Post Office Box 2268, Westerly, RI 02891
Romans 11:33-36 - Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? 36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
Christians claim that Christianity is unique among the world's religions. In fact, we
use that claim to support the idea that Christianity is the only true religion. Is
such a position justified?
The word unique means "being the only one of its kind" or
"being without a like or equal." Now that is true for everything to one degree
or another. There are no two people exactly alike. There are no two places exactly alike.
For that matter, there are no two xeroxed copies exactly alike. Did you ever look
at two "identical" copies under a microscope? So if everything's unique in some
way, how can we justly use the claim that Christianity is unique as proof of the validity
of the Christian faith? Couldn't a Hindu just as logically claim that Hinduism is the only
true religion because it, too, is unique? For that matter, couldn't every religion claim
to be the true religion because it is unique?
The answer to our question concerning the uniqueness of Christianity has
to do with how Christianity is unique. Christianity is unnaturally unique!
Other religions are unique, but they are "naturally" unique. Biblical
Christianity is unnaturally unique. It could not be just another man-made religion.
There are just too many aspects of the Christian faith that have the stamp of the
supernatural on them. They are too unnatural to have been dreamed up by mankind in his
religious quest. In the words of Romans 11:33, "the depths of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God" are evident in Christianity. When the whole package of
the Christian faith is examined in detail, one must acknowledge "how unsearchable are
His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"
The unsearchable judgments and unfathomable ways of God have to do with
His sovereign plans for mankind from the beginning of time. His creation of man, His
covenants with man and His Christ for man are all part of His "unsearchable
judgments" and His "unfathomable ways." Thus we should expect that
everything about biblical Christianity should be unnaturally unique. It was
designed from start to finish by God. No aspect of it is man-made.
To show how every aspect of Christianity is unnaturally unique
would take many written pages. The best we can do with limited space is summarize.
Consider, first of all, the uniqueness of the founder of Christianity. When
compared to the founders of the other religions of the world, Jesus Christ is unnaturally
unique. The fact that His birth was predicted hundreds of years before He appeared is
unnaturally unique. The fact that His public life was characterized by incomparable
miracle-working power is unnaturally unique. The fact that He claimed that He Himself was
the only way to God because He was God is unnaturally unique. And the fact that He
conquered death and came back to life is unnaturally unique. The skeptics, of course, will
question these facts, but the ball is in their court to prove that the well-attested
record is untrue. Although these facts are only highlights of the life of Jesus of
Nazareth, they are enough to show that He is unnaturally unique when compared to the
founders of any other religion of human history.
The uniqueness of the Bible when compared to the religious
writings of any other religion is another aspect of Christianity which gives evidence of
its supernatural character. The Bible is the only book which claims to be the only
revelation from God. This is unnaturally unique. The religious writings of other world
religions generally claim a divine origin but they allow for other religious writings of
divine origin. Only the Bible makes the unnatural and "intolerant" claim that it
alone is divinely inspired. Another unnaturally unique feature of this Book which
Christians follow is its fulfilled prophecies. While other religious writings contain
certain limited prophecies, the biblical prophecies are unnaturally unique because they
are more detailed, they are longer in range and they are one hundred per cent accurate. In
fact, the perfect accuracy of the Bible in all areas is another unnaturally unique aspect
of the Bible. Other religious writings naturally contain mistakes because they are not
inspired. The book of Mormon, for example, has many historical errors. But not the Bible!
And the Bible is loaded with historical data--more historical data than any other
religious book. It has been estimated that there is more historical data in Genesis
chapter ten alone than in the entire Koran. The Bible has proved to be unnaturally
accurate in everything it directly or indirectly teaches.
Furthermore, the Bible is 66 different books uniquely joined together to
form one Book. These books were written over a time span of at least 1500 years by more
than 40 different authors from every walk of life--kings, fishermen, statesmen, shepherds,
scholars and ordinary people. And yet the Bible is unified in its theme--the glory of God
and the redemption of man. The Bible was written in 3 different languages from 3 different
continents by authors in a wide variety of different situations. Some of the books were
written from prison, some from the palace, some in times of peace and some in times of
war. Almost every type of literary genre is used--poems, letters, historical narrative,
proverbs, visions and more. The Bible has something to say on every subject known to man.
The fact that the Bible is unified in spite of such diversification is unnaturally unique.
There is no other religious writing in the world that compares. The existence of such a
unique Book apart from divine guidance and inspiration is inconceivable.
When it comes to Christianity's teaching about salvation, once
again we see the stamp of the supernatural. Christianity teaches that salvation is humanly
impossible. It teaches that God requires absolute perfection. (See Romans 3:19-26.) This
is unnaturally unique! The "high standards" of man-made religion are not so high
that they are humanly unattainable--at least by a few hard-working zealots. Attaining the
"salvation" of your soul in other religions is like long-jumping 29 feet--beyond
the grasp of the masses, but attainable by an elite few, through strict discipline and
hard work. But, according to Christianity, attaining your soul's salvation is like jumping
across the Grand Canyon. It is humanly impossible! Natural man would just never
propose such a religion.
