Jesus isn’t the only way to salvation, insists TikTok pastor Brandan Robertson, whose progressive preaching on the Chinese-owned and video-focused social networking service has reached millions.
Aided by animated head movement and a fast-paced tone captured by webcam, Robertson’s concise video messages clock in at under a minute. More than 187,000 accounts follow him on the TikTok platform; his individual videos total more than 4.4 million likes. Last June he was featured in Rolling Stone’s annual Hot List for his LGBT advocacy.
It’s a lot for a message that intentionally contains little.
“If God is infinite, eternal and indescribable and uncontainable, no religion can contain God. Indeed no words can contain God,” Robertsons declares as “someone who’s always on a journey” in a March 24 video.
A graduate of Moody Bible Institute and onetime parishioner of the Anglican Church in North America’s Chicago-based Greenhouse church planting movement, Robertson illustrates a well-worn trajectory for “evangelicals” who squish on sexual ethics, ultimately jettisoning from their beliefs an orthodoxy that first became optional and now is proscribed.
Much of Robertson’s content originates from progressive Christian theologians active across the past century. Those messages were largely relegated to declining Mainline Protestant seminaries, their once-stately campuses sapped of evangelistic vigor by universalism and their missionary fervor diverted to a preoccupation with social activism. Writings of Progressive Christian theologians like Walter Brueggeman, Marcus Borg and John Shelby Spong have lost much of their following in recent decades, but Robertson, an ordained pastor with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and a graduate of the liberal United Methodist affiliated Iliff School of Theology saw an opening to repackage their scriptural interpretations into short, rapidly paced clips that lend themselves to browsing and sharing.
Robertson’s tutelage as a self-styled “public theologian” seems light years from evangelical Christianity: Jesus isn’t the only way to salvation. Hell doesn’t exist. He doesn’t know “what happened after the crucifixion”. Robertson offers a reductionist message effectively whittled down to the golden rule: Christ’s command to “Love your neighbor as yourself” supersedes God’s call to personal holiness and Jesus’ repeated warnings about the reality of hell and the devil.
“I don’t believe in hell, yet I choose to follow Jesus because I know it blesses my life and the world around me,” Robertson shared March 15 in a TikTok video.
In some cases, however, Robertson’s message could only proceed out of an American evangelicalism centered upon individual relationship with God, one that ejects centuries of Christian life rooted in corporate worship and anchored to the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian creeds. Asked by a viewer if he needs to go to church, believe a creed, or partake in a sacrament to be saved, Robertson replied in a March 17 video that “the answer is very deep, the answer is no.”
Robertson also has his detractors, with which he invites disagreement and further online engagement.
“I don’t know Brandan well at all. But years ago, he was insistent of his evangelical bona fides alongside his support for gay marriage. It always leads to what’s below,” tweeted Andrew T. Walker of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a fellow at the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC). “You cannot sever ethics and remain theologically orthodox. We think we can, but they’re packaged together.”
I don’t know Brandan well at all. But years ago, he was insistent of his evangelical bona fides alongside his support for gay marriage. It always leads to what’s below. You cannot sever ethics and remain theologically orthodox. We think we can, but they’re packaged together. https://t.co/6Kle1LQhgD
— Andrew T. Walker (@andrewtwalk) March 28, 2022
My IRD colleague Chelsen Vicari followed Robertson’s evolution beginning in 2014. In 2015, she watched Robertson tout the “Evangelical” title as he advocated for same-sex marriage. Later, he defined himself as “Christianish,” and by 2018 was calling himself a gay “Renegade Reverend” rethinking sin “as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Today Robertson claims the title “Christian agnostic,” and publicly affirms practices that significantly deviate from what the church has historically understood to be appropriate.
“Your relationships are holy,” Robertson told “those who are in an open or polyamorous relationship” at his then-congregation of Missiongathering Christian Church, affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in San Diego, California in 2018. “They are beautiful and they are welcomed and celebrated in this space.”
“For most people, sex before marriage is a healthy expression of the gift of sexuality and is not “sinful” or morally wrong,” Robertson later told Huffington Post the same year.
