Week Eleven: Is Christ the Only Savior?

Is Christ the Only Savior?

There are a number of ways to answer this question.  Obviously the first and most concise answer is simply to say "yes."

After all, that is what the Bible teaches.  Acts 4:12 is one of the clearest statements given. Having been imprisoned overnight for "proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead," Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, jumped right back into action the next day by boldly saying to the rulers and elders of the people:

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which they must be saved."

The problem comes in when some say, "Yes, I agree that salvation is only through Christ and I also believe that Christ will save everyone, at least in the end."

But universal salvation can't be read into this passage and is also denied elsewhere. In fact, this statement of Peter given in Acts 4:12 calls attention to the necessity of saving faith by adding that that there is "no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."  John  3:18 says,"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

I have been studying the second half of Acts 19 in preparation for a Sunday sermon. This text relates "a great disturbance" that arose in Ephesus "about the Way."   This is the third time in Acts that the Christian faith and life has been spoken of as "the Way"  (9:2; 19;9; 19:23).  Again, not "a way," but "the way" (the article "the" is used in the Greek).

That very description sounds rather uncompromising, doesn't it?  It's a reminder that Christianity is a way of life, not just an empty profession of Christ. The name reflects the fact that others regarded the Christian life as "the Way."

Not only is Christ the only way of salvation, but to trust in Christ is to follow "the Way."