Acts 4:12 - JESUS: The Only Way!
Acts 4:12 (NCV) Jesus is the only One who can save people. His
name is the only power in the world that has been given to save
people. We must be saved through him.
John 14:6 (KJV) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me;
Isaiah 43:11 (KJV) I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there
is no saviour.
Jesus is the only source of salvation, the only one able to
forgive sins and provide new spiritual life. [Victor Bible Reader's
Companion]
In receiving the word, we receive Christ. . . . As you receive
the word in faith, it will give you power to obey. As you give heed
to the light you have, greater light will come. You are building on
God's word, and your character will be built after the similitude of
the character of Christ. MB148-150
Many people react negatively to the fact that there is no other
name than that of Jesus to call on for salvation. Yet this is not
something the church decided; it is the specific teaching of Jesus himself
(John 14:6). If God designated Jesus to be the Savior of the world, no
one else can be his equal. Christians are to be open-minded on many
issues, but not on how we are saved from sin. No other religious teacher
could die for our sins; no other religious teacher came to earth as
God's only Son; no other religious teacher rose from the dead. Our
focus should be on Jesus, whom God offered as the way to have an
eternal relationship with himself. [Life Application SB]
Is Jesus The Only Way To God?
Inevitably there will be people who will challenge your new
faith by saying, "How can Jesus be the only way to God? I believe that
all religions lead to God. We all get to God by different roads."
Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that "there is
salvation in no one else" is not something Peter made up; it was a
teaching of Jesus himself. Jesus said, "I am the way.... No one can come
to the Father except through me" (John 14:6, May 24). This was not
arrogance; it was a truthful statement that only Jesus could fulfill the
Father's required punishment for sin - and hence, conquer sin itself.
Jesus came as the only perfect, sinless human to ever live, and
he took the punishment for sin. No other religious teacher could
die for our sins; no other religious teacher came to earth as God's
only Son; no other religious teacher rose from the dead. Only one
road takes you to God; only one road guarantees forgiveness of sin
and everlasting life that road is Jesus himself. [The One Year Bible
for New Believers re Acts 4:12]
Those Who Never Hear About Jesus
How could a loving God send someone to hell when that person
never heard the Good News of Jesus? In fact, says Paul, in creation
God has revealed himself plainly to all people. Also, everyone has
an inner sense of what God requires. All people are wired for a
personal relationship with God, and if they seek him they will find him.
No one will go to hell simply because he or she missed out. God
watches over every individual, knowing the number of hairs on every
head. He reveals himself and touches lives, but people must choose to
respond appropriately to whatever understanding they have.
God could have kept humans in ignorance about himself, but he
chose to reveal himself in nature, through the Scriptures, and in
Jesus Christ. Those who've been given greater revelation have a
greater responsibility to respond to it, but no one has been left
completely in the dark. Because God has made certain facts about himself
plain, people will someday have to give an account before God of why
they chose to ignore his existence and his character. [The One Year
Bible for New Believers re Rom. 1:18-20]
Romans 1:18-20 (NLT) But God shows his anger from heaven against
all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their
wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to
them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth
and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his
invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no
excuse for not knowing God.
Wherever there is an impulse of love and sympathy, wherever the
heart reaches out to bless and uplift others, there is revealed the
working of God's Holy Spirit. In the depths of heathenism, men who have
had no knowledge of the written law of God, who have never even
heard the name of Christ, have been kind to His servants, protecting
them at the risk of their own lives. Their acts show the working of a
divine power. The Holy Spirit has implanted the grace of Christ in the
heart of the savage, quickening his sympathies contrary to his nature,
contrary to his education. The "Light which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world" (John 1:9), is shining in his soul; and this
light, if heeded, will guide his feet to the kingdom of God. COL385
And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life,
and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he
that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name
of the Son of God. 1 John 5:11-13 (KJV)
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. Psalms 2:12b
(NKJV)
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