Tag: Jesus Christ

John 14:6 is a well-known verse that is often quoted in isolation as proof of the exclusivity of the Christian faith: that Jesus is the only way to God the Father. Jesus tells his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” But is Jesus declaring the uniqueness of the religion that will one day bear his name, or does he have something else in mind?

Context

Canadian evangelical theologian Dr. Don Carson wrote, “A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.” We do the Scriptures and the Christian faith a great disservice when we select a verse from the Bible and make it say what we desire without considering its context within the larger narrative.

Let’s explore the context of John 14:6. Approximately half of John’s Gospel concentrates on the last week of Jesus’ life. The events progress quickly, and John shares details that no other gospel writer includes, such as the raising of Lazarus and the ensuing plot to kill Jesus due to the religious leaders’ envy of his popularity.

In John 13, the disciples come together for the Passover meal. Jesus washes their feet and predicts Judas’ betrayal and Peter’s denial. What Jesus says in John 14 also takes place while they are seated around the table for the Passover meal, giving us a rich context to understand his words.

Famous Last Words

Jesus will be arrested later that night; therefore, his words in these chapters are commonly known as the Farewell Discourse, which includes Jesus’ final words before his death. If you know you’re about to die, you don’t waste time or words. You get straight to the point and express what weighs heavily on your heart.

In John 14, Jesus consoled his disciples because he had informed them that he would be betrayed, denied, and would leave them. He told them, “I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.”

Reassurance

Jesus’ disciples were in a state of sorrow and needed consoling, as this was not the ending they anticipated. They had hoped for a Messiah who would overthrow Rome and re-establish Israel and God’s Kingdom. A suffering Saviour was not what they envisioned. Therefore, Jesus’ words at the start of John 14 are intended to reassure the disciples, offering them comfort and a sense of security:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Oh, Thomas!

Thomas hears Jesus and disagrees with him: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The following verses (7-11) are a bit tricky to grasp, but to summarise, Jesus teaches that one way to understand what God is like is by looking at him (Jesus). The Jewish Annotated New Testament states, “To know Jesus and his works is to understand and know God.” In that sense, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. The first followers of Jesus called themselves The Way.

Exclusiveness

John 14:6 is often regarded as the basis for the exclusive claims of Christian salvation. In other words, many Christians believe and preach that people cannot know God unless they accept Jesus, as suggested by John 14:6. Is this true, and does John imply this in the verse?

I appreciate the explanation given by The New Interpreters Study Bible (p. 1937), which offers extensive notes from ninety leading theologians:

“John 14:6 expresses the central theological conviction of the Gospel of John: Jesus is the tangible presence of God in the world (1:1-18). The language of Father and Son points to the intimacy of the relationship between God and Jesus. Humanity’s encounter with Jesus the Son makes possible a new experience of God as Father (see 1:12; 20:17). Yet John 14:6 is often interpreted in ways that misuse its central theological claim. What John intends as particularism, many contemporary Christians wrongly interpret as exclusiveness. John 14:6 celebrates how Jesus reveals God for those in this particular faith community and is not a statement about the relative worth of the world’s religions. John is concerned with helping Christians recognise and name their God and the distinctiveness of their identity as a people of faith.”

If this is true, John 14:6 is not a statement of exclusiveness but rather a statement of truth that applies to anyone who follows Jesus. When we follow Jesus, we discover in Him a revelation and experience of God as Father.

Jesus’ intent in his words recorded in John 14 is to console his disciples. It would hardly have been appropriate to turn this time of sadness into a declaration of, “Oh, by the way, from now on, the religion I’m starting is the only right one. All the others are wrong. Anyway, don’t be sad!”

Other Ways

The Scriptures reveal various ways for us to know God. For instance, in his letter to the Romans, Paul writes about knowing God through His creation and human conscience. This exploration of alternative ways to understand God encourages us to be open-minded and inclusive, acknowledging that people who have never heard of Jesus can come to realise that God is real and reach out to Him.

