In John 14:6 Jesus makes the best known of seven “I am” statements in which He clearly claims to be not only the way to God but God Himself. Jesus had just told His disciples that he He was leaving to prepare a place for them in His Father’s house, and that they knew the way to the place He was going. The apostle Thomas asked Jesus how they could know the way, and Jesus answered:
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Before going any further, I should make clear that in the original Greek in which the New Testament was written, the actually said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But in the Aramaic language (which Jesus spoke), this really meant: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Now that we’ve cleared up the translation issues, what did Jesus mean when He said this? He meant that there was no other way to the Father than Him. In all of his “I am” statements, including this one, His use of the phrase “I am” was in direct reference to what God told Moses at the burning bush. Moses asked what he should say if the Israelites asked what God’s name was, and God answered, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’ (Exodus 3:14).” The significance of the use of “I am” would not have been lost on the listeners of Jesus’ day.
One of the most common, and most erroneous, arguments made by those who do not believe Jesus was the Son of God was that He never claimed to be. They say only His followers made this claim about him. Well, if John 14:6 isn’t proof enough that Jesus did in fact claim it, the perhaps Jesus words before the High Priest will convince skeptics.
While on trial for His life, Jesus is asked by the high priest if He is the Son of God, and He answers “Yes, it is as you say (Matt 26:63-64).” Jesus could have avoided crucifixion by simply answering “no” to this question. But the true answer was “yes,” which is how Jesus answered.
Jesus’ followers did, in fact, make these same claims about Him, and their lives were just as much at risk doing so; most of them paid the ultimate price for following Christ, yet did not waver in their preaching of the truth found in John 14:6.
In Acts 4:10-12, Peter addressed the Jewish leaders, who had asked by what name he had just healed a lame man:
It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone’. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Peter states clearly that salvation is found in no one else, that Jesus is the only way to salvation. The apostle Paul taught this same thing in his first letter to Timothy when he wrote “For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus (I Timothy 2:5).”
Finally, later in John’s gospel we are told his purpose in recording these things. He says he recorded the words and actions of Jesus (including Jesus’ declaration that He is the Way and the Truth and the Life) so that we might know the path to salvation. In John 20:31 it says:
“But these things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
Jesus, through His own words and the words of His disciples, made clear that He was the only way to salvation. Not Buddha or Mohammed or Krishna or doing good deeds, only Jesus. His declaration in John 14:6 couldn’t be more clear. The question is whether we will believe it and act on it.
