The Exclusivity of the Gospel
By Charles Spurgeon

In an age of religious pluralism and tolerance of error, the biblical teaching on the exclusivity of the gospel is essential, even though most people find it to be offensive. Scripture leaves no room for ambiguity. There is only one way of salvation. There are not many paths to God. nor are there multiple Gospels tailored to different groups. There is but one Savior, one Gospel, and one way to eternal life. The way to heaven is not left to our choice, but is revealed by God, and that way is Christ alone.

The Apostle Paul, under divine inspiration, wrote with utmost clarity, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all." He immediately pronounced a curse upon anyone who preached a gospel contrary to the one he had delivered. There is no allowance for alternative methods of salvation. There is no second gospel for Jews, Muslims, sincere religious people, moralists, the heathen, or the young. The gospel is singular, exclusive, and absolute.

Jesus himself declared the narrowness of the way when he said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He did not say he was a way, but the way. Faith in Jesus and his sin atoning death is not one option among many, but the only gospel by which sinners can be reconciled to God. Peter echoed this exclusive claim when he boldly proclaimed, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

This one way of salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. To deny the exclusivity of the gospel is to deny the very heart of the gospel. To suggest that sincere people in other religions can be saved apart from Jesus is to make his sin-atoning death unnecessary and his words untrue. It is a rejection of the only remedy for sin that God has provided.

There are not fifty ways to God. There is only one. The road is narrow, and it is marked with blood. Let us then stand firm, unashamed, and uncompromising in proclaiming the one true gospel, the only gospel that saves, I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Romans chapter 1 verse 16