A piece of scripture has been misquoted over and over again and used to slander thousands of Christian believers. The scripture is John 14:6 and is is misquoted as saying, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God except through Me.'” What it really reads is, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me'” (John 14:6). Is there a difference? If you know Jesus Christ as the Word of God (the Son of God) that is and always has been God, then there is a difference. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Jesus, being God, is the way to the Father.

How did John find the Father? In John 14:9 Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” How did John find Jesus? “He (Jesus) saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him” (Matthew 4:20-22). John found the Father by way of Jesus, but Jesus came to John where he was. Isn’t that also how Paul found Jesus. Paul was on his way to Damascus (read Acts 9) when Jesus came to him right where he was. Paul was seeking to destroy as many Christians as he could. That is where Jesus found him, on his way to arrest and maybe even kill Christians.

“Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1)” “And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Romans 5:11). It is through Jesus the Christ that we are reconciled to God. It is through God (the Son) that we are reconciled to God. Remember Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Reconciliation in Romans 5 means “restoration.” We are restored – put back into a previous state, as before the sin of Adam. Jesus comes to us where we are and restores us back to the Father in a state the existed before we sinned and before our fathers and mothers sinned. Jesus is the way back to our Father God.

When a Christians states that “All roads lead to God,” they are not saying that all religions lead to God. Not even the Christian religion leads to God. What they are saying is that Jesus the Christ will find you where you are; not that He will leave you there. Jesus is our righteousness and not religion. Not even Christianity! You do not have to be sitting in a pew in a Christian building for Jesus to find you – most Christians were not. Most Christians were like John and Paul, going about their own business, when Jesus found them. Thank God that Jesus doesn’t wait for us to be looking for him. Jesus (and Jesus is God) finds us and Jesus the Christ is the way to the Father.

© 2006, Tim D. Coulter Sr.