Much of that may seem passé by now, Robertson tracing his path from, but no longer rooted in, historic Christianity. “I don’t know the absolute truth about the nature of reality or our universe,” Robertson shared on a recent video. “God is bigger than our boxes or ideas.”
Comment by jeff on March 29, 2022 at 11:38 am
How long do we have to pretend that those who have rejected the 2000 years of Christian morality on abortion and sexuality are actually Christians?
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on March 29, 2022 at 11:51 am
2 Peter 2 ,that’s Brandon.
Comment by Star Tripper on March 29, 2022 at 6:38 pm
Douglas, you hit the nail on the head my brother.
Comment by Tom on March 29, 2022 at 6:39 pm
“I don’t know the absolute truth about the nature of reality or our universe,”
So why exactly should anyone follow someone who explicitly says he doesn’t know where he’s going?
Comment by Palamas on March 29, 2022 at 7:28 pm
Robertson claims to “follow Jesus.” He does no such thing, of course. Instead, he decides where he will go, whether physically, intellectually, or morally, turns around and says, “Jesus, I’m going this way. Wanna come?” The Lord responds, “since you don’t know where you are going, why would I want to do that?” To which Robertson shrugs and mutters, “Whatever, dude.”
Comment by Loren J Golden on March 30, 2022 at 1:01 am
“Asked by a viewer if he needs to go to church, believe a creed, or partake in a sacrament to be saved, Robertson replied in a March 17 video that ‘the answer is very deep, the answer is no.’”
The viewer’s question is actually quite similar to the question, “Do I need to do good works to be saved?” One is not saved by works, in whole or in part, “because by works of the law no one will be justified.” (Gal. 2.16) Rather, we are saved by the faith that produces the works, for “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (Jas. 2.17) Indeed, it is for the purpose of doing good works that anyone is saved. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2.8-10) And again, “Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ…gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Tit. 2.13-14)
Likewise, we are not saved by church attendance, believing creeds, or partaking in the sacraments. None of these things, taken individually or conglomerately with works, is capable of producing faith of any sort, especially not saving faith. Yet these things, like works, are necessary for the sustenance of saving faith. The Christian faith, bereft of these things, is at best anemic, if not dead. Now, let us consider these items individually.
Church Attendance. When God created our first parents in the Garden, He pronounced His benediction: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Gen. 1.31) Yet right after He created Adam, He said something that contradicted this benediction: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” (Gen. 2.18, emphasis added) God created us with the need for fellowship—both with Himself and with our fellow human beings. For the sake of his psychological and sociological well-being, Adam needed the companionship of other human beings. “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (Eccl. 4.9-10) And again. “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens the countenance of another.” (Prov. 27.17)
The same is true of our faith. When the Lord poured out His Spirit on His congregated disciples on Pentecost, “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. … And all who believed were together and had all things in common. … And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2.42-47, emphasis added) Likewise, the Holy Spirit says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb. 10.24-25)
Just as God created our race with the need for companionship, He created His covenant people (both His Old Testament people and His New) with the need to fellowship with one another. To be “cut off from one’s people” was regarded as a curse in the Law (Ex. 12.15,19, 23.29, 30.33,38, 31.14, Lev. 7.20,21,25,27, 17.4,9,10,14, 18.29, 19.8, 20.3,5,6,18, 22.3, Num. 9.13, 15.30,31, 19.13,20). And when Christ gave His disciples a “new” commandment to love one another, as He had loved them (Jn. 13.34,35, 15.12,17, I Jn. 2.7,8, 3.11,23, 4.7,8, II Jn. 5), it was meant not as a love toward all human beings generally, for that law had already been given and is still required today (Lev. 19,17,18, Mt. 22.39, Mk. 12.31), but as a love toward their fellow believers specifically, who, like them, were (and are) called to faith in Christ. And it is impossible to love someone as Christ loved you, without being in fellowship with him or her.
And church attendance is more than this, for it is worshiping God—enjoying fellowship with Him, praying to Him, and learning from Him (through the Word read and the Word preached)—in the context of fellowship with others who likewise believe and trust in Christ alone for salvation from sin and death. And this is what makes in-person worship vastly and qualitatively superior to vicariously watching a worship service online: The Church is the body of Christ (Rom. 12.4-5, I Cor. 10.16-17, 12.12-27, Eph. 4.4,11-17, 5.29-30, Col. 1.18, 2.19, 3.15), of which Christ is the Head; and where there is no body—or no Head—there is no life.
