[W]ide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.…[N]arrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
—Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14—
Fundamentally, our Lord’s message was Himself. He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He himself is that Gospel. He did not come merely to give bread; He said, “I am the bread.” He did not come merely to shed light; He said, “I am the light.” He did not come merely to show the door; He said, “I am the door.” He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said, “I am the shepherd.” He did not come merely to point the way; He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
—J. Sidlow Baxter—
Equipping Members of the Next Generation of Christians to Defend Their Faith and to Embrace a Biblical Worldview, Part 6
You can find links to all the articles in this series here.
It is popular today to think of each of the different religions that vie for adherents—Christianity among them—as being just one of numerous ways to God. Is this really the case? Logic tells us that if a truth claim conflicts directly with another truth claim, then
- both of them can be wrong or
- one can be right and the other wrong—
but
- but both of them cannot be right.
This is called the law of non-contradiction. It may seem noble and magnanimous to refrain from saying anyone is wrong, but are the good feelings engendered by such an approach really worth the risk, especially when we’re talking about knowing God?
Far too many people today go with their feelings. In attempting to discern truth from error, however, we need to use our heads—sometimes despite what our hearts tell us. Many people are fond of calling Jesus a great teacher but not God. In this post I’d like to present a reasonable case that Jesus either is
- God and the only means by which a person can know God—and, consequently, the greatest of teachers in all of history, or
- a false teacher who is unworthy of any following at all.
Who Is Jesus?
I believe one of the reasons people often think of Jesus as merely a great teacher and just one of many ways to God is that they fail to understand, not only how Jesus is unique, but also how His teachings are unique. The Bible tells us that Jesus was and is
- both God and man (John 1:1-4,10-14; Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Tim. 2:5),
- sinless—innocent before God (Isa. 53:9; 2 Cor. 5:20-21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; 1 John 3:5), and
- the source of life
Here’s the reality. Jesus didn’t primarily teach people how they ought to live, although His instructions on ethics and morality (see, for example, Matt. 5:1-48) clearly are important. Jesus’ teaching ministry centered on who He was. He taught that those looking for forgiveness and eternal life needed to come to Him, not follow a list of rules and guidelines for living.
Well, someone might say, wasn’t it arrogant of Jesus to focus on Himself so much? Not if He was who He claimed to be! Scripture says He was God and, without ceasing to be God, became a man and revealed truth about God, man, sin, life, death, and eternity. He
spoke of God’s coming kingdom (see Matt. 4:17; 10:7). He claimed to be the Bread of life; the Light of the world; the Door for the sheep; the Good Shepherd; the Resurrection and the Life; the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and the true Vine (see John 6:35; 8:12; 10:7,11,14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1,5). He healed people (see Matt. 4:23) and even raised certain people from the dead (see Mark 5:21-24,35-43; Luke 7:11-17; John 11:1-44). He declared that He, the “Son of Man,” was “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8; Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5). On one occasion when He claimed to forgive sins and was opposed, He proved that He, “the Son of Man,” had “authority on earth to forgive sins” by enabling a man who had been confined to a stretcher to rise from his mat, pick it up, and walk out (Matt. 9:1-8; see also Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:17-26). People were amazed at Jesus’ teaching, for He taught as one who had authority, and not as the scribes (see Matt. 7:28-29). But He was forcefully opposed by the religious authorities of His day, so much so that they sought to kill Him, and they succeeded! He was crucified as a criminal between two real criminals, even though He Himself had done nothing wrong (see Luke 23:32-33). His disciples deserted Him (see Matt. 26:55-56). He died, and He was buried (see Luke 23:46,50-53). It appeared that His death would be the end of everything He’d preached and advocated.
Even so, appearances often mislead, and on Sunday morning after Jesus had died on Friday, He returned to life. Both His followers and His enemies were amazed (see John 20:1-29; Matt. 28:11-15). With His death and resurrection, Jesus proved He was and is Lord over life and death (see Phil. 2:5-11).
Why Jesus Died
The information we have shared about Jesus may be a lot to take in. A pressing question about Jesus’ ministry is this: Why did He die? Especially since He was sinless, He shouldn’t have had to die, right? To help us understand the reason for Jesus’ death, let’s focus in on a passage we cited above, 1 Timothy 2:5:
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
The job of a mediator is to stand, so to speak, with one foot in one realm and the other foot in another—and bring the two together, making it possible for each side to have access to the other that otherwise would have been impossible to attain. In other words, a mediator is a bridge joining two distant locations and providing access from one side to the other.
- As the Son of God, Jesus was and is God, the Second Person of the triune Godhead. Jesus has eternal access to God the Father. The problem from God’s perspective is that while God is loving and yearns for human beings to have fellowship with Him, He also is holy and must judge sin. He cannot abide fellowship with sinful man unless and until the penalty for man’s sin has been paid. The solution Jesus provides is that He pays that penalty. Dying as eternal God, Jesus died an eternal death, making it possible for God to have intimate fellowship with humanity, His highest creation, forever.
- As a human being, Jesus stood in the place of sinful humanity when He died on the cross, shouldering alone the punishment for human offenses against God. Each individual human being is created by God, accountable to God, and a sinner—and therein lies the problem from man’s perspective. As a sinner, each person is guilty before a Holy God and deserving of spiritual death—which is eternal separation from God. The solution Jesus provides—dying as both an innocent human substitute and a divine eternal being for people who are guilty—makes forgiveness from God, and consequently fellowship with God, accessible to undeserving sinners.
