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The Only Way
Jesus the Christ
The only begotten Son of God
Compiled by Rachel Cory-Kuehl, March 4, 2022
Most recent edit, December 2, 2022
Scripture quoted from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.
The impetus for this compilation of verses came from a study group where the question was raised, asking whether there are “many paths to God.” My personal belief is that only one path leads to God. That “way” goes through Jesus the Christ. He made that very clear, as did His disciples. He left open no other possibility.
The Apostolic Writings (New Testament) are all about Jesus, from start to finish - who He was, what He did, what He is doing now in Heaven, and what He will do in future.
John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
John 10:9 [Jesus speaking] “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
John 1:4 [John speaking about Jesus] “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
John 5:40 [Jesus speaking] “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
John 20:31 “. . . but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
1 John 5:11-12 “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
Contrast the “life” through Christ, with the condition of Gentiles before they came to belief in Him.
Ephesians 2:12 [Paul writing to believers at Ephesus] “. . . remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (NAS)
1John 4:9 “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”
Acts 4:12 [Peter speaking] “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
John 3:14-16 [Jesus speaking] “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:17-18 [Jesus speaking] “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
John 3:35-36 [John the Baptist speaking] “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 6:40 [Jesus speaking] “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (NIV)
John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.’”
John 20:31 “but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.”
John 6:53-57 “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. ‘Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ‘For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.’”
Eating His flesh and drinking His blood, was a euphemism for making Him the nourishment for one’s soul. Christ would institute a rite of the New Covenant at the Passover He celebrated with His disciples on the evening before His arrest and subsequent execution (Matt. 26:26-29, Lk 22:17-20, 1Cor 11:23-26). Dedicated bread and wine, would symbolize His body and blood. Believers would partake of these emblems to symbolize their strong belief in Christ and His death on their behalf, as the only way to God.
Acts 13:38-39 [Paul preaching at Antioch to Jews] “Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
The Law of Moses refers to the Torah - the five books of the Bible, written by Moses. Those books record the commands given to Israel, by the LORD, through Moses. The commands listed in The Covenant, could not justify (declare right) any person. They could only instruct or condemn. The Torah contained the instructions for the Tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrificial system. Paul tells the Jews that they “could not be justified” by that system. Why? Because those sacrifices only symbolized the One to come. The symbol could not justify. Only Yeshua Messiah - the Lamb of God, and the High Priest in Heaven itself, could provide atonement for sin, to make them right before God. If they continued to offer the symbol, while rejecting the True Lamb of God, they could not receive life eternal.
Galatians 3:24 “Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
Acts 10:38-43 [Peter preaching to the household of Cornellius] “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, . . . whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, . . . 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”
Acts 15:11 [Peter speaking to the Jerusalem Council concerning salvation for the Gentiles] “But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
Acts 16:31 [Paul and Silas to the Philippian Jailer] “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 5:8-11 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
THE SAVIOR - FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
Jesus made it very clear that He is the savior for the whole world. He is the only way to God, for every human being no matter where or when, that person was born.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
1John 4:14 “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.”
I prayed and puzzled for many, many years, asking how those who died in ignorance or immaturity can come to believe in Yeshua. I believe the LORD has answered my question. Our studies on The 8th Day explain that all those who died without the opportunity to hear and understand the Gospel of Christ, will be raised as “the rest of the dead” at the 8th millennium. They will be educated and governed by those raised at the Glorious Return, who will become “priests of God and of Christ.”
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JUSTIFIED BY FAITH - IN JESUS
To be “justified” is to be declared righteous - without guilt or sin, especially in a court of Law or before God. Those who believe in Jesus, may come to God the Father in the name of His Son, assured of forgiveness from all sins.
1John 1:7 “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Romans 5:1 [Paul speaking] “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Galatians 2:15-16 [Paul speaking] “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
No one - not Jew, not Gentile, not past, present or future, will stand justified before God because s/he obeyed the Law of Moses, or because s/he was a moral person.
We are justified by Christ because we believe in Him. We believe He is the only Son of God, who obeyed the Law perfectly for us. He was murdered by rulers seeking to preserve power for themselves. He was raised from death by God His Father, and now sits at the right hand of His Father in Heaven. Father and Son now share one throne.
BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Our lives are changed when we are filled with the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of God our Father. The One who makes this possible, this in-filling, this baptism, this healing of the heart and life, is God’s only Son.
