Humanity is, in and of itself, broken. Throughout the centuries, mankind has been searching for its purpose, the reason for its existence. No amount of human knowledge or technology has been able to fix the problem of pain, fear, guilt, and emptiness. Humanity seeks to be whole, to be loved and fulfilled. It is an unfulfilled desire that has yet to be satisfied by anything on this earth.

The search for a remedy, essentially the search for happiness, has been a failure. Despite our increasing knowledge and awareness, humanity still seeks power at the expense of others, still willfully afflicts pain on the innocent and death on the unborn. This is the human problem, and the human problem can only be solved if we know the cause of the problem. The cause of the human problem is sin, particularly original sin, which alienated humanity from the supreme being. Without a relationship with its creator, humanity has been left without a purpose.

This, then, was the situation: the whole mass of the human race stood condemned, lying ruined and wallowing in evil, being plunged from evil into evil and, having joined causes with the angels who had sinned, it was paying the fully deserved penalty for impious desertion. Certainly the anger of God rests, in full justice, on the deeds that the wicked do freely in blind and unbridled lust; and it is manifest in whatever penalties they are called on to suffer, both openly and secretly1.

But the cause can only be the cause if its solution repairs it in full. This is the uniqueness of Christian salvation, that one man would embody every necessary attribute to rectify the human condition and break the curse of sin and its consequence, alienation.

The uniqueness of Christ and his ability to solve the human problem is centered upon his supernatural nature, his character and his work. As seen through the New Testament and the prophecies of the Old Testament, Christ was both God and man. Through his miracles, his teachings, his works, and his death, Christ proved that there was none like him, nor will there ever be.

Christ was predicted to be born of the seed of a woman (Gen. 3:15), from Adam’s son Seth (Gen. 4:26), through Noah’s son Shem (Gen. (9:26-27), through the seed of Abraham (Gen. 12:3, 7), from the Tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), and the son of David (Jer. 23:5-6). He was to be God (Isaiah 9:6), to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), to visit the temple (Malachi 3:1), to enter the temple in 33 A.D. (Daniel 9:26), and die for our sins (Psalm 22; Isaiah 53; Zech. 12:10) and rise from the dead (Isaiah 53:1; Pss. 2:7; 16:10).

In the passages cited we have predictions of a coming King of Israel. We are told the exact time of his manifestation to his people, the exact place of his birth, the family of which he should be born, the condition of the family at the time of his birth (a condition entirely different from that existing at the time the prophecy was written, and contrary to all the probabilities in the case), the manner of his reception by his people (a reception entirely different from that which would naturally be expected), the fact, method, and details regarding his death, with the specific circumstances regarding his burial, his resurrection subsequent to his burial, and his victory subsequent to his resurrection. These prediction were fulfilled with the most minute precision in Jesus of Nazareth.2

Christ’s conception and birth were miraculous. He was born of a virgin according to Matthew (1:22-23) and Luke3 (1:26), which was foretold in Isaiah 7:14 and alluded to in Galatians 4:4. His life was full of miraculous works, confirming his Messiahship as foretold in Isaiah 35:5-6. He raised people from the dead (Mark 5:35, Luke 7:11-15, John 11:43-44), cured blindness (John 9:7), turned water into win (John 2:7) and walked on water (Matt. 14:25). He made the lame walk (Mark 2:3), healed sicknesses (Matt 9:35, Mark 1:40-42) and cast out demons (Mark 3:10).

