John 14:6

John 14:6

I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life. Three words used, but one thing meant.

We may like to think that God is the Way, the Truth and the Life from this verse in John 14:6. We hear not only from Sermons, Bible teaching, but also in Seminary teachings that God is the way to salvation, the truth we should believe in, and life that created life to all. God is in three different aspects.

Is God literally so as we read the passage? The answer is it is not exactly so.

God is not really the Way, the Truth and the Life or all of the three things in one person from this verse. John does not intend to convey the message in such a way.

We must understand that many Bible passages are written in a figures of speech style by saying one thing to refer to another. In Psalms, we see some passages are written with missing words for us to fill in as we wish in an Ellipses style.

Other types of figure of speech we see throughout the Bible are irony, simile, metaphor, hyperbole, synecdoche, euphemism, metonymy, acrostic, repetition, opposition, generality and many more.

One particular type of figure of speech that relates to John 14:6 call Hendiatris or three for one. It is closely resembled with Hendiadys or two for one. In Hendiadys, two words are used, but only one thing or idea is meant. The first word expresses the thing, and the other simply intensifies the former. It never intends to say two things or two ideas.

So when Gen. 1:26 says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness", it does not mean image and likeness but only one image and that image has our likeness. It is not two things but one, though two words are employed.

Similarly, in Zeph. 1:16, "A day of trumpet and alarm", i.e., of the trumpet, yes, and an alarming trumpet too.

To give another New Testament example in Eph. 4:11, "and he gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelist; and some pastor and teacher," Paul really means pastor who are teacher. There are only four gifts here, viz. apostles, prophets, evangelist and pastor. Teacher in this verse is not to be considered as a gift, teacher is simply a function of a pastor.

There are at least a hundred over Hendiadys style of writings in the Bible.

Thus, the three for one Hendiatris in John 14:6 means God is neither the truth nor the life (Indeed God is, but not in the teaching from this verse). Here, the Bible is saying, God is the way and that way has both the truth and life. It does not mean God is the way, the truth and the life but He is the one only way. Amen.