The apostle Paul conveyed this to the people of Athens: “God Himself gives everyone life, breath, and everything else. From one man, he made all the nations…God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Summary

To summarise, I don’t believe Jesus intended to make a statement of exclusiveness in John 14:6. However, another verse appears rather firm, which is part of Peter’s sermon in Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

In John 14:6, Jesus comforts his followers, assuring them that although he will die, it is not the end of the story. While they can’t follow him now, they eventually will. Jesus’ death and resurrection paved the way for anyone who trusts him to follow through death and be resurrected in the Father’s presence. If you’re seeking a relationship with your creator, I encourage you to pray to Jesus and accept Him as your Saviour.

If you’re keen to explore this topic further, I encourage you to listen to the following episodes of the Digging Deeper Podcast:

 

#9 Second chances after death

#32 People who never hear about Jesus

#82 How can I know that God exists?

#98 Is Jesus the only way to God?

The Christmas story usually goes like this: Joseph and Mary arrive at the sleepy town of Bethlehem in the middle of the night. Mary is already in labour and sits on a donkey while Joseph desperately tries to find a room in one of the local inns, but he’s unsuccessful. Anxiously, he begs one reluctant innkeeper for any place where Mary could give birth to her baby. The innkeeper finally relents and makes room for them in a stable.

We get this story from a translation of one verse in Luke’s gospel: She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

But this is different from how the birth of Jesus happened, so let me set the record straight.

What Really Happened?

Firstly, Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem well before Mary gave birth. The Bible says, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born.” So, they were already in Bethlehem. They didn’t arrive the night before.

Secondly, Joseph and Mary were both from the Royal line of King David. Joseph was from Bethlehem and would be well known in the town. His extended family would open their homes – especially to a woman about to give birth to a baby.

So, what does the Bible mean when it says, “because there was no room for them in the inn”?

Wrongly Translated

The word rendered “Inn” in Luke’s gospel is elsewhere in the New Testament, translated as “guest room.” (Gk. Kataluma. Cf. Mark 14:14; Luke 22:11). There was no space for Joseph and Mary in the guest room because someone else was staying there.

Typical village homes in first-century Israel would have a couple of rooms. One was the family room, where the household would live, cook, and eat during the day and sleep at night. Next to it was a guest room.

At the end of the family room, steps led down to the stable. The mangers (feeding troughs) were positioned at the end of the family room so the animals could feed when they were hungry. There was no solid wall between the family room and the stable.

The New International Version gets the translation right: “And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.” And so, Mary gave birth to Jesus in the family room of a private house with one of the mangers making the perfect cradle for the newborn king. And then came the visitors.

The Visitors

The Shepherds were the first to hear about the Messiah. Shepherds were at the bottom of the social hierarchy in Israel. They were poor, unclean peasants and were asked to visit Jesus. But they would have been afraid. How would those on the lowest rung of society be received? “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for everyone. Today, in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” just like a normal baby in a regular house.

Jesus came for the poor, the lowly and the rejected – but he also arrived for the wealthy and wise. The subsequent guests (probably a year or so later) were the wise men from the East, students of the planets and stars. The wise men were possibly wealthy gentiles from Arabia – the only place where the trees grew from which Frankincense and Myrrh were harvested. Gold was also mined in Arabia, and only the rich would own it.

A Fascinating Story

In the 1920s, a British scholar, E.F.F. Bishop, visited a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. The Muslim tribe was called al Koka Bani – meaning “Those who study or follow the planets.” Bishop asked the tribal elders why they called themselves by that name. They told him it was because their ancestors followed the planets and had travelled west to Israel to show honour to the great prophet Jesus when he was born.

So, the birth of Jesus the Messiah broke down all the barriers between people: Rich and poor, Jew and Gentile, royal and lowly, male and female, slave and free – and that’s what we celebrate when we think of the birth of Jesus today.

When God was born into the human race, it was to embrace all people without exception. No wonder all of heaven rejoices. May we celebrate too.

