Solus Christus
Why are bible believing Christians so adamant about Jesus being the one and only way to obtain a perfect, permanent relationship with God the Father? In a world torn by religious strife and hatred isn’t it prudent to share Jesus as one of many ways to God? Wouldn’t it be more humble to admit that none of us can really know the mind of God and therefore back up from the proclamation of Jesus and Jesus alone? And wouldn’t it be a whole lot easier to have a faith that respects and accepts the truth claims of others?
While I admit that it would seem a lot easier to proclaim a Jesus who is just one among equals it would not be either prudent or humble. And aside from all of that, proclaiming a Jesus who merely stands among other religious leaders who shared and modeled a way to God is quite impossible. Why? Because there is no way that we can disconnect the Jesus of the new testament from God’s long promised savior spoken of throughout the old testament. Though they may not realize it those who wish to share a modified Jesus with the world actually participate in the complete undercutting of both the old and new testaments.
Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and the second Person in the Trinity cannot be understood apart from God’s eternal plan to save a people from Himself through the One who is the seed of Eve, the descendent of Abraham and the fruit of the virgin’s womb. Ripping Jesus from that context and placing Him as just one more in a long line of religious leaders who had a bit more special insight into the divine rips the thread that binds the old and new testaments together with the consequence that the major theme of scripture crumbles into nonsense.
Why does the way of salvation run straight through the person and work of Jesus, Jesus alone, and Jesus always? To put it succinctly Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the point, plot, subject, substance, main theme, focus and culmination of scripture, history, salvation and life. Jesus enforces and reinforces the universal truth that God determines how we approach and relate to Him. And that is a significant yet often overlooked aspect of God’s character and nature. One cannot read through the old testament and come away believing that the living God has a casual or open policy concerning His worship, the forgiveness of sin and who and what pleases Him. Nor can one read through the scriptures without recognizing that God is moving history forward to the point where He will unveil His salvation in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If Jesus is not the one and only way to a right relationship with the Covenant Lord then who is the descendent of the woman spoken of in Gen. 3:15? Remember I’m writing this to those who hold that the scriptures are the word of God and yet question the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. With that in mind is there one who will fully and finally answer Lamech’s lament found in Gen. 5:29? Who is the descendent of Abraham spoken of in Gen. 12:3? And what blessing does he bring to all of the family groups of the world? And if Jesus isn’t the only way to the living God then why did He declare that Abraham rejoiced to see His time, that the men of Sodom would have repented if they had witnessed His miracles, and that He was the actual stairway between heaven and earth? Think about that for a moment. In the book of human beginnings there is reference after reference after reference to the person and work of Jesus Christ and we haven’t the time nor space to detail how all the other old testament scriptures speak of Him.
But there is one more thing about Genesis that we must take into account. Genesis records the fall of man into sin and God’s subsequent response which is to extend grace and enact the plan of salvation that would culminate in the person and work of Christ. And within Genesis we see the beginning of the system of animal sacrifice that would become so prominent throughout the rest of the old testament. It was through this system that God taught mankind how to approach Him as well as how we could continue to live in His world without facing His full judgment. Not only Abel but the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob built altars and sacrificed to their Covenant Lord. What began in the times of Genesis was codified when God brought His people out of Egypt and settled them in their own land. Thus animal sacrifice became an important and integrated aspect of Hebrew life marked each year by the Day of Atonement (see Lev. 16). Now here’s the thing. It was through animal sacrifice and only such sacrifices that God’s people worshiped and remained in a right relationship with Him. Without such sacrifice there is absolutely no assurance that anyone has God’s favor at all, for as the writer of Hebrews declared ‘without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin’. (see Heb. 9:22).
The person and work of Jesus Christ therefore either presents the believing Christian with a tremendous opportunity or an unsolvable dilemma. Either Christ and Christ alone offered an acceptable blood sacrifice to the Covenant Lord thus dealing once and for all with the sin of His people or He did not. The problem is no amount of Christ’s teaching or example could take the place of a sacrifice needed to satisfy God’s anger against sin. For that matter no other religious figure no matter how sincere or pious could remove God’s anger against our sin through his or her teaching or example. Either Christ and Christ alone is the one way to God because His death and blood alone atoned for our sin or there is no way to God. For there is no way that God will accept my good works, desire to follow Christ’s example or adherence to His teaching as full and final payment for my disobedience. Either Christ is the one and only way to a right relationship with the living God or we as a human race are lost and that hopelessly so.
For Christ, His Church and the Truth
Pastor lance