The Only I am.

 John Caudill February 28, 2018 John 14:6 In John 14:6, when Christ said 'I am the way, the truth and the life: no man comes to the Father but by Me' what exactly was he talking about? He mentions these three elements, the way, the truth, and the life. He states definitively, ‘I am the’, there is no pause between am and the. This is a definitive statement. He is not saying ‘I am like’ but that He and He alone is. Our Lord wasn't just being extra poetic here to impress the disciples that were present. The Lords answer to Thomas was spoken with purpose, and authority, to bring comfort and embolden them. 'The Way' Jesus states clearly that He is the way. Again, the same statement is made. The meaning of 'the way' is not about how we should live, or how good to one another we are, or whether or not we are here and going to church. 'The way' is not a set of ethics or a sort of a code of conduct. No, ‘the way' is about who Christ is. Not about how we behave, and instead is about what wonderful and terrible things He already did for us. 'The way' is Christ Himself. 'The way' is the life Christ lived when as John said 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us' Jn 1:14. The 'way' is the death that He suffered on the cross while bearing our sinful burden for us. It is Christs completed work, the resurrection after the third day, the defeat of the curse of sin and the mortification of even death itself. This entire drama that unfolds in Christs life is ‘the way’ that Christ talked about. 'The way' is the cup that only He would be able to drink. ‘The way’ is Christ, and that is what He is expressing to his followers here in the text. He alone is the way, your and I's our only path to salvation. 'The Truth' The truth fulfills the law, and is the embodiment of it. Systems of laws do not exist arbitrarily. Most systems of law are geared toward maintaining social order and protecting those who would otherwise be victims without the law's recourse. In the case of Christ, He himself is righteous. He is not subject to the law because He IS the Truth the law would be could it be followed by mankind. He is the law, He authored it, and only He fulfills it. The righteousness of Christ Jesus is the very same righteousness the law would forecast. Christ himself is the 'truth' behind the law. This same 'truth' underpins both the natural law of Adam and Eve, and the moral law given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Christ is the fulfillment of this law, the righteousness that upholds order in all of creation, and only through His imputed righteousness are we set free from our bonds. 'The Life' In the original Greek, there are three words for life, they all mean very different things: Bios, Psuche, and Zoe. Bios refers to biological life, and usually relates to physically being alive or dead. Bios looks at mortality in a very basic and temporal way. Psuche is in regard to the mind, emotions and thoughts, this is where we get the word psyche and psychology. The last one is Zoe, and this one is the most important. Zoe is spiritual life. The word Christ used in John 14:6 was Zoe. Zoe is the life that is the light of men, the uncreated, eternal and divine life that emanates from God at its source. The grandest of the scheme, Zoe is spiritual life. Zoe is the spiritual life that transcends the flesh and the grave, this reality. This is the life we are given as a gift through Christs work. We are adopted into a new life, in Him, and us being grafted in, to the Vine, are now partakers of the divine nature. We have living within us, the immutable life of the living God. So, we see, our lord is not a way, He is the One and only Way. He died on the cross for us, for our sin, so that we might put on His robe of righteousness, and it is in these truths, abdout the Truth, that we first place our love, so that we might love one another, our affections, our dreams, our hopes, all for the same purposes, for His Glory, Amen.