"Jesus told him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"
~John 14:6
In our series on the names of God, we now come to another descriptive name of Jesus - The Way, The Truth, and The Life. In a day and age in which we are told there are "many paths to heaven" and that the gods of other religions and the God of the Bible are the same, it is important for us to revisit this key name of Jesus, for He truly is the only path to God and the only way to salvation.
If we are believers, we already know this to be true. We may have read John 14:6 a million times and even memorized it years ago. Therefore, it can be all too easy for us to sometimes just quickly brush past this passage that may have become old hat for us by now. But I encourage all of us to not make this mistake and to instead pay extra attention to a passage we may have failed to actually think deeply about in quite some time. Hebrews tells us that God's Word is alive and active, which means that as we revisit an age old passage such as this one, the Spirit is able to open our eyes to an aspect of it we never really thought of before. Perhaps that will be the case for us today as we break it apart and dive into it step by step as opposed to just looking at it as a whole.
Jesus is....
The Way.
The Greek word translated "way" is "hodos" and means way, journey, or path; can also mean a "way of thinking, feeling or deciding". So not only is Jesus our path to heaven, the way by which we get there, but He is also a different way of thinking, feeling, and deciding for us. What this means is that not only do we trust in Jesus for salvation, but that we allow Him and His ways to change us and how we operate. It is not enough to place faith in Jesus - we have to live like we have done so. We are called to change our ways of thinking, feeling, and deciding in order for them to align with the ways of Jesus. This is an aspect of this passage that we often miss.
The Truth.
This aspect of Who Jesus is goes along quite nicely with our call to think differently, for we are called to no longer hold allegiance to what we've always thought and believed and instead are now called to take every thought captive to what is actually true according to God and Scripture. The Greek word translated "truth" is "alētheia" and literally pertains to the truth of God and reality according to Him. His truth is ultimate truth, and we are called to reframe what our opinions might be on truth and instead submit to what God says is true and believe it as such.
The Life.
The Greek word translated "life" is "zoe" and pertains to "one who is possessed of vitality", "every living soul", "the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God", and "life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed". Not only is Jesus the way to eternal life, but He is also the giver of abundant life here and now, as well. This does not mean we are promised health, wealth, and prosperity here. But it does mean that we are blessed because we have access to Life Himself and, as such, are able to live in the abundance of the joy, grace, peace, comfort, encouragement, and help He offers. That is true life indeed!
Reflection Questions
1) Was there anything about today's breakdown of this verse that stood out to you or opened your eyes to a truth in a new way?
2) What encourages you the most about what Jesus says about Himself in this verse?
3) Why is it important for us to revisit this passage from time to time, especially in the day in which we live?
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