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Today’s “I AM” statement is likely the most mis-quoted scriptures in the entire bible. It is used to discredit every other world religion, and assert that converting to the Christian religion is the only way a person can go to Heaven when they die. It’s a ubiquitous misunderstanding. Watch this example of Wes Huff answering the question: “Can non-christians can get into heaven?”

I respect Wes and his work, but IMHO he misses this one.Yet his answer is perfectly in line with modern apologists, pastors and bible teachers who teach “Christianity.” Today I will reveal how this interpretation is actually unbiblical.

Let’s begin with John 14:1-7. 

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to where I am going.”⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14: 1-7)

You can find previous posts where I go deeper into the historical context HERE .

Hermeneutics teaches us: “An error in context is pretext for doctrinal error.” So when Wes, or any pastor uses John 14:6 to claim that Christianity is the exclusive way to Heaven, we know this is textually impossible because the Christian religion did not exist when Jesus said this.

Today I’ll address five textual considerations.

1. Jesus statement address the disciples confusion. The disciples were confused about Jesus telling them He is returning to the Father. In John 13:36, Peter asks Jesus: “Lord, where are you going?”  Then in 14:5, Thomas says: ” “Lord, we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?” This confusion is also reflected in Philip saying in v.8 : “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Verse one reveals the context, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (by my leaving).
2. “Going to the Father” is likely referring to death, not a distant heaven. Jesus’s constant message has been his co-extensive union and work with the Father, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (v.9). Jesus’ death is a portal through which all humanity can see how death returns all of us back to God. His resurrection will reveal how all people will live in a redeemed earth which will become heaven. Jesus is modeling the spiritual and physical process we will all undergo.
3. Faith is a Christology NOT the Christian religion. Christ is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is an office, the messenger, the means, the logos, the Word which existed in Hebrew scripture long before Jesus. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,…” (John 5:39). The Christ (not as Jesus) saved Israel (those in another religion) in the desert. “For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:4). Christ followers in the early church belonged to and continued to participate in their religions. Paul was a Jew who followed Christ who appeared to him. Paul faith in Christ wasn’t a convertion to a religion which didn’t exist yet. Samaritans, Romans, Greeks, Ethiopians, etc…all shared faith in Christ from within their traditions, not by abandoning them for a new one (which didn’t exist).
4. The Bible is monotheistic. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:5-7). Have you ever wondered why modern religion insists that Yahweh is a different God from Allah or Brahman? Yes each tradition has their preferred name as established by the business side of story-telling. Yes each tradition also has nuanced ways of understanding and knowing God. Each tradition (including the Christian religion) is incomplete in that none can capture in totality, all who God is. Even within each religion, none agree completely. When Jesus says:  “I have other sheep that are not of this fold…” (John 10:16), this mirrors Paul’s theology of “one God, one mediator.” Thus, to the degree any tradition gets God right, to the same degree that tradition is True. Instead of competing religions, this equals the playing field. Alan Watts said: “Under all exclusive opposition is the implicit union.” To the degree a religion is true, to the same degree that religion is speaking of Christ. We are just conditioned to conflate Christ with the Christian religion, diminishing all other religions wrongly, in a polytheistic presupposition, where Christianity is the top...the exact opposite of Christ’s example as foot washer.
5. Christ is cosmic. “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” (Proverbs 8:22-23) John’s christology mirrors this: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1). If Christ worked in the lives of pagans prior to Judaism (Abraham) and blessed the lineages of Ishmael (Islaam)(Genesis 17:20) as well as Judaism, leading them all toward God via different means, then the work of Christ must still be visible in all systems of faith today. As I have studied other religions, I discovered that God has left His messenger in all systems. When you see Christ in other religions it radically changes your life.

Consider the Tao-(Dow)-“Course of nature, the way, the flow of things” Philosophy of the Way of all things”. The Tao is ultimately undefinable, basic energy of the universe who we truly are. How is this not the Logos (Christ) when both are understood?

The Quran uses the term “messenger” 343 times, pointing to those sent by God (the Gracious and Merciful), to redirect people back to true belief and right relationship with their Maker. The Messenger refers to many biblical heroes including Jesus, and also includes the honored prophet Mohammad.

“Or do they not recognize their Messenger, that they thus deny him?” (Sher Ali: 70)

“Surly, I am unto you a Messenger, faithful to my trust.” (Sher Ali: 108,126,144,163,179)

Consider the appearance of the Krisna in the Bhagavad Gita, and the insight:

“The true yogi observes me in all beings and all sees all beings in me. Indeed the self-realized person sees me, the same Supreme Lord everywhere .” (Shloka 29)

Consider the Sri Guru Granth, the text from the Sikh tradition:

“There is only One, the giver of all souls, may I never forget Him.” (Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, 2/1430)

My point is the impact of Jesus’ “I AM” statement is not exclusion of nearly all humanity in the world, leading to doctrines which ignore biblical texts, and cause us to hate one another, and make Jesus the savior of very few people. Remember: Under all exclusive opposition is the implicit union.The point of an exclusionary statement is actually inclusion of all human history: “God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2: 3-4) Jesus’ “I Am” means that no soul has ever been left out…He gets what he desires. No person has ever gone through life without Christ serving as their means (their road, or path) to God. Thus all religions are roads to God, and the biblical revelation isn’t that one religion gets us to heaven, it’s that no religion ever has, because only Christ does. The part of any religion (or irreligion) that connects us to God, has always been Christ.

If the Christology of the Bible can be found in and for all people (which it can), then Jesus is saying that if anyone, at anytime, ever has an experience of God, no matter how small, no matter how misunderstood, no matter how imperfect, if any human soul ever acknowledges that there is something more beyond us, then it was Christ, the messenger, the way, that makes experiencing God possible. Christ is thus the centerpiece of Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. Remember, ll religions came and brought gifts to the manger.

When I have taught this over the last 15 years, I usually get religious people from all faiths condemning me. But I’ve put in the time. I’ve diligently explored many sacred texts and I have found Christ to fundamentally exist in all spiritual pursuits. While this may be bad for business of religion in the common sense, it’s actually really good for all humanity (further proof of Christ’s work) and it makes sense why the New Testament is so powerfully transformative.

May we all follow the Messenger, the Voice, the Light, the Shepherd, the Way, the Centerpiece of all human experience, unto God, our Maker and may His revelation transform our souls and heal our world. In your next moment of sincere reflection, ask that spiritual impulse, that voice, that influence this question: “Is that you Christ Jesus? Has it always been you?”