John 14:6
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Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
DISCOURSE AT THE TABLE, AFTER SUPPER. (John 14:1-31) Let not your heart be troubled, &c.--What myriads of souls have not these opening words cheered, in deepest gloom, since first they were uttered! ye believe in God--absolutely. believe also in me--that is, Have the same trust in Me. What less, and what else, can these words mean? And if so, what a demand to make by one sitting familiarly with them at the supper table! Compare the saying in Joh 5:17, for which the Jews took up stones to stone Him, as "making himself equal with God" (Joh 14:18). But it is no transfer of our trust from its proper Object; it is but the concentration of our trust in the Unseen and Impalpable One upon His Own Incarnate Son, by which that trust, instead of the distant, unsteady, and too often cold and scarce real thing it otherwise is, acquires a conscious reality, warmth, and power, which makes all things new. This is Christianity in brief.
Open source ↗Jesus saith unto him, I am the way,.... Our Lord takes the opportunity of this discourse about the place he was going to, and the way unto it, more fully to instruct his disciples concerning himself, saying, "I am the way"; Christ is not merely the way, as he goes before his people as an example; or merely as a prophet, pointing out unto them by his doctrine the way of salvation; but he is the way of salvation itself by his obedience and sacrifice; nor is there any other; he is the way of his Father's appointing, and which is entirely agreeable to the perfections of God, and suitable to the case and condition of sinners; he is the way to all the blessings of the covenant of grace; and he is the right way into a Gospel church state here; no one comes rightly into a church of Christ but by faith in him; and he is the way to heaven: he is entered into it himself by his own blood, and has opened the way to it through himself for his people: he adds, the truth he is not only true, but truth itself: this may regard his person and character; he is the true God, and eternal life; truly and really man; as a prophet he taught the way of God in truth; as a priest, he is a faithful, as well as a merciful one, true and faithful to him that appointed him; and as a King, just and true are all his ways and administrations: he is the sum and substance of all the truths of the Gospel; they are all full of him, and centre in him; and he is the truth of all the types and shadows, promises and prophecies of the Old Testament; they have all their accomplishment in him; and he is the true way, in opposition to all false ones of man's devising. And this phrase seems to be opposed to a notion of the Jews, that the law was the true way of life, and who confined truth to the law. They have a sayi…
Open source ↗14:6 I am: See study note on 6:35. Access to the Father’s presence is only through Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life. • The way to the Father is only through Jesus. Other religions and philosophies propose different avenues to God, but Jesus asserted that he is the one exclusive path to God. • Jesus is the truth because God is truth. • God is the source of eternal life. At Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus showed his divine power over life and death (11:25).
Open source ↗From the web
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Open source ↗Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture.
For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,