(To be continued…)
Comment by David S. on March 30, 2022 at 9:37 am
1 John 2:19 – “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”
Comment by David S. on March 30, 2022 at 10:00 am
“Robertson illustrates a well-worn trajectory for “evangelicals” who squish on sexual ethics, ultimately jettisoning from their beliefs an orthodoxy that first become optional and now is proscribed.”
So true, all one needs to do is look at various individuals over the past 10 or so years, who gone down the rabbit trail and hole of eventual apostacy. I am particularly reminded of a recent summary post by Alisa Childers concerning one of her recent videos regarding those Christian artists, who went through the CCM machine and were popular in the 90s and 00s and eventually veered off into Progressive Christianity. (I have yet to watch the video but want to.) Specifically, she was highlighting one of the founding members (?) of Caedmon’s Call, who like Childers became enmeshed into it, but unlike Childers, who eventually by the grace of God was restored to genuine faith, this member has gone on to publicly renounce Christianity.
As I type this, I also think it is worth noting that Mr. Spong, mentioned above, eventually all but perhaps formally uttering the words renounced Christianity himself with his descent into Progressive Christianity’s parent, historic theological liberalism, which Reformed theologian of yesteryear, J. Gresham Machen, called an entirely different religion – how right he would be, especially as it morphed into Progressive Christianity. One has to wonder, even if Mr. Spong had then formally renounced the Christian faith, if even back then, his denomination would have defrocked him, given how much heresy flowed from his pen and pulpit that that now false denomination overlooked.
Comment by Pat on March 30, 2022 at 7:11 pm
Another example of another false prophet denying Christ is the only way to salvation and eternal life. Jesus told us in the book of Matthew of many false prophets and this man is just another of many who will speak a false religion for his own benefit and not the benefit of those truly seeking Christ as the only savior of the world.
Comment by Loren J Golden on March 31, 2022 at 12:17 am
“Asked by a viewer if he needs to go to church, believe a creed, or partake in a sacrament to be saved, Robertson replied in a March 17 video that ‘the answer is very deep, the answer is no.’”
(Continued from above…)
Believing Creeds. I agree that we are not saved by believing creeds. As I mentioned above, we are saved by faith—specifically, by faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2.16). But what, exactly, is faith?
Twentieth Century Reformed theologian John Murray, in his excellent, dense little book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, gives us a very helpful answer: “Faith is knowledge, conviction, and trust.” (p. 110) In unpacking this for us, he writes, “There is a knowledge that is indispensable to faith. … We must know who Christ is, what he has done, and what he is able to do. Otherwise faith would be blind conjecture at the best and foolish mockery at the worst. There must be apprehension of the truth respecting Christ.”
Further, “We must not only know the truth respecting Christ but we must believe it to be true.” This is where conviction comes in. “It is possible, of course, for us to understand the import of certain propositions of truth and yet not believe these propositions. All disbelief is of this character,” including Mr. Robertson’s disbelief. “The conviction which enters into faith is not only an assent to the truth respecting Christ but also a recognition of the exact correspondence that there is between the truth of Christ and our deeds as lost sinners. What Christ is as Saviour perfectly dovetails our deepest and most ultimate need. … It is conviction which engages…our greatest interest and which registers the verdict: Christ is exactly suited to all that I am in my sin and misery and to all that I should aspire to be by God’s grace.”
Finally, “Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and it is conviction passing into confidence. Faith cannot stop short of self-commitment to Christ, a transference of reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation. … Faith…is not belief of propositions of truth respecting the Saviour, however essential an ingredient of faith such belief is. Faith is trust in a person, the person of Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the lost.” (pp. 110-111)
What does all this, then, have to do with creeds? Much in every way. Creeds are a simple, straightforward recitation of propositional truths. Take, for example, one of the earliest creeds, quoted by the Apostle Paul in his first epistle to the Church at Corinth: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, … he was buried, … he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, … he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, … then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” (I Cor. 15.3-7) By themselves, the words do nothing but tell the truth about Jesus Christ, irrespective of whether or not they are believed. Yet in reading them, one gains knowledge of Christ—the first step toward faith in Him.
