Is Jesus the Only Way to Heaven?

If you’ve heard a Christian say Jesus is the only way to heaven, or the only way to be “saved,” you might be wondering,

What does that mean, specifically?

Does the Bible really teach that?

It does indeed. John 14:6 tells us that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life,” meaning He’s the only way to heaven.

Sin has separated human beings from God and made it impossible for us to live in heaven, or in God’s direct presence, because sin can’t exist there. In fact, the ultimate result of sin is separation from God and eternal death (Romans 6:23).

But God isn’t giving up on us. Through Jesus, all of humanity has the chance to become reconciled with God, go to heaven after Jesus returns, and then live eternally on the New Earth.

Jesus, as the Messiah and humanity’s Savior, chose to live a sinless life on this earth and then die for our sins so that He can give us His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This gift is available to all. God wants us with Him for eternity more than anything and has done everything possible—including suffering on the Cross and giving His own life—to offer us that gift.

We’ll break this down by looking at:

• What the Bible says
• Why Jesus is the only way
• How salvation through Jesus works
• Whether people who’ve never heard of Jesus will be saved

You may notice that common Christian concepts and phrases like “going to heaven,” “being saved from sin,” and “having eternal life” are often used interchangeably. That’s because in the Bible, all three are closely tied together. Unless we’re saved through Jesus’ death, we can’t go to heaven and then experience eternal life with Him on the newly recreated earth.

With that in mind, let’s start by looking at some of the most common Bible passages on this topic.

What the Bible says about salvation through Jesus

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Throughout the New Testament, we find a strong theme of Jesus being the only one through whom we can be saved, go to heaven, and experience eternal life. Here’s a list of those passages:

• John 14:6
• Acts 4:12
• 1 Timothy 2:5
• Romans 5:17-19
• John 3:8, 16, 36
• John 8:24
• John 10:9
• John 17:3
• Acts 10:43
• Romans 6:23
• Romans 10:9
• 1 John 5:11-12

We’ll dig into the first four in this list since they’re the most well-known.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)

Jesus told His disciples that He is the way to heaven and to the Father (who is in heaven): “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6, ESV).

These verses show up in the context of Jesus talking about His ascension to heaven and then His Second Coming. He’s telling His disciples that He’s going to heaven to prepare a place for them so He can come back and bring them with Him (John 14:1-3).

From the get-go, we can establish that this passage is talking about salvation and eternal life with Jesus.

Then, Jesus tells His disciples,

“And where I go you know, and the way you know” (verse 4, ESV).

One of His disciples, Thomas, counters Jesus and says, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (verse 5, ESV)

And that’s when Jesus responds with His famous words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

This isn’t the first time Jesus uses the phrase “I am” to describe Himself. Here are a couple other examples:

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51, NKJV).

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9, ESV).

In each case, Jesus is presenting Himself as the one who offers salvation and eternal life.

It’s helpful here to understand the significance behind “I am.”

By using this phrase, Jesus is actually looking back to the experience of Moses at the burning bush when God called Himself “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14, NKJV).

In the Hebrew, this phrase “implies the attributes of self-existence and timelessness.” It’s a title for God that shows He is “the living God, the Source of Life.”¹

By calling Himself “I am,” Jesus showed that He is one with God the Father and, because of that, He is the source of life for us.

We are saved and given eternal life through Jesus (Acts 4:12)

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In Acts 4:12, Jesus’ disciple Peter proclaims that Jesus is the only one through whom we can be saved from sin, making it possible for us to receive eternal life at the Second Coming. He said, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (NKJV).

Peter was preaching about Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders. He and John had just healed a crippled man, and this drew a large crowd. When the religious leaders heard Peter and John preaching about Jesus, they had them arrested.

Notice what else Peter said right before the verse quoted above:

“Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man [the lame man] stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10-12, NKJV).

Peter was showing the supremacy of Christ. The same power that healed the crippled man had also resurrected Jesus, who is able to give spiritual healing—salvation.²

In other words, Jesus could offer salvation from sin because of His death and resurrection. And that’s what makes it possible for Him to save us from sin and give us eternal life.

