One very common objection to the claims of Christianity, perhaps the most frequent objection of all, is its claim to the exclusivity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. “Why,” we are asked, “must you Christians be so narrow in your claim that Christ is the only way to God?” But, it was not our idea. We’re merely repeating what God has made abundantly clear in the Bible in numerous places. Another such reference to cite is that written to the Hebrews in chapter 2. Verse 9 states, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.”
First, we are told why Christ assumed a status below angels. It was so He could undergo death, a human death that angelic spirit beings could not experience. This was the major purpose of the incarnation of Christ…in order that He could die. Secondly, He was crowned with glory and honor, no doubt as a rewarding consequence of His willing substitutionary death. Thirdly, we are given the rationale, or the basis, behind it all. It was all prompted by the grace of God. It was because God is just that Christ was placed upon that Cross, and it was also because God is gracious that Christ was placed upon the Cross. This justice, coupled with God’s love, constitutes the motivating factor for God to act as He did, and for Christ to cooperate as He did.
And what was the consequence? What was the payoff? Christ, in His obedience to His Father, tasted death for all mankind. He experienced death, underwent death, partook of death, and He did so for us all. Who else do you know that did that? Who else do you know that was commissioned to do that? Who else do you know that was sinless and qualified to do that? And who, apart from Christ, do you know that ever claimed to have done that?
This is the principle reason why Christ alone is set forth as the exclusive Redeemer of the entirety of mankind. It is insisted upon simply because it is true. “This is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son has life, and He who has not the Son of God has not life, but the wrath of God abides on Him.” John states it in his first epistle, chapter 5. Christians have no alternative but to affirm that Jesus Christ and He alone is man’s Savior from sin. How, it may be asked, can Christians be faulted or criticized for accepting from Jesus Christ what no one else even claims to offer…forgiveness, peace, pardon, eternal life? And this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. Do you have the Son? If you have the Son, you also have the life He alone gives.
CC 10-12
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