"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
Sometimes I hate verse delineations. In fact, there are times when I wish I could travel back in time and have a little chat with Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who decided that the Bible should be broken into verses and if not punch him, at least flick him in the ear or stick my tongue out at him. I can understand his reasoning, it is easier to find a chapter and verse than a random sentence in the 1000 plus pages of the Bible, but still... there are times when I feel we lose things by dividing the Bible into verses. I usually point to John 3:16 & 17 which in essence is one compete thought broken up into two. I find the same problem here in John 14, we take verse 6 and quote it a lot more than verse 7, which explains what Jesus means by 'no one comes to the Father except through me.'
"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also;
and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." John 14:7
Jesus's point is that we can now gain access to God because we now know what God is like, if you see Jesus you see God. If you see love, there is love. If you see healing, there is healing. If you see forgiveness, there is forgiveness. If you see compassion, there is compassion. If you see grace, there is grace. Before the manger and the cross and the time in between we had to rely on second hand accounts, long ago stories, history written by the winners. Since the manger and the cross and the time in between we have the words and actions of Jesus to remind us of who God is.
Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret everything that we have traditionally believed about God, does it match up to the example that Jesus showed? Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret our thoughts on God, do they match up with what Jesus spoke? Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret everything we experience about God, does it match up with how Jesus lived? Through the lens of Jesus we can interpret the whole of scripture, is there anything that goes in direct conflict with Jesus? [A fourfold look for my Wesleyan Quadrilateral peeps.]
+ What chapter/verse delineations do you have trouble with?
+ How has reading the Gospels changed your view on God, scripturally, traditionally, experientially, rationally?
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