by Ptr. Art Calaguas
Shalom.
We continue with the longest account of the Last Supper at the Upper Room in all the Gospels. With the last εγώ εἰμι (“IAM”) declaration in John 13:19, the Lord Jesus continues to let his disciples understand that his betrayal was coming but his hour of glorification was also coming. But his disciples could not grasp the full weight and meaning of his words.
As Moses, Aaron and his 2 sons and the 70 elders of Israel went up to the Mountain to have a covenant meal with God to seal the given Torah (Exodus 24:9-11) so then did the Lord give the disciples a “new” commandment: “to love one another” (John 13:34-35). From the other Gospel accounts we know that this New Covenant was sealed with the Lord’s Supper (although John’s Gospel did not narrate this). The Lord also told his disciples that he was going somewhere where they could not come right away but would follow later. Then amidst Peter’s protestations, the Lord prophesied that Peter would deny him 3 times.
This revelation spills over into chapter 14 (vv. 1-4) and forms the immediate context of our next εγώ εἰμι declaration. After the Lord says that his Father’s house has many rooms so he prepares places for the disciples, and tells them that they know the way, In verse 5 Thomas says that they don’t know the way he was going to and basically asked for directions. Then, the Lord Jesus, in John 14:6, answers him directly:
λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι᾽ ἐμοῦ.
Jesus says to him, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through ME.”
The Lord emphatically tells Thomas: “I really/truly AM the Way…” and so much more. Undoubtedly, the Lord again alludes to the divine name used in the Exodus passages we are now familiar with. This declaration is a very well-known saying of our Lord and countless written and video analyses and commentaries, both scholarly and popular have been made about it. Per our practice, we will again look at its grammatical ramifications and syntax and see its historical interconnections and parallels with other Scriptures. To do this, we shall highlight in different colors key phrases in this 23-word Greek sentence (and also in my formal translation):
λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή· οὐδεὶς ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ δι᾽ ἐμοῦ.
Jesus says to him, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through ME.”
Starting with the metaphors in nominative predicate part of the statement, we have the following word meanings from Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon:
ἡ ὁδὸς – (“hodos”), with the definite article ἡ means “the way”;
ἡ ἀλήθεια – (“aletheia”), with the definite article ἡ means “the truth”; and
ἡ ζωή – (“zoe”), with the definite article ἡ means “the life”.
Since all 3 metaphors are prefixed with the definite article, the correct translation and interpretation should be that the Lord is not just showing any way, truth or life but the way, the truth and the life. The conjunction καὶ (“kai” meaning “and”) is also used for connecting the 3 metaphors. Hence, it would seem the 3 are meant to be taken together: the Lord Jesus says that he is the Way and the Truth and the Life. This is its inseparable context. So one cannot take just one metaphor as true and discard the others. They all need to be taken as a whole.
These 3 Greek words have their equivalents in Hebrew and are extensively used in the Old Testament (OT). The Hebrewדֶּרֶךְ (“derek”), with the definite article ה means “the way”; this noun is used more than 700 times in the OT. Some examples include Exodus 13:21 (הַדֶּרֶךְ) where the LORD went before the Israelites in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night to lead them on the way… This context is reiterated in Deuteronomy 1:33 (בַּדֶּרֶךְ), speaking of the LORD who went before the Israelites leading them “in the way.” The Septuagint (LXX) versions of these OT verses use forms of the Greek ὁδὸς (“hodos”).
The Hebrew אֱמֶת (“emet”), with the definite article ה means “the truth” (among other related meanings); and occurs more than 125 times in the OT. An example of this usage is in Genesis 42:16 (הַֽאֱמֶ֖ת) where Joseph, unrecognized by his brothers in Egypt, pretends to accuse them of being spies and tests them if they are telling the truth by bringing back Benjamin to him. In Psalm 119:142 (אֱמֶֽת) the psalmist says that the LORD’s righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and his Torah is truth. The LXX version of Genesis 42:16 uses a verb cognate form (ἀληθεύω, “aletheuo” meaning “tell the truth”) while the Psalm 119:142 LXX version uses the Greek noun ἀλήθεια (“aletheia”).
The Hebrew חַיִּים (“chayim”), with the definite article ה means “the life”; this is used in the OT more than 500 times. An example of this word’s usage is found in Genesis 2:7 (חַיִּ֑ים) where it speaks of God giving the breath of life to the man/mankind. Another example is found in Deuteronomy 30:19 (הַחַיִּ֤ים) where Moses urges the Israelites to choose between life and death, blessing and curse and to choose life in the LORD. The LXX versions of these Hebrew verses use forms of the Greek ζωή (“zoe”).
The 2nd clause part of John 14:6 is quite interesting as we see the word meanings:
οὐδεὶς – (“oudeis”), meaning “not one,” “no one,” “none,” “nothing,” absolute negating conjunction; rules out by definition; categorically excludes; invalidates all;
εἰ μὴ – (“ei me”), meaning “if not,” “but,” “except”; and
ἐμοῦ – (“emou”), meaning emphatic genitive form of “me,” hence “ME”.
Apparently, the Lord Jesus says that there is only one way to the Father; and that is through him alone. Note that in the Lord’s context, in the 1st Century AD and even earlier, there were Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots and numerous other Jewish sects that had its own interpretation of the Torah and how to be right with the LORD God. Now, with this clause, the Lord is saying the LORD God, his Father, is stipulating that one can only come to the Father through his Son, Jesus Christ! Many people know very well the 1st part of this εγώ εἰμι (“IAM”) declaration; but perhaps we are not giving the attention that the 2nd part demands. The grammar and syntax of the Greek makes it starkly clear that the Lord Jesus claims exclusive access to the Father.
Now we will take a brief look at a publication of “The Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures”; an institution founded in England in 1940. Their mission is to translate from the Greek and publish the New Testament (NT) and make them available to the Jewish people. This is their form of gratitude to the Jewish people for giving us the Bible. The publication which I have is the הברית החדשה (“haBrit haChadashah,” The New Testament). It is a version of the Salkinson-Ginsburg Hebrew New Testament completed and edited to correspond to the Greek Textus Receptus in 2000. So it is a translation of the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament to Hebrew. Below is an image of the page containing John 14:6 with all the color-coded highlights added in:
The Hebrew can be translated formally as: And Jesus said to him, “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life; a man cannot come to the Father except upon my hand.” It may be that the translation to Hebrew is slightly different because of the source manuscripts. The Hebrew phrase includes the word יָדִי (“yadi” meaning literally “my hand”) but יָדִ (“yad” meaning “hand”) can be figuratively taken to mean by agency or instrumentality of, as “by my power/means” (from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon as found in https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3027.htm). Hence, the phrase “upon my hand” can be interpreted as “by my means” which would be functionally the same as “through me” in the Greek.
In conclusion, when our Lord Jesus declared: “I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through ME”, he assures us that God’s promises (both in the OT and NT) come true. His word is reliable, trustworthy, faithful, because it is the truth. Life is truly God’s gift. So let us choose life. From the Hebrew Scriptures (OT) and its mental pictures, and from the Greek grammar and syntax used, our Lord asserts that He is the only way to God!
We will continue next week with another εγώ εἰμι declaration.
God bless us all.