Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 14:4-7

"And whither I go, ye know the way. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; how know we the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him." — John 14:4-7 (ASV)

1. Previously, our Lord consoled His disciples about His departure, promising them that they could come to the Father. Now He mentions the way by which they are to approach the Father. But one does not know a way unless he also knows his destination; and so He also considers the destination.

   First, He mentions the way and its destination as known to them.

   Second, He explains this in response to Thomas, who said to Him, Lord, we do not know where you are going; and how can we know the way?

2. Regarding the first point, note that our Lord had said, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again (John 14:3). The disciples could have asked Him where He was going, just as Peter did before: Lord, where are you going? (John 13:36). Our Lord knew this and so said to them, where I am going you know, and the way you know. For I am going to the Father, whom you know, since I have revealed Him to you: I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me (John 17:6). And I myself am the way through which I go, and you know me: we saw his glory (John 1:14). He spoke truly, therefore, when He said, where I am going you know, and the way you know, because they knew the Father through Christ, and they knew Christ by living with Him.

3. Next, when He says, Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, we see first, the occasion for this explanation, and second, the explanation itself: Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

4. The occasion for this explanation was the hesitation expressed in Thomas’s question: Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Here Thomas denies the two things that our Lord affirmed. For our Lord said that they knew both the way and its destination, but Thomas denied that he knew either. Yet both statements are true, for it is true that they knew, yet they did not know that they knew.

   They knew many things about the Father and the Son which they had learned from Christ. Yet, they did not realize that the Father was the destination to which Christ was going, or that the Son Himself was the way. For it is difficult to go to the Father. This lack of knowledge is not surprising. Although they clearly knew that Christ was a human being, they only imperfectly recognized His divinity. As the scripture says, that path no bird of prey knows (Job 28:7).

   Thomas says, how can we know the way? Knowledge of the way depends on knowledge of the destination. And so, because we do not know the destination—He dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see (1 Timothy 6:16)—we cannot discover the way: how unsearchable are his ways! (Romans 11:33).

5. Then when He says, Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, He answers the question. Our Lord had to answer two things: first, about the way and its destination; second, about their knowledge of both.

   First, therefore, He reveals the answer to the first point.

   Second, He addresses their knowledge with the words, if you had known me, you would without a doubt have known my Father also.

   Regarding the first point, He does two things:

   First, He states what the way is.

   Second, He states what the destination is, with the words, no one comes to the Father, but by me.

6. The way, as has been said, is Christ Himself; so He says, I am the way. This is indeed true, for, as stated in Romans 5:2, it is through Him that we have access to the Father. This answer was also able to settle the uncertainty of the wavering disciple.

   Because this way is not separated from its destination but united to it, He adds, and the truth, and the life. So Christ is at once both the way and the destination. He is the way in His human nature and the destination in His divine nature. Therefore, as human, He says, I am the way; as God, He adds, and the truth, and the life. These last two appropriately indicate the destination of the way.

   For the destination of this way is the end of human desire. Now, human beings especially desire two things: first, a knowledge of the truth, which is characteristic of them; second, that they continue to exist, which is common to all things. In fact, Christ is the way to arrive at the knowledge of the truth, while still being the truth itself: Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth (Psalms 85:11). Christ is also the way to arrive at life, while still being life itself: You will show me the path of life (Psalms 16:11). And so He indicated the destination of this way as truth and life. These two were already applied to Christ: first, He is life, in him was life (John 1:4); then, He is truth, because the life was the light of men (John 1:4), and light is truth.

7. Note that both truth and life belong properly and essentially to Christ. Truth belongs essentially to Him because He is the Word. Now, truth is the conformity of a thing to the intellect, and this results when the intellect conceives the thing as it is. Therefore, the truth of our intellect belongs to our word, which is its conception. Although our word is true, it is not truth itself, since it is not true of itself but only because it conforms to the thing conceived.

   Therefore, the truth of the divine intellect belongs to the Word of God. But the Word of God is true of itself, since it is not measured by things; rather, things are true to the degree that they are similar to the Word. Therefore, the Word of God is truth itself. Because no one can know the truth without adhering to the truth, anyone who desires to know the truth must adhere to this Word.

   Life also belongs properly to Christ, for everything which has some activity from itself is said to be living, while non-living things do not have motion from themselves. Among the activities of life, the chief are the intellectual activities. Thus, the intellect itself is said to be living, and its activities are a certain kind of life. Now in God, the activity of understanding and the intellect itself are the same. Thus, it is clear that the Son, who is the Word of the Father's intellect, is His own life.

   This is why Christ referred to Himself as the way united to its destination: because He is the destination, containing in Himself whatever can be desired—namely, existing truth and life.

8. If, then, you ask which way to go, accept Christ, for He is the way: This is the way, walk in it (Isaiah 30:21). And Augustine says: Walk like this human being and you will come to God. It is better to limp along on the way than to walk briskly off the way. For one who limps on the way, even though he makes just a little progress, is approaching his destination; but if one walks off the way, the faster he goes the further he gets from his destination.

   If you ask where to go, cling to Christ, for He is the truth which we desire to reach: My mouth will utter truth (Proverbs 8:7).

   If you ask where to remain, remain in Christ because He is the life: He who finds me finds life and will have salvation from the LORD (Proverbs 8:35).

