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Can Inclusivism be Supported by the OT?

Can inclusivism be supported from the Old Testament? This is the question Todd Borger answered in the January issue of Credo Magazine, “In Christ Alone.” Todd Borger (Ph.D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Todd served with the International Mission Board from 2003 to 2009 and has been teaching at Southeastern Seminary since 2009. Here is the introduction to his article,

The inclusiveness of the gospel is really one option among several that have been debated among evangelicals over the past few decades, most vocally by its proponents Clark Pinnock and John Sanders. Inclusivism is one aspect of a multi-plex attack at the orthodox position concerning the exclusivity of the gospel. The other attacks take the form of an evangelical universalism espoused by Jan Bonda in The One Purpose of God and Neal Punt in Unconditional Good News. Also, Gabriel Fackre espouses another position that he calls divine perseverance, but which others call post-mortem evangelism. It is the doctrine that every individual receives a call to repentance and faith either before or after they die. A presentation of his view is contained in the volume What About Those Who Have Never Heard?

Although I am going to restrict my discussion to the use of the OT by inclusivists like John Sanders, the other doctrines—universalism and divine perseverance—are not unrelated and many of the same texts are used by each of the different camps. The reason for the duplication is relatively transparent as each of the three mentioned groups are attempting to broaden the application of God’s salvific grace by appealing either to the effectiveness of an implicit and unconscious faith in Jesus Christ (inclusivism), to an opportunity for the unevangelized to repent after hearing a post-mortem preaching of the gospel (divine perseverance), or to a belief that will ultimately save all individuals (universalism). Despite the variations in each of the three teachings, there are several similarities in their divergence from orthodoxy.

The OT does not provide the basis of the inclusivists’ argument. Sanders and the others principally draw from the NT as well as theological and philosophical discussions . They use the OT largely to provide ancillary support of their general argument. Thus, the texts mentioned in this article will not solve the debate one way or another, but instead will hopefully provide a framework for understanding how inclusivists use the OT in their argument.

Read the rest of Todd’s article today!

The January issue argues for the exclusivity of the gospel, especially in light of the movement known as inclusivism. This issue will seek to answer questions like: Can those who have never heard the gospel of Christ be saved? Will everyone be saved in the end or will some spend an eternity in hell? Must someone have explicit faith in Christ to be saved? Contributors include David Wells, Robert Peterson, Michael Horton, Gerald Bray, Todd Miles, Todd Borger, Ardel Caneday, Nathan Finn, Trevin Wax, Michael Reeves, and many others.

To view the magazine as a PDF Click Here

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