Some theologians have argued that God works redemptively within other religions—that is, that God brings them to fulfillment in Jesus Christ just as he has done so for Old Testament Judaism and the family of Abraham. Such sentiment has led scholars to affirm other world religions as legitimate avenues of salvation and worship.
Yet this sentiment fails to account for the uniqueness of Israel’s relationship with God, according to the Bible. Several biblical passages stand out that undercut the idea that God works through other religious traditions in ways similar to how he worked through the Jewish religion to bring about its ultimate fulfillment through the salvific work of Christ.
For one, Psalm 147 highlights the unique relationship that God maintained with the family of Abraham, whom he chose out of all the nations of the world to be the vehicle of his salvific plan and promises. The psalm states, “He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules” (Ps 147:19–20). No other nation (with its accompanying religious tradition) received the instruction that God gave to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They alone received his word, statutes, and rules. To them alone God spoke his promises and instruction.
The religious history of Israel is thus unique; no other religious tradition can lay claim to the redemptive promises of God which are ultimately fulfilled in Jesus.
Deuteronomy 4:5–8 further underscores the unique relationship that God maintained with Israel. In this passage, Moses declares, “See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”
Again, the implication here is that the history of God’s dealings with Israel was unique. God was not engaging with other nations and their religious traditions in a like manner. Rather, God had chosen the family of Abraham to be the unique vehicle of his plan to redeem all nations (Gen 12:1–3). It was through this family that all other nations would ultimately be blessed. In other words, the nations would find salvation not in their own religious traditions but through the particular redemptive agenda of God as it played out in the history of Abraham’s family. These passages thus contradict theologies of religion that view the many religions of the world as analogous or equivalent to the Old Testament Jewish tradition—which served as a precursor to Christ and was ultimately fulfilled in him. God has neither spoken through nor sanctioned the religions of other nations; rather, he calls all nations to forsake their gods and be joined to him alone through faith in Jesus Christ—the offspring of Abraham (Gal 3).
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