Jesus is our mediator who makes it possible for us to receive salvation (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

Because of the corrupting power of sin, humans need forgiveness and cleansing to be able to go to heaven or live in a perfect existence in the presence of God. Jesus, as our Mediator, makes that possible: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5, NKJV).

Many people quote this verse, but some important context is missing when they don’t mention the verses before and after. Here are verses 3-4:

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (NKJV).

Jesus being the only mediator isn’t meant to be exclusive, as this verse makes clear. God lovingly made each human being that has ever and will ever exist. So it makes sense that God wants all people to be saved! And He’s made it simple for us through Jesus.

Continuing on to verses 5-6:

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” (NKJV).

Verse 6 helps us realize that Jesus isn’t our only mediator because of some arbitrary reason or some special rule or code. He is the only mediator because He gave Himself for us. Because He died and took our sins upon Himself.

We can be saved because of Jesus’ free gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17-19)

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Romans 5:17-19 explains how sin and death came into our world through one man (Adam). Because of this sin, we aren’t able to experience eternal life or heaven while in this state. But because of one Man, Jesus Christ, we receive the free gift of righteousness so that we can be reunited with God and experience eternal life with Him:

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:17-19, NKJV).

Scripture is specific. Eternal life comes through Jesus because of His “righteous act”—His death for us on the Cross after living a loving, sinless life on earth.

Now let’s solidify the “why” behind this.

Why Jesus is the only way

Jesus is the only way to heaven because He lived a sinless life and died for our sins so that He could give us the free gift of His righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). Because of our sinful tendencies, we can’t be righteous in our own power. We need to accept this reality and instead rely on Jesus’ righteousness, who makes it possible for us to turn in a new direction and be reunited with God (Romans 5:1).

Jesus, and everything He modeled for us and did for us, has what we need. That’s what the Bible ultimately teaches about the plan of salvation. Salvation and Jesus are interconnected. One and the same.

First John 5:11-12 highlights this:

“And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (NKJV).

Jesus = life

When we humans sinned, we separated ourselves from God, who is the source of life. God is love (1 John 4:8), and sin is the very opposite of love. So, just like the opposing forces of magnets, they can’t exist in the presence of one another without serious strain or conflict—the kind that cannot be resolved without the removal of one.

The path of sin inevitably ends in death (Romans 6:23) because life can’t exist without the Lifegiver.

But Jesus came from heaven to live a human life on earth (John 3:13). By maintaining His relationship with the Godhead, He lived a perfect life—never choosing to sin even when tempted with all the same temptations any human struggles with (Hebrews 4:15).

And because He wasn’t guilty of sin, He could take our sins and the consequence we deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21). It’s an exchange.

No other human being could take that on.

Think about it this way: Let’s say you owe a debt that you cannot possibly repay. Only someone who has enough to pay off that debt could save you from having to pay it yourself.

Similarly, no other human being can take our place and save us because all humans are sinful and the consequence of sin is eternal death (Romans 3:23; 6:32). Sin left us with a vast deficit—a debt we couldn’t possibly repay on our own. A mountain we could never climb over without the hand of Jesus lifting us over it.

Jesus is the only way because He’s the only one who’s walked this earth as a human being without sin.

What’s more, Jesus is one with the Father (John 14:9-11). He is God, meaning He’s the only one who could come from heaven to show us the love of the Father (1 John 4:8). And He’s the only one who could save us into the kingdom of God—a kingdom of perfect love.

Jesus is the source of life and love, and only He can bring us to live forever in His kingdom of love.

And there’s nothing that He wants more!

So, what does that look like practically for each one of us?

How salvation through Jesus works

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Salvation through Jesus alone starts with the choice to believe in Him and accept His gift of salvation (John 3:16). By His death, He’s already given us the beautiful gift of righteousness, and it’s up to us whether we accept it and build a relationship with Him.

As Paul says in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (NKJV).

This belief goes beyond acknowledging God’s existence (James 2:19).

It’s about faith, trust, and a relationship with Jesus.

John 17:3 highlights this idea:

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (NKJV).

The Greek word for know is ginōskō, and it carries the idea of intimacy and a deep knowledge of someone. Perhaps this is also why the Bible so often uses relational language (bride, spouse, child) to refer to God’s connection with His people.

