An Enormous Issue
Evangelicals are facing an issue of incalculable importance. Phillips was surely understating when he admitted that inclusivism might "become a watershed issue among evangelicals."70 Nash observes that "The acceptance of this biblically unsupported opinion [inclusivism] carries an enormously high theological cost."71 Netland likewise says, "The implications of this question are staggering."72 Richard Ramesh even wonders if evangelicalism can survive inclusivism.73

William Carey once stood and declared that something should be done for the heathen. Though perhaps no one at the time realized it, the two greatest centuries of Christian mission in the history of the world had begun.

Similarly, Vatican II and the evangelical softness which has followed it may mark the end of the parenthesis we call the modern missionary movement. If our Lord delays His return, the twenty-first century may be the first century of the post-missionary era. We dare not forget that Hick is assuring us that inclusivism will certainly "negate the old missionary compulsion."74

Conclusion
Evangelicals have had some difficulty labeling implicit Christian ideas. Some earlier material75 seems to welcome the camel of inclusivism into the evangelical tent. However, as time has gone on, the number of influential evangelicals willing to call implicit Christianity and universalistic inclusivism heresy has grown. The evidence is clearly overwhelming and multiplying. Hopefully, the result will be the wholesale abandonment of error.

Implicit Christianity is an heretical idea. It is unbiblical at its core. It is a Christological error. It is a soteriology driven by rationalism and suspect hermeneutics. It strikes at the vital nerve of missionary endeavor. Once the existence of even one implicit Christian is affirmed, implicit Christianity has moved from heretical thinking to heresy. Holy pagans invariably are going to have to exhibit good works to be saved. Galatianism, the undeniable heresy, will have re-emerged, among evangelicals no less, as universalistic inclusivism.

Endnotes

1. James Davison Hunter, Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 9.

2. Ibid., 36.

3. Ibid., 37.

4 .Ibid., 47.

5. D.A. Carson, The Gagging of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 280.

6. Hunter, Evangelicalism, 47.

7. John Sanders, No Other Name (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), 216.

8. Ronald H. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994), 107.

9. John Hick and Paul F. Knitter, eds., The Myth of Christian Uniqueness (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1987).

10. Paul F. Knitter, No Other Name? (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1989).

11. Evert D. Osburn, "Those Who Have Never Heard: Have They No Hope?" Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 32/3 September 1989, 367.

12. Ibid., 368.

13. Ibid., 372.

14. W. Gary Phillips, "Evangelicals and Pluralism: Current Options" The Evangelical Quarterly 64/3, 1992, 236-237.

15. Ibid., 244.

16. Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1954 ), 149.

17. Roger Nicole, "New Testament Use of the Old," Revelation and the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1958), 43.

17a Augustus H. Strong, Systematic Theology, (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1907), 842.

18. Millard Erickson, The Word Became Flesh (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991), 28-29.

19. David Wright, "The Watershed of Vatican II: Catholic Approaches to Religious Pluralism" One God, One Lord (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1992), 213.

20. Walter M. Abbott, The Documents of Vatican II (New York: Guild Press, 1966), 35.

21. Karl Rahner, Theological Investigations, Vol. 6 (New York: Seabury, 1969), 340-398.

22. Erickson, The Word Became Flesh, 284.

22a Matthew Poole, Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Bible, (McLean, VA: MacDonald Publishing Company, n.d.) Vol. 3, 751

22b Matthew Henry, A Commentary on the Whole Bible, (Iowa Falls, IO:World Bible Publishers, n.d.), Vol. 6, 791

23. Harold Netland, Dissonant Voices (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1993), 265.

24. David Hesselgrave, "The Alliance in the Spotlight" Alliance Life, May 26, 1993, 7.

25. Millard Erickson, "The State of the Question," Through No Fault of Their Own? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991), 28-29.

26. Phillips, "Evangelicals and Pluralism," 244.

27. Clark H. Pinnock, A Wideness in God's Mercy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 168.

28. Clark H. Pinnock, "Acts 4:12-No Other Name under Heaven," Through No Fault of Their Own? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991), 107-115.

29. J. Christy Wilson (Unpublished paper, 1993), 5.

30. Pinnock, Through No Fault of Their Own?, 112.

31. A.W. Tozer, The Waning Authority of Christ in the Church (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1963), 2.

32. Sanders, No Other Name, 274.

33. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 128.

34. Bruce Demarest, General Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1982), 191.

35. Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans; Dayton, OH: Center for Judaic-Christian Studies, 1989).

36. John Sanders, No Other Name (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), 246-247.

37. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 145.

38. Pinnock, A Wideness in God's Mercy; Sanders, No Other Name.

39. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, 73.

40. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 175.

41. John Hick, God & the Universe of Faiths (Rockport, MA: Oneworld Publications, 1993), 143.

42. Hunter, Evangelicalism, 47.

43. bid., 258.

44. Robert M. Bowman, Orthodoxy and Heresy (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1992).

45. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 175.

46. Sanders, No Other Name, 235.

47. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 169.

48. Clark Pinnock, Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical-Liberal Debate (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 367-368.

49. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 170.

50. John Sanders, "Evangelical Responses to Salvation Outside the Church" Christian Scholar's Review xxiv: I, September 1994, 55.

51 .Harold O.J. Brown, Heresies (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1984), 4.

52. Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham.

53. Arthur F. Glasser, "A Review of Our Father Abraham," for Lausanne Committee for Jewish Evangelism, 1991, 7.

54<~>John M. Krumm, Modern Heresies (Greenwich, CT: Seabury Press, 1961), 11.

55. Earl D. Radmacher and Robert D. Prues, eds., Hermeneutics, Inerrancy, and the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984), xii-xiii.

56. Hick, God & the Universe of Faiths, 143.

57. Pinnock, Through No Fault of Their Own?, 107-115.

58. Arnold L. Cook, Remembering Those for Whom No Table Has Yet Been Set (Toronto: The Christian & Missionary Alliance, 1994), 9.

59. Erickson, The Word Became Flesh, 284.

60. Knitter, No Other Name? 172.

61. Sanders, No Other Name, 67.

62. A.B. Simpson, Christ in the Bible Commentary, vol. 1 (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, Inc., 1992), 28.

63. Sanders, No Other Name, 224-225.

64. Pinnock, A Wideness in God's Mercy, 157.

65. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 132.

66. Larry Dixon, The Other Side of the Good News (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992); Richard Ramesh, The Population of Heaven (Chicago: Moody, 1994); Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?

67. Brown, Heresies, 2-3.

68. Rahner, Theological Investigations, 340-398.

69. J. Christy Wilson, Jr. (Unpublished paper, 1993), 11.

70. Phillips, "Evangelicals and Pluralism," 242.

71. Nash, Is Jesus the Only Savior?, 175.

72. Netland, Dissonant Voices, 277.

73. Ramesh, The Population of Heaven, 12.

74. Hick, God & the Universe of Faiths, 143.

75. Malcolm J. McVeigh, "The Fate of Those Who've Never Heard? It Depends." Evangelical Mission Quarterly, October 1985.

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