Is Christianity Different from Other Faiths?

I saw a sign at a local church this morning. It read, "What part of 'Thou shalt not' Don't You Understand?" That's what most people think Christianity is: a lot of "thou shalt nots." In fact, it's really something entirely different. It's all about relationships. This is the very misconception Jesus came into the world to clarify!

The Bible calls the Old Testament law the "schoolmaster" designed to show us how little we measure up to God's original design for us. How could anyone possibly obey a code of law that is just a huge list of "thou shalt nots"? The obvious conclusion, the one you are meant to reach, is no one could. Reading the Bible is meant to show us just how short we fall of God's intended purpose for us and, by contrast, how much He has done to help us still find acceptance as His child. It reveals Him, in all His glory, to the world He created.

So if we never could live up to it, why should we bother with Christianity? Jesus himself explained this seeming paradox when he summed up the entire Old Testament law in 2 short statements:
1) Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind
2) Love your neighbor as yourself.

The Bible is not a lot of arbitrary rules, it's all about love. In fact, 1 John tells us, "God is love." When we show love and respect to those around us, we also demonstrate God's very essence. But can anyone ever hope to show such love consistently? Throughout all history, Jesus Christ is the only one who did-and He did it perfectly. He lived the life we were all designed to live before sin and wrong entered our world. The entire faith of Christianity is based on this perfect life and perfect fulfillment of the law.

But Jesus was much more than the only perfect man. Max Lucado calls Jesus "God's Translator," and I think that's the best description of Him I have ever heard. It perfectly describes His main purpose in coming to the earth.

Years ago I served on a jury for an auto accident case. The plaintiff was an Italian man who spoke very little English. Before we could hear his testimony the court had to find a translator so we could understand what he was saying. Someone in the courthouse understood both Italian and English, and she volunteered to help, though she was by no means a professional translator.

Before very long it was clear she was not translating the testimony word-for-word, but was rather giving us a summary of the man's answers. The judge had to admonish her to translate literally and not add her interpretation of the testimony being given. We the jury needed to hear the information as the plaintiff meant it to be heard. This is exactly what Jesus did for His heavenly Father. He took the words spoken through prophets and Bible writers, things that had gotten tangled and confused over the generations, and made sure we would hear them exactly as God meant them.

God has not changed a bit since the first day of creation. He has slowly revealed more and more of Himself and His purposes over the centuries that followed. With each revelation, He wanted us to understand Him better and better. He clarified some points and added others along the way so we could see the amazing plan He set into motion for us. His final "Word" to us was own Son, sent to earth wrapped in human form to show us exactly who God is, and why He cares about us. God revealed Himself totally in the person of Jesus.

Paul explains this principle to us by calling Jesus the "second Adam." Jesus was all that God had designed Adam (the first created man) to be, except for one thing. Jesus lived a perfect, mistake-free life, sharing and enduring all the pain, suffering and rejection any man ever has. He was sorely tempted as Satan visited Him in the wilderness when He was hungry, thirsty and tired. Though the temptation seemed harmless (like the pressure to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden), the fate of humanity hung on the choice Jesus made.

And He made the right one! Jesus stuck to the path set forth for Him, carrying the hope of all humans on His shoulders as He walked the road to Calvary. There, hanging on the Roman cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament law completely, for what else does the law demand but perfection? He loved His God perfectly, and He demonstrated His love for His "neighbors" as no one else ever had by willingly dying to take their place. He re-established the relationship between God and His fallen creation.

God knew no man after Adam could achieve perfection, since that "perfect" man blew the task almost immediately. So, God sent His "Translator" to explain the seeming discrepancy Remember that Jesus distilled the Old Testament law into just 2 commandments: love God and love others. Jesus translated the law, explaining that God's intention was for us to live just like He did. Since we could not, He even made the way for us to succeed by offering to be a substitute "perfect person" for each of us before His father. Where the law demanded death as the payment for breaking it, Jesus paid the penalty for the world.

Christianity is unlike any of the other world faiths because it trusts God to live up to His character and promises. It demonstrates what faith can do in a fallen world, and it offers every person on the planet a chance at a relationship which will re-create them and transform them into the person God planned for them to be. It's God reaching down to man, not man reaching up to God.

How do I know that Christianity is different from every other faith? The changed lives that I see all around me, and my own life especially, are my best proof. I can't say it better than the Apostle Paul: "Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 (from The Message)