Luke 3:16 [John the Baptist speaking of Jesus] “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (See also Matthew 3:11-12, Mark 1:7-8, John 7:33, John 7:39).
Without Christ, there can be no baptism of the Spirit. He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. He is the channel through which God the Father pours out the gift of His Spirit presence, upon men and women.
Acts 2:32-33 [Peter speaking on Pentecost] “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” (NIV)
Acts 19:5-6 [Believers at Corinth] “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”
THE LAW WAS OUR TUTOR
to bring us to Christ.
Galatians 3:24 “Therefore the Torah was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
We know that the ancient sacrifices symbolized Christ - the Lamb of God. We don’t tend to think of the 10 Commandments in the same way - as a prophecy of Christ. But they were.
God has promised to write His law on our hearts (Jer. 31:33). That is the New Covenant promise (Heb 8:10). Jesus is the one who does that “writing.” When the Law is written on our hearts, it becomes part of our nature - our new “born again” nature.
Next time you read the Ten Commandments, think of them as a promise of what Jesus will do - in you!
Hebrews 1:1-3 “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (NIV)
This is the greater context. God beget one son. That Son is “the arm of the LORD” - the active agent through Whom God created all things. The Father communicates with His creation through His Son. Paul called Him the “one mediator between God and man” (1Tim 2:5). And through His Son, the Father has poured out His spirit upon human beings who seek to know Him (Rev 4:9-11, Eph 3:14-15, Eph 3:9, Heb 1:1-3, Jn 1:3-10, Col 1:12-16, Prov 8:27-31, 2Cor 5:10).
1Corinthians 8:6 “Yet for us there is only one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.”
We exist because God’s Son created this world (Col. 1:16). We can live forever because God’s Son died for this world.
Philippians 2:7-8 “He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (ESV)
See our study: “Dominion” to understand WHY God’s Son incarnated as a man, to live a life of perfect obedience.
John 3:31 [John the Baptist speaking of Jesus] “He who comes from above is above all; . . . He who comes from heaven is above all.”
YESHUA BECAME HIGH PRIEST
over the House of God
Hebrews 4:14-16 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
All of the priesthood, after the Golden Calf rebellion at Mt. Sinai, were from the Tribe of Levi, and were male descendants of Aaron (the brother of Moses). Jesus was from the Tribe of Judah. For Him to become High Priest of Israel, required a “change of the priesthood.” That “change” is explained in our study: “The Change of the Priesthood.”
In a nutshell: When the sin of the golden calf rebellion was “washed away” by the blood of God’s Lamb, the priesthood could be changed back to the original order - the order of Melchizedek - that of “the firstborn.” Jesus is “the firstborn over all creation” (Col 1:15). He could therefore be made High Priest over the House of God.
Psalm 110:4 “The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.’” (NIV)
This verse is quoted four times, in the Letter to the Hebrews.
(Hebrews 5:6, 6:20, 7:17, and 7:21).
Hebrews 6:19-20 “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
In the ancient Tabernacle, “the veil” separated the Most Holy Place from the rest of the Tabernacle. God’s presence dwelt behind that veil, over the Ark of the Covenant, between the golden cherubim. Only the High Priest could enter that Most Holy Place, and only once a year, with the blood of special sacrifices. Jesus Christ, as our High Priest, has entered that presence - in Heaven - the “true Tabernacle.” The ancient Tabernacle, the sacrifices and the priests were a symbolic prophecy pointing forward to Christ. The ancient veil represented “His flesh.” As the veil was splashed with blood, so His flesh bled. As the ancient priest presented blood, so Messiah Yeshua presents His own death as the sacrifice for sins.
Hebrews 9:11 “. . . with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place [of Heaven] once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. . . .”
Hebrews 9:24-28 “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”
Hebrews 10:12-14 “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God . . .”
Hebrews 7:22 “. . . Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant. . . . 25 Therefore He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (NIV)
Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Philippians 2:9-11 “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
A PROPHET LIKE MOSES
Acts 3:22-23 [Peter speaking to Jews] “For Moses truly said to the fathers,`The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you.”
And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’” (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
I have been asked whether devout Jews can be saved while rejecting Jesus as the Son of God and Savior, because they serve Yahweh and honor the Sinai Covenant. I can only quote the passage above. Read the context beginning in Acts 3:11, to understand that Peter was speaking to Jews, about Jesus as the Prophet like Moses, who was to come. Moses said that anyone who would not listen to “that Prophet,” would be “cut off” from Israel.
