John 14:6

On Sunday, I preached on John 14:6, the well known verse in which Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." I responded to an article that I had come across that actually argued that John 14:6 taught that Jesus was ONE AMONG MANY WAYS rather than the ONLY WAY TO GOD. The article claimed that John 14:2 taught that there are MANY ROOMS in the Father's house and that Jesus goes to prepare only ONE of those many ROOMS for His followers. The idea is that the other rooms in the Father's house are left open for other religions' followers. Here are some of the reasons I gave on Sunday as to why this article is way off base:

1. The "rooms" (i.e., the many rooms) and "place" (i.e., the place that Jesus goes to prepare) of v. 2 are two different words in the original Greek. We would expect, therefore, that they would refer to two different things unless the context tells us otherwise. (And the context doesn't tell us otherwise.)

2. Jesus' whole point in the passage really has nothing to do with the "rooms" themselves but with the fact that there is ample space for all His disciples in His Father's house.

3. Verse 6b uses absolute and universal language to state that "no one" comes to the Father (and, thus, to His house) except through the Son. Jesus doesn't say, "you" (in speaking to His disciples) cannot come to the Father except through the Son. He doesn't say, "some" cannot come to the Father except through the Son. And He doesn't say, "Christians" cannot come to the Father except through the Son. He uses absolute universal language to rule out any ambiguity: "no one" or "nothing" comes to the Father except through the Son.

4. This understanding of v. 6 just mentioned in #3 above is necessary. If Jesus is not the only way to God, if there are other ways to God besides Jesus, then Jesus' death is an utter waste. Why would God put Jesus, His only Son, whom He loves, to death if there were other ways to get to heaven? even ONE other way to get there? The God who would do such a thing would be an evil and capricious God, not the God of the Bible. The first rule of Biblical interpretation (Scripture interprets Scripture) prevents our interpreting John 14:1-6 in any way besides that Jesus is the ONLY way to God. The teaching of Scripture about the nature of God prohibits our understanding John 14 to be teaching that Jesus is only one of many different ways to God.

5. If Jesus' death is meaningless and God is capricious and evil, then all of Christianity collapses!

John 14 clearly is teaching that Jesus is the ONLY way to heaven ("Father's house" = heaven, because, as v. 3 says, it's where Jesus will be; and, as v. 6 states, coming to the Father's house is the same as coming to the Father).