No, Vivek—Jesus Is Not A Way to God
The incoherence of Ramaswamy's religion.
A resurfaced clip of Vivek Ramaswamy claiming that Jesus is merely a way to God is once again making the rounds on social media. In the viral video, Ramaswamy is heard speaking to a voter, where he describes Jesus as “a son of God,” but not “the Son of God.”
“I’ll be very honest,” Ramaswamy said, responding to a question about who Jesus is. “It’s not a hard question at all. So in our faith tradition, Jesus Christ is a son of God. I know that is different than saying he’s the son of God, but that is my view of Jesus Christ… It is one true God in many forms.”
Ramaswamy goes on to articulate a broader, pluralistic view of God, one commonly found in certain strands of Hinduism, affirming belief in “one true God in many forms.” From that point of view, he concludes that Jesus is merely a way to heaven, not the way.
While that might sound like an inclusive position for a politician to hold, it’s one that ultimately collapses under the weight of its own contradictions. For starters, Jesus leaves no room for pluralism.
Jesus does not present Himself as one option among many. In the Gospel of John 14:6, He declares: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus did not say he is a way, but the way. Not one path among several, but the exclusive means by which anyone comes to God.
As such, to claim that Jesus is a way to God is to deny what He explicitly taught about Himself. You cannot hold both positions without stripping His words of their meaning. If Jesus was wrong about being the only way, then He is not a reliable guide at all. And if He is not reliable, why follow Him in any meaningful sense?
R.C. Sproul once argued that if you believe Jesus Christ is one way to God, then you must also believe He is the only way to God. Why is that? Because if you believe that Jesus is one of many pathways to God, then you must also believe that this particular pathway was dead wrong when He claimed to be the only pathway to God. Who in their right mind would put their faith in that?
Either Jesus tells the truth about Himself, or He does not. And if He does not, then calling Him “a way to God” becomes an incoherent exercise in selective admiration detached from reality.
C.S. Lewis famously dismantled the attempt to reduce Jesus to something less than who He claimed to be. In Mere Christianity, he argued that a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not even be a great moral teacher—he would be a madman, a liar, or something far worse.
Lewis’ point is that Jesus does not leave open the option of polite admiration. If His claims are false, they are not the claims of a wise or moral man. If they are true, then He is not merely one voice among many. He is the Way, and therefore, the only Way, to God.
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher,” Lewis argues. “He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.”
Lewis continued: “Either [Jesus] was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He as not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
You must make your choice, Lewis said. So, who is Jesus? He’s not merely one of many pathways to God. He’s not merely a man, a good man, or a great moral teacher. He is either a lunatic, a liar, or exactly who he claimed to be.
The conclusion, then, is not difficult to reach. For many, however, it is difficult to accept. Because once Jesus is acknowledged as Lord and King, feigned neutrality disappears. Allegiance follows. Authority follows. Obedience follows.
And that’s the real stumbling block here. It’s not that the claims of Christ are unclear, but that they are confronting. To confess Him as Lord is to surrender the throne. Yet more often than not, we resist that surrender. We cling to autonomy, and would rather say “My will be done” and die than “Thy will be done” and live.