Names of Jesus: The Way, the Truth, the Life

When we explore many of Jesus’ names as the Truth, one of the main names to learn is Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. What does it mean for Jesus to be the way, the truth, and the life? This is an essential question for every believer and one we should strive to answer according to God’s Word to those who also have this question. Understanding Jesus in these ways will help us to build a faithful relationship with Him and to grow in that faith throughout our lives.

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 
⁷ If you know me, you will also know^[a] my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:6-7 CSB

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How is Jesus the Way?

Jesus is the Way. The book of John is a great place to begin for understanding Jesus as the Way. Jesus explains Himself as the gate by which His sheep must enter to be saved. In the culture of Biblical times, this imagery would have been well understood and relatable. It is to say that the sheep who are let into the pasture by way of the gate are the sheep that belong to the shepherd, and the shepherd’s sheep know him and listen to him. In the same way, the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and gain access to God is by the Way of Jesus. To have faith in Jesus is to enter by the gate of salvation, and then to come to know and obey Him throughout our lives.

• Read more: Names of Jesus: Good Shepherd
• Read more: How living in obedience can change your life for the better
• Read more: How Max Lucado’s John 3:16 The Numbers of Hope Bible study challenged my faith
• Read more: Warning Signs: Don’t Neglect Your Salvation

Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.
I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.
A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.

John 10:7-10 CSB

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1-2 CSB

There are many who will try to obtain eternal life in other ways, but scripture is very clear that the only Way to God is through true saving faith in His Son. He welcomes all, no matter where you have been or where you have come from, to come to Him to be saved. Jesus is the Way of salvation, eternal life, and access to a personal relationship with God the Father and the gift of His Holy Spirit. Those who have true faith will enter into salvation by Christ and will listen to His voice as a sheep does their shepherd.

For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh,
he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.
He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death.
He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:14-22 CSB

With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry.
But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing.
This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience.
They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order.
But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation ),
he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?

Hebrews 9:6-14 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus —he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh )—and since we have a great high priest over the house of God,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.
And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,
not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

Hebrews 10:19-25 CSB

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How is Jesus the Truth?

Not only is Jesus the Way to the Kingdom of God, salvation, eternal life, a personal relationship with God, and the Holy Spirit, but He is also the Way to understanding the Truth and He is Himself the Truth. He gives Himself for our salvation, and His Word to teach us how to live a holy life for the works He has created and called us to do for His glory.

• Read more: How to worship in Spirit and Truth
• Read more: How do we live a life of worship?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1 CSB

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”)
Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,
for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

John 1:14-17 CSB

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32 CSB

“You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

John 18:37 CSB

Through the Word, we learn the Truth and grow in our relationship with and understanding of the Truth. Jesus teaches us how to live a life worthy of the calling we have received in Him by faith and instructs us in how to prepare for Him to return for His bride before we enter into eternity with Him. By faith, we should produce works that are evidence of our faith, and live out the Truth we have learned in Christ through His Word.

• Read more: Names of Jesus: Bridegroom
• Read more: Women of the Word: Godly Woman

“Be on your guard against false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. 

You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 

In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 

A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 

Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.

Matthew 7:15-20 CSB

To grow in faith and understanding of the Truth, we should pray and read the Bible daily. Prayer is our direct line of communication with God through our faith in Jesus and the Bible is the Word of God, and the teachings of Jesus. Both equip and teach us how to live a life pleasing to God in preparation for eternity with Him.

• Read more: My Morning Routine with God
• Read more: How do you pray without ceasing?
• Read more: How we started to read the Bible as a family
• Read more: 6 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Reading the Bible
• Read more: What is the Bible?

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees,^[a] for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7 CSB

¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart
    and test the mind,^[a]
to give every man according to his ways,
    according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Jeremiah 17:10 ESV

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How is Jesus the Life?

As we receive salvation through the Way of Jesus Christ and learn more about Jesus as the Truth, we get to learn to live the life He has planned for us. He gives us new life through the washing of His blood, resurrecting us from being dead in sin to being alive through the redemption of His blood spilled for our sakes.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

John 11:25-26 CSB

“Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 
How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 CSB

By faith, we walk through the narrow gate and are given new life and a new identity in Jesus Christ. This new identity in Him gives us access to God the Father and His Holy Spirit so that we can learn to live a life worthy of Him. We are born again and given the gift of spiritual life by the Way of Christ and then begin to learn and understand more of His Truth.

But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification —and the outcome is eternal life!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:22-23 CSB

But that is not how you came to know Christ, 
assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, 
to take off^[c] your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, 
to be renewed^[d] in the spirit of your minds, 
and to put on^[e] the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.

Ephesians 4:20-24 CSB

Jesus is the Way to and the Truth of eternal Life. The Truth teaches that the Way to spiritual and Eternal Life is by faith in Jesus Christ. Your faith should produce obedience and fruitfulness according to the Spirit of God that gives life to a believer’s spirit. By entering salvation by the Way of Jesus you accept His Truth, are given new Life through His death and resurrection, and then get to learn more of the Truth. In order to live the life we were made for we must have faith and believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one comes to the Father except through Him. No one receives salvation and the forgiveness of their sins except through Jesus Christ.

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-17 CSB

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More from this study series:

• Names of Jesus as the Son of God
• Names of Jesus as the Son of Man

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