Without question, some of Jesus’ sayings are alarming. I was particularly intimidated as a young Christian by the wide gate and broad road leading to destruction.

Jesus said, Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

At the time, the church I attended leant towards legalism and understood many of these sayings through that lens. After all, small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. With the emphasis on only a few find it. Catch that? Just a few. Not many. You may be left out. At least, they were the words that echoed in my young Christian mind.

So, is Jesus trying to scare the hell out of us? Let’s find out.

Hit the Nail on the Head

The Sermon on the Mount serves as context (Matthew 5-7). Jesus explains in chapter seven the critical nature of hearing and acting on his message. Thus, we see numerous examples throughout this chapter that serve as a contrast between two groups:

  1. Two types of gates ~ wide and small
  2. Two kinds of roads ~ broad & narrow
  3. Two sorts of trees ~ Good and bad (fruit)
  4. Two classes of disciples ~ true and false
  5. Two kinds of builders ~ wise and foolish

Jesus is expressing the same thing in each of these analogies and uses various images to emphasise his point, similar to repeatedly striking a nail with a hammer until it is deeply embedded in the wood. That is to say:

Entering through the wide gate is the same as

Travelling on the broad road, which is the same as

Bearing bad fruit, which is the same as

Being a false disciple, which is the same as

Being a foolish builder.

The opposite is also true:

Entering through the small gate is the same as

Travelling on the narrow road, which is the same as

Bearing good fruit, which is the same as

Being a true disciple, which is the same as

Being a wise builder.

Two Kinds of People

Jesus ends his sermon with The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders, a reference to these two kinds of people who all hear Jesus’ words and teachings:

Group one “hears these words of mine and puts them into practice,” while group two “hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice.”

Group one is “like a wise man who built his house on the rock,” while group two “is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”

Both groups (houses) experience the same trials and storms in life, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house.”

Group one’s house “did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” So is everyone who hears Jesus’ teachings and puts them into practice.

Group two’s house “fell with a great crash.” So is everyone who hears Jesus’ teachings but does not act on them.

The Gospels preserve Jesus’ teachings, while the other New Testament writers expound them further to demonstrate how his teachings apply in daily life. Among the points made by these authors is the following:

You don’t enter the kingdom of heaven by doing good works; you enter the kingdom of heaven by doing God’s will.

That is where the “Many” Jesus refers to have made a grievous error. Their justification for being admitted to the Kingdom of Heaven is based on the excellent actions they have performed. They have prophesied, cast out devils, and performed miracles, but these are manifestations of God’s power at work through a person, not proof of genuine trust in Christ.

Kingdom access is, according to Jesus, for the person “who does the will of My Father in heaven.” What is God’s will? Jesus taught, “my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” We enter God’s Kingdom through trust in Jesus! Only through faith in Jesus can we hear and apply his teachings. While good deeds spring from genuine faith, they do not guarantee admission to the kingdom.

Two Stories

As the late Billy Graham put it: “There were a few times when I thought I was dying, and I saw my whole life come before me. I didn’t say to the Lord, ‘I’m a preacher, and I’ve preached to many people.’ I said, ‘Oh Lord, I’m a sinner, and I still need Your forgiveness. I still need the cross.’ And I asked the Lord to give me peace in my heart, and He did – a wonderful peace that hasn’t left me.”

I’ll finish this with a story about a man who died and went to heaven. Of course, St. Peter met him at the pearly gates and explained, “Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. Let me know all the good things you’ve done, and I’ll give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you’ll get in.”

“Okay,” said the man, “I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated even in my heart.” “That’s wonderful,” said St. Peter, “that’s worth three points!”

“Three points?” he says. “Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service.” “Terrific!” said St. Peter, “that’s certainly worth a point.”

“One point? Gosh. How about this: “I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans.” “Fantastic, that’s good for two more points.” “TWO POINTS!!” the man cried, “At this rate, the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!”

“Come on in,” said Peter.