If God provided a way for sinners to be rescued, why are people so unhappy about it? I have often heard people rail against Christianity for its claim to exclusivity:
“How can you say Jesus is the only way, when there are millions of people around the world who never heard of Jesus?”
The answer is that it is not me saying it. Jesus said it:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” John 14:6.
Not only did Jesus claim to be the only way, but his followers repeated that claim and related additional claims that set Jesus apart from all other religious figures.
Matthew reports that Jesus said he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, Matthew 5:17.
Mark reports Jesus’s words: “The Son of Man did not come to serve, but to be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Mark 10:45.
Luke reports Jesus saying that he “came to seek and to save the lost” Luke 19:10.
John reports Jesus saying: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” John 3:36.
John writes, “Whoever has the Son, has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life” 1 John 5:11-12.
Paul writes, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus” 1 Timothy 2:5.
Peter’s words are reported by Luke: “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.
Even the Old Testament prophet Micah plays a role, prophesying of a child who will be born in Bethlehem: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” Micah 5:2.
Finally, Isaiah, writing 400 years before Christ, “endorsed” this one who was to come: “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: a virgin will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name, Emmanuel” Isaiah 7:14.
Isaiah goes on: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6.
In spite of the agreement among New Testament writers–and the consistency with Old Testament prophecies–many people, particularly those who follow other religions or no religion, call Jesus a good man and a great teacher–but nothing more. I have personally been told by Jewish people, Muslims, and agnostics that Jesus was “a good man and a great teacher.” That seems to be the accepted phrase.
However, this “good man and great teacher” claimed to be God.
Some will immediately stop there and rattle off a list of reasons why the scripture is too old and too-often manipulated to be trusted. But the Dead Sea scrolls (recently discovered ancient copies of every Old Testament book except Esther) prove that much of the scripture has been preserved perfectly for thousands of years.
Those responsible for copies and translations take the matter seriously—no one is rewriting the text, neither intentionally nor negligently.
And if the Old Testament has proven reliable, there is no reason to keep pushing the notion that the New Testament has been manipulated by each new generation like a message in the “telephone game.” The Biblical text is reliable because those who have been charged with its preservation and translation take the matter extremely seriously. The text is reliable—and in that text, Jesus repeatedly claimed to be God: “I and the Father are one” John 10:30. If Jesus had not made such a claim, he would not have been crucified.
Some skeptics answer this question with more questions: ‘What proof do you have that Jesus was an actual person and that he was actually crucified?’
We can answer those questions with the writings of Josephus, a first-century Jewish historian (who was not a Christian). Although Jesus was crucified a year or two before Josephus was born, the historian who grew up in Jerusalem was convinced of the truth of certain facts about Jesus. In A.D. 93 and 94, Josephus reported as truth the following information:
“Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man … a doer of wonderful works-a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [reported to be] Christ, and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day … and the tribe of Christians, so named for him, are not extinct at this day.”[1]
Few serious scholars question whether Jesus was crucified. The crucifixion is a known, historical fact. My question to the skeptic is, WHY did they crucify this man? The answer is that he said things his Jewish audience considered outrageous blasphemy and a capital crime. And what did Jesus say? He said he was God. That is, Jesus actually said, “I and the Father are one” John 10:30.
A “good man and great teacher” does not go around saying he is God. Jesus either spoke the truth, or He knowingly lied (and died for that lie), or he was mentally ill. As C.S. Lewis pointed out, Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.
The evidence indicates Jesus is the Lord. He is one with the Father. And He really is the only way to Heaven. And because Jesus claimed to be the only way to Heaven, I am compelled to make the same claim.
ΑΩ
[1] The writings of Josephus provide a useful extra-Biblical record of first-century Judaism, early Christianity, and an independent source of information about Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus, and Jesus.
The Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 3, From THE WORKS OF JOSEPHUS, translated by William Whiston, Hendrickson Publishers, 1987. Cited by PBS Frontline at– https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/josephusjesus.html#:~:text=He%20was%20%5Bthe%5D%20Christ%3B,ten%20thousand%20other%20wonderful%20things
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