The inclusive model holds that Jesus Christ is the normative expression of God’s will for all people. The problem is that many people have never known Christ. What role has the God of love for them? Is Christian faith offered to everyone? Some Christians believe in predestination so that only a few are chosen. Christianity has always been missionary, sometimes overly zealous, as in the Crusades and the Inquisition. What about those who have never heard of Jesus Christ? The Catholic Council of Trent (1545-1563) in the 16th century talked about a baptism of desire. You will be saved by Jesus without knowing him. Salvation is fully found in Jesus, but offered to everyone in all genuine religions who live the good life, who sincerely seek God, moved by grace, and strive by their deeds to do his will as they know it. Sometimes we call them like Karl Rahner (1904-1984) “anonymous Christians.”
anonymous Christians
Cyrus does not know that Yahweh is helping him (Isa 45:4-45:6)
“For the sake
Of my servant Jacob,
For the sake
Of Israel my chosen one,
I call you by your name.
I surname you,
Even though you do not know me.
I am Yahweh.
There is no other.
Besides me
There is no god.
I arm you,
Even though you do not know me.
Thus they might know,
From the rising of the sun,
As well as from the west,
That there is none besides me.
I am Yahweh.
There is no other.”
Second Isaiah explains how Yahweh, who is all powerful, was helping Cyrus. Yahweh was doing this for the sake of Jacob and Israel. Even though Cyrus is not aware that Yahweh was helping and arming him, Yahweh has named him in particular. Yahweh was doing this, so that all people would know that there was no god besides him. Thus from the east to the west, they would know that Yahweh, and he alone, was responsible for the exploits of Cyrus. This is a rather large claim, much like the 20th century anonymous Christians, who did not know they were Christians.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 