Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

One of the things I love about the book of John is all the “I am” statements of Christ. There are 7 total “I am” statements of Jesus in John’s gospel, this one being the sixth. When Jesus uses the term “I am” He is explaining to us something about who He is, His eternal nature, and describing in detail His existence. Jesus is identifying Himself with eternal truths that cannot be mistaken for anything but Messianic language.  

Today’s verse has deep ties into the Old Testament. Gerald L. Borchert explains in The New American Commentary, “the Psalmist prays that the Lord would teach him the divine “way” and lead him to walk in “truth” (Ps 84:11), and he contemplates the “path of life” (Ps 16:11) as his blessed hope.” See, the idea of God’s way, truth, and life is not something new with this passage. This is Jesus essentially saying, “I am what you have been waiting for. I am what was promised from long ago.”

Jesus tells us in this passage that He is the way. The Greek work here is hodos, which is literally translated “the way or path that a traveler would travel on.” Jesus isn’t saying that He is just one possible way, but that He is the ONLY way to God. It’s interesting to note that in John 1:51 Jesus tells the disciples, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus shares this imagery of Himself that is the literal way to heaven!

Jesus also tells us that He is the truth. The Greek word here is alētheia. It means “what is true in any matter.” Truth is a tricky thing. If you don’t have something to judge it by, it gets lost. You cannot know what is true without a base for truth. Jesus is making the statement that He is the truth- He is the standard. As the Word of God, Jesus is the revealed truth of God. He is our measuring stick in all things, our go-to for understanding where truth is and where it is not.  

And finally, Jesus tells us that He is the life. This word is zōē, and it means “the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animated.” It is life more than having a beating heart or brain activity. It is vitality, movement, and activity. It is the idea of wholeness and a goodness that comes from the life of God. It is what God breathed into mankind- the breath of God active in His creation. Jesus tells us here that He is life, He is the only true life, the only way to eternal life.  

A. Carson explains in The Pillar New Testament Commentary, “the first noun governing the other two (‘I am the way of truth and life’, and hence ‘I am the true and living way’)… Jesus is the way to God, precisely because He is the truth of God and the life of God. Jesus is the truth, because He embodies the supreme revelation of God—He Himself ‘narrates’ God, says and does exclusively what the Father gives Him to say and do, indeed He is properly called ‘God’. He is God’s gracious self-disclosure, His ‘Word’, made flesh. Jesus is the life, the one who has ‘life in Himself’, ‘the resurrection and the life’, ‘the true God and eternal life’. Only because He is the truth and the life can Jesus be the way for others to come to God”

In a world of relativity, we are bombarded with messages that say, “there are multiple ways”, “truth is what you say it is”, and “life is what you make it.” The idea of a singular definition of the way, the truth, and the life is counter cultural. In fact, some would even argue that it is hateful, ignorant, or at the very least, close-minded. I watched a documentary recently where someone was outrightly getting angry at the interviewer’s question, “what is truth?” The person being interviewed took that question as an insult and an insinuation against his way of thinking and his choice in lifestyle.

In 2006, Focus on the Family, released an awesome study called The Truth Project. This series asked the question, “what is truth?” and broke down the different areas that truth effects, seeking to understand what truth is and why it matters. I highly recommend it if you are interested in diving into this subject even more. But what was interesting to me is when they interviewed people and asked what truth was, so many of them had differing views and ways of testing truth. Some people relied on society to tell them what is true, others cited feelings or a gut instinct. Still some insisted that there was no truth.  

But here is the problem: when we insist on a philosophy of relativity, stating that things like the way to God, what is truth, and how we define life are all topics up for debate, then we are lost! If we don’t have a compass to guide us by, if we don’t have a constant to measure against, how can we ever know if we have truly found the way, the truth, or the life? How can we know if what we have is what we need? How can we know if it’s enough? That kind of life is filled with uncertainty, questioning, and, if followed to its inevitable conclusion, that life leads only to confusion, inconsistency, and death!  

If we are to look at this from a purely logical standpoint, for us to have things like truth, we need something that is perfect, incorruptible, constant, and tangible. We need something that is outside of ourselves in order to govern with impartiality. We need a standard that is universal if it is to define something like truth. And that is exactly what we have. God: perfect, eternal, incorruptible, constant, and so very tangible in the person of Jesus Christ!

Our world doesn’t like this because our world is ruled by the enemy of our souls. He works diligently to weave the lie that there is any kind of hope apart from Jesus. He screams at us constantly that there is no standard and to insist on one is wrong. He strives day and night to convince each of us that we can be our own masters, we can define truth, and we can determine the way. But in the end, it’s all lies, misdirection, and subterfuge meant to draw us away from the One who has what we truly need. Jesus is the ONLY way, the ONLY truth, and the ONLY life. Period.

Jesus,

Thank You for being our constant. Thank You for defining the most important things. Thank You for showing us the way, the truth, and the life that we need. You are the final say. I trust You and I follow You. I want YOUR way, YOUR truth, and YOUR life only. Teach me to see the difference between You and the counterfeit of the world. Teach me how to choose You always.

In the name of Jesus Christ,

Amen