I cannot speak to any specific individual case. The LORD knows whether that person remained ignorant of Christ through no fault of his own. Sins of unintentional ignorance are “covered” until the person comes to realize His sin. I believe such persons will be resurrected at the 8th millennium, as part of “the rest of the dead.” At that time, they will have an opportunity to receive (or to reject) Yeshua as the Messiah, the Savior and the rightful King of Kings. See our study: “The 8th Day.”
John 15:22-24 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.”
1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
If the message of the cross is the power of God which brings us to reconciliation with God, then it would seem those who continue to reject this message cannot be “reconciled.”
Romans 4:14 “For if those who are of the law [of Moses] are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect.”
If one could be “saved” by keeping the law of Moses (without believing in Jesus), then there was no need for Jesus. If one can inherit the kingdom, by keeping the law of Moses, or by having Hebrew DNA - again, there was no need for Jesus. The truth of course, is that no one kept that law - not perfectly. Except for Jesus. Hebrew DNA alone, was not and is not, enough to guarantee a place in the Kingdom of God.
Acts 2:38 [Peter speaking to Jews on the Day of Pentecost] “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins;’”
Acts 4:12 [Peter speaking] “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 5:30-31 [Peter speaking to Jews] “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
Romans 10:1-9 [Paul writing] “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. . . . . The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
If Paul’s desire (for devout Jews) is “that they may be saved,” it follows, that they were not all saved when he wrote his epistle to the Romans. Only a small number of Jews had confessed Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah and the only way to God the Father.
THE SON OF GOD
Jesus is the only way - to God,
because He is both a “son of man,” and the only Son - of God.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Matthew 16:16 “Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
Matthew 26:63 [At His trial] “But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, ‘I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!’ 64 Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said.’”
Matthew 11:25-27 “At that time Jesus answered and said, ‘I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, . . . . All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.’”
Colossians 1:12-18 “. . . giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”
1John 2:22-23 “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”
There is no room for alternatives here. You either believe that Jesus was (and is) the Son of God, or you don’t. If you “believe in Jesus Christ,” you believe in Him as the Son of God and you serve Him as such - as Lord of your life. You cannot get around it by saying that Jesus was a good man who taught us to love our fellow man. He claimed to be God’s only son. He claimed to be the only way to God and life eternal. He was either crazy, or a deceiving manipulator, or He was exactly what He claimed - “the way, the truth and the life.”
One cannot receive eternal life by being a wise person, or a moral person, or a kind person. Not according to Jesus Christ, to the statements of His disciples, and to the writings of Paul the Apostle.
Acts 9:20 [Saul - following his conversion] “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.”
1Corinthians 1:9 “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (NIV)
AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD
1 Peter 3:21 “There is also an antitype which now saves us . . . through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
Acts 2:33 “Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”
Acts 5:30-31 [Peter speaking] “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 3:1 “Seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Mark 12:36 “For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: ‘The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’” (Psalm 110:1)
Hebrews 10:12 “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.”
Hebrews 12:2 “For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (NET)
1 Peter 3:22 “who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”
Romans 8:34 “It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
No one else represents us before God in Heaven - not saints or prophets, or ancestors, or family members, or gods or goddesses. Only Jesus Christ. Yes. We can pray for others. We offer those prayers to God the Father, in the name of His Son Jesus.
NOTE: The Law of God absolutely forbade any communication with “the dead.” Mary and all the saints are dead.
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”
HE WILL RETURN
Matthew 26:64 “Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’”
Mark 13:26-27 “Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect (chosen) from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven.”
2 Timothy 4:1 “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:”
ARE THERE MANY PATHS TO GOD?
I can only quote the Apostle Paul, speaking to Gentiles (non-Hebrews) who had come to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. Describing their former state, Paul said:
Ephesians 2:12 “At that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”
“Without God” and “having no hope” because they did not yet believe in Jesus as the Son of God, and the way to God. Paul did not mince words.
Our understanding - that Christ is the only way, can never be an excuse for treating others without respect, regardless of their beliefs. We are to love all others for the sake of the Gospel.
I personally believe that all of those who die in ignorance or physical immaturity, will be resurrected at the 8th millennium as the “rest of the dead.” At that time they will have the opportunity to choose Christ as Lord. No one will be eternally lost because he died without hearing or understanding the Gospel of Christ during this age. See our study: “The 8th Day.”
Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
We pray this study will prove a blessing.
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