The Names of Jesus - Elmer Towns

THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE
Alone with His disciples on the last night of His life here on earth, Jesus revealed two
additional Jehovistic titles. The first of these is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). The
Greek word hados literally means “road” or “highway.” In the context of the language of a
journey, Jesus is the highway to Heaven. Further, He is the only highway to Heaven. The New
Testament consistently teaches an exclusiveness with respect to Christ as the only Saviour.
Christ claimed to be the only Saviour (John 14:6), and the disciples acknowledged it also (Acts
4:12). This description of Christ was so characteristic of the nature of New Testament
Christianity that followers of Jesus were described as being “of the way” or “this way” (Acts 9:2;
19:23; 22:4; 24:14,22).
Christ was not only the way but also the truth in its most absolute nature. He is the
fountain and standard of truth. This was important to the Jews. One Jewish legend reports a
group of rabbis were praying in order to determine the essential nature of God when God sent a
scroll down from Heaven with the first, middle, and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet on it.
These three letters spell the Hebrew word for “truth.” Although the story is no doubt apocryphal,
it does serve to illustrate the importance of truth to the Jews, especially as an attribute of God.
And Jesus is the life. He is unique among men in that He has life in Himself. He is
described in the context of His resurrection as a “quickening” or life-giving spirit (I Corinthians
15:45). Life is fundamental to His being and is described early in the fourth Gospel as the life
which was the light of all men (John 1:4).
THE TRUE VINE
The second Jehovistic title Jesus revealed that night in the Upper Room was “I am the
Vine” (John 15:1,5). Vineyards were so plenteous in Israel that the vine became a national symbol.
A golden vine had been engraved over the temple-gate area, and it had been used on coins
minted during the Maccabean revolt. Throughout the Old Testament, God had used the image of
a vine or vineyard to describe the nation (Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 15;
19: 10; Hosea 10:1) . When Jesus called Himself the true vine, He was obviously drawing a
parallel between Israel and Himself.
The Greek word alethine, meaning “true,” is repeatedly used in the Gospel of John to
distinguish the reality and genuineness of Jesus in contrast to that which is false and unreal.
Although in the Old Testament God often talked of Israel as a vine, the image always appears in
a negative sense. In contrast, Jesus is the real or genuine vine, a vine that is cared for and
carefully pruned by the husbandman and a vine characterized by consistent fruit-bearing. Israel
was never a vine like this; the nation was a spurious vine that produced sour grapes.
IAM...IAM
The Greek expression ego eimi is used in the context of each of the above Jehovistic
claims of Jesus. Simply using the verb eimi would have been enough if Jesus had wanted only to
draw a parallel between Himself and something else, but the addition of ego to this expression
draws attention to emphasis. On several occasions Jesus used the expression which includes an