In several of my past blog posts, I have been building a case for why I believe that some sort of theory of Christian inclusivism is necessary if Christians want to believe everything the Bible says about which individuals will be eternally saved.

As a reminder, Christian inclusivism is the idea that although Christianity is the only true religion/faith, people who were not Christians and who never heard the gospel can still be eternally saved, because God truly wants to save all people.

However, despite this, not everyone will be saved, and so universalism isn't a Biblical option. Inclusivism also denies that all religions lead to the same God or the same heaven, and thus, it is not the same as religious pluralism.

I believe there are three main possibilities for how God will judge people who never heard the gospel (or who died before they had the ability to understand and personally respond to the gospel) that could lead to at least some of those people being eternally saved:

1. Each person has an encounter with God/Jesus after death, giving individuals who have not previously had a chance to accept or reject the gospel the opportunity to make their final decision regarding God's offer of salvation then.
2. God judges people based on what their earthly actions revealed about their hearts being oriented either toward God or away from God.
3. God judges people based on how they responded to the truths about God that they did have access to during their lives through nature, or maybe, through otherwise false religions.

I have already examined the first option in my previous post.

In the rest of this post, I will explore the second possibility in more detail, and make a case for why it could be a compelling, Biblical option.

Before that, though, I need to explain that this second possibility is certainly not the same as saying people can be good enough to be worthy of heaven.

Will God Accept All 'Good' People Into Heaven?

If you stop people on the street here in North America, and probably also Europe, and ask them whether they think they will go to heaven when they die, probably many people would say yes. But if you ask them why they think this, I suspect that most would say it is because they are a 'good' person.

If you ask them what being a 'good' person means, they'll probably say it means they haven't murdered anyone, they haven't been arrested for any (major) crimes, they don't cheat on their taxes or on their spouses, they go to church, they try to be kind and helpful to others, and so on.

Especially self-aware individuals might admit that they aren't perfect and have made some mistakes in life. But even they might argue that on the whole, they've done more good than bad in their lives, and so God should be happy enough with their efforts to let them into heaven.

Unfortunately, even some Christians endorse such an idea.

For example, a few years ago, Pope Francis supposedly said that even atheists can go to heaven.

This occurred when the Pope greeted a child who was grieving the loss of his father who was an atheist. The child hugged the Pope and cried while sharing that he was worried his father might be in hell.

As a result, the Pope told the child that his father was a "good man" because his father had his four children baptized, and so God was proud of his father.

Then Pope Francis said, "God has the heart of a father, your father was a good man, he is in heaven with Him, be sure. God has a father's heart and would God ever abandon a non-believing father who baptized his children?"1

This is an extremely disappointing statement to be made by someone who is supposedly Christ's most well-known representative on earth, and who should be the most theologically-informed Christian on the planet. But as seen in my previous post on other religions, such a statement seems to be in line with a number of Pope Francis's other statements which are theologically questionable.

Unfortunately, it appears that over one third of senior Christian pastors in the United States also believe that "a person who is generally good, or does enough good things for others, can earn a place in Heaven"!2

I'm completely shocked by this.

According to the same survey, associate pastors, teaching pastors, and children's pastors tended to have even fewer Biblical beliefs than senior pastors did, although there were no specific statistics given on how they would answer that question. But I presume the numbers would be at least the same as for the senior pastors, if not worse.

So that's really quite scary.

I would very much like to sit down and ask these pastors how they could believe that anyone could be good enough to earn a place in heaven, because it's clearly not what is taught in the Bible.

A Serious Problem: The Bible Says No One Is Good Enough

The first problem with the claim that it's possible for someone to be good enough to earn a place in heaven is that it's unclear how many good works or what kind of good works are necessary to be considered a 'good' person.

If individuals keep the Ten Commandments, would they be considered to be 'good' people and worthy of eternal salvation? Or is that too tough, and so a lesser standard is needed, like, say, just trying to be kind and nice to most people, most of the time?

