Luke Attacks Syncretism

In the story of the Judy Mowatt conversion, a particular Bible verse stands out.

After 22 years of being a rasta who believed that Haile Selassie was the returned messiah, she felt very unfulfilled and dissatisfied. She started to read the bible which she already read several times, but this time it was as she was seeing new things that she had never realised before. So she read that ‘there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved, but by the name of Jesus Christ.’ (Acts 4:12) That verse flew out of the Bible and into her spirit and really turned the key.

Here is the entire verse, in context:

Acts 4:8-12 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society



8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11He is
" 'the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone.[a]'[b] 12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Footnotes:

Acts 4:11 Or cornerstone
Acts 4:11 Psalm 118:22

The Lausanne Covenent addresses this:

We affirm that there is only one Savior and only one gospel, although there is a wide diversity of evangelistic approaches. We recognize that everyone has some knowledge of God through his general revelation in nature. But we deny that this can save, for people suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. We also reject as derogatory to Christ and the gospel every kind of syncretism and dialog which implies that Christ speaks equally through all religions and ideologies. Jesus Christ, being himself the only God-man, who gave himself as the only ransom for sinners, is the only mediator between God and people. There is no other name by which we must be saved. All men and women are perishing because of sin, but God loves everyone, not wishing that any should perish but that all should repent. Yet those who reject Christ repudiate the joy of salvation and condemn themselves to eternal separation from God. To proclaim Jesus as "the Savior of the world" is not to affirm that all people are either automatically or ultimately saved, still less to affirm that all religions offer salvation in Christ. Rather it is to proclaim God's love for a world of sinners and to invite everyone to respond to him as Savior and Lord in the wholehearted personal commitment of repentance and faith. Jesus Christ has been exalted above every other name; we long for the day when every knee shall bow to him and every tongue shall confess him Lord.

Gal. 1:6-9; Rom. 1:18-32; 1 Tim 2:5,6; Acts 4:12, John 3:16-19; 2 Peter 3:9; 2 Thes. 1:7-9; John 4:42; Matt. 11:28; Eph. 1:20-21; Phil. 2:9-11

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