God shows no partiality (Romans 2:11). If there’s no partiality with God then He should have equal grounds for all mankind to know Him. God took care of this by choosing to leave a testimony of Himself in the heart of all mankind so that humans have no excuse of claiming ignorance of His existence and righteousness (See Romans 1:18-20, and Part 1 of this post). Even so, it does not merely take the knowledge of God’s existence to be saved. Jesus boldly declared of Himself that “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the gate by which we get to God (John 10:9).
We may not all start out with Jesus but the Scriptures teach that irrespective of how or the medium people may try to use to reach God, if they are sincere in their heart, then God Himself will show them the right way – Jesus Christ. Jesus made this remarkable statement in John 7: 16-17: “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. “If anyone is willing to do His (God’s) will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself”. That is, if anyone decides to do God’s will (even as God makes Himself known to all), then when they hear Jesus’ teachings they will know that what Jesus teaches is the truth- exactly what God is saying. So then, not only does God reach out to those who respond to the knowledge of God within them, but He has also designed that those who seek to know Him will know that Jesus is the way to Him when they hear the teachings of Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look at some individuals in the Bible who sincerely sought God but were wrong in their approach, and God pointed them to the right way.
The Bible talks of certain a man of Caesarea named Cornelius, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually (Acts 10:1-2). Cornelius was described as a generous and devout man who feared God and prayed to God continually. Yet he wasn’t saved and would have ended up in hell had he died in that condition! We know he and his household were not saved because Peter, when he was explaining to the brethren why He went to Cornelius’ house said that God called for him to be sent there to declare words to Cornelius by which he and his household will be saved: “And he (Cornelius) reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household” (Acts 11:13-14). If he was already saved God would have had no need sending Peter to preach Jesus to him to get him saved. This is a clear example of a person who decided to respond to the knowledge of God in his heart by following what he thought was the best thing to do, although his approach was not in accordance with the way God has provided. God took knowledge of the sincerity of his heart, and sent an angel, and finally Peter to show him the right way. If God showed Cornelius the right way, He’ll do same for all those who sincerely respond to His call, because there is no favoritism with God (Romans 2:11).
To be continued…
-Kwadwo Omari,
October, 2016.