Only one way ...
Eph 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
A foundation of sound doctrine is necessary to fulfill our calling in Christ Jesus.
This passage pretty much debunks the “there are many ways to heaven” philosophy. The first two “ones” are the Greek numeral “1”. There are other words that could have been used to denote unity of diverse believes, but the numeral “1” was used to clearly state that there is only “1” Lord and “1” Faith. The third “one” is from the root word for the first two “ones”, except it puts more emphasis on exclusivity. It might have been translated :”one and only one baptism”.
It would be convenient for there to be many ways to heaven. We would all like to think that the majority of the world’s population who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, Trust in him for eternal life, and follow his commandments are going to heaven anyway. This passage just doesn’t support that believe. The exclusive nature of Jesus may not sit well with some of us, but it is true none the less. That is why Jesus and the other New Testament writers were so adamant for us to get our faith right then going and sharing it with EVERYONE. God’s will is that none would perish, but that all would have eternal life (2 Peter 3:9). Our job as follows of Jesus is to do our part in making that happen.
A foundation of sound doctrine is necessary to fulfill our calling in Christ Jesus.
This passage pretty much debunks the “there are many ways to heaven” philosophy. The first two “ones” are the Greek numeral “1”. There are other words that could have been used to denote unity of diverse believes, but the numeral “1” was used to clearly state that there is only “1” Lord and “1” Faith. The third “one” is from the root word for the first two “ones”, except it puts more emphasis on exclusivity. It might have been translated :”one and only one baptism”.
It would be convenient for there to be many ways to heaven. We would all like to think that the majority of the world’s population who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, Trust in him for eternal life, and follow his commandments are going to heaven anyway. This passage just doesn’t support that believe. The exclusive nature of Jesus may not sit well with some of us, but it is true none the less. That is why Jesus and the other New Testament writers were so adamant for us to get our faith right then going and sharing it with EVERYONE. God’s will is that none would perish, but that all would have eternal life (2 Peter 3:9). Our job as follows of Jesus is to do our part in making that happen.
