Essential Tenet #6: Jesus Christ is the only Way by which sinners become children of God.

The 6^th tenet of the 12 adopted by the leadership of First Presbyterian Church of Douglasville is: Jesus Christ is the only Way by which sinners become children of God.

The phrase “children of God” is used not in the general sense that all people are children of God, but rather in the specific way that the Bible uses it to indicate those adopted into the family of God through faith in the atoning work of Jesus.

The exclusive claim of Christ for salvation has been the orthodox position of the Christian Church for most of its history. It is a position that seemed audacious to the audiences of the apostles in the New Testament. It is a position that continues to subject Christians to public scorn as being narrow minded and intolerant.

This tenet highlights one of the concerns our leadership has with the Presbyterian Church (USA). While a case can be made that Jesus’ exclusive claim for salvation is the official position of the PC(USA), it is clear that within the denomination there is a diminishing confidence in that belief. The 2011 Presbyterian Panel reported that about two in five pastors (41%) “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that “only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.” It is increasingly common to find pastors unable to articulate their belief in the exclusive claims of Christ as Lord and Savior and to find others who will outright deny it. To compound the problem, presbyteries often condone those positions by not holding pastors accountable for their clear departures from the teaching of the Bible and our confessions.

If we are to make such an exclusive claim for salvation, then we should have a very good, biblical reason. And, we do. The reason we believe that Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and man is simple. We believe it because that is what Jesus believes about himself.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 ESV)

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33 ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 ESV)

Jesus is the reason the Christian faith exists. Jesus is the Head of the Christian Church. We are named Christians because we follow Jesus the Christ. It would seem to us that Jesus is a really big deal.

With such emphasis on Jesus as the center of our identity, we seem to me to be very foolish or wholly misguided to follow him and yet not believe what he says about himself. If that is the case, you are wasting your time. If I did not believe in what someone believed about himself or herself, I would find another person to follow. I value my time and my credibility too much to do otherwise.

I fully believe, however, that Jesus is exactly who he said he is, “The way, the truth, and the life.” There are many ways that God works in us to extend the saving grace of Christ. I will not bother to judge which experiences are right or wrong. I am confident, though, that the only way any of us will be saved is through the Cross of Calvary. We must understand that as followers of Jesus it is more audacious to doubt his exclusive claims than it is to assert the claim itself.