The uniqueness of Christ is shown through his character, that even when persecuted he reacted with love and forgiveness. When he was arrested, he rebuked his disciple, Peter, for cutting off one of his attacker’s ears (Matt. 26:52) and then restored it. Even as he was hung on the cross, he spoke words of forgiveness, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Even as he made claims of divinity, he washed his disciples’ feet (John 15). Christ’s character is most evident in his sinlessness. His enemies were unable to show that he was a sinner (John 8:46) and they could not trap him into sinning (Matt. 2:15). He was tempted by Satan, yet did not sin (Matt 4:1-11). He said that he kept His Father’s commandments (John 15:10) and did everything that pleased the Father (John 8:29). There was no record of him offering a single sacrifice and even during his trials and crucifixion, he was acknowledge as innocent (Matt. 27:4, 24, 54; Luke 23:14, 22, 41; John 18:38, 19:4, 6).4

The teachings of Christ and his declaration of divinity also bare witness to his uniqueness. Jesus taught in parables and it was said of him that, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:46) Jesus claimed to be God, telling the Jews in John 8:59 that “…before Abraham was, I am.” He forgave sins, telling the paralytic in Mark 2 that his sins were forgiven as the scribes protested, “He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:7) And he allowed people to worship him despite the forbidding of worshiping anyone but God (Matt. 2:8, 9:18, 14:33, 15:25, 28:17). This claim of divinity, writes C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity, was unique to all other claims of divinity.

Among the Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among the Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking that has ever been uttered by human lips.5

Christ’s claims of his divinity are confirmed by his fulfillment of prophecy, spiritual nature and character. But why is this essential to the solution of the human problem? Because being both God and man, only Christ could offer a sacrifice that would rectified the severed relationship between God and man, triumphing over sin.

Christ was uniquely a prophet, priest and king, making him uniquely fit to hold the office of mediator between God and man. A prophet spoke for God as Christ himself spoke for God, by his words (Matt. 17:5) and his very nature, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Christ claimed to be a prophet (John 12:49-50; Luke 4:24) and prophesied (Mark 11:5-6, Matt. 16:21).

Christ was uniquely a priest, giving him the authority to approach God on man’s behalf6. This is confirmed by him, “…and to give his life as a ransom for many,” (Matthew 20:28; John 6:51), by the writer of Hebrews (2:14-18 and 4:15-16), and through the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:11).

Christ was uniquely a king, exercising dominion and restoring the original dominion of man7. He was born “king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2), claimed to be (Matt. 27:11) and was foretold to be (Gen. 49:10).

Sin has produced a tremendous gulf between the thrice holy God and the rebellious children of Adam. Man has no ability whatever to fill in or pass over that gulf. Not only is he alienated from his Maker (Eph. 4:18), but that law which he has broken insists upon full reparation, and this, man is incompetent to render. Thus, his case is desperate indeed. His only hope … lies in a mediator espousing his cause, a mediator acceptable to that God whom man has so grossly and grievously offended, a mediator both willing and qualified to undertake for him.8

The mediator had to be a man, he had to possess the nature of those to be redeemed9. The mediator had to be God, presenting “unto God a satisfaction possessing infinite merits, which procured infinite blessings for His people.”10 The mediator had to be sinless, or he himself would need redeeming, and he had to be holy, so that his service would be acceptable11. Christ, everything he was and everything he did, uniquely solved the human condition.

Man could not save himself, he needed a saving action, Christ’s death on the cross. Christ’s death fulfilled Old Testament prophecy (Ps. 22:1-31, 69:1-21; Is. 52-53; Dan. 9:24-26) and was the chief purpose of the incarnation. (Mark 10:45; Heb. 2:9, 14; 1 John 3:5) The holy and sinless Christ suffered on the cross, dying both physically and spiritually despite having done no wrong, paying the penalty for sin as the sin of humanity was poured upon him and God forsook him. (Matt. 27:46)

It is Christ set forth in His blood who is a propitiation; that is, it is Christ who died. In dying, as St. Paul conceived it, He made our sin His own; He took it on Himself as the reality which it is in God’s sight and to God’s law: He became sin, became a curse for us. It is this which gives His death a propitiatory character and power; in other words, which makes it possible for God to be at once righteous and a God who accepts as righteous those who believe in Jesus. . . . I do not know any word which conveys the truth of this if ‘vicarious’ or ’substitutionary’ does not, nor do I know any interpretation of Christ’s death which enables us to regard it as a demonstration of love to sinners, if this vicarious or substitutionary character is denied.11

Jesus uniquely rose from death, confirming his deity and his sin conquering death by making 12 appearances over forty days to more than 500 people13. He fulfilled his own prophecy in John 2:19, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” and Old Testament prophecy (Psalm 2). And, finishing his miraculous life, he uniquely ascended to the heavens (Acts 1:10).

