How Is Jesus the Way, and the Truth, and the Life?
Years ago, I heard a leading academic figure argue his case for a tolerant environment on his historic campus. He then went on to say that his university would not tolerate intolerance. Do not miss the irony of that statement. Ironic as it is, we live in an age that boasts of “tolerance.” With that comes a vehement distaste for any claim of exclusivity. That is particularly true when Christians make exclusive claims about Christ and salvation.
The Bible is replete with exclusive claims. The antithesis of life and death are foundational to the Christian faith. The way of life and the way of death run through the Bible, illustrated in places such as Cain’s sacrifice of unbelief versus Abel’s sacrifice of faith and the juxtaposition of Esau and Jacob. Jesus Himself expressed the life/death model as the narrow and broad way—one way leads to life and one way to destruction (Matt. 7:13–14). The narrow way is personified in Jesus Christ when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). This exclusive claim can be found in extrabiblical literature from the Didache (second century AD), to historic creeds and confessions, to the present time.
But a question arises at this point: How is Jesus “the way, and the truth, and the life”? There are two answers to the question, but they are inseparable. There is the objective answer and the subjective answer. Objectively, He is exclusively the way, the truth, and the life because He is God incarnate. Subjectively, His salvation is appropriated to individuals through faith in who He is and what He has done.
Considered objectively, Jesus in His person and work is “the way” because He is God. To the Jewish leadership of His day, this was an inflammatory concept. “I am” was a stout claim to deity, and they knew it (John 10:10–33). He is the way because He is God but also because He is man. He took on flesh and became the way out of the mess in which Adam landed us (Rom. 5). The way of righteousness and holiness, which Adam did not follow, Jesus followed perfectly. He could take Adam’s place, for He was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4). His perfect sacrifice could bear the sins of many, for He was God (Isa. 53:12; 1 Peter 1:24). In Him, man could be reconciled to God (Rom. 5:11; 1 Cor. 5:18–21). Only the God-man could be the way.
Objectively, He is also “the truth.” In the same gospel, we hear Jesus say that His Word is the source of truth (John 8:31–32). That truth sets one free from the bondage of sin (John 8:34–35). “So,” He says, “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). One might ask, But isn’t it His Word that sets one free? Ah, but you cannot separate the Word and truth from the living Word and the Giver of the truth. One will find the same personification of the written Word in Hebrews 4:12–13. Jesus is the truth because He is the living and true God (Jer. 10:10).
That brings us to the exclusive claim of Christ to be “the life.” In the opening pages of the Bible, we learn of the God who spoke, and all life came from His action. Not surprisingly, of Christ we read, “For by him all things were created . . . and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16–17). He is the Creator. But He also procured the new creation for His people—that is, He is the Savior of sinners. If Christ could make all things with His words, then He, as the Word, can give eternal life.
In the Psalms we read of these very truths. The path/way of life is in His presence (Ps. 16:11). In the same psalm the truth is labeled as counsel, and it instructs the saint (Ps. 16:7). Then the life is described as refuge in the Lord, which preserves (Ps. 16:1). In Psalm 119, the Lord is not only the light that illumines the path, but He is the Word that gives true meaning to life’s path. Indeed, He is the pathway.
Objectively, Christ Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life” because He is God incarnate. But that doesn’t answer the question of how He is all of that for you and me. How is “the way, and the truth, and the life” meaningful and life-changing to us? How is it not just a historical fact? How is the person and work of Jesus appropriated to our lives? The answer is by grace, through faith, in Christ alone. He becomes the way to the Father through faith. His truth is ours through faith. Life and life abundant (John 10:10) become ours through faith. He is all of this to a sinner subjectively through faith—“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). He is not a distant God, but God with us, through faith.
We live in a world of absolute doubt and uncertainty about a way forward, the reality of truth, and meaning of life. The church, however, responds with hope. Objectively, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, for He is God incarnate. Only God can be all of those things. Subjectively, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life through the gracious gift of faith. That faith brings us into union with Christ, who reconciles us to the Father. That is the absolute truth, which all who are in Christ can enjoy with certainty.