I just finished reading The Unexpected Journey: Conversations with People Who Turned from Other Beliefs to Jesus
by Thom Rainer. This was both an enjoyable and educational read. He has 13 chapters telling the testimonies of people from widely divergent backgrounds who came to faith in Christ, and in the final chapter he draws some applications to the lives of believers today. I highly recommend this book, but won’t spoil it by getting too detailed about the contents. It is a fun read.
One of the things that struck me was how many of these people did not understand very much about what Jesus did for them on the cross. They just turned from their false god to Jesus. And this is much like other personal testimonies I have heard recently from former Buddhists who have come to Christ (I’m currently in a predominantly Buddhist country). They certainly didn’t understand substitutionary atonement. They just turned to Jesus as Lord.
As I thought about this it reminded me of this blog post I read recently, which discusses the question that has haunted many readers of the classic Pilgrims Progress over the years. The question is, “When did Christian get saved?” It is somewhat confusing, because Christian asks Evangelist “Whither must I fly?” Evangelist directs Christian to the Wicket Gate, or to Christ, and not to the cross. But later we see Christian losing his heavy burden at the Cross. Jim Orrick, professor of literature and culture at Boyce College (Louisville) teaches a course on The Pilgrims Progress, and has concluded that Christian gets saved at the Wicket Gate, and loses his burden of shame (gets assurance of salvation) at the cross. You should read the entire explanation, but he ends with this:
the third error my students sometimes make, they are confused about the proper object of saving faith.
“Are you saying that someone can be saved without the cross?” a concerned student asks.
“No,” I answer, “No one can be saved apart from what Jesus accomplished on the cross, but the Bible proclaims that a person gets saved when he receives Christ, and the Bible does not say that a person gets saved through believing that Jesus died for him. Christ himself is the proper object of saving faith, not some part of his work.”
This is a reflective moment for most, because in these days, virtually everyone has been told that if he will believe that Jesus died for him, he will be saved, but I repeat: this is not found in the Bible. A person is saved not when he believes in right doctrine (substitutionary, penal atonement, in this case) but a person is saved when he believes in the right person, namely Christ. So the object of saving faith is not a doctrine but a person. Christ himself is the treasure chest of salvation. Receive him, and you receive all that is in him. The doctrine of substitutionary, penal atonement is an indispensable, essential component of the gospel, but it is not the whole gospel. How many Christians understood this crucial doctrine when they first received Christ? Nearly none! So how could they have been saved? Because, in spite of having underdeveloped or even mistaken ideas about the nature of the atonement, all who receive Christ the risen Lord as Lord and Savior are saved.