John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) I am the way.—The pronoun is emphatic. “I, and none besides Me.” “The way” is again made prominent, reversing the order which Thomas had used. He and He only is the means through which men can approach to the Father. (Comp. Notes on John 1:18, and on 1Timothy 2:5.)

The truth, and the life.—Better, and the Truth, and the Life. The thought of His being the Way through which men come to the Father is the reverse side of the thought, that in Him the Father is revealed to men, that He is Himself the Eternal Truth, that He is Himself the Source of eternal life. (Comp. John 1:14; John 1:17; John 6:50-51; John 11:25-26.) Had they known what His earlier words meant, they would have had other than temporal and local thoughts of the Father’s house, and would have known Him to be the Way.

No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.—This was the answer to the doubt of Thomas. This was the true “whither” which they knew not. The thought of heaven is not of a place far above, or of a time far before, but of a state now and hereafter. To receive the Truth and the Life revealed in the presence of the Son is to come to the Father by the only Way. To be with the Father is home. (Comp. Notes on John 1:18; John 3:13.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:1-11 Here are three words, upon any of which stress may be laid. Upon the word troubled. Be not cast down and disquieted. The word heart. Let your heart be kept with full trust in God. The word your. However others are overwhelmed with the sorrows of this present time, be not you so. Christ's disciples, more than others, should keep their minds quiet, when everything else is unquiet. Here is the remedy against this trouble of mind, Believe. By believing in Christ as the Mediator between God and man, we gain comfort. The happiness of heaven is spoken of as in a father's house. There are many mansions, for there are many sons to be brought to glory. Mansions are lasting dwellings. Christ will be the Finisher of that of which he is the Author or Beginner; if he have prepared the place for us, he will prepare us for it. Christ is the sinner's Way to the Father and to heaven, in his person as God manifest in the flesh, in his atoning sacrifice, and as our Advocate. He is the Truth, as fulfilling all the prophecies of a Saviour; believing which, sinners come by him the Way. He is the Life, by whose life-giving Spirit the dead in sin are quickened. Nor can any man draw nigh God as a Father, who is not quickened by Him as the Life, and taught by Him as the Truth, to come by Him as the Way. By Christ, as the Way, our prayers go to God, and his blessings come to us; this is the Way that leads to rest, the good old Way. He is the Resurrection and the Life. All that saw Christ by faith, saw the Father in Him. In the light of Christ's doctrine, they saw God as the Father of lights; and in Christ's miracles, they saw God as the God of power. The holiness of God shone in the spotless purity of Christ's life. We are to believe the revelation of God to man in Christ; for the works of the Redeemer show forth his own glory, and God in him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I am the way - See Isaiah 35:8. By this is meant, doubtless, that they and all others were to have access to God only by obeying the instructions, imitating the example, and depending on the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was the leader in the road, the guide to the wandering, the teacher of the ignorant, and the example to all. See John 6:68; "Thou hast the words of eternal life;" 1 Peter 2:21; "Christ - suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps;" Hebrews 9:8-9.

The truth - The source of truth, or he who originates and communicates truth for the salvation of men. Truth is a representation of things as they are. The life, the purity, and the teaching of Jesus Christ was the most complete and perfect representation of the things of the eternal world that has been or can be presented to man. The ceremonies of the Jews were shadows; the life of Jesus was the truth. The opinions of men are fancy, but the doctrines of Jesus were nothing more than a representation of facts as they exist in the government of God. It is implied in this, also, that Jesus was the fountain of all truth; that by his inspiration the prophets spoke, and that by him all truth is communicated to men. See the notes at John 1:17.

The life - See John 11:25, and the notes at John 1:4.

