Commentary: What is ‘unique’ about Jesus?
A commentary by John H. Adams, The Presbyterian Layman ,Volume 34, Number 5,Posted July 2, 2001, July 2, 2001
The simple, direct approach would have been to quote Jesus: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.”
Or to quote one of the confessions: “…salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else” (the Heidelberg Catechism, question 29).
But the 213th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) would not yield to the words of Jesus or the confessions of our fathers and mothers in the faith.
The commissioners scuttled three overtures asking for the straightforward affirmation of the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ. Then they rejected a substitute that sought to capture the heart of what the overtures declared.
What finally won the day was a confessional statement that raised concerns. The words of Christ and the historic confessions of the Church were diluted into a confusing statement that left opportunity for people to believe what they choose.
Let’s consider line-by-line what the General Assembly said.
We confess the unique authority of Jesus Christ as Lord.
Unique? Meaning different, unusual, extraordinary, one of a kind, particular – as some definitions suggest? Is unique an adequate description of the “Lord of lords and King of kings, the Alpha and the Omega?” Buddha is also unique. So is Sophia. Allah. Gaia. Baal. Aphrodite.
Every other authority is finally subject to Christ.
That sentence comes close. “All authority has been given to me in heaven and earth,” Jesus told the disciples in his preamble to the Great Commission. Then he spells out the terms of that authority: “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” Jesus alone had – and has – the authority to establish the means of salvation. He also has prescribed the method. His authority is directly linked to salvation by grace through faith in him alone.
Jesus is also uniquely Savior.
Again uniquely. Scripture and the confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA) teach that Jesus alone is savior – that there is no other name by which men must be saved. Uniquely does not rise to the level of the truth about the Word incarnate in Jesus Christ or the written Word of God.
It is “his life, death, resurrection, ascension and final return that restores creation, providing salvation for all those whom God has chosen to redeem.”
This is the strongest sentence in the General Assembly’s statement. It is unabashed Calvinism and speaks eloquently of God’s initiation and consummation of our salvation. But in the context of the full statement, it does not prevail against the deception that God might choose another so-called deity as the instrument of his electing grace.
Although we do not know the limits of God’s grace and pray for the salvation of those who may never come to know Christ, for us the assurance of salvation is found only in confessing Christ and trusting Him alone.
Here begins the muddle in earnest. While the phrase for us is absolutely true, the Scripture, Jesus’ clear teachings and the confessions agree: It is not for us alone that Jesus died, but for all who might be brought to belief. There is no local option that allows people to choose by whom they are 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.”
We are humbled in our witness to Christ by our realization that our understanding of him and his way is limited and distorted by our sin.
As sinful as we are, and as distorted as our understanding might be, there remains this overarching truth: God has made himself known in Jesus Christ. That is the bellwether testimony of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is what Jesus claimed and what the apostles taught. With that knowledge, however diminished we are by sin and however murky our understanding may be, it is nothing short of heresy to suggest that there are other lords or other authorities by which one might be saved.
Still the transforming power of Christ in our lives compels us to make Christ known to others.
The statement ends with a sense of resignation – still – albeit a welcome call to make Christ known. We can only do that if we know him – and on his terms alone.