4. The Gospel is the Proclamation of the Fact that Jesus Christ is the Only Savior: the Only Way to Know God

The message that the apostles preached was that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. He is not one of a number of different ways to God, He is the only Lord; the only Savior. Why would the apostles preach this? Why would they proclaim this exclusive message to the Jewish and Roman cultures? They preached this because Jesus Christ taught them this. He made it clear in His teaching that He was not just another way to God or a “new type of religious teacher”.

Here is what Jesus Christ stated:

1. Jesus claimed that His words would never pass away. What mere man could claim that? No one has ever spoken words like Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His words have had the greatest impact of any person in all of human history.“Heaven and earth will pass away but My Words will never pass away”. – Luke 21:33.

2. Jesus Christ claimed to be without any sin or human failure. No one but Jesus could ever make such a claim.“Which of you convicts Me of sin? …. I always do those things that please Him ( God the Father)” – John 8:46, 29.

3. Jesus claimed to be one with God the Father and to see Him (Jesus) was to see God. No ordinary man can make such a claim.“Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long and yet you have not known Me Phillip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me or else believe Me for sake of the works themselves.” – John 14:9-11. “ I and My Father are one”. – John 10:30.

4. Jesus was worshipped by men and He received their worship. Who else but God should be worshipped?Jesus said – “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve”. – Matthew 4:10 “And behold a leper came and worshipped Him saying, ’Lord if you are willing you can make me clean’. Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him saying “I am willing; be cleansed” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” – Matthew 8:3,4.“Then those who were in the boat (His disciples) came and worshipped Him saying, “Truly You are the Son of God”. – Matthew 14:33 (See Matthew 2:10-12.)After Jesus rose from the dead He appeared to the disciples and Thomas –“Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here and look at My hands and reach your hand here and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving but believing.’ And Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God. Jesus said to him, Thomas because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”. – John 20:27-29.

5. Jesus forgave sin. No one but God the Creator can forgive sin.“When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic; Son your sins are forgiven you. But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” – Mark 2:5-7.

6. Jesus said that He was to be honored in the same manner as God the Father.“All should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life and will not come into judgment but has passed from death into life” – John 5:23,24.

7. Jesus claimed that He was to be the Judge of all men. God alone is the Judge of all men.“Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His (the Son’s) voice and come forth – those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation”. – John 5:25-29.

8. Jesus predicted that His death was not by means of human intervention but that He would freely lay down His life and would take it back again (by the resurrection). No one in all of human history has ever made this claim and then see it come to pass.

“No one takes it ( my life) from Me but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down (death) and I have the power to take it again (resurrection)”. – John 10:18

9. Jesus claimed that His death was to be for the ransom (to secure the release) of men. He came to seek and save that which was lost. What kind of death of any human being could have this kind of purpose?“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many”. – Mark 10:45.“For (Jesus) the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost”. – Luke 19:10.

Prior to Jesus’ death on the cross, Jesus spoke to His disciples at the last supper –“And He (Jesus) took bread gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them saying – ‘This is My body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me’. Likewise He also took the cup after supper saying ‘This is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you”. – Luke 22:19,20.Jesus said – “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. – John 3:16.

10. Jesus claims to be the Giver of Life. No one can come to know God and have eternal life except through Him. No other individual in all of human history has made such claims.“Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? She said to Him, Yes Lord I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is come into the world”. – John 11:25,26.

“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”. – John 14:6Jesus Christ is the only way because He is the only One that has dealt with mankind’s problem of sin. He is the only One that has paid for our sin on the cross and then rose again from the dead thereby defeating sin’s power over us.The apostle’s proclamation was – “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there in no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” – Acts 4:12.The apostle Paul said – “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself a ransom for all…” – I Timothy 2:5,6.

The book of Acts records that the apostles preached this message all over the Roman Empire and in a culture that had a pantheon of gods and goddesses, including the Emperor. This type of preaching that proclaimed Jesus as the only Lord and Savior, did not go over well with many people, especially those in places of civic and religious authority. ( See “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead “article for information on the martyrdom of the apostles and early preachers of the Gospel.)God has not sent numerous other “mediators” and “saviors” in the past who did not accomplish the task of saving us and neither will there be a need in the future for another one to come to deliver us.

That job has been completed once and for all by Jesus Christ.“God, Who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets has spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through Whom also He made the worlds; Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” – Hebrews 1:1-3.Jesus Christ, God’s Son has completed the work; He has sat down at the right hand of the Father and we can know that through His work on the cross, our sins are forgiven and purged.

No other being or person has or can do this work of redemption. Jesus Christ has completed it.The apostles preached that Jesus Christ is the One who was predicted to come as the Redeemer that was referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures.“But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled” – Acts 3:19.“To Him all the prophets witness that through His name whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” – Acts 10:43.“For those who dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning Him. And though they found no cause for death in Him, they asked Pilate that He should be put to death.

Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead” – Acts 13:27-30.The apostles preached that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the Hebrew prophets and that He alone is the One that God had foretold would come to redeem all of mankind. This message that Jesus Christ is the only Mediator and Redeemer through His work on the cross, confirmed by His resurrection from the dead, was their constant theme.

Summary: The Core Facts of the Gospel:

Jesus is Lord.

Jesus is the Savior, the Redeemer Who has purchased our salvation through His death on the cross.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, never to die again.

Jesus Christ is the Only Lord and Savior.

This is the message of the Gospel that the apostles preached and that the New Testament teaches. This is also the message that all believers in Jesus have been called to proclaim and preach both in our words and in our actions. We must present this message of God’s love with a motivation that is based in genuine compassion, concern, love for people and a love for the truth. This is what Jesus taught and this was also modeled by the apostles. Romans 5:5; II Corinthians 5:14; I John 4:12, 5:3.“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16.