“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5
The Bible tells us that Jesus is our mediator between God and mankind. However many skeptics and seekers of the Christian faith have asked the question, How do we know Jesus is the only way to God?
Renowned philosopher Dr. Stephen Davis, provides helpful insight for Christians on how to respond to this challenging question.
“The first thing I would ask them is, what kind of person do you think Jesus really is? The vast majority of people, if they know anything at all about Jesus will say He was a really wonderful person and He did wonderful things. He teaches wonderful things about life and how you should live your life.”
Jesus was more than just a wonderful person; He was, and is, the Son of God.
“He never comes out and says ‘I am God,’ because obviously I think that would have been radically misunderstood by 1st century Jews; all of whom are were very strong monotheists.”
“As C.S. Lewis argued, you won’t have a really good person who makes extraordinarily egotistical and wrong claims. If you really believe that Jesus was not the Son of God, you can’t go around saying that He was a really a good person, because either He was a liar, or He was extraordinarily deluded like an insane person.”
To gain further understanding, Dr. Davis says it’s important to study how Jesus viewed himself throughout Scripture.
“In scripture, it is very clear that Jesus viewed Himself as the Son of God, as sent by God deliberately into the world, as the Messiah of the Jews and of all human beings as their Savior.”
“Jesus viewed Himself as being extraordinarily close to God, sent by God, and chosen by God. We Christians have always interpreted that as He really was God, as the Chalcedonian Creed later said, ‘He was truly God and truly human.’”
Dr. Davis points to a distinction between Christianity and other world religions.
“There is no other religion in the world that has the concept of grace that we have in Christianity. Christianity, unlike all the other religions, says what God wants us to do is to be perfectly obedient to the law of God’s commands, and we cannot do that; it is not in our power to do that.”
“If anybody is going to be reconciled to God or saved at all, it has to come through the grace and mercy of God. God does for us what we cannot do. I think that idea really does make Christianity unique among the religions of the world.”
As believers, we can take Jesus for His word. He is not just one of ways mankind is connected to God – He is the only way.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Stephen T. Davis (PhD, Claremont Graduate University) is the Russell K. Pitzer Professor of Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College. He specializes in the philosophy of religion and Christian thought, and he is the author or editor of over fifteen books including Rational Faith: A Philosopher’s Defense of Christianity.
Jesus, the only way
