8/ Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."
9/ Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
10/ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
11/ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.
12/ Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.
First, Let us consider these first distinctly.
1. Christ is the way, the highway spoken of, Isa. 35:8. Christ was his own way, for by his own blood he entered into the holy place (Heb. 9:12), and he is our way, for we enter by him. By his doctrine and example he teaches us our duty, by his merit and intercession he procures our happiness, and so he is the way. In him God and man meet, and are brought together. We could not get to the tree of life in the way of innocency; but Christ is another way to it. By Christ, as the way an intercourse is settled and kept up between heaven and earth; the angels of God ascend and descend; our prayers go to God, and his blessings come to us by him; this is the way that leads to rest, the good old way. The disciples followed him, and Christ tells them that they followed the road, and, while they continued following him, they would never be out of their way.
2. He is the truth. As truth is opposed to figure and shadow. Christ is the substance of all the Old-Testament types, which are therefore said to be figures of the true, Heb. 9:24. Christ is the true manna (ch. 6:32), the true tabernacle, Heb. 8:2. As truth is opposed to falsehood and error; the doctrine of Christ is true doctrine. When we enquire for truth, we need learn no more than the truth as it is in Jesus. As truth is opposed to fallacy and deceit; he is true to all that trust in him, as true as truth itself, 2 Co. 1:20.
3. He is the life; for we are alive unto God only in and through Jesus Christ, Rom. 6:11. Christ formed in us is that to our souls which our souls are to our bodies. Christ is the resurrection and the life.
Secondly, Let us consider these jointly, and with reference to each other. Christ is the way, the truth, and the life; that is,
1. He is the beginning, the middle, and the end. In him we must set out, go on, and finish. As the truth, he is the guide of our way; as the life, he is the end of it.
2. He is the true and living way (Heb. 10:20); there are truth and life in the way, as well as at the end of it.
3. He is the true way to life, the only true way; other ways may seem right, but the end of them is the way of death.
The necessity of his mediation: No man cometh to the Father but by me. Fallen man must come to God as a Judge, but cannot come to him as a Father, otherwise than by Christ as Mediator. We cannot perform the duty of coming to God, by repentance and the acts of worship, without the Spirit and grace of Christ, nor obtain the happiness of coming to God as our Father without his merit and righteousness; he is the high priest of our profession, our advocate.
He speaks of his Father as the end (v. 7): "If you had known me aright, you would have known my Father also; and henceforth, by the glory you have seen in me and the doctrine you have heard from me, you know him and have seen him." Here is, A tacit rebuke to them for their dullness and carelessness in not acquainting themselves with Jesus Christ, though they had been his constant followers and associates: If you had known me-. They knew him, and yet did not know him so well as they might and should have known him. They knew him to be the Christ, but did not follow on to know God in him.
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