Day Twenty Eight: An Exclusive Jesus
If you were to ask the average person today (in our pluralist society) what the greatest evil was, a common answer you would receive is “exclusivity.”
Exclusivism is thought to be narrow-minded, intolerant, arrogant, and unloving. Popular voices in our culture will argue that there is not one way, one truth, or even one way of life that is better than another as long as we don’t hurt anyone and are inclusive of all ways, truths, and lives. Interestingly, those who do not agree with this doctrine of inclusivism are often excluded for their “bigotry” in not conforming to the way, truth, and life of inclusivism.
While many inclusivists appreciate snippets of Jesus’ teachings that promote the virtues they regard as loving, John 14:6-7 is not likely to be among them.
When Jesus proclaims that he is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and adds that “No one comes to the Father except through me,” it is difficult to interpret the statement as anything but exclusive. But what does Jesus mean by this trifold statement? It appears to be in response to the question Genesis 2-3 poses, “How will this world and humanity be made right?”
In Genesis 3, after God banished the man and woman from the garden, verse 24 says he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned in every way to guard the way to the tree of life. From this point on, humanity has been seeking a way to be cleared.
When Eve gives birth, it seems that she is holding out this hope when she says, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” But the baby she had received would only add to their sorrows, as he would not grow to be the man who crushed death and the devil, but would be a purveyor of death, killing his own brother.
In Genesis 5, a man named Lamech holds out this hope when his son is born, and gives him the name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
But Noah was not the one either, even with humanity starting over and descending from this new man; the way was still not cleared.
In the book of Exodus, the Israelites are told to build a tabernacle with symbols of Eden embossed into the curtains, and chiseled as instruments to be placed inside; like the lampstand of pure gold (Exodus 25:31), which was to be crafted with flower-like cups, buds, and blossoms, to symbolize the tree of life.
But the way to this symbol was blocked to most people, except for certain priests. And the way to the innermost part of the temple, the holy of holies, where the Lord was uniquely present, was blocked to all except one priest each year. That most holy place was separated from the rest of the temple by a woven curtain three and a half inches thick.
When Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life, he is claiming that he is exclusive access to it all. He is the way through that curtain, he is the truth that undoes the lie of Satan that cast them out, and he is the tree of life that they must be nourished by. There is no other way. It’s exclusive, as all claims are, but it is also the truth and the life.
Exclusivism is thought to be narrow-minded, intolerant, arrogant, and unloving. Popular voices in our culture will argue that there is not one way, one truth, or even one way of life that is better than another as long as we don’t hurt anyone and are inclusive of all ways, truths, and lives. Interestingly, those who do not agree with this doctrine of inclusivism are often excluded for their “bigotry” in not conforming to the way, truth, and life of inclusivism.
While many inclusivists appreciate snippets of Jesus’ teachings that promote the virtues they regard as loving, John 14:6-7 is not likely to be among them.
When Jesus proclaims that he is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and adds that “No one comes to the Father except through me,” it is difficult to interpret the statement as anything but exclusive. But what does Jesus mean by this trifold statement? It appears to be in response to the question Genesis 2-3 poses, “How will this world and humanity be made right?”
In Genesis 3, after God banished the man and woman from the garden, verse 24 says he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned in every way to guard the way to the tree of life. From this point on, humanity has been seeking a way to be cleared.
When Eve gives birth, it seems that she is holding out this hope when she says, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” But the baby she had received would only add to their sorrows, as he would not grow to be the man who crushed death and the devil, but would be a purveyor of death, killing his own brother.
In Genesis 5, a man named Lamech holds out this hope when his son is born, and gives him the name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
But Noah was not the one either, even with humanity starting over and descending from this new man; the way was still not cleared.
In the book of Exodus, the Israelites are told to build a tabernacle with symbols of Eden embossed into the curtains, and chiseled as instruments to be placed inside; like the lampstand of pure gold (Exodus 25:31), which was to be crafted with flower-like cups, buds, and blossoms, to symbolize the tree of life.
But the way to this symbol was blocked to most people, except for certain priests. And the way to the innermost part of the temple, the holy of holies, where the Lord was uniquely present, was blocked to all except one priest each year. That most holy place was separated from the rest of the temple by a woven curtain three and a half inches thick.
When Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life, he is claiming that he is exclusive access to it all. He is the way through that curtain, he is the truth that undoes the lie of Satan that cast them out, and he is the tree of life that they must be nourished by. There is no other way. It’s exclusive, as all claims are, but it is also the truth and the life.
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