Prior to this I AM statement we read, “You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”  We see that “the way” is emphasized because of its repetition. 

“The way” is the means; Jesus is the means of reaching the Father.  Many times, the way the movies portray Jesus is to have one of the characters say, “He has come to show us the way,” or “He came to show us the way.”  I take it that what they mean is, “He came to show us, in the sense of demonstrate to us, how to live so as to get to heaven.”  But He didn’t come to show us the way in that sense.  It’s crucial that a person see the difference between “to show us the way” and “I am the way.” 

If we were to look upon “the way” as Jesus as the bridge between man and God, if that bridge is one half inch short, then it collapses.  It’s either all the way or none of the way.  It’s not that He’s part of the way and our works are the rest of the way. 

Isaiah 53:6 is important here: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  Here we see that we prefer [our own] “way,” not “the” way.  Our “way” is works and all religions are invented by man as a way to get to God.  Fallen man is bent toward his own way.  He’s nailing his boards into making his own bridge which will always fall short.  Rom. 3:23: “for all have sinned and are falling short of the glory of God.” (The “glory of God’ is His perfect standard.  We can’t build a perfect bridge.)

Jesus says that He is the way, He is the truth.  He is the embodiment of God’s truth, and in reference to the gospel, the truth is that He died for our sins, rose from the dead, and if we believe Him for everlasting life, we are saved. 

He is life.  He is everlasting life.  This is all more than saying, “I have the truth;” “I have life.”  He is saying, “I am these things!”

Why do we say that one must trust Him alone, and not trust Him and our works?   Because of the last part of the statement: “No man comes to the Father but by Me.”  It’s not “by Me + . . . .”  It’s by Him alone.  (Acts 4:12)

This statement is a flashpoint for people today, just as it was then.  The “I AM” statements have always been controversial.  “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father but by Me” is so clear, so simple, so direct. 

When a person reads John 14:6 it’s so constructed that he has to deal with it.  People sense this.  I want us to look at how people have dealt with it.

(my words are in red):

One person just flies in the face of the statement (because he doesn’t like it) and writes: “No way!  That Bible verse doesn’t mean Christianity is the only true faith.”  He didn’t explain what it does mean if it doesn’t mean that.  How can it possibly be saying anything else?

Here's another one:

“His way is LOVE
His truth is LOVE
His life was LOVE

no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
by Me = by love (i. e. no one comes to the Father except “by love.” )

 

This is nothing other than torturing the verse, twisting it until it comes out saying what the writer wants it to say.  Talk about “reading into” a statement!

 

Listen to this: “We should idolize our selves...god also said in the story...no one shall putest forthest falsest idol beforest meist....We r (sic) the truth the light and the way...HUMANS.”  This writer has changed the way, the truth, and the life to be us!  Talk about ingenuity!

 

Or how about this: Page one of the handbook entitled "The Purpose of the "I AM" Activity states, "The Truth of Life is that in all the universe there is but one God--the "I AM"--God in Action; and that every person on Earth has an Individualized Flame of God anchored within his or her Heart. Not only does everyone have a Divine Spark of the "I AM" within, but above each human form is an Individualized Presence of God--dwelling in a Spiritual Body of electronic Light-Substance. This Individualized "Mighty I AM Presence" is each one's own direct Source of Life and all good from the Godhead, with which It is One."

 

This statement is not only an example of false teaching, but it’s an example of exactly what method II Peter 2:18 says false teachers will use: “For by speaking high-sounding but empty words, they are able to entice,  with fleshly desires and with debauchery . . .”  I like the OKJ which translates this verse as “by speaking great swelling words.”  As we often see, false teaching is complicated, confusing, whereas the truth is clear. 

 

Then there’s the writer who doesn’t react against the first part of Jesus statement, but does react to the “faith alone in Christ alone” aspect of the statement and he writes

“Acknowledgment [by this, he means faith alone] is not all that is required, I have to tell you. The Devil believes and shudders.  [This is irrelevant; Christ didn’t die for fallen angels.  It makes no difference if they believe or not.]

Admission is not the same as Confession. Confession requires agreement with God that you have sinned against Him, and that He would be absolutely just to require of you the penalty pronounced in His Word - "The soul that sins, it shall die."

Repentance is Required - Repentance involves a genuine remorse, from the heart of your being, for the wrong done. Being sorry you got caught is just not enough. (Here the writer is mistranslating “repent” to mean “feel sorry for” and adds that it must be “from the heart.”  Repent refers to a change of mind.)

Absolute Submission to God, and Commitment will then open the gate for the Holy Spirit. If you do not have a Hunger (sic) for the Word, and feel compelled to engage in Faithful (sic) Bible Study (sic), it is possible you are holding back, and your Decision (sic) was not as sincere as you thought. (The writer has launched the reader onto a sea of subjectivity and introduced the idea that one isn’t saved unless his surrender to God is “absolute.”  Whose submission and commitment is “absolute,” 24/7?  Was Solomon’s?  Is the writer’s?  No.)

The Fruit of the Spirit should begin to manifest in your Life. The essences of that Fruit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, all bundled together. (The carnal believer will not have the fruit of the Spirit in his life.  He will look like the unbeliever to others.  I Cor. 3:3: “You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?

John 14:6 is so clear and simple that we would expect it to come under heavy attack.  It has.

 

 

* = Free Grace Teacher or Ministry

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