faith, then by what definition are they genuine Christians? In what sense can a person be a Christian who declares that Christ may be only one option among many, and that his own claims to exclusive authority and truth are mistaken (Matthew 28:18; John 14:6)? In what sense can a person be a Christian who knowingly contradicts the apostles Peter and Paul (Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5)? This person falsely calls his faith "Christianity" since it defies biblical statements on a most important topic.

We must confront the indecisive professing Christians within the church, so that they must choose once for all whom they will serve (Joshua 24:15), and cease being double-minded or "between two opinions" (1 Kings 18:21). If Christianity is true, then all non-Christian religions and worldviews are false; if any other religion or worldview is true, then Christianity cannot at the same time be true.

Many Christians readily condemn stealing, adultery, and murder, with their stance seemingly immovable and not subject to compromise. However, they would at the same time encourage a type of non-confrontational dialogue with non-Christian religions and worldviews that betrays an attitude of viewing idolatry as not being as wicked as the sins. This reveals that their ethical standard is in the first place more humanistic than biblical, more man-centered than God-centered. They are horrified by violent crimes, but regard atheism and idolatry with a humanistic kindness and empathy.

However, false worship is a much greater sin than murder or rape. Jesus says that "the first and greatest commandment" is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37-38), while loving our fellow human beings is designated as the second commandment (Matthew 22:39). Therefore, it is against the biblical standard of ethics to bemoan crimes against humanity more than sins against the only true God. My concern is whether Christians consider atheism and idolatry to be the most serious of sins, or whether they may ignore the first four of the Ten Commandments while obeying the rest. I am convinced that the nonchalant and accommodating attitude of many Christians toward the sins of atheism and idolatry fails to reflect the Scripture’s extreme denunciation against it. And to the extent that our thoughts disagree with God’s thoughts, we sin against him by making him out to be a liar.

We must call upon Christians to make up their minds, that if they profess Jesus Christ as Lord, they must permanently give up their idolatrous and syncretistic mindset, and to maintain that the knowledge of salvation is found in the Scripture alone, that God’s redemptive work is appropriated through Christ alone, and that it is applied to the individual by faith alone.

One who rejects the notion that a religion or worldview may be exclusively true is already practicing exclusivity in saying that it is exclusively true that no religion may make exclusive claims. All exclusive religions are to be excluded from acceptance. The appeal to tolerance or to be inclusive in our theology is often an excuse to avoid dealing with the numerous and irreconcilable contradictions between worldviews. The non-Christian should stop being an intellectual coward, face reality, and admit that because of these contradictory claims, not every worldview can be true.

What gives unbelievers the right to be intolerant of our exclusive claims in the first place? If they are truly tolerant, why do they not endure our attacks without fighting back? But they do fight back, and vehemently attack Christianity, but they do not attack the easy targets such as Islam and Buddhism nearly as often, if at all. However, these other religions also make strong exclusive claims. Is it just a case of ignorance in the study of religions, or is it a case of selective prejudice amounting to a global satanic conspiracy against the true faith?

Why do unbelievers focus their efforts on attacking Christianity? A number of things may go on in their twisted and depraved minds, but there are two obvious possibilities. First, only the Christian worldview poses a threat to them from the intellectual point of view. Second, in reality there are only two groups of people in the world ­ Christians and non-Christians (Genesis 3:15). Jesus says, "He who is not with me is against me" (Matthew 12:30). From God’s viewpoint, all non-Christians are on the same side, whether they are atheists, Buddhists, or Mormons. It is ultimately a case of the only truth against a variety of falsehoods, and not a number of worthy worldviews competing for dominance.

There are those who say that intellectual and ideological intolerance results from ignorance; however, these individual themselves reject certain propositions based on what they claim to be knowledge, not ignorance. For example, they reject the idea that the earth is flat because of the knowledge that they claim to have. Therefore, intellectual and ideological intolerance is often a claim to knowledge. We may argue about whether this alleged knowledge is true, but the very act of debate implies that each one considers the others to be wrong, and that each is willingly to expose the errors of the others. On the other hand, tolerance is a mark of ignorance ­ one who does not know what is true or false has no basis from which to reject any idea or belief.

We should never tolerate falsehood, but we should expose and destroy it. Nevertheless, we do not do this through physical violence, but by unrestrained intellectual ruthlessness in rational dialogue and argumentation. As Paul says: The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)

Honesty and courage demand that we promote the clash of worldviews in private and public debate, and decide beforehand that those who cannot withstand intense scrutiny should be abandoned as false. Christianity will be the only one left standing when the dust settles.

Endnotes:

1. John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied; Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1955; p. 11-12.

2. Ibid., p. 11.

3. We have previously established the truth of supralapsarianism as opposed to infralapsarianism.

4. The meaning of "all men" narrows even more when one considers the historical context of the passage. Jesus was speaking to Christians in the first century, saying that they would not have finished evangelizing the cities of Israel before he would come in judgment to destroy Jerusalem in A.D. 70.