NO ONE COMETH UNTO THE FATHER, BUT BY ME (JOHN 14:6)

Wendell Winkler

 

Introduction

 

Some general observations. Like the Lord’s miracles (John 20:25), not all of the words that our Lord spake while He was here upon the earth are recorded in the gospel accounts (Acts 20:35). However, of those marvelous messages which have been recorded for us, there are none more illustrative than John 14:6 of how decisive, definitive, and exacting our Lord was in His teaching.

 

The text and its context. John 14:6 reads, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Such constitutes some of the beginning words of our Lord in His farewell discourse to His disciples. The entirety of the farewell discourse is recorded in John chapters 14-16. Such was spoken in Jerusalem on the evening before His crucifixion. The discourse was spoken to the apostles (John 13:35, 37; 14:5, 8, 22).

 

Some general lessons from the text. (a) Words of pathos and words of decisiveness are not antithetical. In the context where our Lord spake the words we are discussing, He had also said, “Let not your heart be troubled . . . In my Father’s house are many mansions . . . I go to prepare a place for you . . .  I will come again and receive you unto my-self; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Accordingly, when gospel preachers today draw the line between truth and error, being definitive and decisive in their teaching, we must not castigate them as being hard, uncaring, and exclusive. Like the Lord in the present text, there must be a happy blending and balance between comforting and convicting.

Our Lord often divided man into two categories. Such is the case in our present text. The text implies that there are those who will accept our Lord’s claims and adjust their lives accordingly, and there are those who will not. The first class comes to the Father, whereas the latter class never is so privileged. Yes, two classes. Did not our Lord divide men into one or the other of the following categories:

 

  • sheep or goats (Matt. 25:31-46),
  • wheat or tares (Matt. 13:36-43),
  • those who walked the straight and narrow pathway or those who walked the broad way (Matt. 7:13-14),
  • the ready or the unprepared (Matt. 25:1-13),
  • the good or the evil (John 5:28-29),
  • the house of God or those who obey not the gospel (1 Peter 4:17).

 

The Lord’s ways are singular. In the text, our Lord is not affirming that He is one of the many ways, or that He is one of the many sources of truth, or that He is one of the many sources of life. Rather, He is the one and only way, the one and only truth, and the one and only life. In such an affirmation, was our Lord being unkindly narrow, bigoted, and tyrannical? Was His attitude bad? Was He non-caring? Was He trying to run people off? Is His exclusive affirmation to be rejected because it results in the majority of the world being lost? (According to the text, infidels of varying stripes, Jews, worshippers in the Eastern religions, religionists who deny the Lord’s deity—Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example—unless they change, cannot be saved).

Our text implies that man is away from God (Isaiah 59:1-2), that man needs to come (Matt. 11:28-30), and that man can come (John 5:40). Further, the text explicitly states the means by which man comes to God, said means being our Lord. Man has never been allowed to approach God directly. In patriarchy, he approached God through the fathers. In Judaism, he approached God through the Levitical system. In Christianity, we approach God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

An additional emphasis. John 14:6 emphasizes the tragedy of a life without Christ. Paul, describing the Gentile world, wrote, “That at that time ye were without Christ” (Eph. 2:11-12). Jesus said, “For without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). The tragedy of tragedies is being “without Him.” Such is worse than

 

  • being without friends, as in the case of the demoniacs (Mark 5:1-19; Luke 8:26-36);
  • being without money, as in the case of the beggar (Luke 16:19-31);
  • being without health, as in the case of the woman who had spent all (Mark 5:26).

 

Such is the case since, without Christ, we are without all that Christ is.

 

  • He is our Savior (John 4:42).
  • He is our shepherd (John 10:1ff).
  • He is our high priest (Heb. 3:1; 4:14-16).
  • He is our exemplar (1 Peter 2:21-22)

 

Such is the case since, without Christ, we are without all that Christ does.

 

  • He mediates (1 Tim. 2:4-5).
  • He intercedes (Heb. 7:25; Romans 8:34). Indeed, He now appears in the presence of God for us (Heb. 9:24; 1 John 2:1-2).

 

Let us now briefly develop the text.

 

1. Since Jesus Is “The Way;” Without Him We Are Lost

 

A lost dog, a lost cow, a lost car, a lost ring, a lost billfold, a lost child; yea, each of these excite, stir, and move us. But, oh the depth and tragedy of a lost soul!

 

The world in general is lost. “We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). Both Jew and Gentile are under sin (Rom. 3:9). The whole world lieth in wickedness (1 Jn. 5:19). Remember the Lord’s three “lost” parables in Luke 15? All we like sheep have gone astray (Isa. 53:6).

 

Jesus is the only means of access to the Father by whom we can be saved. Hebrews 20:19-20 affirms, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.” The way is not to be found in Judaism. The way is not to be found in fraternalism. The way is not to be found in denominationalism. It is as Peter said, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

 

 

 

2. Since Jesus Is “The Truth,” Without Him We Are in Error

 

He is the source of all truth; yea, He is the very embodiment of truth. John 1:17 states, “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” Accordingly, indeed, apart from Him, or upon a rejection and repudiation of Him, a condition of error inescapably and unavoidably results. Jesus spoke of those who “do err” (Matt. 22:29). First Timothy 6:21 speaks of some having “erred concerning the faith.” Second Timothy 2:18 reads, “Who concerning the truth have erred.” John writes of “the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6). Second Peter 3:17 warns of “the error of the wicked.”

 

3. Since Jesus Is “The Life,” Without Him We Are Dead

 

John had previously written of Him, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Christ Himself affirmed, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus told Martha, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26) Accordingly, the sinner, apart from Christ, is said to be dead (Eph. 2:1, 5; 5:14; 1 Tim. 5:6; Rom. 6:13; Col. 2:13; Rev. 3:1). Jesus is not only the source of all physical life (Gen. 1:26), He is the one and only source of spiritual life (1 John 5:12; 4:9; John 3:16-17; 6:48) and eternal life (1 John 5:11).

 

Conclusion

 

Thomas a Kempis, commenting on John 14:6, beautifully observed, “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 shouldest pursue; the truth which thou shouldest believe; the life which thou shouldest hope for.”

In the text we have just studied, Jesus lovingly but decisively expresses our absolute, irrevocable, and inescapable dependence upon Him. And none need be “without Him.” Such is emphasized in the “with Him’s” found in Colossians 2-3. We are “dead with Christ (Col. 2:20), “buried with Him” (Col. 2.12), “risen with Christ” (Col. 3:1), “hid with Christ” (Col. 3:3), “complete in Him” (Col. 2:10), and one day we shall “appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4).

How beautiful are the words penned by George W. Doane:

 

Thou art the Way: to Thee alone

From sin and death we flee;

And he who would the Father seek,

Must seek Him, Lord, by Thee.

Thou art the Truth: Thy word alone

True wisdom can impart;

Thou only canst instruct the mind,

And purify the heart.

Thou art the Life: the rending tomb

Proclaims Thy conqu’ring arm;

And those who put their trust in Thee

Nor death nor hell shall harm.