Although salvation is humanly impossible, Christianity teaches
that it can be obtained as a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). This also is
unnaturally unique. A prime characteristic of every man-made religion is that you must do
something to earn your right to Nirvana, or the "happy hunting grounds," or
whatever the salvation consists of in a particular religion. But according to the
teachings of biblical Christianity, because salvation requires perfection, man cannot even
help in his salvation. In fact, there is not even a single "spark of
good" or "spark of the divine" within him, as man-made religions teach.
(See Romans 3:9-20.) In Christianity, the gift of salvation is not a goal to be attained
when one dies. It is a present possession. Again this is unnaturally unique. In other
religions, "salvation" is a goal, the hope that if there is a life after death,
you somehow "make it" when you die. The teaching of biblical Christianity is
that the gift of salvation is not only a perfect life after death but the possession of
eternal life now and a present, living relationship with God Himself. This "too good
to be true" package of salvation would never have been proposed by
"good-works-oriented" man. It is too unnaturally unique. But the fact that
Christianity's salvation is a free gift does not mean that it was not costly. The highest
price imaginable had to be paid. God had to become Man and die! How unnaturally unique! Is
it even conceivable that such a scheme would have been dreamed up by the human mind?
Probably the feature of Christianity's salvation that is most
unnaturally unique is that it is obtained by one way only! Christianity
emphatically denies that "all roads lead up the same mountain," a characteristic
teaching in so many other religions. Biblical Christianity states that there is only one
road and it is very narrow. (See Matthew 7:13-14.) According to the teaching of
Christianity, when Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on a Roman cross, an historic
transaction was taking place in the moral universe of God. The judgment of God for the sin
of the world was taken by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Because of this unnaturally unique
transaction, commitment to Jesus Christ as God and as personal Savior is the only
way of salvation. (See John 14:6 and Acts 4:12.) Christianity further teaches that
rejection of this way of salvation means eternal separation from God, and an eternity in
hell. All of this is so far out and unnaturally unique that Christianity has to be the
only true religion. There is no way works-oriented man would have advanced such a
narrow salvation and distasteful religion. If Christianity is not true, how did such an
unbelievable and unnaturally unique religion ever get started?
The unique basis on which Christianity stands is entirely
different than the bases on which the religions of the world stand. This is another aspect
of Christianity which is unnaturally unique. All of this world's religions are, in one way
or another, ultimately based on the teachings of humans. They don't depend on events in
history for their authenticity. Hinduism, for example, does not depend on whether someone
in history did or did not exist. Christianity, in contrast, is based on events in history.
Although the teachings of Jesus Christ are inestimable in their content and importance,
and are themselves unnaturally unique (as we have seen), the foundation of the
Christian faith is historical events. Ultimately Christianity stands or falls on whether
the bodily resurrection of the historical Jesus of Nazareth took place in history. In the
final analysis, if Jesus Christ is not alive today it really doesn't matter what He
taught! What authority is there behind the beautiful Sermon on the Mount if the same
Teacher falsely taught that He would rise from the dead on the third day? If the
historical event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ did not take place, then the
teachings of Jesus carry no more weight than the teachings of any other world religion!
Any religious leader can say, "Love your neighbor as
yourself." Some may even dare to claim, "I am the light of the world." But
when the religious leader also plainly states that He will be "killed and after three
days rise again," He and His teachings are immediately transferred into another
category. (See Mark 8:31-32.) The authority for all of the teachings of Jesus Christ rests
on the basis of whether or not He was right about the historical events He predicted. All
of Christ's teachings are intricately woven together with the historical events in His
life. You cannot pick and choose in the record and somehow separate the ethical teachings
of Jesus from His deeds, which were historical events. For example, you can't separate His
teaching that "I am the resurrection and the life" from His miraculous raising
of Lazarus from the dead. (See John 11:25-44.) All of the teachings of Jesus are
intimately connected with what He did in history--from His predicted birth to His death
and resurrection. So we see that the basis for Christianity as being the only true
religion is absolutely and unnaturally unique. It does not depend on the subjective
feelings of its followers or on the ethical value of its teachings, even though both are
important. The basis and foundation of this most unique religion is the objective, factual
events which took place in history.
Several times in this paper we have mentioned the term "biblical
Christianity." The reason should be obvious. Operating under the "umbrella of
professing Christianity" there are, unfortunately, many religious leaders and groups,
but they are not following biblical Christianity. They generally preach a
good-works-oriented brand of "Christianity." In fact, one of the best ways to
detect unbiblical brands of Christianity is to note how naturally they move towards
the natural characteristics and natural teachings of man-made religions. Biblical
Christianity alone is unnaturally unique! Only in biblical Christianity do we come to
appreciate "how unsearchable are God's judgments and how unfathomable are His
ways."
David R. Reid
Back to Devotions For Growing Christians
Topics with titles starting with A-K
Topics with titles starting with L-Z