Jesus Is Both Inclusive and Exclusive  

It is not unusual to hear the word “inclusive” used to describe Jesus these days. It is certainly true that while Jesus lived and ministered on this earth, He included many people whom others in His day refused to have anything to do with. Everyone fell within the scope of His love. He reached out to women, Samaritans, Gentiles, Romans, lepers, servants, and those who were considered immoral. No one was excluded from being a potential member of God’s kingdom in Jesus’ sight.

However, many today are emphasizing the concept of Jesus’ being inclusive as a way to justify accepting people who claim to follow Jesus but who are not submitting to what He says about becoming a true believer. They want us to acknowledge adherents of other religions as being equally in a right relationship with God even though they don’t believe in Jesus as God’s Son who died on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins. They want us to welcome others into the fold of Christ not as fellow repentant sinners, but as those who are proud of their immorality and who insist on others accepting it and even celebrating it.

While Jesus was inclusive in inviting all to come to him, He was also exclusive in the sense that people had to be willing to accept Him and His way of salvation. Here are just a few examples of Jesus’ exclusiveness that many people today ignore or try to explain away.

  From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus preached the message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). It wasn’t a message that “you are acceptable to God just as you are.” Jesus called people to repent – to change; to turn around. They couldn’t be included in His kingdom unless they were willing to acknowledge their sin and submit to God.

Jesus also declared, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). While Jesus loves everyone and reaches out to all, it is only those who are born again through faith in Him and through receiving His Spirit to come to live in their hearts who can know the reality of His kingdom.

Jesus made numerous statements about what an individual needed to do or else “he cannot be my disciple” (see Luke 14:25-33). Additionally, Jesus spoke about the fact that to enter into life and His kingdom was by a narrow gate, and that few people would find it. In contrast, He said, “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it” (Matthew 7:13). Jesus loves everyone and gives them the opportunity to enter into a right relationship with Him, but many refuse to accept it and go the way of destruction. In a sense, Jesus doesn’t exclude them, they choose to exclude themselves.

In His parable about a wedding feast in Matthew 22, Jesus shows how inclusive He is, as the servants are sent out into the highways to invite as many as they found to the feast. Nevertheless, there were those who rejected the invitation and who “were not worthy” to be part of this event. Even someone who came to the feast was kicked out because he didn’t belong there.   

There are many other examples of Jesus revealing the exclusive nature of His kingdom, including His numerous references to everlasting punishment and His declaration that He is the way, the truth and the life.

Don’t be deceived by these twisted notions about Jesus being inclusive. Let’s be thankful Jesus’ love includes faulty people like you and me. However, at the same time His kingdom excludes those who refuse to believe in Him, repent of their sin, and submit to His will.