No man cometh to the Father but by me - To come to the Father is to obtain his favor, to have access to his throne by prayer, and finally to enter his kingdom. No man can obtain any of these things except by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. By coming by him is meant coming in his name and depending on his merits. We are ignorant, and he alone can guide us. We are sinful, and it is only by his merits that we can be pardoned. We are blind, and he only can enlighten us. God has appointed him as the Mediator, and has ordained that all blessings shall descend to this world through him. Hence he has put the world under his control; has given the affairs of men into his hand, and has appointed him to dispense whatever may be necessary for our peace, pardon, and salvation, Acts 4:12; Acts 5:31.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4-7. whither I go ye know … Thomas saith, Lord, we know not whither thou guest … Jesus saith, I am the way, &c.—By saying this, He meant rather to draw out their inquiries and reply to them. Christ is "THE Way" to the Father—"no man cometh unto the Father but by Me"; He is "THE Truth" of all we find in the Father when we get to Him, "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col 2:9), and He is all "THE Life" that shall ever flow to us and bless us from the Godhead thus approached and thus manifested in Him—"this is the true God and eternal life" (1Jo 5:20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Christ was his own way to his Father; By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, Hebrews 9:12. See Luke 24:26 Philippians 2:8. But both the former words, where the apostle spake of the way they should go, and the following words, hint to us, that Christ is here speaking of their way, not his own.

As to them, he saith,

I am the way; that is, the way by which those must get to heaven who will ever come there. Christ is our way to heaven by the doctrine which he taught; by his death, by which he purchased this heavenly inheritance for us; by his holy life and conversation, setting us an example that we should follow his steps; by the influence of his Spirit, guiding us to, and assisting us in, those holy actions by which we must come unto glory.

He is

the truth; that is, say some, the true way to life eternal: but he is the truth as to His doctrine, the gospel being the word of truth, Ephesians 1:13: and as truth signifies reality and accomplishment, in opposition to the prophecies and promises, all being but words till they were in him fulfilled; in which sense we read of the true tabernacle, and the true holy places, Hebrews 8:2 Hebrews 9:24: or as truth is opposed to falsehood, as truth is taken John 8:44 Romans 3:7.

And he is

the life, the Author and Giver of eternal life, John 11:25 1Jo 5:11; and the purchaser of it by his death; he who by his doctrine showeth the way to it, and by his Holy Spirit begins it, and carrieth it on to perfection. The Jews thought the way to it was by the law of Moses; but our Saviour beateth his disciples out of that opinion: for if the law could have given life, Christ had died in vain, as the apostle argues. Therefore (saith he) there is no coming to the Father

but by me; no way for you or any other, to come to heaven, but by receiving, and embracing, and believing in me.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 saying (r), that , "Moses and his law are the truth"; this they make Korah and his company say in hell. That the law of Moses was truth, is certain; but it is too strong an expression to say of Moses himself, that he was truth; but well agrees with Christ, by whom grace and truth came in opposition to Moses, by whom came the law: but when they say (s), , "there is no truth but the law", they do not speak truth. More truly do they speak, when, in answer to that question, , "what is truth?" it is said, that he is the living God, and King of the world (t), characters that well agree with Christ.

And the life: Christ is the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal; or he is the way of life, or "the living way"; in opposition to the law, which was so far from being the way of life, that it was the ministration of condemnation and death: he always, and ever will be the way; all in this way live, none ever die; and it is a way that leads to eternal life: and to conclude all the epithets in one sentence, Christ is the true way to eternal life It is added by way of explanation of him, as the way,

no man cometh unto the Father but by me; Christ is the only way of access unto the Father; there is no coming to God as an absolute God, not upon the foot of the covenant of works, nor without a Mediator; and the only Mediator between God and man is Christ: he introduces and presents the persons and services of his people to his Father, and gives them acceptance with him.

