The words of the apostles contain a very bold claim. It is a claim that was made by Jesus throughout his ministry (see Matthew 7:14–15; John 14:6) and it is a claim that is now being repeated by the apostles: there is no salvation apart from Christ.
Upon hearing this claim of exclusivity, many people respond with objections that it is arrogant. Arrogant because there are so many different religions who all claim divine revelation, so on what grounds can we say that Christianity is right and they are wrong? Faith is faith. It cannot be proven. It cannot be disproven; therefore, it is just arrogant to pretend as if you have everything sorted and everyone else is wrong. It is nothing less than a power grab to try and get people following your way of life.
We should appreciate that the Christian faith is based on the reality of resurrection. The apostles confidently state that there is salvation in no one else because they saw Jesus raised from the dead (Acts 4:10). That is to say, the resurrection is not only confirmation that Jesus is the Christ of Scripture, but also the primary evidence that supports all Christian teaching. It is the only reason why Peter is risking his life before the council where he was previously ashamed to speak even to a servant girl (see Luke 22:54–62). He saw Jesus risen from the dead.
Often the Christian faith can be presented as a self-improvement programme with an emphasis on moral living. Why should you be a Christian? My Christian faith really helped me to get through a difficult time in my life. God was good to me and so now I am trying to live by his rules. Or maybe I had a big problem with self-control and addiction, drugs, pornography, you name it. I just could not control my actions. With God’s help, however, things really turned around for me. I found my higher power and now I am a better man for it.
When Christianity is presented in this way, it is no different from any other religion, and so claims of arrogance ring true. Muhammad, Confucius, Dawkins, Buddha, they all have teachings that can be helpful and relevant. They all have followers who claim that their lives were changed and transformed. They all have an emphasis on being a good upstanding citizen of society but you do not hear them going around saying they have got a monopoly on the truth.
The Good News of the gospel and the Spirit of Christ are a great comfort to us, and God’s truth will most certainly help us to live in this world. But our confidence as Christians is not down to our subjective transformation or feelings. Our confidence is grounded in objective facts that have been communicated in history. We believe because Jesus was resurrected, a truth proclaimed by the apostles even under death threat. We believe because the Spirit has convinced us that the Bible is God’s Word; the Christian worldview alone corresponds with the reality we see around us. We are confident in the truth of the Bible, and because of that confidence we are not ashamed to join Christ and the apostles in proclaiming that there is no salvation apart from Jesus.
12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”