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“There are many paths to God”
Sometime in the early to mid-30s A.D., in the Roman province of Judea, Pontius Pilate infamously mused, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) Had Pilate understood, in that moment, that he was in the presence of God Incarnate, he might not have been so flippant. Nevertheless, his callous words to our Lord and Savior have never been forgotten. In fact, they resonate as much today as they did at Jesus’ crucifixion.
Since Pilate’s day, the human race has steadily shirked from the black-and-white notion of right-and-wrong / good-versus-evil toward a self-serving ethical subjectivity and moral relativism – the idea that human experience should somehow redefine Absolute Truth. We have become everything the prophet Isaiah loathingly described. (Isaiah 5:20) And it is in this setting that the fallacy of “many paths to God” took root.
Although we live in increasingly pluralistic societies – with a multitude of religions, philosophies, or the lack thereof coexisting side-by-side and, in many cases, amalgamating – there is no plurality to Truth or Salvation as far as God is concerned. Therefore, as Christians, there can be no equivocation on our part.
There is but one God; there is no one else. (Deuteronomy 4:35, 39) And if there was more than one way to reach Him, surely He would know and would have told us about it, yes? But He never gave us “many paths.” In fact, He only gave us One: one Way, one Truth, and one source of everlasting Life – through faith in the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) One Path, not many. And it is a path made intentionally small and conspicuously exclusive: for only those who truly believe were ever meant to find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
This is not to say that there aren’t a variety of paths that may lead one in God’s general direction. Some journeys of faith meander more than others after all. But any and all paths that do not converge at the Cross are headed nowhere.
Surely if there were any other paths to God, any other ways of achieving our salvation, don’t we think God the Father would have found them – especially if it meant sparing His Son the humiliation, torture, and death of the Cross? But therein lies the truth of the matter: there never was any other Way.
Thus the saying should go, “There are many paths to choose from, but only one leads to God.”
Sometime in the early to mid-30s A.D., in the Roman province of Judea, Pontius Pilate infamously mused, “What is truth?” (John 18:38) Had Pilate understood, in that moment, that he was in the presence of God Incarnate, he might not have been so flippant. Nevertheless, his callous words to our Lord and Savior have never been forgotten. In fact, they resonate as much today as they did at Jesus’ crucifixion.
Since Pilate’s day, the human race has steadily shirked from the black-and-white notion of right-and-wrong / good-versus-evil toward a self-serving ethical subjectivity and moral relativism – the idea that human experience should somehow redefine Absolute Truth. We have become everything the prophet Isaiah loathingly described. (Isaiah 5:20) And it is in this setting that the fallacy of “many paths to God” took root.
Although we live in increasingly pluralistic societies – with a multitude of religions, philosophies, or the lack thereof coexisting side-by-side and, in many cases, amalgamating – there is no plurality to Truth or Salvation as far as God is concerned. Therefore, as Christians, there can be no equivocation on our part.
There is but one God; there is no one else. (Deuteronomy 4:35, 39) And if there was more than one way to reach Him, surely He would know and would have told us about it, yes? But He never gave us “many paths.” In fact, He only gave us One: one Way, one Truth, and one source of everlasting Life – through faith in the atoning sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) One Path, not many. And it is a path made intentionally small and conspicuously exclusive: for only those who truly believe were ever meant to find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
This is not to say that there aren’t a variety of paths that may lead one in God’s general direction. Some journeys of faith meander more than others after all. But any and all paths that do not converge at the Cross are headed nowhere.
Surely if there were any other paths to God, any other ways of achieving our salvation, don’t we think God the Father would have found them – especially if it meant sparing His Son the humiliation, torture, and death of the Cross? But therein lies the truth of the matter: there never was any other Way.
Thus the saying should go, “There are many paths to choose from, but only one leads to God.”
About this Plan
Not everything that sounds Biblical actually is. Like the Bereans of old, we must test the wisdom of the age against the Truth of God’s Word. (Acts 17:11) This five-day study will examine some popular sayings and expressions which are often attributed to the Lord, but are in fact found nowhere in Scripture – as well as teach you what God really has to say on such matters.
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