40 Questions Answered

By H.G. Dr Geevarghese Mar Osthathios

QUESTION 9. What do you mean when you say 'Jesus Christ is the only Savior'?

According to the Bible there is no other name under the heavens except the name of Jesus for the salvation of man (Act. 4: 12). Christ Himself said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Jn. 14: 6).

Jesus Christ is not a local Savior, but the Savior of the world (Lk. 2:11; Jn. 4:42). The prologue of the fourth Gospel equates the incarnate Savior with the eternal Word (Logos) who was in the world even before the Incarnation (Jn. 1: 10). Therefore, wherever there is salvation, the Logos is at work. The Incarnation is the clear yardstick with which God and man is to be measured. Salvation of those who act according to the conscience or according to their knowledge of truth will be perfected beyond history by the same Logos-Christ (I Pet. 3: 19; 4: 6).

The teaching of the Fathers, "outside the Church there is no salvation" has also to be understood as outside the invisible Church known to the Trinity alone. The preaching of Christ is the God-given task of the Church to make Christ known to the whole of humanity that through Him all may have abundant life (Jn. 10: 10).

Concerning the salvation of non-Christians read Rom. 2: 25-29; Mt. 25: 31-46; Phil. 2: 10. 'The scandal of particularity of Christianity, that in Jesus of Nazareth alone dwelt the fullness of Godhead bodily is not something about which we have to be apologetic. It is the real strength of the Christian doctrine that God has entered history and divided it into B. C. and Anno Domini (in the year of our Lord) and has the one necessary dependable criterion about perfect God and perfect man. Jesus Christ is the proper name of God. He is the fulcrum on which the lever of the Church has to lift the fallen world by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the Sun of Righteousness whose light is being reflected by all saints of all religions of all time. He is the richest God who became the poorest Man on earth and is now adored as the richest and the poorest at the same time as the God-Man. Any impartial onlooker of the march of history can easily discern that history is His Story and that there is hardly any good in the world which is not related to Him, directly as Christ or indirectly as the Logos. Inspire of the wars that have been waged in the name of the Church, His healing touch seen in all the continents and islands of the world as schools, colleges, hospitals etc.

Table of Contents: Sec 1 (Q1-18) | Sec 2 (Q 19-33) | Sec 3 (Q 34 - 40) | Previous Question | Next Question

-------
Malankara World
A service of St. Basil's Syriac Orthodox Church, Ohio
Copyright © 2009-2020 - ICBS Group. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer
Website designed, built, and hosted by International Cyber Business Services, Inc., Hudson, Ohio