Table of Contents
What brought about the saying, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’
One day, Jesus Christ was teaching his disciples and he said they should not let their hearts be troubled; and they should believe in Him, and He was going to prepare a place for them, and He would go and after preparing the place He would come back to take His disciples with Him to the place prepared, and finally, He told His disciples that they knew the way to the place He was going to go.
This made one of His disciples called Thomas to ask, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way (John 14:5)?”
Then Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
What did Jesus mean by the statement ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’.
First of all, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ means that Jesus is the only way through which mankind should worship God. That is, humanity can serve God only through Jesus Christ. And also, God shall reckon a person as a true worshipper only if he is a staunch follower of Jesus.
Secondly, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ means that Jesus is the only way we humans can connect or relate to God. No good relationship would come between sinful mankind and a holy God without Jesus. This saying of Jesus in John 14:6 agrees with other Scriptures such as John 1:12, which says: But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Thirdly, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ means that Jesus is the only way to salvation. Salvation is a state – it is a state that is built and maintained by many spiritual blessings such as forgiveness of sins, reconciliation with God, justification, etc. To receive all these blessings from God the Father, you have no option other than to plead in the name of His Son Jesus. For it is also written that except through Jesus’ name, there is no other name under heaven through which man shall be saved (Acts 4:12)
Lastly, ‘no one comes to the Father except through me’ means that Jesus is the only way to heaven. No one, irrespective of his religious pursuit, can go to heaven without being a follower of Jesus. All religious people – Christians, Muslims, Hinduists, etc. – believe in the afterlife and believe in a realm of peace, joy, a blissful life, etc. which is popularly called heaven where the faithful worshippers of the true God would dwell together with God for eternity. John 14:6 affirms that without Christ, no man will have entry to heaven.
Examples of Biblical evidence that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
Certain historic events remind us that Jesus Christ is the only one ordained by God to bestow salvation on a person and He is the only one through whom we can reach God or serve God and please God. Since ancient times, God has attached so much importance to the act of believing in Jesus to such an extent that He made sure certain people would get to hear the gospel know the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in Him for their salvation. This brings us to the salvation story of a centurion called Cornelius and that of a man known as the Ethiopian eunuch.
1. The salvation of Cornelius and his household
During the early days of Christianity, at Caesarea, there was a man called Cornelius who was a centurion. He was a devout man who feared God, gave alms generously to the needy, and was prayerful. One day, at about three o’clock in the afternoon, an angel of God came to visit him and said to him, “Cornelius. … Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. 5 And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea (Acts 10:4-6).”
Then Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier and told them his vision and then sent them to Joppa to call Peter.
The men came back to Cornelius, bringing Peter along with them. Cornelius gathered all his family members and friends to listen to what Peter had to tell them.
Then, while Cornelius and his household listened with open heart, Peter preached the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to them, saying,
“… you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name (Acts 10:37-43).”
While Peter was still preaching, the Holy Spirit came upon all who heard the word and they spoke in tongues, extolling God. Then Peter had Cornelius and those with him baptized. Reference: Acts 10:1-48
Cornelius was a Roman. Romans did not know nor worship the one true God. Yet they were religious people devoted to deities such as Apollo, Jupiter, etc. Cornelius was different; he lived among the Jews in Caesarea and got to know the one true God, the God of Israel, and he neglected his native gods to serve the living God.
The Bible described Cornelius as devout, god-fearing, prayerful, and a generous alms giver. In the eyes of men, Cornelius was a good man. If Cornelius was alive today, many Christians would have thought Cornelius was saved. Wrong! There is no salvation without Christ. All the deeds of godliness that Cornelius did did not bring him salvation, neither was it enough to save him irrespective of the extent to which he did them.
However, Cornelius’ good deeds and prayers were remembered in heaven; that is to say, God was moved to do something in Cornelius’ life because of his good deeds. So He had Cornelius send for Peter who preached the gospel of Jesus to him. And while Peter was preaching, Cornelius and his household believed for their salvation. And God immediately baptized them in the Holy Spirit and they spoke in tongues which serve as a token that they have been saved indeed.
Think about it: Cornelius was already a good man; so why the need for God to send His angel to him to ensure that he would hear the gospel? And why the need to believe in Jesus? God could see in Cornelius that he had a heart willing to serve God faithfully, but he was not saved, neither did he know the right way to connect to God. Hence, He intervened and led him to Christ, His Son.
So, despite all his good deeds and piety, Cornelius had to believe in Jesus to be saved and to have a father-son relationship with God. The salvation of Cornelius is a piece of evidence to prove that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
2. The salvation of the Ethiopian eunuch.
One day, an angel of the Lord appeared to Philip and told him to go to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. And he obeyed. There was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the queen of Ethiopia, who was in charge of all her treasure. This eunuch came to Jerusalem to worship and was returning to Ethiopia, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the Scriptures of Prophet Isaiah. And the Holy Spirit told Philip to go and join this chariot. So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah and Philip asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”And he replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him in his chariot. The passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth (Acts 8:32-33).”
The Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip stood on the Scripture he was reading and preached to him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch asked, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” Then Philip responded, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water and Philip baptized him. Reference: Acts 8:24-38
The Ethiopian eunuch was on his way to Ethiopia after coming to worship in Jerusalem. This man was a Jew, so he knew the living God, and knew His Law, and kept them. And you could tell that he was very faithful to Judaism for he traveled several miles from Ethiopia to Israel to worship in Jerusalem. But being a Jew, knowing God and His Law, and performing religious rites, Jewish customs, etc. in Jerusalem was not enough to save him.
God intervened and wanted to gift this devout man with salvation and build a father-son relationship with him; hence, He put Philip in his way to preach the gospel and lead him to Christ that he might believe in Him and be saved.
The Ethiopian eunuch, though he was a Jew was not saved yet, he had to accept Jesus Christ for his salvation. The story of the Ethiopian eunuch’s salvation testifies that indeed no one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Think about it. Why did God deem it so necessary to the extent of sending his angel to ensure that certain people would be saved? Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch were not evil people at all. They were religious men, devout and god-fearing, and knew and served the one true God. However, that was not enough to save them, for Jesus is the only true way to serve God and to receive salvation in this dispensation. What God did in the salvation story of Cornelius and the Ethiopian eunuch is enough confirmation that no one comes to the Father, except through Jesus Christ.