Jesus the ChristMany believe there are multiple ways to God, often claiming that they if they are a “good person” they will get to heaven. This idea raises a lot of questions that are not so easy to answer:

What standard do we use to determine if we have been “good enough”?

How are differences in each person’s idea of being “good” reconciled when they conflict?

Who defines what is just, or fair, or equitable?

Are we the ones to determine all of this as if we are our own gods?

If we are gods unto ourselves, what if some determine that their idea of being good entails brutality, ruthlessness, or even murder to take or have whatever they want as their own god unto themselves?

How can anyone be “good” if there is no fixed standard for all to abide by?

This idea of being “good” is based on a self-centered human idea that allows us to determine our Creator’s acceptance. Whether we realize it or not, this whole idea that somehow we can determine if we are “good enough” or decide our own path shows our arrogance in judging the Creator. This leads to the ultimate question of what is the way to God? There is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ. Here is why Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, is the only way to God.

  • Adam and Eve sinned, and in doing so we are all born into sin–, we are imperfect.
  • God set the standard for sin as any trespass or breaking of God’s law, and the curse of sin is death.
  • God allowed for animal sacrifice to cover up sin for a time, and to delay our death sentence, but it would never remove sin or its curse of death.
  • Jesus came, and living a sinless life became the ultimate sacrifice to eliminate the curse of death from sin once and for all.
  • Jesus overcame the grave and death to prove he has overcome the curse of death and was the only way to God Almighty.

No other alternative removes sin and reconciles one to God. We are all sinners in need of Salvation and the only answer is in Jesus Christ.

WHY Jesus is the ONLY way to God and there is no other!

God Almighty gave a simple instruction to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with the consequences of their disobedience resulting in them knowing sin and subjecting them to experiencing death.

“From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” Genesis 3:2-3

Because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God’s instruction, they brought sin and death into all of creation. None of us is perfect, every human being throughout all of history (with the exception of Jesus) is a sinner, who is born into sin, and in need of reconciliation to God.

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned— for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not counted against anyone when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the violation committed by Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. Romans 5:12-14

Because of the pronouncement of a death sentence for sin, a life had to be given to cover those sins. This is the “curse of death” for having committed sin. This is where the Old Testament Jewish practice of animal sacrifice started. This was also an image of what was and pointed to Jesus as the Savior who redeems us from the curse of death for our sins. Animals can never serve as a full substitute for the original sin of Adam and Eve, or for our continued sin as human beings. Only a sinless but fully human substitute would do.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Hebrews 9:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” Galations 3:13

Because animals were not a sufficient substitute of the death sentence that Adam and Eve brought upon all of humanity, God provided a one time and permanent alternative. That alternative was through Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life, and freely paid for our death sentence with his own sinless life. In being the perfect substitute for humanity’s sinful existence, he was able to restore a relationship with God Almighty.

For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

As part of the proof that Jesus completed the full and complete substitution for our sin, and eliminated the need for animal sacrifices, he rose from the grave on the third day. Jesus resurrection from the dead demonstrated that he had overcome the curse of death that Adam and Eve’s sin had brought into creation. This is why the Bible teaches that you must believe God raised him from the dead. It is part of accepting that Jesus was the perfect substitute to overcome the curse of death. Nature itself shows us that resurrection from the dead is possible. We see it all the time with the planting of seeds that are completely dry and “dead” yet produce new life when planted and watered.

[I]f you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:9-10. But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own… So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;… it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam (Jesus) became a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42, 44-45 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable… For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:50, 53-57

To be saved we must repent of our sins (or turn away as best we can) and believe in Jesus. Jesus Christ alone is the only way to Salvation and to reconciliation of our relationship with God Almighty. There is no other way because no one can live a perfect, sinless life, and Jesus Christ is the only answer.

Jesus said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. 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. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16.

If you think that somehow you are without sin then you have made yourself equal to God. The idea that you are without sin, or are flawless and perfect, condemns you because you have lied to yourself. After all, in your entire life have you ever failed to do something good? The Bile teaches that for those who know to do good and do not do it, that is sin (James 4:17). Are you flawlessly “good” and have never done anything wrong, or failed to do that which you knew was good or right?

If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1:10

Concluding Thoughts

I can’t speak for God, however, I will provide my personal opinion on a couple of issues. If Christianity were fake and Jesus is not the savior, why not simply claim that everything was finished with the cross? Why make Christianity hard to believe (from our human perspective) that the Christ actually overcame death and the grave by coming back from the dead? Why claim Jesus was the human incarnation of God come in the flesh and born to a virgin? Why go through the painful gruesome death of a crucifixion?

It would have been so much easier to claim that God was just “out there” and sent a half mortal half god tributary kind of like Greek Mythology and the gods who toy with humanity. It would have been so much easier to accept and believe if the Christ were a nation conquering epic hero rather than a mere carpenter sent to die a brutal Roman death. It would have been so easy to accept that he were just some prophet, or a good man, as the claim is of Islam’s Mohammed. It would have been so much easier to simply have a set of rules and formulas, dos and don’ts rather than a mandate that you MUST believe.

Why all of these hard to accept claims from our mortal human perspective? Because these are critical claims to show that Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, did actually live a blameless life with no sin and was the perfect, complete, and one time only substitute for our death sentence. That requires faith, that requires you to believe!