John 14:6 is one of the most familiar Bible verses known by Christians and non-Christians alike. Jesus declares that He alone is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that no one comes to God except through Him. For those outside the Christian faith, the statement is often perceived as very divisive and deeply offensive. However, Jesus intends his statement to be highly encouraging to Christians. The purpose of this article is to understand why. What did Jesus mean by “I am the way, the truth, and the life?” Why is John 14:6 so encouraging for Christ followers? How do we know that Jesus meant for us to be highly encouraged by something the world sees as offensive?
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:6
Very often, John 14:6 is referred to in isolation from other verses. It is often learned and quoted by itself. Children in Sunday School memorize and recite it. Pastors preach it and teachers teach it. They unpack and define every word of John 14:6 as interpreted from the original Greek language. And while doing that can lead to understanding many “right and true” things about Jesus, the Son of God, I do think that considering this verse isolated from others misses out on part of what Jesus was trying to convey. So, here goes my attempt at offering some encouragement.
When I study passages of scripture, I like to break down chapters into paragraphs. Paragraphs are “groupings of related sentences that develop a single idea”. In my English Standard Version, the paragraph at the beginning of John 14 includes verses 1-7. While we’ve already established that verse 6 is the most often quoted verse of the paragraph, it is verse 1 that sets the main idea of the paragraph. It is also where we find our encouragement from the Lord.
Jesus begins by telling his disciples in verse 1, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” One would think that hearing these words from Jesus would have been extremely encouraging to the disciples. The disciples who’d heard this had been with Jesus for nearly 3-years. They had seen him do many amazing and impossible things, enough to convince them that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. How comforting this should have been to them! However, the timing of John 14 occurs on the night before Jesus was nailed to a wooden cross and died. He’d been telling the disciples that soon he would be crucified, buried, and raised 3-days later. When the disciples heard “Let not your hearts be troubled”, the fact is, their hearts were at that moment very troubled. The disciples were deeply perplexed and confused about what Jesus was telling them.
Then in verses 2-3, Jesus says that he’s going to prepare a place for them, where they would one day be reunited with him. But they still weren’t getting it. The tremendous comfort and encouragement that Jesus intended for the disciples wouldn’t be understood until days later, after his resurrection, when they reflected on all that Jesus said and did (John 12:16, Luke 18:34).
Because we live on the other side of the cross, we have an advantage. The Bible reveals to us the whole picture of Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and their implications. Therefore, verse 1 of John 14:1-7 is full-throttle encouragement for Christians! “Let not your hearts be troubled! Believe in God; believe also in me!” And the reason we’re greatly encouraged comes from verse 6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Let’s unpack verse 6.
“I am the way” – Jesus said that He is the way. The “way” is a shortened version of “pathway”, or “a road traveled”. To where? He answers “where” in the next sentence; “to the Father”. Jesus states that the pathway to God is through him. He doesn’t mean that He walks along the pathway with you (although in a sense he does) rather Jesus claims that HE IS the pathway to God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Access to the Most-High God is only through Jesus.
“and the truth” – Jesus said that he is “the truth”. What does he mean? About 12-hours later, Jesus would tell Pontius Pilate that He had come to “bear witness to the truth”. Pilate responds, “what is truth?” (John 18:38). In Pilate’s day, Roman people were multi-theistic, believing there were many gods and many truths. Jesus states very clearly that the truth he was bearing witness to is the One True God, the Maker of heaven and earth. God, the Father, is also very clear, “I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right.” (Isaiah 45:19). Jesus declares the truth of who God is, because he is the exact representation of His Father (Col 1:15). All other pathways lead to counterfeit gods. Jesus is the only one who bears the truth and points to the One True God.
“and the life” – for those who believe and trust that Jesus is the only way to the One True God, they are granted eternal life (John 3:16). Literally, they will live forever in perfect communion with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3). This is in stark contrast to those who followed a different pathway, pursuing counterfeit gods (or no god), which leads to certain eternal condemnation and punishment (Rom 6:23, Matt 7:13). Jesus is declaring that he is the source of all life (John 1:4). Death could not hold him in the grave (Acts 2:24). Jesus freely gave up his life, and he freely took it up again (John 10:18). He promises those who believe in Him that “because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).
These 3-truths are the bedrock of Christian doctrine and the basis of every Christian’s faith. They are stark, unyielding statements, interpreted by many non-Christians as divisive and hostile, because Jesus declares that he is the only way to salvation. And yet, every attack on these foundational truths over the last 2,000-years has been smashed apart. Some, who have crashed themselves onto this bedrock of Christian belief, have turned to Christ for salvation and the eternal life He promises.
And yet, regardless of the world’s hostility to John 14:6, Jesus intended for these verses to give encouragement and assurance to the disciples and to generations of believers who follow. Because of how Jesus describes himself in John 14:6, he meant comfort for his disciples in John 14:1 – “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” This the most gentle, reassuring statement that he could make, not just because of what He promises, but because of who He is. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”.
The paragraph finishes in verse 7 with Jesus affirming again who He really is. He’s the Son of God. Jesus refers to God as “my Father”. He says that they (disciples) know the Father, and what the Father is really like, because after spending 3-years with Jesus, they knew him and what he was like.
In our modern day, we too can be just as encouraged by Jesus’ statements in this paragraph (John 14:1-7). The facts of John 14:6 are just as true now as when Jesus said them, 2,000-years ago. They are the basis for why we should not “let our hearts be troubled”. We know Jesus because of all that the Bible says about Him. Not only in the Gospels, but the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation points to Jesus as Savior Lord over all creation. And because we have a written record of how he lived his life on earth, we know what Jesus was like in every situation. By studying Jesus’ life (and with the Holy Spirit’s help) we will know our Heavenly Father and what He is like – and in Christ we are greatly encouraged.
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. – Jesus
Thanks for reading.