John 14:5-6

“ Thomas says to him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how do we know the way? 6. Jesus says to him, I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me. ”

Peter desired to follow Jesus immediately; this request having been rejected, Thomas wishes at least to understand clearly what is to take place, whither Jesus is going and by what way, and the more because the disciples are one day to follow Him. Thus far, the departure of Jesus leaves him nothing but obscurity. End and way, everything is lost for him in vacancy. Jesus, in His reply, lays hold especially upon the idea of the way while recalling to mind clearly the end in the second part of the verse. From the connection of these words with the question of Thomas it follows that the dominant idea of the three following terms is that of way, and that the other two must serve to explain it. From the second part of the verse it is also clear that the way which is in question is that which leads to the Father and His house, and not the way by which one can come to the truth and the life, as Reuss formerly supposed.

The figurative expression way is therefore explained without a figure by the two terms: truth and life. Truth is God revealed in His essence, that is to say, in His holiness and love (John 14:9). Life is God communicated to the soul and bringing to it a holy strength and perfect beatitude (John 14:23). And as it is in Jesus that this revelation and communication of God to the soul are effected, so it is through Jesus also that the soul comes to the Father and obtains through Him the entrance into the Father's house. The three terms, way, truth and life, are not, therefore, co-ordinated (Luther, Calvin: beginning, middle, end); no more do they express a single notion: vera via vitae (Augustine). Jesus means to say: I am the means of coming to the Father (the way), in that I am the truth and the life.

Reuss justly observes with reference to the word I am, that this expression excludes every other means parallel to this. Gess: “A man can at the most show to others the right way; he cannot be either the way or the truth or the life.”

In the following clause, the words: to the Father, set forth a nearer end than the figurative expression of John 14:2. The question here is of communion with the Father here on earth, which is the condition of communion with Him in heaven (His house).