“How can you suggest that Jesus is the only way to salvation? That’s so narrow-minded and intolerant!” Undoubtedly many Christians have heard some version of that statement as they’ve attempted to share the gospel. How do Christians answer this objection to Solus Christus (“Christ alone”)?

Exclusivity of Christ: A Definition

The exclusivity of Christ is the belief that salvation is possible only through personal faith in Jesus, which arises through hearing the gospel through a human agent or reading the Bible. Other terms for this exclusivism are particularism (salvation is particularized in Jesus Christ) and restrictivism (salvation is restricted to those who exercise faith in Christ). Several well-known Scriptures make conscious belief in Christ necessary for salvation and emphasize the exclusivity of Christ as the way of salvation.

• “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 3:18).
• “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 3:36).
• “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”” (John 14:6).
• “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 4:12).
• “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” (1 John 5:11–12).

The idea that salvation is restricted to those who exercise faith in Christ is one of the strongest arguments for evangelism and foreign missions. If natural revelation and non-Christian religions contain enough truth to save, then the urgency and importance of missions is greatly lessened.

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:14–17).

The Exclusivity of Christ: A Defense

Why should salvation be exclusively through Jesus Christ? This notion is sometimes called “the scandal of particularism”. In a pluralistic world, many regard it as offensive and scandalous to suggest that Christ is the only way. Since it is such a stumbling block to many, what is the Bible’s explanation for this exclusivity?

The short answer is that exclusivism is required because of the Incarnation. The Incarnation, in turn, is required because of the nature of our sin debt. For man to be reconciled to God, man’s sin must be dealt with, and God’s just demands must be satisfied. Sin must be punished, and more specifically, sinners must be punished. If a substitute were to take that punishment on behalf of sinner, he would have to be a true, human-born man. However, since the debt of offending God is infinite, only a man of infinite strength could handle the punishment of God, and only a man of infinite worth could satisfy God’s righteous demands. Only God is of infinite worth, and of infinite strength, therefore the substitute cannot be solely a creation of God, for nothing created is infinite. The substitute must be the God-Man.

There has been only one God-Man, and there can have been only one God-Man. Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son, who added to Himself a true human nature in the virgin birth, was and is the God-Man. He is the only way, because no one else could achieve atonement. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

Once God has become man (which Christ did), all debate over the relative truth of religions is over. If the Creator becomes man, that event is automatically the center of religious truth. And since Christianity insists that only God could atone for man’s sin, and that God became man in Christ, it logically claims that Christ is the only way.

Paul even suggests in his preaching to the pagan Greeks in Athens that the Incarnation has put an end to fuzzy thinking about ultimate questions, and God now demands a universal believing response to the Risen Christ.

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30–31)

In the time from Adam to Christ, special revelation increased, and consequently, the content of saving faith increased in its specificity and clarity. Paul often refers to progressive revelation, when speaking of the mysteries that were once hidden but are now revealed. Certainly, the Incarnation represents the pinnacle of revelation (Hebrews 1:1-2), and therefore we should expect the content and particularity of special revelation to reach its climax in Christ.

Is it Unjust?

While many can see the logic behind the exclusivity of salvation through faith in Christ, they nevertheless regard it as an unfair demand by God. This objection does not usually have to do with the Incarnation and the Atonement, but with the requisite knowledge to believe on Christ. Objectors state that if faith in Christ is the only means of salvation, it appears to be an unfair demand upon those who have never heard of Christ. How can God withhold knowledge, and then judge us for what we did not know?

The answer to this objection is that while knowledge of Christ is requisite to salvation, men are not condemned for ignorance of Christ. They are condemned for rejection of the knowledge God has given them.

All mankind is given light and truth. This comes through the witness of creation (Psalms 19; Romans 1:19-20), conscience (Romans 2:15), and providence (Acts 14:17). This is known as general or natural revelation. General revelation is too vague to reveal the identity of God fully (or give a moral system or disclose redemption). God’s special revelation is needed to rightly interpret natural revelation and avoid idolatry. General revelation is necessary, but not sufficient. However, there is enough knowledge in general revelation to indict a man for rejecting his personal, moral, beautiful, and holy Creator. Guilt is proportionate to knowledge, and exclusivists hold that general revelation is enough to condemn the soul, but not enough to save.

The human race must be seen in light of its native aversion to truth. Its willingness to believe lies, suppress truth, and refuse inconvenient facts shows that the problem of unbelief would not be solved by adding more detailed facts about Christ, or by exposing all people to exactly equal amounts of revelation. Imagine that natural revelation is nine-tenths of the light we need before we receive the essential last tenth of special revelation. If we have rejected 90% of the light God gives us, is God obligated to give the last 10%?

This condemnation also implies there is also enough knowledge in general revelation to have prompted further seeking, so as to be led to special revelation. This is the doctrine of universal sending held by some exclusivists: those who seek light will receive more light.

In Christian history, people who would be otherwise classed as exclusivists have held to this doctrine. This was widely discussed during the Middle Ages, and held by people like Peter of Abelard, Bonaventure, and Dante. It was later held by Jacob Arminius. It is the notion that if someone seriously seeks after God, then God will see to it that he/she receives the message of the gospel in some way. The Ethiopian eunuch was seeking, and God sent him Philip. Cornelius was seeking, and God sent him Peter. The Magi were seeking, and God led them to Jerusalem and to the Scriptures. People who respond to the light they have by approaching it receive more light.

For those who never hear the Gospel, their situation must be analogous to people from Adam to Christ, who had varying degrees of exposure to special revelation. General revelation has made them culpable. They are still required to repent and believe in what God has revealed to them. As R. C. Sproul once said, “If a person in a remote area has never heard of Christ, he will not be punished for that. What he will be punished for is the rejection of the Father of whom he has heard and for the disobedience to the law that is written in his heart.”

The basis of salvation for all men, of all times, is the atonement of Jesus Christ. The means of salvation is God’s grace through faith, and since the Incarnation, that faith is to be placed exclusively in Jesus Christ. God alone knows how much light each individual has received, and how culpable and accountable he or she is. With Abraham, we can ask and answer affirmatively, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).