Salvation does not primarily relate to Christians and Jews alone. It is the prime need of every human ever born in this world. Each and every individual is in need of salvation. Salvation in essence operates at both global or cosmic scale as well as individual level. Salvation is by grace and the only grace of God. It can never be earned nor can be bought. Salvation is God’s gift to all who believe in His Son.
Our Need For Salvation
The Bible says that Jesus is the Son of God in a unique way. As God in the flesh, Jesus gave his life for our salvation. The question arises if there might be some other way, but there is none (Matthew 26:39). Salvation comes to us only through God Himself; who entered the human world to suffer the consequences of sin, to free us from sin, as his gift to all who believe in him.
Works and human righteousness are not enough to earn or buy salvation. Doing good works, saying the right prayers, doing the right things, and hoping it will be enough. Christianity on the contrary teaches that we all need God’s grace because we cannot be good enough no matter what we do or how hard we try. Humans are left with no choice, either to rely on their works or rely on what God has done in Jesus Christ.
The Good News
Salvation is for all. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, whether they know it or not (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 2:2). His death was an atoning sacrifice for everyone—past, present, and future. God “wants everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Although His ways and times are often unknown to us, we nonetheless trust Him to love the humans He has made. Jesus said: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17).
Why Jesus Is The Only Way?
God’s standards of righteousness and holiness are too high for humans to meet. Humans in essence can never be able to meet His requirements to qualify for heaven. For centuries there has never been a man who had been perfectly righteous so God Himself had to intervene. God Himself made it possible for humankind to be reconciled with Himself. Jesus is the only Way, and no one can come to God except through Jesus John 14:6 But no matter when people are saved, or how well they understand it, it is only through Christ that they can be saved. Well-intentioned good works will never save anyone, no matter how sincerely people believe that they can be saved if they try hard enough. The reason that we need grace, and Jesus’ sacrifice, is because no amount of good works, no amount of religious deeds, can ever save anyone. If such a path could have been devised, then God would have done it (Galatians 3:21). For centuries if people had sincerely tried to attain salvation by their good works, meditating, flagellating, self-immolating or any other humanly devised means, then they would have ended up learning that their works had not earned them anything with God. Salvation is by grace, and only by grace. The Christian gospel teaches that no one can earn it, and yet it is available to all.
