Ask ten Americans to describe Jesus and you’re likely to get ten different answers. Teacher. Healer. Prophet. Good. Wise. Redeemer. The list goes on. Some have a favorable view of Him, others not so much. Some hold an accurate depiction, others a flawed one. And that’s unfortunate because an erroneous understanding of Christ represents one of the biggest barriers to people placing their hope and trust in Him.

One common misunderstanding about Jesus is particularly treacherous: the belief that He came into the world to condemn mankind. This distorted view paints Jesus as a stern authoritarian who scrutinizes the world for sinners and castigates them for the slightest misstep or infraction. He gleefully administers judgment against those who fail to meet God’s standards and secretly roots against them. It is an austere and inaccurate portrait of Jesus. Fortunately, none of it is true.

Scripture tells us this: “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17, NKJV). Jesus didn’t come to condemn mankind; He came to provide salvation. That’s glorious news, but it gets better. The eternal life Christ offers is available to every person and only requires belief. It cannot be earned.

That truth confounds the world. How can a holy God allow people into heaven without working for it? The staggering simplicity of grace seems too easy, too risky, and too good to be true. But God’s word does not equivocate. John 3:15 says, “Everyone who believes in Jesus will have eternal life.” Perhaps anticipating the world’s skepticism the next verse reiterates the point. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

That’s not to say that a steep price isn’t paid for salvation. It is. But Jesus paid that price on the cross. He offered His perfect life as a sacrifice for sin. All sin. Yours, and mine. Peter’s first epistle tells us that Jesus bore our sins in His body while on the cross and that by His wounds we are healed. His physical death gives spiritual life to all who believe.

Are you working feverishly to earn God’s favor, hoping to merit a place in heaven? Do you feel trapped in a religion that demands you work your way into paradise? Have your efforts to find God left you unfulfilled and racked with despair?

Then stop relying on yourself. No amount of good deeds will secure you a place in heaven. God’s grace, through faith in Christ, is the only path to salvation. For there is no other name under heaven, by which we are saved, than the name of Jesus.