(r) T. Bab. Bava Bathra. fol. 74. 1. Bemidbar Rabba, fol. 223. 2.((s) Hieros. Roshhashanah, fol. 59. 1. Praefat. Echa Rabbati, fol. 36. 2.((t) Ib. Sanhedrin, fol. 18. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

Jesus saith unto him, I am {d} the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

(d) This saying shows unto us the nature, the will, and office of Christ.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 14:6. I (no other than I) am the way, on which men must go, in order to come to the Father in His heavenly house, John 14:2-3, and the truth, and the life. But since no one, without going the prescribed way, without having appropriated the truth to himself, and without bearing in himself the life, can come to that goal, οὐδεὶς, κ.τ.λ., is thus the exponent to all three particulars, not merely to the first. The three moments lay down the proposition that no other than Christ is the Mediator of eternal salvation with God in the Messianic kingdom, according to three several characteristic aspects which are co-ordinated, yet in such a way that the advance is made from the general to the particular. The characteristic of the mediation of salvation, in the first point, is not designated with reference to matter (as in ἡ ἀλήθεια and ἡ ξωή), but as to form, in so far, namely, as the mediation of salvation itself is therein expressed in a specific figure (comp. John 10:9). On individual points, note: (1) Christ is the Way, not because He ὑπέδειξε τὴν ὁδόν (Cyril. Melanchthon, and many others), whereby both the expression and the figure are departed from, and the relation of things is not sufficiently attended to, but because in His personal manifestation the mediation of salvation is objectively given, absolutely the sole mediation for all men, but which has to be made use of subjectively, that is, by faith on Him, like the man who is aiming at a goal, and for that purpose must take and pursue the given way which is the means of its attainment. (2) Christ is the Truth, because He is the self-revelation of God which has been manifested (John 14:7; John 14:9), the Light that is come into the world, without the appropriation of which salvation is not obtained. (3) He is the Life (Colossians 3:4), because He is the Principle and Source of eternal life (in its temporal development and future consummation); so that whoever has not received Him into himself by faith (John 6:50-51, John 11:25-26), has become a prey to spiritual and eternal death; comp. Ignatius, ad Trall. 9 : οὗ χωρὶς τὸ ἀλήθινον ζῆν οὐκ ἔχομεν; ad Ephesians 3 : Χριστὸς τὸ ἀδιάκριτον ἡμῶν ζῆν. These three points are not to be separated according to time (Luther: beginning, middle, end; so also Calvin), but Christ is all three at once,—in that He is the one, He is also the second and the third,—although this cannot justify an arbitrary fusion of the three predicates (as would be the Augustinian vera via vitae).

οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται, κ.τ.λ.] the Johannean sola fide. Note how John 14:6 is the summary of the most perfect self-confession of the Son regarding Himself and His work.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 14:6. ἐγώ εἰμι … ἐμοῦ. “I am the way and the truth and the life: no one comes to the Father save through me.” I do not merely point out the way and teach the truth and bestow life, but I am the way and the truth and the life, so that by attachment to me one necessarily is in the way and possesses the truth and the life. “The way” here referred to is the way to the Father. He is the goal of all human aspiration: and there is but one way to the Father, “no one comes,” etc.—καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, “and the truth,” primarily about God and the way to Him, but also as furnishing us with all knowledge which we now require for life. Thomas craved knowledge sufficient to guide him in the present crisis. Jesus says: You have it in me.—καὶ ἡ ζωή, “and the life”; the death which casts its shadow over the eleven and Himself is itself to be swallowed up in life. Those who are one with Jesus cannot die. They are possessed of the source of the source of life. Further see Hort’s The Way, etc., and Bernard’s Central Teaching.—οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται, “no one comes to the Father save through me” as the way, the truth, the life. It is not “through believing certain propositions regarding me” nor “through some special kind of faith,” but “through me”.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. I am the way] The pronoun is emphatic; I and no other: Ego sum Via, Veritas, Vita. S. Thomas had wished rather to know about the goal; Christ shews that for him, and therefore for us, it is more important to know the way. Hence the order; although Christ is the Truth and the Life before He is the Way. The Word is the Truth and the Life from all eternity with the Father: He becomes the Way for us by taking our nature. He is the Way to the many abodes in His Father’s home, the Way to the Father Himself; and that by His doctrine and example, by His Death and Resurrection. In harmony with this passage ‘the Way’ soon became a recognised name for Christianity; Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9; Acts 19:23; Acts 22:4; Acts 24:22 (comp. Acts 24:14; 2 Peter 2:2). But this is obscured in our version by the common inaccuracy ‘this way’ or ‘that way’ for ‘the Way.’ (See on John 1:21; John 1:25, John 6:48.)