Then the Holy Spirit takes these words that we have read or heard, and convinces us that they are true (Jn. 16.14). Again, as Paul wrote, “As it is written (Is. 64.4), ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” (I Cor. 2.9-13) If we believe a creed, such as the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed, or the Chalcedon Creed, it is because of the Spirit’s doing, to generate life-giving faith in our dead hearts. It is not something we do in order to be saved, as if believing were somehow an act of our will—“it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2.8)
But faith is more than knowledge and belief. “Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and conviction passing into confidence.” Now, this does not mean, “I have the confidence that these propositions are true,” as if confidence were nothing more than another synonym for belief or conviction. Confidence means trust, and trust is something that needs to be demonstrated, like Aladdin standing on the magic carpet, holding out his hand to the princess and asking, “Do you trust me?” It does no good for the princess to claim to trust Aladdin, unless she takes his hand and joins him on the magic carpet. (Yes, I am the father of two elementary school-age daughters.)
For the one who has faith in Jesus, this trust must be demonstrated in the way one lives out his or her life. Occasionally, God may call someone to demonstrate his trust in Him in an extraordinary way—God called Abraham, for example, to demonstrate his trust by sacrificing his beloved son as a burnt offering (Gen. 22; and before you conclude that God was meanhearted and cruel to demand such a thing, go back and read the whole chapter, beginning with the first verse, which explicitly says, “God tested Abraham”). For some, this might be as benign as openly confessing that you believe the Bible and trust in Christ for salvation. Yet this seemingly “benign” way of demonstrating one’s trust in Christ can get one killed in some places in the world; here in the supposedly “civilized” west, it will more likely lead to social ostracization. For others, God’s call to believers to openly demonstrate their trust in Him by more tangible means—feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick or the imprisoned—all in the name of Christ—and “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (I Pet. 3.15)
So then, “believing a creed” cannot save anyone; but this does not mean that the creed is valueless. Indeed, believing the truth that the creed proclaims, insofar as it agrees with Scripture, is essential to saving faith, and saving faith cannot be had without it. Yet the conviction that the propositions pointing to Christ are true is not the end-all and be-all of the Christian faith: the Christian faith must be lived out before the watching world, to give testimony to the power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
(To be concluded…)
Comment by Cathy Byrd on March 31, 2022 at 9:24 am
Some have mocked the distress and angst supposedly expressed by evangelicals over so many young people’s “deconstruction” of their faith and why it is essentially not a rejection of Jesus, but is rejection of institutionalism and politicization of churches and religion, presumably and most notably by traditional, i.e., conservative Christians.
My own take on “deconstruction” or rejecting their faith, that is so trendy right now, is that it is sort of like what I experienced in my 30’s…… awakening to the reality at 29 that my years (since infant
Cradle roll days) of being a faithful churchian…. learning Bible, participating in traditions, seeking what I saw as “doing justly, loving mercy” etc. and realizing that, based on the dissonance between my stated beliefs and my actual conduct and influences, something was very wrong with my belief system and I was miserable. Either what I’d been told was a lie, there was no God, or I didn’t really know God…. That questioning of everything I had thought I believed led me on a nearly decade long searching journey, which is a quite normal part of spiritual maturing. I sought not so much to know God better, but to try to know myself better. By 38 I had to confront the reality of what I was capable of in terms of self-deception, dishonesty, selfishness, attempts at control, insecurity, and more. When I saw myself for what I truly was…. poor in spirit, broken, prideful, rebellious, fake, filled with secrecy, shame, deception and distortion of the Word (2 Corinthians 4:2) …..I also found Christ waiting right there at the point of my deconstruction of myself to invite me, comfort me, guide me, restore me, and reassure me that nothing I’d done could stand between me and his love for me. The realization of the magnitude of that love would transform me significantly over the next decade in some ways that surprised people who knew me well and surprised me even more. What had been Bible literacy became love and commitment to the authority of God’s Word. What had been personal entitlement to my “rights” became surrender to God’s sovereignty. What had been fear of God’s judgment became understanding of His grace, goodness, and call to be holy. What had been a consumerist and socially affiliative attitude toward church became a servant’s desire to be a cooperative part of the larger Body of Christ, serve God and His people within and beyond my own little comfortable fellowship, and build the Kingdom of God.