And then, if individuals commit any particularly 'bad' sins, does that outweigh all the rest of the 'good' they might have done in their lives and automatically condemn them to hell?

Fortunately, the Bible clearly answers these questions. According to God's standards, no one is good enough to be worthy of eternal life:

• "No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one" (Romans 3:10-12, NLT).
• "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment" (Isaiah 64:6, NASB).
• "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way" (Isaiah 53:6, NRSVA).
• "If we say we have not sinned, we make him [God] a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:10).
• "No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19).

In fact, the only human who has ever been 'good' enough for God was Jesus Christ, because he is the only person who never sinned (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15) and that's because Jesus is God incarnate (John 10:30).

So if God will judge everyone according to God's standard of perfection, then the only human who would qualify for heaven is Jesus.

As a result, because all the rest of us are all sinners, good works will never be enough for us to earn eternal life:

• "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his [God's] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).
• "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
• "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5).
• "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood" (Romans 3:23-25, NLT).

These verses above make it clear that no good works could ever make a sinner worthy of heaven. Instead, everyone who will ever be saved is saved only because they believe that Jesus died for their sins, so that they could have eternal life.

An Even More Serious Problem: Why Did Jesus Die If People Can Earn Heaven?

But perhaps the most serious theological problem with the theory that people can get to heaven simply by being 'good people' is that it would mean there is no need for Jesus to have died on the cross!

When Jesus was praying to God the Father before he was arrested, Jesus asked if there were any way it might be possible for him to avoid going through with his upcoming crucifixion (Mark 14:36, Matthew 26:39-42).

Jesus was so anxious about it that he sweat blood—a rare medical condition called, which is occasionally experienced during extreme stress.3

I think this is enough evidence to say that if there were any other way that God could have solved the problem of all humans being sinners without Jesus having to die for the sins of the world on the cross (1 John 2:2, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 1 Peter 2:24, Hebrews 10:12), then God would have chosen that option.

If there were any way for us to earn our own way into heaven by being good enough or doing enough good works, then Jesus's death would have been completely unnecessary, and I believe he wouldn't have gone through with it.

And we know that Jesus's death wasn't an accident or a senseless tragedy, because Jesus said that he could have prevented his own arrest by calling down angels to protect himself (Matthew 26:53-54). Therefore, Jesus willingly went to the cross because it was the only way to make humanity's salvation possible.

So the Bible is clear that there is absolutely no way to be saved except by having faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior (John 14:6, John 3:16-18, Acts 4:12).

Yet this brings us back to the main question of the post. Since not everyone in all of history has been able to know about Jesus and so believe in him, then how can those people be saved?

The first possibility I explored was whether some people might have a chance to believe in Jesus after death. There do seem to be some situations where this possibility seems necessary. But as I noted in that post, there are also some weaknesses with that theory.

So this brings us to the second possibility listed at the start of this post.

In this next section, I'll make a case for why it could be possible for God to judge people for eternal salvation based on their good works, yet without those works being seen as the reason these people are saved.

Possibility 2: Good Works Reveal People's Faith in God

Despite the point made in the previous section that the only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus's death for our sins, there are some Bible verses which seem to say that God will judge people based on their works.

These verses also suggest that if people do what is right, it will lead to heavenly rewards and/or eternal life. For example:

• "He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality" (Romans 2:6-11).
• "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:34-35).
• "Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29).
• "Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done" (Revelation 20:11-13).

However, since the other verses we examined earlier clearly deny the possibility that anyone can do enough good works to earn their way into heaven, how do we make sense of these verses?

The most pessimistic interpretation would say that the only reason God will judge people's works is to prove that everyone is a sinner who needs Jesus as their savior.

So in this view, everyone would end up on the 'unworthy' side of the above judgments, and the 'good' outcome would be only a theoretical possibility that is never actually fulfilled by anyone but Jesus (e.g. see again Luke 18:19).

This would be one way to make these verses fully compatible with the earlier verses that there is no way to be eternally saved besides having faith that Jesus died for our sins.