the truth] Better, and the Truth, being from all eternity in the form of God, Who cannot lie (Php 2:6; Hebrews 6:18), and being the representative on earth of a Sender Who is true (John 8:26). To know the Truth is also to know the Way to God, Who must be approached and worshipped in truth (John 4:23). Comp. Hebrews 11:6; 1 John 5:20.

and the life] Comp. John 11:25. He is the Life, being one with the living Father and being sent by Him (John 6:57, John 10:30). See on John 1:4, John 6:50-51, and comp. 1 John 5:12; Galatians 2:20. Here again to know the Life is to know the Way to God.

no man cometh unto the Father, but by me] Christ continues to insist that the Way is of the first importance to know. ‘Through Him we have access unto the Father’ (Ephesians 2:18). Comp. Hebrews 10:19-22; 1 Peter 3:18.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 14:6. Ἡ ὁδός, καὶ ἡ ἀληθεία, καὶ ἡ ζωή, the way, and the truth, and the life) He is called in the Soliloquies of Augustine, ch. iv., the true way of life [vera via vitæ]. But the text has greater force, comprising the sum of the doctrine concerning Jesus Christ. For to the question concerning the Way, He answers this, I am the Way: to the question concerning Knowledge [John 14:5, How can we know?], He answers this, I am the Truth: to the question, Whither? He makes that answer, I am the Life. [To the metaphoric declaration, I am the Way, there is subjoined, for the sake of explanation, a more literal (plain, not figurative) declaration, I am both the Truth and the Life. He who moves onward by this way, he, and he alone, truly avails himself of the right path; and he who stedfastly holds to this way, he has life for ever.—V. g.] At the same time, also, three propositions are stated (comp. similarly the three [things, of which the Spirit reproves the world, sin, righteousness, and judgment], ch. John 16:8), of which the first, that concerning the way, is handled presently after in this verse, “No man cometh to the Father, but by Me;” concerning the truth, at John 14:7, etc., 17, “The Spirit of Truth:—ye know Him;” concerning the life, John 14:18-19, etc., “Because I live, ye shall live also;”—πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα, to the Father) This again answers the question as to knowing [John 14:5]. The one and only way, the sure way.—διʼ ἐμοῦ, by Me) This again answers the question as to the way.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 6, 7. - Jesus saith to him, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had learned to know me, ye would have known (absolutely) my Father also: from henceforward ye know (by personal experience) him, and (or, perhaps, even) ye have seen him. The whole sentence must be taken together. The whither of Christ is obvious enough, and throws consequent illumination upon the way thither. "The Father's house" is the whither no one cometh unto the Father (but) except through me. Christ explicitly says

(1) that the entire goal of this wondrous way of his is the Father himself. From the Father he came, to the Father he was moving, not for his own sake only, but also as King Messiah for all his subjects. He suggests

(2) that mankind generally, as well as his disciples, are anxious to find their way to the Father's house, to the Father's heart, i.e. to resting and rejoicing in God, and satisfaction in their entire conception of him and relation to him.