By my early-to-mid 40’s my knowledge of, love for, submission to and desire for the Lord had little to do with church and everything to do with relationship and yearning for the virtues of Christ to be manifest in me. I came through more-than-a-decade of time spent seeking and being pruned and refined that led me into “owned faith”……. knowing who I am, whose I am, and how to live into the purpose intended by God for my life. Learning to know and love God (heart, soul, mind, and strength) is certainly the primary part of that “searching faith” journey. But, for the second part of the Great Commandment, loving others as one’s self cannot be accomplished until one has invested in the parallel fearless and searching self- examination that leads to honest self-surrender to the truth of the depravity of heart each of us is capable of as a result of the marred human condition. I observe a lot of what appears to be dismissiveness, even condemnation, of others and arrogance in the attitude in many announcing their abandoning of faith. My suspicion is that their faith, like my own at 29, was vested in the wrong thing all along…. in an ideal that doesn’t exist, in their own goodness and intellect, in expectations of life and others that aren’t being met, etc.
I’ve seen plenty of others, like myself, go through a period of disillusionment, rebellion against external constraints, disgust with perceived hypocrisy of others, and more. However, I believe they, too, are likely to find a far better personally-owned faith if they earnestly seek self-examination and understanding and the Christ they may actually have never known instead of the faith they experienced and absorbed from others among whom they were originally nurtured or from those with whom they found affiliation as youth and young adults.
Statistically most self-described Christians live most of their lives in the immature experiential or affiliative modes. Comparatively few actually undertake an earnest searching faith journey and even fewer, reportedly as few as 6-10 % ever reach the mature owned-faith stage that cannot be shaken by any disillusionment in humankind or cultural upheaval and leads to humility, contentment, generosity of spirit toward others, and trusting in God for one’s own good and the good of others, whether we agree with them or not.
Comment by Joe Renta on April 1, 2022 at 8:46 pm
As the spiritual lemmings race towards the Culture driven cliff we should continue to show them love and tell them The Gospel. I’m unsure that given their error filled leaders viewpoints we do much good in giving them the time of day.
Comment by Indy Jones on April 1, 2022 at 10:24 pm
Always amazing to me how these “leaders” profess to be Christian and to know Jesus, yet they don’t realize it is painfully obvious they’ve never read a Bible from cover to cover. Or cracked one open more than once or twice.
Comment by Bruce on April 2, 2022 at 9:07 am
Not surprising on Tik Tok. After all, the whole purpose is to break down any standards our youth may have left.
Comment by td on April 2, 2022 at 7:09 pm
I personally think his question isn’t valid. Who besides Christ is offering salvation? What does salvation mean outside of Christianity?
His question is non-sensical. He is simply trying to say, “well Jesus was right that we need salvation, but well Jesus was wrong about how to achieve salvation”.
Comment by Paul Zesewitz on April 2, 2022 at 9:52 pm
How sad a graduate of Moody Bible Institute apparently forgot John 14:6–“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” Either that school has gone the way of the dodo theologically and is no longer the stalwart fortress of evangelism and conservative theology it was when my father graduated from it in the 60s, or this kid wasn’t paying attention. I wouldn’t trade my eternity for his any day if he came out of there a non believer.
Comment by binkyxz3 on April 3, 2022 at 5:58 am
His track record shows he has transitioned to a philosopher — realm where absolutes go from being undefined to unnecessary. The acid test is whether one strictly quotes the Bible as a FOUNDATION to one’s teachings.
Comment by Loren J Golden on April 9, 2022 at 1:59 pm
“Asked by a viewer if he needs to go to church, believe a creed, or partake in a sacrament to be saved, Robertson replied in a March 17 video that ‘the answer is very deep, the answer is no.’”
(Continued from above…)
Partaking of the Sacraments. Finally, we come to the sacraments (also called ordinances or mysteries). There are only two—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper (also called Communion or the Eucharist)—and they are reserved exclusively for those who are already in covenant with Christ. Once again, partaking of the sacraments does not cause anyone to be saved from sin and death—indeed, the Apostle Paul says that anyone who partakes of the Lord’s Supper “in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (I Cor. 11.27)—but they are, rather, means of grace, by which the Lord bestows the blessings of salvation on His people. In and of themselves, the sacraments are quite ineffective—a bath and a snack, for all intents and purposes. It is only through the operation of the Holy Spirit that they can produce spiritual fruit.
