Is Jesus the only way?

What the Bible says

The New Testament speaks plainly. At the Last Supper Thomas asked about the way, and Jesus answered:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:6

The apostles said the same when they stood boldly before the council.

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

Acts 4:12

Paul makes the point in a letter.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

1 Tim 2:5

Read alone, these verses sound sharp. Read in their setting, they show something important. First, the subject of the sentence is Jesus, not Christians. He says "I am the way," not "our religion is the best." The claim is not that some people are more worthy, but that the door to God is one person. Christians walk that way not because they deserve it but because they have received it freely.

Second, the door is open to everyone. The verse just before the one above says:

who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Tim 2:4

The next verse says the mediator "gave Himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:6). That there is one way and that everyone is invited to take it are not at odds. They are two sides of the same gospel. Jesus himself calls:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matt 11:28

Third, the claim comes with a way of speaking about it, not with boasting. Peter tells believers to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about their hope, but to "respond with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience" (1 Pet 3:15-16). Conviction and humility belong together.

The church's witness

From the beginning the church confessed Christ as the one mediator. The Nicene Creed confesses one Lord Jesus Christ, who came for us and for our salvation The Nicene Creed. The Definition of Chalcedon confesses that this one mediator is truly God and truly man, so that in him God and humanity meet Definition of Chalcedon.

Augustine, on John 14:6, notices that the Word became the way by taking human nature. He urges, "Walk by the Man, and you will arrive at God." Then he adds, "it is better to limp on the right way, than to walk ever so stoutly by the wrong" Augustine. The point is that direction matters more than energy. Hilary says that He who is the way "does not lead us into devious courses out of the way" Hilary.

Matthew Henry, on Acts 4:12, holds together the uniqueness and the breadth of this name: "The name of Jesus is given to men of every age and nation, as that whereby alone believers are saved" Matthew Henry. On 1 Timothy 2 he says the appointment was made so "that all who are willing may come in this way, to the mercy-seat of a pardoning God, to seek reconciliation with him" Matthew Henry.

One distinction should be drawn honestly. The church is united that Christ is the only Savior. It is not united on how that salvation reaches people who have never heard of him. Some hold that a person must know and trust Christ in this life, and they see in Romans 10:14, "how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard?", the urgency of mission. Others hold that salvation rests on Christ's work alone, but that God may apply it to those who respond honestly to the light they have. They point to Romans 2:14-15 on the conscience of Gentiles and to the words that God welcomes "those from every nation who fear Him and do what is right" (Acts 10:35). A small number of Christians, leaning on texts such as "in Christ all will be made alive" (1 Cor 15:22), hope that God will in the end save everyone; most churches have judged that this hope does not fit Scripture's warnings. This essay takes no side. The question is taken up further in What about those who never heard? All three views trust God as a just judge. As Abraham asked, "Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?" (Gen 18:25).

In the original languages

The word translated "way" is hodos (ὁδός), a real road that people walk. Early Christians called their faith "the Way." When Paul set out for Damascus to persecute the church, he was looking for "men or women belonging to the Way" (Acts 9:2). The faith was not first a theory but a road to follow, and at both its beginning and its end stands a person.

Another word is alētheia (ἀλήθεια), "truth." Jesus does not only teach the truth; he says he is the truth. The word is sometimes explained from its roots as "unhiddenness," though scholars debate how much of that sense ordinary Greek kept. John, at any rate, says that truth came through Jesus Christ, who has made the Father known (John 1:17-18). So the claim introduces a person, not a theory.

Common objections

"Isn't it arrogant to say there is only one way?" This objection is not light. In history, people have despised and oppressed others in the name of their own faith, and Christians should be ashamed of it. But arrogance is a matter of manner, not of content. The claim that all roads lead to the same place is also a claim, and it can sound arrogant to those who believe otherwise. What matters is the nature of this claim. Christians do not say they found the way. They say the way found them. And if salvation is a gift, there is nothing to boast of (Eph 2:8-9). Followers of Jesus are called to humility here.

"Don't all religions say the same thing in the end?" Religions do share similar moral teaching, and Christians do not deny that traces of truth, goodness and beauty can be found elsewhere. Paul's words that God is "not far from each one of us" support that (Acts 17:27). But on the central questions the religions give different answers. Is God personal or an impersonal reality? Is the human problem ignorance or sin? Is salvation something we achieve or something we receive? To say that those who answer differently are all saying the same thing takes none of them seriously. Serious conversation begins when differences are honestly admitted. For more, see Why Christianity and not another religion?

"Isn't it unfair that where you are born decides what you believe?" This may be the heaviest question. Someone born into a Christian home and someone born where the gospel is seldom heard have different chances of hearing it, and that unevenness cannot be denied. The Bible's answer has two parts. One is that God is not far from each person (Acts 17:27) and "rewards those who earnestly seek Him" (Heb 11:6). The other is that judgment belongs to God, who "does not show favoritism" (Acts 10:34). This does not erase every question. What Christians are sure of is that God is neither less just nor less loving than we are. That same faith also puts the duty of mission on us.

Going further

To say that Jesus is the way is less a closing of the door than an invitation. After many had left him, Peter confessed, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68). That is not an attack on other paths. It is a testimony about where he found rest.

You might ask yourself some questions. What troubles me about this claim: its content, or the manner of those who state it? Do I think I can build the road to God by my own strength? How can I show both respect and conviction to someone of another faith?

To read further, see Who is Jesus? and Is Jesus God?