None Other Name by S. P. Bollman

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 26, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 33.

"None Other Name."

By S. P. Bollman

THE occasion which called forth the utterance which heads this article was the examination of Peter and John, by the Jewish authorities, as to the healing of the impotent man at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and contains in one brief sentence the substantial elements of what is elsewhere called "so great salvation." Heb. 2:3. To carry out the divine plan of redemption, specific directions and special requirements were laid down or revealed in pursuance of promises made and reiterated at various times, designed to impress deeply on the minds of men what they must do and what they must believe in order to secure eternal life.

Three main features characterize the requirements under the former dispensation,—faith in God and in the promised Saviour, the observance of the ceremonial, and obedience to the moral, law. Under the latter, faith in the Father and in his Son, and obedience to gospel ordinances as instituted by Christ, and obedience to the moral law. Under the former dispensation the ceremonial law was typical and temporary, and to be done away in Christ. The moral is perpetual, and hence passing over into the latter constitutes the rule of Christian life under the closing dispensation of grace, which is ended by the Saviour's second coming to gather his ransomed home. As all the sacrifices pointed to Christ and in themselves could not take away sin, their total abolition was especially appropriate when accomplished amid the sublime scenes which took place when the Lamb of God, by the sacrifice of himself on Calvary, took away the sin of the world.

The essential oneness of the plan of salvation in its adaptation to sinners in every age is thus clearly made manifest by the Scriptures, and also from the nature of the case. Sin in every age is a transgression of the same law, and redemption from sin must be effected by the same Saviour, for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." We see, then, the force of the apostle's assertion that "Christ is all, and in all." Col. 3:11. Faith in Christ is the means by which Christ and his benefits become ours, and love for, and obedience to, the law are the evidences of our union to Christ. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3. This obedience, when from love in the heart, as expressed in Roman 7:22, is satisfactory evidence that the possessor is by faith in Christ, a branch of the living vine, and thus enabled to bring forth "the fruits of righteousness unto eternal life." As "when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law [subject to its penalty], to redeem them that were under the law," he has established the regulations and requirements essential in every age, and required of every nationality.

That God, and he alone, as the Creator and sovereign Lord, has the right to impose laws and definite regulations, and to require obedience thereto, none will deny in words, though creeds and practices sometimes show a non-compliance therewith. The paramount question now to be considered is, are God's laws to be observed as given, or may men mutilate or alter them, either in whole or in part? If salvation is one and the same in every age, and the procuring agencies are also the same (as they undoubtedly are), can happy results be attained by disobedience to any part of the law and the substitution of a different requirement from that which God has laid down? Assuredly not. As there is but one Lawgiver,—"one Lord, one faith, one baptism,"—the idea of a partial obedience, and a partial loyalty to God's law as he himself enunciated it, is preposterous, and is contradicted by all scripture bearing upon this point, because not in harmony with God's plan which is the infallible rule of faith and practice.

The salvation of men by the Lord Jesus, is a salvation from sin, from its consequences, and from its practice. "Sin is the transgression of the law,"—the law of ten commandments—and those who are saved by Christ, are saved from the breaking of any of God's commandments. The commandments were given as a rule of life, for all who are saved by the Lord Jesus. Their spirit and requirements as God gave them, are in exact harmony with the spirit of Christ, and "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Rom. 8:14. Thus Paul reasons in Gal. 4:4, 5: "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." Rom. 8:17.

Thus we find this "only name whereby we must be saved," pointed forward to by sacrifices as the true objective point of faith; and that the grand central thought of the gospel message from lost Eden until Jesus comes the second time, is, "There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." And in the great day when Jesus comes to receive and reward his own, will not all the redeemed harmoniously unite in the grand acclaim?—

"All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown him Lord of all." S. P. BOLLMAN.