How Many Ways of Salvation Are There?

One of the most distinctive teachings of classical dispensationalism is that there have been different means of salvation down through history. Especially my point here is the teaching that Jews were and are saved by obeying the Mosaic law. Most modern dispensationalists have repudiated that teaching, but it is still taught by heretics like John Hagee. In a newspaper interview, Hagee said, "I believe that every Jewish person who lives in the light of the Torah, which is the word of God, has a relationship with God and will come to redemption," and "I'm not trying to convert the Jewish people to the Christian faith."

That is heresy. It is also wicked, because Hagee avoids explaining the Gospel to people who do not know Jesus. Scripture includes strong warnings against that neglect: "If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand" (Ezekiel 3:18). God considers Hagee to be a murderer of eternal souls!

One might ask, and rightly so, where Scripture indicates that Hagee's teaching is heretical. I would refer him to the Epistle to the Romans, where Paul deals at length with the issue of salvation under the Old Testament. However, I will cite just one verse from Acts: "We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will" (Acts 15:11). The context is the Council of Jerusalem, at which the surviving Apostles and the elders of the Jerusalem-area presbytery met to hear the report of Paul and Barnabas regarding their evangelistic work among the Gentiles. It is Peter's response that we read in verse 11, proclaiming to the council that he expected for himself and his fellow Jews to be saved by the same grace through faith by which the Gentiles were finding salvation.

Scripture does not allow the belief that there is any way of salvation apart from that of Ephesians 2:8-9: "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." This is the only Gospel message that a biblical Christian can declare, whether to Jews or to Gentiles.