One of, if not the clearest criteria in the Bible for admission to what is now called heaven and hell is our response to those least well off:
41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' 44 "They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' 45 "He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' 46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Source: Matthew 25:41-46
That would be prioritarian.
This is contrary to popular assumption, that Christian faith alone is required.
“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone”
Souce: James 2:24
For completeness, there are further criteria for salvation that may not necessarily be connected with effective altruism:
- Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). And, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5). And “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
- Romans 10:9 affirms, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ (note that Lord does not necessarily translate to God) and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved". Jesus also warns, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father” (Matthew 7:21). Salvation is not secured by a one time event but by a continuing life of faith. Jesus said, “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13),
- The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, writes: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” Likewise, Revelation 21:8 offers a sobering list of those who persist in grave sin without repentance: “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. In Romans 14:23 (ESV) Paul teachers “For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin”.
Additional to the above, there are a number of practices which are contested. For example Catholicism teaches that the sacrament of the eucharist is ordinarily necessary for salvation whereas a number of Protestant traditions consider it idolatry.
There are also a number of a passages that are less literally clear to me as criteria for salvation. As in where Jesus says nobody comes to the father except through him.
It should be noted that where I say required, there are exceptions. There are instances in the Bible where Jesus indicates a person is saved without them having met aforementioned criteria.
Thanks for this! I agree the NT puts severe moral weight on care for the poor. Matthew 25 should make any “faith” that never expresses itself in works of mercy look suspect.
Where I think your post is slightly theologically dangerous is in treating salvation a bit like a checklist of criteria humans can meet. The NT is equally clear that none of us meets God’s standard: “None is righteous… no one seeks for God” (Rom 3:10–12), and Jesus’ demand is perfection (Matt 5:48). On that basis, no one is saved.
That’s why the cross matters: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Salvation is by grace, received through faith, “not a result of works” (Eph 2:8–9). Jesus’ core call is “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15); “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Repentance is turning from self-rule toward God's will, and when it’s real it produces fruit (like service to the poor).
So in Matthew 25 the point isn’t “earn salvation by helping the poor,” but that lack of mercy can reveal a life where one claims to be a follower of God but is actually untouched by repentance and grace. Works don’t save, but the absence of transformed living exposes false faith.
P.S. clarifications, since these terms carry baggage:
By “repentance,” I mean a genuine turning away from what is wrong and toward what is good. In Christian terms, it’s a real choice, though one Christians think is enabled by grace. If that turn is real, it shows up in changed direction over time. If you “turned” but never moved, it’s fair to question whether you turned at all.
By “God,” and "God's will" I mean the God Christians claim is most clearly revealed in Jesus Christ, not a capricious or vengeful deity, but one who wills perfect love and justice. The Christian story ends with the defeat of death and suffering (Rev 21:4). That vision overlaps in important ways with many effective altruist concerns about reducing suffering and caring for the vulnerable, even if the underlying metaphysics differ.