According to Witherington (1998, 194), “Peter is no advocate of modern notions of modern religious pluralism” (also John 14:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:3). The consistent message throughout the NT is that Jesus is the only Savior for humanity (Köstenberger). Köstenberger goes on to state, “Human ignorance about the size of Earth’s landmass and human population has no bearing on the central facts of humanity’s need for redemption and the one means of redemption that is provided” (Köstenberger, The Holman Apologetic Commentary on the Bible, 671).
Of course,
the exclusiveness claim offends many readers, and they seek to avoid it by
noting the primitive geographical understanding of biblical times. According to
Köstenberger, two considerations speak against such an argument. “First, the
Roman Empire was like a sponge when it came to religion. Romans accepted all
kinds of gods and religious ideas that came from the far corners of their
empire. Peter and the other apostles were well aware of the plurality of
religions, and they understood that many of these originated in faraway places
they would never visit.
Second, and
more importantly, the claim was that Jesus meets an internal need all people
everywhere have. Their claim was not that other people did not seek to be pious;
they knew that virtually all people are religious. Their claim was that Jesus
alone can remedy what is wrong with us” (Köstenberger, 671).
