Preaching the Narrow Way

From Kairos Journal

11 “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:11-12 (ESV)

A missionary surgeon returned home for a furlough and visited a mainline church to talk about his time overseas. When asked to describe his daily activities, he took the questioner by surprise:

“‘I usually do surgery in the morning,’ he said, ‘and examine people after lunch, much as I did here.’ Then he paused. ‘Of course, the whole time I try to tell them of their need of a Savior.’

The questioner shifted awkwardly, ‘You don’t think everyone needs to convert to our religion, do you?’

‘I certainly do,’ said the doctor, ‘that’s why I’m out there. Without Christ, I believe they will be lost eternally.’”¹

The surgeon’s words would be offensive and shocking to many. They might wonder how one had the gall to declare Christ as the only way when there are over a billion Muslims, more than 800 million Hindus, and over 350 million Buddhists in the world.² They might prefer to think that all paths lead to God, but the Bible will not allow this fantasy.

Peter made his remarks about the exclusivity of Christ while standing before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. He and John had just healed a crippled man (Acts 3:3-8), and this miracle opened up opportunities to preach the gospel (3:11-26). Outraged, the religious leaders imprisoned the apostles. Thus, before Annas and Caiaphas, the very men who presided over the crucifixion of Jesus (John 18:12-14) a few weeks earlier, Peter and John were forced to account for their ministry. When asked, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” the apostles might have been tempted to equivocate, to sheepishly answer that they were simply servants of the Lord, followers of God. Peter, however, filled with the Holy Spirit, recently manifested in power at Pentecost (Acts 4:8), refused to compromise. He declared that the crippled man was saved “by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth” (4:10), and Peter went on to make it very clear that salvation came only through Christ (4:12).

What are Christians to make of Peter’s claim? First, recognize that Peter is simply repeating a point made by Jesus who declared, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). So, to object to Peter’s words is to reject Christ’s claim about Himself. Second, be bold. The religious leaders were “astonished” by the mettle of Peter and John. So often, believers think they need the perfect argument to win over the lost—and there is an important place for sound arguments—but there is also a place for boldness, for stating plainly and simply that Jesus Christ is the only way and then letting the chips fall where they may, depending on the Holy Spirit as the agent of transformation.

It is ironic that at the very moment resurgent Islam insists on the exclusive right of Muhammad to declare the exclusive path of Allah, Christians are going wobbly on the necessity of faith in Christ. Threatened by the forces of political correctness and theological “progressivism” in the West and by physical violence and economic difficulties in the Muslim world, many resort to silence or to words of honor for another “great” religion. But they do their neighbors no favor when they shrink back from declaring, with the apostles, the exclusivity of Christ. Yes, candor can be risky, but, in the service of saving truth, it can be glorious.

Footnotes :

1	William V. Crockett and James G. Sigountos, “Are the ‘Heathen’ Really Lost?” in Through No Fault of Their Own? The Fate of Those Who Have Never Heard, ed. William V. Crockett and James G. Sigountos (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1991), 257.
2	See Kairos Journal article, "A Roll Call of World Religion—and Irreligion."