But I don't think we should be so pessimistic, because there is an interesting hint that maybe during this divine judgment of people's works, God might be merciful to them:

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:14-16)

Did you catch that? It seems that at the final judgment some people may actually be excused for their sins, depending on what was going on in their heart and/or conscience at the time.

No details are given regarding the criteria God will use to determine what sorts of sins might be excused in this way. But this verse wouldn't be in the Bible if it weren't true, since all Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:16), and God never lies (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18).

I also don't think we should assume that everyone who will be judged at the final judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) will be automatically condemned to hell (despite what the most pessimistic Bible interpreters say).

That's because even though people's works will be judged, as per Revelation 20:11-13, John goes on to say "And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15, NLT).

So what really matters isn't ultimately people's works—it's whether their names are written in the Book of Life.

The Book of Life is mentioned elsewhere in the Bible, such as Philippians 4:3 and Revelation 3:5. In these contexts, it seems that the people whose names are written in it (or not blotted out from it) are people who have faith in God/Jesus.

Therefore, one attempt to solve this conundrum of how God will judge people by their works, but people are saved only by faith in Jesus, would be to argue that people's works reveal whether they have truly had faith in Jesus.

But again, what about those who never heard about Jesus? One passage suggests there may be a way for people's names to be written in the Book of Life even though they do not seem to have known of Jesus during their earthly lives.

In Matthew 25, Jesus said,

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?" And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." (Matthew 25:31-40)

Alternatively, for those who never did these good works, Jesus will say,

"Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." (Matthew 25:41)

The end result is "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46).

Now it's true that Matthew 25 is a different judgment than Revelation 20, because Matthew 25 occurs at the end of the Tribulation rather than at the end of the Millennial Kingdom like Revelation 20.4

However, it wouldn't be fair for God to judge the group of Tribulation survivors for eternal life or death by using a different standard than he will use to judge many other people at the final judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), which will include people who never heard about Jesus.

So in order to reconcile this passage of Scripture with other Bible verses which clearly say that only those who have faith in Jesus will be eternally saved (e.g. John 3:16-18, John 11:25-26), and with the verses that say no one can do enough good works to be saved (as seen earlier), then one potential solution could be to say that everyone who has faith in Jesus will do these sorts of good works.

Or conversely, according to that interpretation, if individuals are not doing enough of these sort of good works, it could imply that they don't really have faith in Jesus.

Such an interpretation might also imply that people who who did these good works but didn't know who Jesus was could still be saved because their works demonstrate some sort of implicit faith in Jesus or God.5

If so, then this could potentially be a way for people who never specifically heard about Jesus or God to still be saved.

God would judge their works, and those who did enough good works or some types of good works would be regarded as effectively having had faith in Jesus, even though they didn't know about him during their earthly lives.

However, there are several potential problems with this interpretation that must be examined before we accepted it as a viable theory.

Problem 1: How Many Good Works Are Needed To Prove Faith?

This theory that good works can prove whether a person has faith in God has a similar problem to the theory that good works on their own can earn eternal salvation. That is: how many good works and what sort of good works do individuals need to do to prove that they truly have faith?

In one place, Jesus said,

If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded. (Matthew 10:41-42, NLT)

Does this mean that as long as someone does one good deed as small as offering someone a cup of water, it's enough to demonstrate his or her faith in God and guarantee that he or she will be eternally saved and rewarded?

(After all, people can't be eternally annihilated while simultaneously receiving eternal heavenly rewards.)

So, if only one small good work is the minimum requirement for demonstrating one's faith in God, then we might imagine that most people would meet this requirement at some point in their lives.

But we need to be careful about what works we say are 'good'.

Remember that Jesus said that even tax collectors (i.e. people who were considered to be traitors and thieves) love those who love them (Matthew 5:46). And parents give good things to their children (Matthew 7:11) regardless of whether the parents are believers in God or not. However, in these instances, Jesus doesn't seem to think these actions are particularly praiseworthy.

