In the original summer movie blockbuster Jaws, when Brody first sees the size of the shark they face he staggers back into the cabin and utters the movie’s most famous line: “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” Back to God’s rescue story. Human sin is a big problem; the world’s universal pandemic, as every human is afflicted with it and doomed to suffer its fatal consequences. When we consider what kind of saviour truly saves and how must it be done, we must remember the objective: reconciliation and eternal life of sinful humanity with a holy God. We’re gonna need a big saviour!
Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The Apostles honoured this claim by teaching: “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 4:12). This aspect of the doctrine of salvation is sometimes referred to as “Christian particularism.” As our society grows more pluralistic, this “exclusivity” comes under increasing pressure, even within some churches. Common objections include claims that it is arrogant, dismissive of other religious experience and expression, or just plain unfair. These, and indeed all, objections to the uniqueness of the means of salvation through Christ, are meritless and fail to understand who God is and what his rescue provides. All human-sourced religion fails to address at least one critical component of our rescue: God’s holiness and the requirement of justice; the depth of human sin; or the inability of humanity in its own power to live rightly before God. Only in the cross do we see the perfect expression of justice, grace, and mercy that perfectly addresses our need of rescue.
Christ Connection:
Romans 3:21-26
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.