Acts 4:11 This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ 12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation.”

      Status Confessionis means that a particular doctrine is essential to who we are as a church. If something is status confessionis it means this is a make or break issue.

       There are a lot of issues in the church that many people argue about and even become angrily embittered to the point of leaving the church assembly they were attending. Many of the issues of controversy are over traditions that have been implemented by different denominational groups with varying beliefs and methods of expressing worship, praise, and love for God. I can normally let most of these disagreements slide by because the Word of God instructs us not to argue about words, just for the sake of arguing. 2Tim. 2:14 Remind the people of these facts, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good, and upsets and undermines and ruins the faith of those who listen. However, as for the foundation of my heart’s eternal hope and belief, my make-or-break issue is my unwavering faith in that – Jesus Christ is Lord and the only way of salvation.

      Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of the world, and this may be the status confessionis of our time. This foundational belief of faith in God and His intervention on man’s behalf to reconcile our lives to Himself on His terms is the gift of salvation we can trust in. Jesus said, He is the only way to our heavenly Father, and no one can come to God the Father except through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I believe there are many roads to Jesus as so many testimonies can attest to that fact, but there is only one way to God the Father. The only acceptable sacrifice that God would accept to wash away the sins of the world was the sacrifice of His Son, and with the blood of Jesus that was spilled on the torturous cross.

        Jesus did not come to make bad people good, He came to make dead people live. Our Lord did not come to make Christians follow Christianity, He came to lead us in following Christ. The Lord did not come to give us a united cause, He came to unite us in the love He has for us. Rom. 5:8 But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus did not come so that we might all get along, He came so that we would love one another as Christ loves us. 1John 4:19 We love because He first loved us. Our Lord did not come to teach us social etiquette, He came to teach us the Gospel of Jesus Christ who takes away the sins of the world.

      The Lord asked Peter and the disciples “Who do the crowds and people say I am?” Peter answers similarly to what people are saying today. “Well Lord, they say you are a teacher, a good man with a prophetic gift. Some are saying you are a mystic healer.” Matt. 16:14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” The Lord asks Peter and the disciples the key question. Matt. 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the crux of our very existence in the faith. Who do we say Jesus is? Is He the Saviour or not? Today there is a smorgasbord of answers as to who Jesus is, and some are questioning the existence of the historic Jesus let alone the risen Lord.

      Like the Apostle Paul, we need to be in Christ and be without doubt that Jesus is Lord and the only eternal answer whom God the Father has given to mankind as a gift and way to eternal life. Phil. 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ He is my source of joy, my reason to live and to die is gain for I will be with Him in eternity. There is no salvation in any other. We are warned that in the last days, there will be a great falling away from the faith and fickleness will be the choice over reason. 2Tim. 4:3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction that challenges them with God’s truth; but wanting to have their ears tickled with something pleasing, they will accumulate for themselves many teachers one after another, chosen to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold.

       There is nothing new here. We still have the choice to eat from one of the two trees in the Garden of Eden. We can eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, where we can be like God and make our own choices as to who and what we want enthroned upon our hearts. As Satan said, “We will be like God, intimately knowing good and evil.” But multiple times better, we can eat from the Tree of Life which is Christ the Lord. We can choose to eat and live upon every Word of loving grace that God the Father lavishes on us. We can walk in the salvation that the Lord has freely provided for us all. What an amazing sacrifice of love we have been given. Jesus my Lord, who first loved me, is my status confessionis.