Jesus Brings the Two Together
Put another way, we can say that Jesus’ having paid the penalty for humanity’s sins means that He makes it possible for a person’s sin-debt before God to be divinely marked “Paid in Full.” Jesus’ death doesn’t automatically mean everyone has his or her debt cancelled but that God is able to extend the offer of debt-cancellation to everyone. Those who come to God on His conditions are blessed to have God Himself cancel their debts. Because Jesus—who was alive and totally innocent, died for sinners; sinners, who otherwise would remain spiritually dead, can come to Christ and partake of His life. Ravi Zacharias put it well. He said, “Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.”1
Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.
—Ravi Zacharias—
One Way Out
When we understand what the Bible teaches
- about who Jesus is,
- about the holy and perfect character of God, and
- about human sinfulness and accountability to God,
we understand that without Jesus, we as human beings are stuck. More accurately, within ourselves we are in a totally hopeless condition before God. We cannot pay the debt we owe Him.
Without Jesus, we as human beings are, within ourselves, in a totally hopeless condition before God. We cannot pay the debt we owe Him.
Our situation is similar to that2 of the son of a close friend of Czar Nicholas 1 in pre-Communist Russia. This young man had been put in charge of the finances used to pay the wages of military personnel. Unfortunately, he acquired the habit of gambling, and his losses mounted—even to such an extent he began taking money from the treasury over which he’d been put in charge.
The man had raided government accounts for his own benefit for some time; then one day he heard the news that an auditor was coming through to examine the books! Realizing he’d be found out, the young man calculated what he’d taken, what few resources he had left, and the massive amount of money he owed. He knew he could not pay his debt, and he resolved to write a note explaining everything and to shoot himself at midnight. After recording his misdeeds and the amount he owed, he wrote at the bottom of his note these poignant words:
A great debt; who can pay?
Then, as he waited for the fateful hour when he would end it all, he drifted off into a fitful sleep.
That very night, Czar Nicholas himself made his way through the facility where the young man was sleeping. Nicholas saw him, the open books, and the note—and he realized all that had transpired. He considered awakening the lad and having him arrested and prosecuted, but in a flash he was overcome with a sense of mercy and good will. Nicholas took the pen in his own hand and wrote just one word at the bottom of the young man’s note. Then he slipped quietly away.
As sunrise came and light began streaming through the window, the man who’d been charged with managing the military payroll awoke suddenly and realized he’d overslept. He grabbed the revolver and was about to pull the trigger to end his own life, but then he noticed the additional word at the end of his note. Underneath his own question, “A great debt; who can pay?” Czar Nicholas had signed his own name—Nicholas.
Could it really be? Could the czar really have seen all, yet still be willing to pay the massive debt? Wide awake at this point, the guilty man checked the signature on the note against what he knew to be the czar’s own signature in the government files. Yes, it indeed was the czar’s own signature! Nicholas did know all, yet he was willing to forgive! The evidence was right there in front of him! Note that Nicholas wouldn’t simply overlook the offense, but essentially offered to pay the debt himself!
Let’s not miss this critical point. This young man, who was undeniably guilty and without excuse, had just one way out of the pit he’d dug for himself. Do we wonder if he, with that one way available, even considered the possibility of another way? Why should he have?
- The way out was sufficient; no other way could be or would be.
- No other way was necessary.
- No other way was available.
- No other way was possible.
- No other way would make any sense at all.
Coming to God on His Conditions
This scenario parallels the path to fellowship with God that sinful human beings have been afforded in Jesus Christ. As a sinner before a holy God, man must plead guilty. He needs a Savior.
- As the only God-man and as one who is without sin, Jesus and Jesus alone is qualified to pay the penalty for human sin. When He was executed on the cross, He paid that penalty, and His death was fully adequate to meet God’s requirement.
- Also, because Jesus is sufficient to save all who come to Him on God’s conditions, no other savior is necessary.
- No other savior is available.
- No other savior even is possible.
- Finally, no other savior is reasonable. It makes complete sense, not only that Jesus is the Savior, but also that He is the one and only way to God.
It also makes sense, therefore, that Jesus would teach that the way to God was through Himself rather than through an individual’s adherence to a list of ethical teachings. If Jesus was wrong about who He was, then He certainly wasn’t a great teacher, but
- a liar or
- a truly insane individual.
The only other alternative is that He spoke truthfully about Himself and that He was and is who He claimed to be—God, and the only way to God.
Like the beneficiary of Czar Nicholas’s willingness to forgive a guilty young man’s debt and pay it himself, we should express our own sorrow and regret to God for our misdeeds and be grateful that He willingly sent His Son to pay the eternal debt we could not pay ourselves.
Thankfully, there is one way to God in and through Jesus. The question isn’t why God provided only one way of access to Himself, but why He provided Jesus at all.
The question isn’t why God provided only one way of access to Himself, but why He provided Jesus at all.
The answer to that question is that God is a God of limitless and unconditional love! Let us freely receive that love, as well as God’s only Son, who demonstrated divine love in His life, His death, His resurrection, and His invitations to us to come to Him and receive eternal life.
Copyright © 2018 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Related article: Why Jesus Is the Only Way to God, and Why Truth Claims to the Contrary Are False
This article is part 12 of a series on contending for absolute truth.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture has been taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Notes:
1Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000], 219).
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