The Truth

Local Christian talk show host, Andrew Tallman, had an interesting post on his Thought of the Day blog recently. He talked about how the Bible was not "a book about truth", like some helpful guide to morality and living, but about Christ, the truth. I thought it was a good thought. But he got me to thinking ... always dangerous as anyone who knows me can attest.

We are quite familiar with Jesus's famous claim, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Me" (John 14:6). Any genuine Christ follower (AKA, Christian) understands this to reference the exclusivity of Christ for salvation. Lots of people complain, "You Christians are so exclusive", but we're kind of stuck with it if we are going to be followers of Christ. We didn't make the claim; He did. He is "the Way" and there is no other.

Perhaps it's because of the second sentence in that verse -- "No man comes to the Father but by Me" -- but it seems to me that we are missing something if we stop at the exclusive claim of Christ as the only means of salvation. Yes, indeed, that is undeniably there. Yes, indeed, we need to hold to that. All the calls to being less restrictive are simply calls to deny what Christ said and we can't. Fine and good. But if (or rather since) we see the claim of being "the Way" as being a claim to exclusivity for salvation, what about the other two? We seem to skip those.

What am I talking about? Well, if "the Way" says that He is the only way, wouldn't "the Truth" say that He is the only Truth and "the Life" say that He is the only life? If we are going to affirm (as we do) that Jesus is the only way to God, then we must also affirm that He is the only Truth and the only Life. Of course, that may get a bit sticky, so let's see if I can make sense out of it.

When I say that Jesus is the Truth (as in "the only Truth"), I'm not suggesting that there is no truth outside of what the Bible says about Jesus. The Bible never touches on 2 + 2, but we know the right answer. The Bible doesn't talk about the Law of Gravity, but we know it is there. So in what way would I say that Jesus is the only Truth? Well, it is a common saying, "All truth is God's truth." All truth that exists is created and upheld by God. We err when we think that the physical laws in which we operate bound God, too. No, He is the one who made them. In a similar sense, John 1 says about Christ, "All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3). He is the Creator. Beyond that, "He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Col 1:17). He is the one who sustains all things. If all that was made was made by Him and all that exists is held together in Him, it would have to also be true that all that is true is contained in Him. While that may seem like a pointless conclusion, I would have to disagree. The point of that conclusion is that if "all things were created through Him and for Him" (Col 1:16), then the discovery of all truth would best be pursued by starting with Him. From that vantage point, we can see how all truth works together for Him rather than the concept that truth is true outside of Him. John Piper puts it this way:

"If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." (1 Corinthians 8:2-3). Which I take to mean that until we know in such a way that we love God more because of it, we do not yet know as we ought to know.

If Jesus is the Truth, then whatever truth we may learn is only valuable as it relates to Him and our relationship with Him.

The other concept is similar. If He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, then He is the Life, as in "the only life". We do know that Jesus defines life in a different way than we do. He says, "This is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). We also know that outside of Christ humans are dead in sins (Eph 2:1). So in a very real sense the only genuine life that exists is in Him.

Religions in general and Christianity in particular are often attacked for being exclusive. We need to understand two points. First, when religions claim to be exclusive, it is possible that the claim is valid. If it is valid, then only one can be actually correct. Thus, merely claiming to be exclusive shouldn't be a surprise. The question should be "Which one is right?" Second, if we are to be followers of Christ, it means that we have to, well, follow Him. If He claims exclusivity, then for us to deny it would be to deny the one we claim to be following. Others may not like it, but if we are to be Christians, we are without options here. On the other hand, assuming Christ was who He said He was and assuming His claim was valid, being a follower of the Way, the Truth, and the Life is a really good thing.