Jonathan Edwards explains this by arguing that loving others only because they are our friends or family, or because we benefit from their love in some way, is actually selfish because it is not truly loving others for their own sake. Therefore, it shouldn't be seen as truly virtuous.6

By extension, these forms of love shouldn't be seen as a good indicator of a person's faith.

And most likely, Christians who claim that good works are necessary to prove that someone's faith is genuine would want to set the bar a bit higher than simply loving our friends and family, or giving a single cup of cold water to someone.

But then we're back to the same problem as at the start: where is the list that specifies exactly what kind of good works or how many good works must be done to prove that someone truly has faith in God?

This brings us to the second problem.

Problem 2: Where Is The Assurance of Salvation?

Unfortunately, it's common for Christians to claim that the only way for individuals to know that they are really saved is for them to look at their own lives and see if their good works show evidence that they really do believe in Jesus.7

Yet that ends up throwing people onto that awful treadmill of constant performance in order to have assurance that they are truly eternally saved.

For example, just read this poor guy's story of how much stress he was under when he tried to rely on good works to prove to himself that he was saved.8

I can personally say that I was told to follow this approach for many years in the past, and I also discovered it only leads to constant stress. When I felt like I was doing well, then it led to pride. When I wasn't doing well, it led to despair, depression, and fear that I might end up going to hell.

So either way, it doesn't lead to anything good. It also certainly doesn't lead to peace or joy, which should be the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

Never mind that the idea that we have to constantly keep doing good works in order to keep or prove our eternal salvation is contrary to a number of very clear Bible verses that show we are eternally saved the moment we first believe in Jesus, such as:

In him [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

I make a longer argument and bring up more verses to argue that it is possible for Christians to have assurance of their personal eternal salvation the moment we believe in Jesus in my post here.

So however we relate good works and faith, we should never say that people have to keep doing good works in order to prove that their faith is genuine or to have assurance of their eternal salvation.

Problem 3: Good Works Aren't the Same As Believing in Jesus

Another problem is that elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus warns that doing good works is not the same as believing in him!

Jesus warns that at the final judgment,

On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" And then will I declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matthew 7:22-23)

So that's kind of confusing then, isn't it? In Matthew 25, Jesus is apparently judging people's good works in regard to their eternal salvation, but in this passage here in Matthew 7, these other apparently 'good' works don't count?

And we also know that elsewhere in Scripture, only one 'work' is necessary to be saved:

People asked Jesus, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (John 6:28-29).

After all, the thief on the cross certainly didn't have time to perform any good works after he believed in Jesus, and Jesus still told him "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).

Therefore, these two verses would again mean that ultimately only faith in Christ is what matters for eternal salvation.

But then we're back to the initial problem: what about people who never had a chance to hear about Jesus during their earthly lives?

A Possible Solution: What If A Person Loves Love?

So in the end, it appears that the Biblical evidence makes it difficult to determine exactly what actions could count as a demonstration of a person's faith, and which actions don't.

There also seem to be a number of conflicting verses regarding the relationship between belief in God/Jesus and good works, and how both of these are related to a person having eternal life.

Now you might be tempted to say that this is a contradiction in the Bible, and throw up your hands and stop reading this post.

Before you do, I want to reassure you that this is not a contradiction.

Once again, remember that the Bible was fully inspired by the Holy Spirit who is God and never lies (2 Peter 1:21, 2 Timothy 3:16, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). So we can't say that some of these verses we've seen in this post are wrong and others are right. They must all be true.

So how can that be possible?

I think there may be a way for people who never heard the gospel to be judged by their works as a way of demonstrating whether their hearts are oriented toward God or away from God, which is effectively the same as having faith in Jesus.

As I've examined in a different post, there are some interesting verses that make connections between our love for Jesus/God and our obedience to him. I'll recap some of these here:

• Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command you" (John 15:14).
• Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15).
• "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" (1 John 5:3).