It’s this knowledge and belief that changes the way we live (James 2:14-26).

Jesus is all about love and relationships and unselfishness, and as we come to know Him, we learn more about those beautiful qualities and how to live them out. We learn to show His law of love in the way we relate to Him and others (1 John 5:3).

And it’s this love that draws people to Jesus—even those who may not yet know Him by name.

More on that in the next section.

What about people who’ve never heard about Jesus?

Jesus is the only way to heaven because there’s no one else who has accomplished what He did in taking our sins and dying for them (Isaiah 53:5). In doing this, He made the gift of salvation and heaven available to anyone who chooses it throughout all of history (Romans 5:18).

Some may even follow the ways of Jesus without knowing Jesus by name because they desire love, goodness, patience, peace…in other words, they listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who reveals the character of God (Galatians 5:16-24).

To better understand how this is possible, let’s go back to the early Christian church.

Right before Jesus returned to heaven, He gave His followers the Great Commission to preach the Gospel throughout the world—in other words, to tell the world about Him (Matthew 28:18-20).

But Jesus didn’t leave His disciples to figure this out on their own.

He gave them His representative to empower them in their mission: the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; Acts 2).

Still today, the Holy Spirit represents Jesus to us and enables us to fulfill the mission God has given us. And that mission is very important. Romans 10:14 highlights the need for someone to tell people about Jesus:

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (NKJV)

First and foremost, God has given each of the followers of Jesus the role of sharing about Jesus’ gift with those who don’t know Him.³

But even in places where there might not be a Christian witness, the Spirit is still at work. That’s because He wants all to be saved.⁴

Scholars at the Biblical Research Institute put it this way:

“Jesus, through the Spirit, continues to be ‘the true light that gives light to every man’ (John 1:9, NIV). This suggests that non-Christians who live out of contact with the people of God, when touched by the Spirit, sincerely yearn for something better (cf. James 1:17). They then experience the saving power of God on the mind and character. Their knowledge may be extremely limited, but they have been transformed by His grace and unknowingly became children of God through Jesus.”⁵

Of course, this isn’t to say that all religions or belief systems automatically lead to God. Or that all of them are equally acceptable ways to salvation. No, not at all. The Bible still teaches that Jesus is the only way to be made righteous with God and go to heaven. And any belief system that doesn’t support what Christ stands for (love, free will, compassion, selflessness, empathy, accountability, etc.) will ultimately come into opposition.

But Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is at work in the lives of every individual person of every belief system. He’s seeking to reach their hearts with His loving ways so they can follow those ways—even if they don’t know Him by name.⁶

In this way, they come to know Jesus through His Spirit.

And Jesus never forces His way in. Instead, He knocks at the door of their hearts (Revelation 3:20). They can choose to follow the promptings of His Spirit, which will direct them to ways of love instead of ways of selfishness and sin (Galatians 5:22-24).

They may not know it’s Jesus they’re following, but their hearts become changed. They long for more than the ways of this world.

And imagine their excitement when they learn about Jesus and the Gospel! They’ll realize He is the one they were following all along.

The beautiful news of salvation through Jesus

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The teaching that Jesus is the only way to heaven isn’t meant to exclude or push people away. Rather, it’s a beautiful message because Jesus is the only way and He wants all to be saved. Because of what He’s done, He earned the right to that role. And He’s still doing everything possible to reach every single one of us.

At the same time, we’re at liberty to choose.

Jesus wants our love to be freely given, so He allows us to decide whether we want to follow His ways of love and build a relationship with Him.

Sometimes, that might even mean that someone who doesn’t know Jesus by name is simply saying yes to the whispers of the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus will gladly hear their response.

For more about what it means to receive salvation, read our page

1. Nichol, F. D., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, p. 172. [↵]
2. Nichol, Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 167. [↵]
3. “‘No Other Name’—Why Not?” Adventist Theological Society, 2011 Fall Symposium, Lecture. [↵]
4. “Salvation Without Knowledge of Christ?” Biblical Research Insitute, April 11, 2009. [↵]
5. Ibid. [↵]
6. Wogu, Chigemezi, “The Salvation of Non-Christians in Africa: An Adventist Perspective,” Ministry, Sept. 2015. [↵]

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