 ‘What’s the big deal about Jesus?’ Volume 33, Number 6 Posted November 22, 2000 “What’s the big deal about Jesus?” Dirk Ficca asked rhetorically during his keynote address to the 2000 Peacemaking Conference of the PCUSA. Ficca was not merely trying to get attention by shock speech. He was instead declaring that Christians should not try to convince people of other religions that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He was saying that there are other paths to God.
From Scripture, hymns, poems, commentaries and confessions, the writers at The Presbyterian Layman gleaned these affirmations of the good news that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord of heaven and earth. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” John 14:6 “Many argue deeply about Christ, but they get so subtle and involved that they can never find him … They are particular about his name: but yet they so empty him of his power, that in Christ’s place they have a ghost. There are many poor dunces today who, even though they speak as rude and ignorant men, teach Christ much more faithfully than the theologians. …” Commentaries, III Jesus Christ John Calvin “They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’” John 4:42
Scots Confession, chapter 16 “Salvation is not to be sought or found in anyone else.” Heldelberg Catechism, question 29 All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all. Edward Perronet “So I hold out my arms to my Redeemer, who, having been foretold for four thousand years, has come to suffer and to die for me on earth, at the time and under all the circumstances foretold. By His grace, I await death in peace, in the hope of being eternally united to Him. Yet I live with joy, whether in the prosperity which it pleases Him to bestow upon me, or in the adversity which He sends for my good, and which He has taught me to bear by His example.” Pensees, Section 8, Proofs of Jesus Christ Blaise Pascal “I believe that Jesus Christ is truly God, born of the Father in eternity and also truly man, born of the Virgin Mary. He is my Lord! He redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, bought and won me from all sins, death and the authority of the Devil. It did not cost Him gold or silver, but His holy, precious blood, His innocent body – His death! Because of this, I am His very own, will live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him righteously, innocently and blessedly forever, just as He is risen from death, lives and reigns forever. Yes, this is true.” Shorter Catechism, Martin Luther When My arms are stretched out They shall reach the world about, The round earth hangs upon My stout And stark and bitter Tree. Therefore all ye that go by Look and see how I hang high, If you may find the time to sigh: Eleison Christe. Catholic Tales, Christian Songs Dorothy Leigh Sayers “For however many seek salvation in any other than in Christ alone have fallen from the grace of God and have rendered Christ null and void for themselves.” Second Helvetic Confession, chapter 11 Jesus! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend, O Prophet, Priest and King, My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, Accept the praise I bring. John Newton “He is higher than the kings of the earth; for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is higher than the heavens, and higher than the highest angels of heaven. So great is he, that all men, all kings and princes, are as worms of the dust before him; all nations are as the drop of the bucket, and the light dust of the balance; yea, and angels themselves are as nothing before him. He is so high, that he is infinitely above any need of us; above our reach, that we cannot be profitable to him; and above our conceptions, that we cannot comprehend him.” On the Excellency of Christ Jonathan Edwards “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 “They who, having never heard the gospel, know not Jesus Christ, and believe not in him, cannot be saved.” Larger Catechism, question 60 “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. It is a very surprising thing – a thing to be marveled at most of all by those who enjoy it. I know that it is to me even to this day the greatest wonder that I ever heard of, that God should ever justify me. I feel myself to be a lump of unworthiness, a mass of corruption, and a heap of sin, apart from His almighty love.” Sermon, “All of Grace” Charles Spurgeon “And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” Revelation 7:10 “Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to obey in life and death.” Barmen Declaration, chapter 8 Alas! and did my Savior bleed And did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head For such a worm as I? Isaac Watts “A stranger to Christianity, were he to hear, that we all profess to hold one Lord, would naturally infer, that we all thought and spoke one and the same thing about him. But alas! to our shame be it mentioned, though Christ be not divided in himself, yet professors are sadly divided in their thoughts about him; and that not only as to the circumstances of his religion, but also of those essential truths which must necessarily be believed and received by us, if ever we hope to be heirs of eternal salvation.” George Whitefield “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg – or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.” C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.” Philippians 2:9-11 |
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