So what does God command? There are many commandments in Scripture, but they can all be summed up as:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40, see also parallels in Mark 12:29-31, Luke 10:26-28)

So we might say that even if people don't know about Jesus/God, but they still value love as demonstrated by how they try to do what is loving, then in a way, they are still loving God, because God is Love (1 John 4:8).

And since ultimately, heaven will be a world of love between all saved people, holy angels, and the Triune God,9 then anyone who loves Love would be welcome there, because loving Love is loving God.

Yet because the human heart is sinful, (Jeremiah 17:9, Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3, Genesis 8:21, Job 25:4), anyone who loves Love would only do so because they are responding to the Holy Spirit's work in their hearts, who has been drawing them toward God/Love (John 6:44-45, John 12:32, John 1:9). See more about this in my post here.

However, if individuals have been drawn to love Love by the work of the Holy Spirit, then this love will show up in their actions when they try to act in loving ways, or in their consciences when they feel guilt over how they have not acted in loving ways.

Conversely, if someone does apparently 'good' works without loving Love, then their works are useless to save them or earn eternal rewards:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

Thus, I think that this connection between good works, love, and God, could be the basis for a Biblically-sound theory of inclusivism which makes salvation open to all people, in a way that doesn't downplay the need for Jesus to die for our sins and for every person to believe in Jesus in order to have eternal life.

Here's a short outline of my theory, which I want to go into more detail about in a future post:

1. At the final judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), everyone who did not have a chance to know about or believe in Jesus during their lifetimes will have their works and consciences judged by Jesus himself (Romans 2:14-16, Acts 17:30-31).
2. BUT, is not these people's works that save them or make them worthy of heaven, since all people are sinners who are predisposed to acting in ways that are unloving, and if we have lived long enough, we will all have personally acted in unloving ways at times.
3. Those who have loved Love during their earthly lives, will, once they meet Jesus face to face and have any remaining misconceptions about God cleared up, also love Jesus, because God is Love, and Jesus is Love incarnate.
4. Anyone who truly loves Love will also agree with Jesus's negative assessment of their unloving actions. They will agree that God's penalty for sin is just, and that they are personally worthy of eternal death (Romans 6:23).
5. BUT, those who love Jesus and agree that their sins are worthy of eternal death will love Jesus even more once they hear about how he died for their sins so they can have eternal life (John 3:16). Then, they will believe in Jesus, and so will have their names written into or not blotted out of the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5, Revelation 20:15), and will be eternally saved.
6. If a person is eternally saved, then God will reward whatever good actions were done out of love.

Now, I think points 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 of my theory outlined above have some decent Biblical support, based on the verses I've mentioned in this post.

Point 5 is also partly proven, because there are many verses which clearly say that say that a specific belief in Jesus Christ is necessary for eternal salvation (John 3:18, John 3:36, and 2 Corinthians 4:3-4).

The only part that is speculative is my suggestion that after death, after each person's works are judged and shown to be unworthy of heaven and deserving of eternal destruction, each person gets a final chance to hear the gospel and accept Jesus as their eternal Lord and Savior.

However, based on my previous post, I don't think such an opportunity is so far-fetched.

And if we trust that God really does want everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9), then I don't see why he wouldn't give everyone every possible opportunity to believe in Jesus, even if it comes at the final judgment.

Therefore, in the end, everyone who is eternally saved will have believed in Jesus, and it will be true that,

There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12, NLT)

So if you haven't personally believed in Jesus yet, I would highly recommend it. His offer of eternal life is totally free, and once you believe, you're guaranteed to be eternally saved.

Conclusion

I hope my post has shown that there does seem to be a way to reconcile apparently-conflicting verses regarding how people will be eternally saved.

It's not our works that save us, because we're all sinners. That's why Jesus had to die for us, and there is no other way to be eternally saved but to believe in him. Yet at the same time, our works will be judged in order to determine our heavenly rewards.

As I've argued here, another potential purpose of the final judgment could be as a way for God to determine the orientation of people's hearts who never heard the gospel, as a precursor for giving the people whose actions and consciences have demonstrated that they love Love a chance to hear the gospel and accept Jesus as their Savior.

