If you do not believe in Jesus, you will go to hell. Seems sort of arbitrary doesn't it? Faith in Jesus will save you, but another faith will not. That seems a bit weird. I can do all these horrible things and the magic wand of faith will rremove all of those things. I get to go to heaven. Worse yet, God seems to be sending people to hell for not believing in Jesus. It seems out of whack.
I want to say that these misunderstanding are not just the misunderstandings of the unbeliever. They are in fact the misunderstandings of both the believer and the unbeliever.
There are 3 errors here. One, a lack of understanding of faith. Two, lack of understanding on the nature of the atonement. Three, an error in our understanding of the sin of not trusting in Jesus. This last error is related to the first two.
ONE: Faith does not necessarily save. I may have faith in my ability to fly without the assistance of an airplane. I will fall. I may ahve faith in the chair to hold me up, but a leg may break.
Faith is only as good as the object it is placed in. Faith in faith is wishful thinking. Faith in an object is reliance on the object of faith. I have faith in my chair. I sit down and am held up. I am not held up by my faith. Rather, I am held up by my chair. However, I cannot be held up by my chair unless I trust, have faith, in the chair. So when Christians say "saved by faith," they mean (or should mean) faith place you into Jesus, who saves.
Furthermore, the evidence of my trusting is not in my words. I can say, "I trust my chair," but if I do not sit down my actions have betrayed me. The act of sitting down is the evidence of my genuine trust.
TWO: On the cross, the sins of believers were place on Jesus. He took upon Himself the punishment for those sins.
Faith does no dammage to God's justice. Through faith our punishment is carried out. Our sins do not magicly go away. Rather, they are dealt with by our most Holy God.
Conversely, without faith in Jesus our sins remain with us. It must be noted that genuine faith will result in good works, though believers are still able to sin.
THREE: While it is a sin not to trust and to reject Jesus, it is not the only sin. People go to hell because of sin, in general, which is rebellion to God. God would not hold someone accountable of not believing in Jesus, if they had no knowledge of Jesus.
Truth of the matter is that we don't want God, regardless of how much knowledge we have. God is clearly revealed in nature, but many ignore Him.
And those who believe in what they've received should not be considered unbelievers. But when truth comes concerning Jesus, they will receive it.
As we have seen, faith is not a magic wand or an arbitrary criterion of God. It is placing ourselves into Jesus' hands. Faith is only as good as the object of faith.
When we say "saved by faith," we mean Jesus saves. We are His because we trust in Him. The faith of the unbeliever is unsastisfactory. This is not to denegrate the unbeliever below the believer. Both are the same in hostility to God in their natural states. No, the faith is unsatisfactory because the object of their faith is unsatisfactory. I know not if I denegrate them, their faith, or the object of their faith. I'm just stating facts. Along with the hymnist we would sing:
On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
So, as we have seen, it is not that God is being arbitrary, allowing one faith to be the magic amulte while all others fail. No, the reality is no other faiths save. Only Jesus takes away sin. Most other faiths teach man must be good enough to be acceptible to God. Trust in yourself to do well. This is truly sinking sand.
Flee your sinking sand! And place your feet on the Rock. The Rock of Christ will support you and hold you. And you will taste the sweetness of God through His mercy.