2. Jesus Christ is unique in that He is eternal. He existed from eternity past, He exists in the present, and He will exist for all eternity in the future (John 1:1–3, 14; John 8:58).
3. Jesus Christ is unique in that He is sinless. He never committed a sin and, although fully human, has no sin nature. He is the Holy One of God (Acts 3:14; John 6:69; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5).
4. Jesus Christ is unique because He alone is the One who bore our sins. As our Sin-bearer, He grants us forgiveness and salvation and a right standing with God. No one else could take away our sin (Isaiah 53; Matthew 1:21; John 1:29; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Corinthians 15:1–3).
5. Jesus Christ is unique because He is the only Way to the Father (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5). There is no other way to salvation. He is the only righteous One, and He exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21).
6. Jesus Christ is unique in that He alone had power over His own death and the ability take back His life again (John 2:19; 10:17–18). Note: His resurrection was not a “spiritual” one, but physical (Luke 24:39). His resurrection from the dead, never to die again, distinguished Him as the unique Son of God (Romans 1:4).
7. Jesus Christ is unique, as seen in the fact that He alone accepted worship as an equal with the Father (John 20:28–29; Philippians 2:6). Indeed, God the Father states that the Son is to be honored as He is honored (John 5:23). All others in Scripture, whether Jesus’ disciples or angelic beings, rightly reject that worship (Acts 10:25–26; 14:14–15; Matthew 4:10; Revelation 19:10; 22:9).
8. Jesus Christ is unique in that He has the power to give life to whom He will (John 5:21).
9. Jesus Christ is unique because the Father has committed all judgment to Him (John 5:22). Having lived in this world perfectly, He is the only One qualified to judge the world.
10. Jesus Christ is unique because He was with the Father and directly involved in the creation. It is by the hand of Christ that all things are held together (John 1:1–3; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:8–10; Colossians 1:17).
11. Jesus Christ is unique in that He will rule the world at the end of this present age (Hebrews 1:8; Isaiah 9:6–7; Daniel 2:35, 44; Revelation 19:11–16).
12. Jesus Christ is unique in that He alone was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:20–23; Luke 1:30–35).
13. Jesus Christ is unique in that He demonstrated the attributes of God. In His ministry, Jesus showed that He had the power to forgive sins and heal the sick (Matthew 9:1–7); to calm the wind and waves (Mark 4:37–41; Psalm 89:8–9); to know people inside and out (Psalm 139; John 1:46–50; 2:23–25); and to raise the dead (John 11; Luke 7:12–15; 8:41–55).
14. Jesus Christ is unique because He fulfilled prophecy. There are a great number of prophecies concerning the Messiah’s birth, life, resurrection, person, and purpose. All were fulfilled by Him and no other (e.g., Isaiah 7:14; 9:6–7; 53; Micah 5:2; Psalm 16:10; 22; Zechariah 11:12–13; 13:7).
A Unique LifeWhen the early Christians wrote about their beliefs, they made clear that Christianity depends completely on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Unlike all other men, Jesus Christ is said to have died then come to life again. Three days after He died, He rose from the dead before ascending back to Heaven forty days later. If He did not rise from the dead then He and His followers are frauds. He cannot provide salvation.
I can identify no other sensible explanation for the facts on which almost all historians (Christian and non-Christian) agree. These facts are that Jesus was crucified, He truly died, He was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, the tomb was found empty, the disciples of Jesus claimed to see Him alive, and some enemies of Jesus committed their lives to the living Christ.
We should not be surprised about any of this because Jesus predicted that He would die and rise again. There is no reason to suspect His disciples of foul play. They were petrified and in hiding from the Roman authorities. They had not the courage to stay with Jesus when He was arrested, never mind overcome a group of trained soldiers at His tomb and steal the body.
Their claims to have seen Him alive are hardly likely to have been their minds playing tricks on them. Of course, sometimes one person’s mind can play tricks on him. However, five hundred people do not experience the same hallucination simultaneously.
Each of the apostles paid for his testimony with his life. On the other hand, the apostles’ enemies had no motive for saying Jesus was alive. For the apostle Paul it meant going from being a respected member of Jewish society to being a disgraced heretic in the eyes of Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, and ultimately executed for his faith.
At this point in history, Christianity exploded, seemingly out of nowhere and turned the world upside down. Nothing but the resurrection can sensibly account for all of this.
"Christianity exploded, seemingly out of nowhere and turned the world upside down. Nothing but the resurrection can sensibly account for all of this."Since that moment of resurrection, thousands of people have committed their life and eternal salvation into the hands of the one who has defeated death. What about you?
We have seen that the uniqueness of Christianity is really the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. It is now over to you to look into all of this and make up your mind. Many decisions we make do not have momentous consequences. This decision, however, is quite the opposite. Jesus said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).