There is none like Christ in his ability to define the human problem, sin, and offer a solution, his death. By accepting Christ as Savior and Lord, sin and its consequence, alienation, is defeated, giving man a purpose and an identity. No other religion, nor philosophy, can offer such a reconciliation.

Christian salvation solves the human problem through Christ in a superior way than Muhammad. The founder of Islam did not perform any miracles14, he did not claim to be God, just a prophet who was a man. He was a man that sinner (Quran 40:55; 48:1-2), did not speak to God but an angel and died an stayed dead15. Muhammad offered no sureness of salvation, just guidelines to follow in hopes of receiving it16. Without a righteous mediator and without a sacrifice, there is no reconciliation.

Christian salvation is superior to Hinduism, as it offers relief to the suffering and salvation to all. Hinduism explains suffering as necessary and offers salvation to those who can find the hidden truths and some how work there way out of the karmic cycle of reincarnation17. Unlike Hinduism, Christ offers himself as the way. Christian salvation is superior to Buddhism, which offers salvation by works, by attaining nirvana. Christ offers salvation through his work. Buddha was a man, who died and did not rise again. Buddha had no power over death18.

Christian salvation is superior to Mormonism, as it denies Jesus’ divinity within the trinity and his sufficient work on the cross. By claiming that Jesus is not one with His Father, but rather a god within the “office of the trinity,” Jesus loses both offices of priest and prophet because he would then be below God rather than equal with God and unable to offer a sufficient sacrifice or speak on His behalf.

Christian salvation is superior to atheism, which defines the human problem as ignorance and the product of evolution. It offers no solution to the problem of pain, to the problem of suffering, to the problem of death. It offers no hope of salvation and no hope of a new life.

No other religious leader (except some who copied Christ) offered salvation by faith, apart from works, based on acting to take away the guilt for human sin. No religious or philosophical leader has displayed the love for people that Jesus did in dying for the sins of the world (John 15:13; Rom. 5:6–8). Jesus is absolutely unique among all human beings who ever lived.20

The life, character and work of Jesus Christ shows that he alone can solve the human condition. His divinity, death and resurrection allows for a salvation unlike any other, a unique solution to the human problem.

End Notes

1 Albert Outler, Augustine: Confessions and Enchiridion, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006, 355.

2 R.A. Torrey, The Bible and Its Christ, Whitefish, MT: Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 2006, 9.

3 Luke was a physician (Col. 4:14).

4 Charles Ryrie, Basic Theology, Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, 303.

5 C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001, 54-55.

6 Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1996, 361.

7 Berkhof, 357.

8 Arthur Pink, The Satisfaction of Christ, Lafayette: Sovereign Grace Publishers Inc, 2001, 43.

9 Ibid., 47.

10 Ibid., 54.

11 Ibid., 48-49.

12 James Denney, quoted by J.I. Packer in “What Did the Cross Achieve? The Logic of Penal Substitution,” reprinted in In My Place Condemned He Stood, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2008, 75.

13 Norman Geisler, “The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ,” bethinking.org, www.bethinking.org/other-religions/the-uniqueness-of-jesus-christ.pdf, (accessed October 17, 2008).

14 Geisler, et.al., I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2004, 295.

15 “A Comparison between Jesus and Muhammad,” from Carm.org, http://www.carm.org/islam/Jesus_Muhammad.htm, (accessed December 1, 2008)

16 Geisler, “The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ.”

17 Ibid.

18 Ibid.

19 “Is Mormonism Christian?” Carm.org, http://www.carm.org/lds/lds_christian.htm, (accessed December 18, 2008)

20 Geisler, “The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ.”