Why Is Jesus The Only Way? Flashcards
Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?
To pay the price for our sins.
A perfect sacrifice is needed for the atonement of our sins and Jesus is the lamb without blemish. None of us can die for another or the whole world because we have sin and are just as sinful as everybody else. Only the death of someone who is perfect can pay the price for our sins and satisfy the wrath of God.
Also imagine if a God would be pleased with a blemished sacrifice, e.g. a diseased chicken offered at the altar?
Why can’t we save ourselves through good works?
In the first place, there’s a fair amount of good that is done for self-centredness, self-righteousness and pride, which are also sins.
And how much good is enough? How will we ever know? Isn’t it unfair and scary that we can never be certain? If this is really the way, shouldn’t God reveal it to us for fair game? [Think of it this way, do you really want a boss who never gives you feedback on your performance and whether you are doing well enough]
If we think that we deserve to go to heaven depending on how good we are, we are our own solutions. If we can’t live up to our own standard of what is right, what more God’s standard? Isn’t it so much better to know that Christ is our solution?
God knows we can’t be truly and completely good, so he provided an absolute way out. It’s accessible to all, people with good or bad backgrounds, people of upper/lower class, rich/poor, jews/gentiles. This is the extent of his grace - we’re saved by what he did and not what we can do.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Why is Jesus 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)
Jesus himself claimed to the only way to God. He could only be truthful, a liar, or a lunatic. Jesus could not have been a liar as his moral actions showed that he cared about people rather than exploiting them, and there was nothing for him to gain personally from making this claim: in fact, he chose to die for it. Could Jesus have been a lunatic? Unlikely as his teachings show great wisdom and carry much authority even til today.
Furthermore, Jesus’ life showed him to be the son of God:
He performed miracles
He fulfilled prophecies
He died and rose from the dead, appearing to more than 500 disciples
How could a loving God send people to Hell?
Our sin is against God and we are judged on his standards not our own. Man’s sin no matter how small is an offence to the most holy God. The bible says that God is holy and no man can see his face and live (Ex 33:20).
God is not a god of pure love or a god of pure judgment. He is both: a god of love and also a god of judgment.
On that note, it is not possible for God to be a god of justice and not condemn wrongdoing. Think of why we have the justice courts today - for there to be justice, there has to be punishment for wrongdoing. Similarly, God can’t be a god of justice and not condemn or punish our sin. But being also a loving god, he provided a way out for us through sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins.
How can we be so confident about the resurrection of Christ?
(-> see: How can we trust the bible to be true? (Response: Historical accuracy - manuscripts for the gospel accounts)):
The gospels were written at most 40-60 years ago after christ’s death, while paul’s letters were written 15-25 years ago after christ’s death.
These accounts on what Jesus said and did could be confirmed by what thousands of eyewitnesses had seen for themselves. Essentially, the early church accepted the four gospels as they agreed on what was already common knowledge of Jesus’ life.
For example, Mark wrote that the person who carried Jesus’s cross was the father of alexander and rufus (mark 15:21), while Paul wrote in 1 Cor 15:6 that more than 500 disciples witnessed jesus ascend into heaven. Both authors would not have written like this if they could be easily refuted.
