What Did Jesus Say About Himself?

By: Rev. Joe Kramer

The thing about Jesus you have to remember is that He made a lot of claims. Many people today will say that Jesus was a great moral teacher (which He was), or He was just another prophet. No, by His own words He is the Son of God, God become man. If you can’t believe that statement then He is not a moral teacher or a prophet, but He is a mad man. Today we look at what He said about Himself.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

-John 1:14 (NKJV)

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 (NKJV)

Jesus says that He is the way the truth and the life. To come to this scripture we must first agree on something. That truth is objective (see previous article on relativism). That is that there is only one truth, and in so being what is true for you is also true for me. There is no relativism in truth, it just is. This is the presupposition we come to this teaching today.

Jesus says that He is the way. Now to the first century Jew hearing this statement they would have been pretty relieved or upset. Why? Because there were two basic religious groups, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees didn’t believe in an eternal life so this wouldn’t apply to them. The Pharisees on the other hand did believe in eternal life; but they had so many rules and regulations that it would be almost impossible for someone to attain it. Jesus says that He is the way, with no regulations to speak about, just belief in Him.

Jesus now says He is the truth. We first said that there is but one truth and that it is objective. So what does He mean here? Jesus is the truth because He is God become man. Therefore He defines truth. The scriptures up to this time had been seen as impersonal but through Christ truth becomes personal to them and to us. He is the truth. He is the LOGOS (The written word of God) become manifest in the flesh. Through this statement He makes the claim that all other traditions are done away with in Him. He is the personal God who makes truth personal; in Him we find all that we need. This would have been an inflammatory claim to the first century Jew. This claim is inflammatory to most people today as well; which is why Christianity has so much controversy surrounding it.

Jesus says He is the Life. The meaning of this is two-fold. (1) On the day that Adam ate the fruit God said that he would die. Adam didn’t die physically, but spiritually as his eyes were opened to sin. Now God kicks him out of the Garden of Eden so that Adam cannot eat from the tree of Life and live. Now Jesus reverses that for the believer. When a person believes in Christ his spirit is regenerate and made alive by the Holy Spirit, but the person will still die physically. (2) This brings us to the second of His meaning. Because of sin we all die, but Jesus promises that the believer will be resurrected to new life after death.

Jesus says no one comes to the Father except through Him. To the first century Jew this turned everything they believed on its head. Jesus wasn’t adding another way to heaven, but saying that all other ways will no longer get you there. The first century Jew thought they could get to heaven through the Law (Jewish Scriptures), following a set of rules, and/or throwing out foreign oppression. Jesus says there is no way but Him. Christianity is not a religion of inclusion, in this matter, but exclusivity. You cannot come to God except through what He did on the cross and His subsequent resurrection. There is no other way. That is it.

This is the truth of Christianity; this is what Biblical Christianity has at its core. The statement you have to contemplate is as follows. “If Christianity is true and Jesus is the only way to heaven and I do nothing with Jesus then I will spend an eternity in Hell. If it is not true then I have lost nothing and it doesn’t matter.” The question is, “What if it is true?” Isn’t your eternity something you should think about?

If you want to come to Christ then just ask Him into your heart by saying something like this, “Jesus I need you in my life, please come in.” Now find a Bible believing Church and sit in it and learn about Christ. If not then I encourage you to keep studying about Jesus and His teachings, don’t let time slip away start today and seek out truth.

I hope this quick exposition helped someone, may God bless you on your spiritual Journey.