(3) He declares post-lively that this idea of God as Father, this approach to God for every man, is through him - through what he is and what he is doing and has so often described, for them. True, lie had said, in John 6:37, 44, that the Father gave to him and drew towards him those who came to him. A fatherly monition and inward working of grace opened men's eyes in Christ to the mystery of true human son-ship of the eternal Father. The statement of this verse supplements the former utterance. They may best understand the way he is taking when they grasp the fact that he is going to the Father to prepare a place for them, and so he becomes "the Way, the Truth, the Life," for all who are coming after him, "following him afterwards" to the Father. Grotius sums up this great saying by regarding Christ as "the Exemplum, Doctor, et Dater vitro eternae;" Luther speaks of it as referring to the past, present, and future; Calvin, as "the Principium, Medium, et Finis;" and Augustine "vera vitae Via;" but each term means more than this. The way of approach to God is constituted by his simply being the incarnate Logos, by his revealing the mind and nature of God, by his laying down his life for the sheep that he might take it again. In doing this he supplies the method-and motive of holy living. It is not easy to say why our Lord should have added "the Truth and the Life." Maldonatus exclaimed, "Si Christus minus fuisset in respondendo liberalis, minus nobis in hujus loci interpretatione laborandum esset." The two further terms used by himself are probably introduced to throw light upon the way to the Father. Thus there are numerous assurances that he is the Truth itself, that is, the adequate and sufficient expression of Divine thought. "All the promises of God are yea [i.e. are uttered] and Amen [i.e. confirmed] in him." He is the absolute Truth

(1) about God's nature;

(2) the perfect Exponent of God's idea of humanity;

(3) the Light of the world;

(4) the Expression of the reality touching the relations between moral beings and God - all the relations, not only those of saints and holy angels, but those of rebels and sinners, whose destiny he has taken upon himself. He is the Way because he is the whole Truth about God and man and concerning the way to the Father. More than this, and because of this, he adds, "I am the Life" -"the life eternal," the Possessor, Author, Captain, Giver, and Prince of life - the life in the heart of man that can never die; the occasion, germ, condition, and force of the new lath. It were impossible to imagine higher claim. But he leaves his hearers without any doubt as to his personal and conscious identification of himself with the Father. Hitherto he had not so clearly unveiled himself as in that which he has here said and is now doing. Hence his nearest and dearest only partially knew him. If they had seen all they might have seen, they would have seen the Father also. Then, as though he would close all aperture to doubt about the glory involved in his humiliation, and the way in which his human life had revealed the Father, he says ἀπάρτι - henceforward this must be a fact of your consciousness, that you do learn and come to know him by personal experience (γινώσκετε); and as a matter of fact ye have seen him (ἐωράκατε). Possibly in the ἀπάρτι, involving the notion of a period rather than a moment, the Lord was including the full revelation of the glory of self-sacrificial love given alike in his death and resurrection. And the important thought is suggested that neither the knowledge of God can ever be complete, nor the vision either. Is Thomas answered or no? He is silent, and perhaps is pondering the words, which will lead him, before long, notwithstanding his doubts, to make the grandest confession contained in the entire Gospel, the answer of convinced though once skeptical humanity to the question, "Whom say ye that I am?" The other apostles feel that Christ's words have met the mystic vague fear of Thomas, and that "henceforward" they all belong with Christ to the Father's house. They would go to the Father, and at the right time dwell in the place prepared for them; but how can they be said to know and have seen the Father already - to have passed into the light or received the beatific vision? John 14:6

Vincent's Word Studies

I am the way

The disciples are engrossed with the thought of separation from Jesus. To Thomas, ignorance of whither Jesus is going involves ignorance of the way. "Therefore, with loving condescension the figure is taken up, and they are assured that He is Himself, if we may so speak, this distance to be traversed" (Milligan and Moulton). All along the course to the Father's house they are still with Him.

The truth

As being the perfect revelation of God the Father: combining in Himself and manifesting all divine reality, whether in the being, the law, or the character of God. He embodies what men ought to know and believe of God; what they should do as children of God, and what they should be.

The life

Not only life in the future world. He is "the principle and source of life in its temporal development and future consummation, so that whoever has not received Him into himself by faith, has become a prey to spiritual and eternal death" (Meyer). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." Compare Colossians 3:4; John 6:50, John 6:51; John 11:25, John 11:26.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou shouldst pursue; the truth which thou shouldst believe; the life which thou shouldst hope for" (Thomas a Kempis, "Imitation of Christ," iii., 56). On ζωή, life, see on John 1:4.

Unto the Father

The end of the way.