The Way, the Truth, and the Life
John 14:6
Hence the function of “truth” and “life” is more likely one of elucidation: Jesus is the way as he is the truth and the life. While “life” has an eschatological flavor in John (11:25), these terms serve to effect the redirection to the present that one finds in v. 7, although they do not involve any conflict with what precedes. No direct models have been found for linking the three terms. At most, we read of the way(s) of truth or life in the OT, and the law is separately called way, truth, and life in rabbinic works, though this does not warrant any antithesis of Jesus and the law in this or other passages. The Gnostic idea of the heavenly journey of the soul can hardly have had much influence, for elsewhere in John hodós occurs only in 1:23, there is no reference to the heavenly origin of souls or to their return, the orientation is to the coming again of Jesus rather than the death and subsequent journey of the disciples, and John lays little stress on the function of the Redeemer as guide. The passage might be directed against rival contemporary claims, but since hodós is adequately explained by the context, it undoubtedly has its own unique and positive significance.Kittel, Gerhard, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley. Theological Dictionary of the New Testament 1985 : 670. Print.
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