In this way, all the above verses I mentioned in this post can be simultaneously true, without conflicting, and without throwing people onto a treadmill of constant performance in order to maintain or prove our faith, or think that we can earn our way into heaven by being 'good' enough.

In upcoming posts in this series on inclusivism, I still plan to address option number 3, and show why although it might have some potential, I think it is inferior to this second possibility I've put forward in this post.

I also plan to give a more detailed version of my argument that I outlined in this post, and explain why evangelism and becoming a Christian in this life is still important. Stay tuned!

Footnotes:

• 1. Domenico Agasso Jr., "A child cries for the death of his father. The Pope, 'he was a good man, he is with God'", La Stampa, Vatican Insider, April 16, 2018.
• 2. Ian M. Gatti, "Third of senior pastors believe 'good people' can earn their way to heaven: survey", The Christian Post, Sept. 3, 2022. The survey was done by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University, and a .pdf of the results be found here
• 3. Valencia Higuera, "Hematidrosis: Is Sweating Blood Real?", Healthline.com, March 14, 2017.
• 4. John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom: A Basic Text in Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1959), 271, 285-288.
• 5. "The works of mercy and compassion of these Gentiles toward Christ will demonstrate that they are believers. Their deeds wll evidence the righteous character of their regenerated nature (v 27; 1 John 3:10)". Hal M. Haller Jr., "Matthew", in The Grace New Testament Commentary Vol. 1, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 121. However, an alternative reading is that the reason everyone who is eternally saved at the Matthew 25 judgment also did good works is because they are all believers in Jesus who lived during the Tribulation, who did good works to care for the persecuted Jews during this time. It is argued that the reason there are only two groups of people at this judgment (believers who did good works, and non-believers who didn't do good works) is because God allowed all believers who didn't do good works to be killed by one of the judgments during the Tribulation (John Clayes, "Matthew 25:31-46: Salvation by Works?", Grace Evangelical Society, September 1, 2017.)
• 6. Jonathan Edwards, "Dissertation II: The Nature of True Virtue", in Works of Jonathan Edwards Online Vol. 8, Ethical Writings, edited by Paul Ramsey (Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University, 2008), 555-556, 579, 583-584. He says this is so because if we only love our friends/family but not others, it will actually lead us to being opposed to others when there is a conflict between others' good and our family/friends' good (584). E.g. we can imagine how in a desperate situation, someone might murder another person in order to provide food for their own child.
• 7. "In this book I have tried to show that God wants us to know that we are secure with Him, just as we want our beloved to know they are secure with us. That assurance is not found by remembering a prayer that you prayed, however, but by continuing in the posture of repentance and faith that you began at your conversion. Jesus said that those who repent and believe will be saved. Repentance and faith are postures you begin in moment but maintain for a lifetime. Those who persist in that posture can be assured that they are saved, and their lives will bear spiritual fruits that further prove their regeneration." J. D. Greear, Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart: How To Know For Sure You Are Saved (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2013), 109. Elsewhere, Greear says "Perhaps you have only undergone some religious ritual like 'asking Jesus into your heart,' without ever really repenting and believing. The lack of change in your life proves you have not experienced him, and these doubts are God's way of waking you up to bring you to a living faith" (Greear, 110-111). Obviously, I think Greear is confused and is saying two different things at the same time, and I wouldn't recommend his book. For a more 'scholarly' book that argues that good works are an essential component of true faith, see Thomas Schreiner, Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification, The Five Solas Series, ed. Matthew Barrett (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015), 191-206, but again, I can't recommend it.
• 8. Paul Carpenter, "Assurance by Works: My Road to Ruin", Grace Evangelical Society Blog, January 1, 2016.
• 9. Jonathan Edwards, "Heaven Is A World of Love", The Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 8, ed. Paul Ramsey (Jonathan Edwards Center: Yale University, 2008), 366-397.