We Christians believe that the Word of God became human in Jesus and has saved every one by the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection. We also believe that the gift of salvation is available to anyone who shares in the paschal mystery through his/her faith and his/her participation in the sacraments, at least baptism. We are sent into the world to proclaim this mystery and invite people to share in it by becoming Christian by joining the Church. For many centuries the theologians asserted that there is no salvation outside the Church. Even recently a document of the Congregation for Doctrine named ‘The Lord Jesus’ affirmed that Jesus in the only saviour. If we take this affirmation seriously then we have to admit that, though Jesus suffered, died and rose again to make salvation available to all, as a matter of fact, he saves only those who believe in him. In this context the statement ‘Jesus if for all’ seems ambiguous.

But the problem is that what the Church believes today is more complicated than this. The Second Vatican Council in its document The Church in the Modern World declared: “By His incarnation, he, the son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man.” (n.22) After describing the process of salvation, the document continues to say: “All this holds true not for Christians only but also for all men of good will in whose hearts grace is active invisibly. For since Christ dies for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery.” (Ibid.) This means that Jesus is indeed for all, even though some who are saved by him may not even know, let alone acknowledge the fact. This statement does not free us from our duty to proclaim the Good News. But it warns us that God has ways, which we do not know, of achieving the goal of saving every one.

The theologians, however, try to speculate on the ways of God. The Indian Bishops responding to the outline for the Asian Synod said: “In the light of the universal salvific will and design of God, so emphatically affirmed in the New Testament witness, the Indian Christological approach seeks to avoid negative and exclusivistic expressions. Christ is the sacrament, the definitive symbol of God’s salvation for all humanity. This is what the salvific uniqueness and universality of Christ means in the Indian context. That, however, does not mean there cannot be other symbols, valid in their own ways, which the Christian sees as related to the definitive symbol, Jesus Christ. The implication of all this is that for hundreds of millions of our fellow human beings, salvation is seen as being channelled to them not in spite of but through and in their various socio-cultural and religious traditions. We cannot, then, deny a priori a salvific role for these non-Christian religions.” This means that people who are not Christian believers can still be saved by Jesus Christ, though they do not know nor recognize him (in faith), but through other religious symbols. So Jesus is their saviour, though unknown to themselves. And the Church seems to recognize the saving action of Jesus in every human, therefore, we can say that ‘Jesus is for all’, even if all may not be aware of it.

There is, however, some scriptural foundation for this understanding. In the beginning of his Gospel, John speaks of the Word, who was with God and was God. “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people . . . The true light, which enlightens every one, was coming into the world . . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory… From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (Jn 1: 3-4, 9, 14, 16) The Word that became human in Jesus enlightens everyone.

So we can say that ‘Jesus is for all’ even if the majority in the world today may not recognize it. We should not, obviously, impose our belief on others. But this need not stop us from rejoicing and celebrating at Christmas time that the Word who became incarnate in Jesus is indeed for all humans, irrespective caste, class or creed. It is actually another way of saying that the saving God is the God of all

Michael Amaladoss, SJ

The author is the Director of the Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religion, Chennai.