Jesus the Only (Part 3) Jesus the Only Life

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’” (John 14:6, NASB). Today’s article is the third and final article from the theme “Jesus the Only.” In today’s title “Jesus the Only Life” we will discuss what the writer of the Gospel of John had in mind when he recorded the words of Jesus to His disciples at the Passover. We have learned that the definite article, “the” means that Jesus claims to be the only way, truth, and life without any exceptions. We have reviewed Jesus’ claim based upon the context of the book of John. John wrote in a time when the church was confronted with the infiltration of various Greek and Roman philosophies and religions that competed with the Christian faith. There were two beliefs held by pagan philosophies and religions that the church had to deal with. First, there was the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was not divine. He is not the Son of God because the gods do not have fellowship with human beings. In addition, the gods that created the worlds are not the Supreme God. They are only emanations from god. The immediate context of Jesus’ statement is the Passover and Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death, His resurrection, and His ascension to the Father. He promises that He will come again and take them to a place prepared for them in His Father’s kingdom. The thought of having eternal life was appealing to almost all people living at that time including both Christians and non Christians. Jesus commissions His disciples to be ambassadors for the kingdom of God, and He commands His disciples to tell of the availability of the forgiveness of sin and fellowship with God to everyone who believes in Him. John records this event in the Upper Room because it shows us the difficulty the disciples had in completely understanding His teaching. Also, Jesus’ life was one that the Jewish religious leaders found difficult to believe. Today, we must understand that false religions and philosophies have always opposed the message of God. Since the fall in the garden, mankind in general has been living in rebellion against God. Jesus came to restore peace between God and humankind. He came to give us life and life more abundantly (see John 10:10). Today, the church finds itself lively with various activities, but does this mean that they have life? When Jesus made His statement to the disciples, did he have in mind lively activities in the same way that we do? The word “life” is translated from the Greek word zoe. Vine states that “zoe’ is used in the NT ‘of life as a principle, life in the absolute sense, life as God has it, that which the Father has in Himself, and which He gave to the Incarnate Son to have in Himself, John 5:26, and which the Son manifested in the world, 1 John 1:2’” (W. E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, [Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996], 367). In the beginning there was God alone. God created the world, including human being. In Genesis 2:7 we learn that God created man, first as a lump of clay having no life. Then, God breathed into man and He became a living being. God deposited His own life into the man, thus giving man a unique relationship with God. With God’s Spirit in himself the man shared God’s nature and he had fellowship with his creator. However, in Genesis 3 the man and his wife sinned. They lost their fellowship with God and the nature of God died within them. Mankind was now separated from God. They become sinners with no way of restoring the life of God in them, and they have no way of reestablishing a relationship with God. God must initiate a means by which human beings can be united again with Him. After the man and his wife sinned, God initiated a sacrificial system by which the life of the substitute dies and the human lives. This is accomplished through God’s grace and is available to all who have faith in God and His provision for salvation. Animal sacrifices in the Old Covenant were insufficient because they were unable to impart the life of God in human beings. The Word of God became flesh and died for the sins of the world, to everyone who believes in Jesus. So, in the text, Jesus is commissioning His disciples to preach the message that through faith in Him alone human being can become partakers of the life of God through the Holy Spirit. Since God alone is eternal, only those who receive His Spirit have eternal life. The life that comes from faith in Jesus gives the believer some distinct advantages. First, Jesus is talking about more than physical life. Life in this context refers to spiritual life in which the believer not only lives temporarily, but has eternal life. The believer receives the nature of God in him or herself. Those who have been united with Christ have harmony with God. He or she lives a life that pleases God. This means that the Spirit motivates and empowers the believer to no longer live after the sinful nature, but they now live in the Spirit. This does not mean that the believer never sins. On the contrary, believers still fall into sin from time to time, but the blood of Jesus covers their sins. Also, the believer is prompted by the Spirit to strive to overcome the sinful nature by denying the things of the flesh and seeking after the leading of the Holy Spirit. Paul discusses this battle between the flesh and the Spirit in Romans 7. Those who believe in Christ join a fellowship of like living creatures that have been made new (see 2 Corinth 5:17). This fellowship of believers in Christ is known as the church. Jesus gives life to the church. We must not mistake church activities for life. In Revelation 2-3, John writes letters from Jesus to seven churches in Asia Minor. In these letters Jesus warns the churches of engaging in church activities while at the same time omitting their relationship to God. The church at Philadelphia is commended because it has little power, but it remains true to the words of Jesus and resist the words of false religious teachers who agree with views of the world. Jesus gives life to the church in the following ways. Jesus gives life to the church as a whole and to individual members in the church. Jesus gives life to the worship in the church. Worship that is devoid of the Spirit of Christ is simply noisy entertainment. Jesus gives life to the ministry of the church. It is more than social activity. It is benevolence that brings glory to God; not the members in the congregation. The writer of this gospel wants his readers to know that Jesus is the only way to the Father. He alone has the truth from God that leads to salvation. Jesus alone has the life that is necessary for the believer to become a new creature accepted by God to live eternally with the Father and the Son in the kingdom of God. The church will be infiltrated with false teachers. The church must decide if it will follow after the teaching of the world or the teachings of Jesus Christ.