What makes Christianity unique? | GotQuestions.org

Today's question is, what makes Christianity unique? In this video I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective.

Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end.

Is Christianity really unique, or is it just one of many roads on the path to truth?

Is Christianity truly unique among the many religions around the world? If it is, what makes it so?

Unique among all religions, Christianity makes several claims that others do not.

First, all other religions exhort man to reach up to God and grasp hold of Him through their own efforts.

Christianity is the only religion where God reaches down to man. Second, other religions are systems of do's and don'ts to appease

God, whereas Christianity is a relationship with God. Third, Christianity looks to the

Bible as the singular source of truth. Finally, Christianity is based upon truly the most amazing event in all human history—the resurrection.

As to the first issue, other forms of religion subscribe to a system of works—those we should do and those we should avoid—which will make us good enough to please

God and merit His favor. Christianity, on the other hand, is based on the biblical principle that we can never be good enough to be in the presence of a perfect, holy

God. The Mosaic Law was given to mankind to prove to us that we can't keep it.

Galatians 3 describes the purpose of the law. It is a tutor or schoolmaster to lead us to Christ because, by observing the law, no one will be justified.

Galatians 2, verse 16. The impossibility of keeping the law is revealed in what

Jesus called the first and greatest commandment in Matthew 22, verse 37.

"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.'"

This would mean loving God with every fiber of our being 24 -7, with never a thought for ourselves—an impossible task for anyone.

But rather than condemning us as lawbreakers and leaving it at that, God provided a substitute,

Jesus Christ, who obeyed the law perfectly for us. By faith in Him and accepting

His work on our behalf, we are justified and made righteous. Here is the crucial difference between Christianity and all other religions.

As to the second point, Christianity is not a religious system but a relationship with God, one that He initiated and maintains.

Christians believe that mankind was created specifically to have a relationship with God, but sin separates all men from Him.

Romans 3, verse 23. Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ walked this earth fully

God and yet fully man, Philippians 2, verses 6 -11, and died on the cross to restore the relationship that was broken by sin.

After His death on the cross, Christ was buried, He rose again, and now lives at the right hand of the

Father, making intercession for believers forever. Hebrews 7, verse 25. The intimacy of this relationship is revealed in two poignant pictures.

Now, no longer seen as lawbreakers, we have been adopted into God's own family as His children,

Ephesians 1, verse 5. Even more intimately, believers are the very body of Christ, of which

He is the head, Ephesians 1, verses 22 -23, having been purchased by His blood,

Hebrews 9, verse 12. No other religion makes assertions that even begin to approximate this incredible truth.

Another thing that makes Christianity unique is its source of information. All religions have some sort of basis of information that outlines its beliefs and practices, but none have one source of information that makes the claims

Christianity does about the Bible. It is the written Word of God, and it is infallible and inerrant and all that is necessary for faith and practice, 2

Timothy 3, verse 16. Christians believe that the Bible is the inspired, literally

God -breathed Word of God and that its teaching is the final authority, 2

Peter 1, verses 20 -21. Though there are other religions that use prophecy, none are 100 % accurate, as are those in the

Bible, and none of them point to someone like Jesus, who made incredible claims and performed incredible deeds.

Perhaps the most defining principle of Christianity that makes it truly unique in every way and provides its fundamental basis is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Within Christianity, the resurrection is vitally important, or without it, Christianity does not exist and our faith is useless, 1

Corinthians 15, verse 14. It was Jesus' resurrection that changed the lives of the disciples.

After Jesus was crucified, the disciples ran and hid, but when they saw the risen

Lord, they knew that all Jesus had said and done proved that He was indeed

God in flesh. No other religious leader has died in full view of trained executioners, had

He guarded tomb and then rose three days later to appear to many people. The resurrection is proof of who

Jesus is and that He did accomplish what He set out to do—provide the only means of redemption for mankind.

Buddha did not rise from the dead. Muhammad did not rise from the dead. Confucius did not rise from the dead.

Krishna did not rise from the dead. Only Jesus has physically risen from the dead, walked on water, claimed to be

God, and raised others from the dead. He has conquered death. Only in Christianity do we have the person of Christ, who claimed to be

God, performed many miracles to prove His claim of divinity, died and rose from the dead, and claimed that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life—John 14, verse 6—and that no one comes to the

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