We live in a world of absolute doubt and uncertainty about a way forward, the reality of truth, and meaning of life. The church, however, responds with hope….Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, for He is God incarnate. Only God can be all of those things.

Years ago, I heard a leading academic figure argue his case for a tolerant environment on his historic campus. He then went on to say that his university would not tolerate intolerance. Do not miss the irony of that statement. Ironic as it is, we live in an age that boasts of “tolerance.” With that comes a vehement distaste for any claim of exclusivity. That is particularly true when Christians make exclusive claims about Christ and salvation.

The Bible is replete with exclusive claims. The antithesis of life and death are foundational to the Christian faith. The way of life and the way of death run through the Bible, illustrated in places such as Cain’s sacrifice of unbelief versus Abel’s sacrifice of faith and the juxtaposition of Esau and Jacob. Jesus Himself expressed the life/death model as the narrow and broad way—one way leads to life and one way to destruction (Matt. 7:13–14). The narrow way is personified in Jesus Christ when He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). This exclusive claim can be found in extrabiblical literature from the Didache (second century AD), to historic creeds and confessions, to the present time.

But a question arises at this point: How is Jesus “the way, and the truth, and the life”? There are two answers to the question, but they are inseparable. There is the objective answer and the subjective answer. Objectively, He is exclusively the way, the truth, and the life because He is God incarnate. Subjectively, His salvation is appropriated to individuals through faith in who He is and what He has done.

Considered objectively, Jesus in His person and work is “the way” because He is God. To the Jewish leadership of His day, this was an inflammatory concept. “I am” was a stout claim to deity, and they knew it (John 10:10–33). He is the way because He is God but also because He is man. He took on flesh and became the way out of the mess in which Adam landed us (Rom. 5). The way of righteousness and holiness, which Adam did not follow, Jesus followed perfectly. He could take Adam’s place, for He was born of a woman (Gal. 4:4). His perfect sacrifice could bear the sins of many, for He was God (Isa. 53:12; 1 Peter 1:24). In Him, man could be reconciled to God (Rom. 5:11; 1 Cor. 5:18–21). Only the God-man could be the way.

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