The Honest Gospel Truth



Pope Francis made this astonishing statement; he said: 'Many think differently, feel differently, seeking God or meeting God in different ways. In this crowd, in this range of religions, there is only one certainty that we have for all: we are all children of God.'

Is it true that people of different religions are ‘seeking or meeting God in different ways’? The Lord Jesus speaks only of himself as ‘the Way’ and affirmed that ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6). Similarly the Apostle Paul said that ‘there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim 2:5); while the Apostle Peter said that ‘there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).

Is it true that ‘we are all children of God’? Are Jews, Buddhists and Muslims children of God? The Jews who did not believe in Jesus claimed that they had ‘one Father, even God.’ Yet Jesus corrected them, ‘You are of your father the devil’ (John 8:41,44). The Apostle Paul reminded the believers in Ephesus that before their conversion to Christ they had ‘no hope and without God in the world’ (Eph 2:12). It is only through faith in Christ that we become children of God, as the Scripture promises, ‘to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God’ (John 1:12).

Telling non-Christians that they are meeting God in their own way and that they are already children of God is both untrue and misleading! The physician should not tell his seriously ill patient that all is well with him. He should rather tell him the sad truth about his condition, while also offering the cure that he needs.

The world desperately needs to hear the honest gospel truth. Human religions are utterly futile. Apart from Christ people are lost in sin and alienated from the true and living God. There is just one hope - we can be reconciled to God and adopted as his children through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other way.