As a means of grace, the sacraments are administered in conjunction with the preaching of the Word of God and are not to be administered apart from it. Like the sacraments, the Word preached is a means of grace, but again, only through the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus did Paul write, “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” (I Cor. 1.21) We can preach Christ crucified to unbelievers until we are blue in the face, but unless the Holy Spirit takes what we preach and uses it to convince unbelievers that what we say is true, that we are all condemned sinners in the sight of God, and only faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross can deliver us from sin and death, does it become a means of grace.
Then the sacraments come alongside the Word preached and make the Gospel tangible. According to the Gospel, the blood of Christ washes our sins away and does what the Law cannot do—make us spiritually clean (Eph. 1.7, Heb. 9.11-14, I Pet. 1.18-19, I Jn. 1.7,9). Baptism makes this washing away of sins tangible. Just as under the Old Testament Law, the people were sprinkled with the blood of sacrificial animals, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop (Ex. 24.8, Heb. 9.19-22), so also, when we enter into the New Covenant in the Lord Jesus’ blood—either as covenant children, presented by our believing parents, or as adults coming into the faith from outside the pale of the Church—we are sprinkled or immersed with the water of baptism.
In like manner, the Lord Jesus said in the Bread of Life Discourse, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (Jn. 6.53-56) This transaction points to the Passover, where the people of Israel ate the flesh of the lambs who were slain, so their blood could be smeared on the lintels and doorposts of their homes in Goshen, that the Angel of Death should pass over them, when he came to take the lives of all the firstborn in Egypt (Ex. 12.7-8). It also points to the sin offering made for the people of Israel, where the priest making the offering would eat its flesh in a holy place and thus symbolically bear the people’s sin and make atonement for them (Lev. 6.24-30, 10.16-20). In the Lord’s Supper, we partake of the Lord’s body and blood symbolically, when we partake of the bread and wine. This is a continual reminder to us that we, His people, are joined by a covenant with Him, and that we need His presence in us continually. For apart from Him, we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins; Heis our spiritual life.
Finally, these sacraments are signs and seals of the Covenant of Redemption in the Lord Jesus’ blood. They not only signify the body and blood of our Lord Jesus broken and poured out on our behalf, they seal to us the Covenant blessings and responsibilities. The Covenant blessings are the grace and favor of God, which are bestowed on all who are called by the name of the Lord Jesus, elect in Him from before the foundations of the world were laid, and who believe in His name and trust in His finished work on the Cross to justify them before His Father in Heaven. And the Covenant responsibilities are those things the Lord asks us to do; after all, although His yoke is easy and His burden light (Mt. 11.28-30), He still has a yoke and a burden for us to bear, as I mentioned above.
Christ the Only Way.
“Jesus said to (Thomas), ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” —John 14.6
Faith in Christ is not one way to God among many, as if this were the way established among Christians, another way among the Jews, another way by Mohammed, another way by Gautama Buddha, another way among the Hindus, and another way by Brandan Robertson. Christ alone has the words of eternal life (Jn. 6.68); none of these pretenders do. Christ alone died on the cross to pay the penalty of humanity’s sin for all who believe; no one else did that. Of Christ alone is it sung in Heaven, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom of priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5.9-10) Christ not only bore great humiliation, agonizing torment, and ignoble death in His betrayal, arraignment, false conviction, and crucifixion, He alone bore the full, fierce wrath of God in His righteous anger poured out on Him for the sins of humanity; His cry of dereliction on the Cross was genuine (Mt. 27.46, Mk. 15.34). He “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Tit. 2.14, emphasis added) He did this because He loved us, and there was no other way to make us right before God.
Christ did not suffer humiliation, torture, the fierce wrath of His Father, or death on the Cross in order that Mohammed, Buddha, Brandan Robertson, or anyone else should be given the glory that is due to Him alone. Therefore, salvation from sin and death can be found in Christ alone.