   Therefore, cling to Christ if you wish to be secure, for you cannot get off the road, because He is the way. And those who hold on to Him are not walking off the road but on the right road: I have taught you the way of wisdom (Proverbs 4:11). But some are just the opposite: they did not find the way of truth to dwell in (Psalms 107:4). Again, they cannot be deceived, because He is the truth and teaches all truth: for this I was born, and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth (John 18:37). Further, they cannot be troubled, because He is the life and the giver of life: I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Augustine says that when our Lord said I am the way, and the truth, and the life, He was saying in effect: How do you want to go? I am the way. Where do you want to go? I am the truth. Where do you want to remain? I am the life. As Hilary says, He who is the way does not lead us on erratic paths; He who is the truth does not deceive us with falsehoods; and He who is the life does not abandon us to death.

9. Here is another interpretation. In human beings, holiness involves three things: action, contemplation, and one’s intention. These are brought to perfection by Christ. Christ is the way for those in the active life; He is the truth for those who stand firm in the contemplative life. And He directs the intention of both those in the active and contemplative life to life, eternal life. For He teaches us to go and preach for the sake of the age to come. So, the Lord is our way by which we go to Him, and through Him to the Father.

10. But when He, who is the way, goes to the Father, is He the way for Himself? As Augustine says, He is the way, the one who walks on the way, and how one goes on the way; hence, He goes through Himself to Himself. For He, in His human nature, is the way. Thus, He came through His flesh, yet remained where He was; and He went through His flesh, without leaving where He had come from. Also, through the flesh He returned to Himself, the truth and the life. For God had come, through His flesh, to us—the truth to liars, the life to mortals: God is truthful, and every human is a liar (Romans 3:4). And when He left us and took His flesh up to that place where there are no liars, this very Word who was made flesh returned, through His flesh, to the truth, which is Himself. For example: when I speak to others, my mind goes out to them, yet it does not leave me; and when I am silent, in a certain sense I return to myself, yet still remain with those to whom I spoke. And so Christ, who is our way, became the way even for Himself, so that His flesh could go to the truth and the life.

11. Then when He says, no one comes to the Father, but by me, He answers the question about the destination of the way. The way, which is Christ, leads to the Father. Yet, because the Father and the Son are one, this way leads also to Himself. And so Christ says that He is the terminus of the way: no one comes to the Father, but by me.

12. Note that the Apostle says, For what person knows a man’s thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? (1 Corinthians 2:11), provided one does not choose to reveal his own thoughts. A person reveals what is hidden within by his words, and it is only by the words of a person that we can know what is hidden within. Now, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). Therefore, no one can acquire a knowledge of the Father except by His Word, which is His Son: no one knows the Father except the Son (Matthew 11:27). And just as one of us who wants to be known by others, by revealing to them the words in his heart, clothes these words with letters or sounds, so God, wanting to be known by us, took His Word, conceived from eternity, and clothed it with flesh in time. And so no one can arrive at a knowledge of the Father except through the Son. Thus He says: I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved (John 10:9).

13. Note, with Chrysostom, that our Lord had said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him (John 6:44). But here He says, no one comes to the Father, but by me. This indicates that the Son is equal to the Father.

    It is now clear what the way is, namely, Christ, and what the destination is, namely, the Father.

14. Then when He says, if you had known me, you would without a doubt have known my Father also, He shows that the disciples knew both where He was going and the way.

    First, He shows this.

    Second, He resolves a coming difficulty, when Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father (John 14:8).

    He does two things about the first point:

    First, He shows that knowledge of the Son is also knowledge of the Father.

    Second, He states the disciples’ knowledge of the Father: and from now on you will know him.

15. He had said: I have said that I am the way, and that you know the way, that is, me. Therefore, you also know where I am going, because you cannot know me without knowing the Father. This is what He says: if you had known me, you would without a doubt have known my Father also.

16. Yet He had said to the Jews before, If you did know me, perhaps you would also know my Father (John 8:19). Why does He say here, without a doubt, while before He said perhaps? It seems that before He had some doubts about what He says here.

    We should answer that in the first instance He was speaking to the Jews, whom He was reprimanding. And so He added perhaps not out of doubt, but as a rebuke to them. But here He is speaking to His disciples, whom He is teaching. Thus, He simply states the truth to them: if you had known me, you would without a doubt have known my Father also. This is like saying: If you knew my grace and dignity, you would without a doubt also know that of the Father. For there is no better way to know something than through its word or image, and the Son is the Word of the Father: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (John 1:1); and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The Son is also the Image of the Father: He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15); He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). Therefore, the Father is known in the Son as in His Word and proper Image.

17. Note that to the extent that something approaches a likeness of the Word of the Father, to that extent the Father is known in it, and to that extent it is in the image of the Father. Now since every created word is some likeness of that Word, and some likeness, though imperfect, of the divinity is found in every thing, either as an image or a trace, it follows that what God is cannot be known perfectly through any creature or by any thought or concept of a created intellect. It is the Word alone, the only-begotten Word, which is a perfect word and the perfect Image of the Father, that knows and comprehends the Father.

    Therefore, according to Hilary, this statement can be put in another context. Our Lord said, no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you ask Arius how one goes to the Father through the Son, he answers that it is by recalling what the Son taught, because the Son taught us about the Father: I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me (John 17:6). But our Lord rejected this by saying, if you had known me, you would without a doubt have known my Father also. This is like saying: Arius, or anyone else can indeed speak about the Father, but no human being is such that by knowing him the Father is known. This is true of the Son alone, who has the same nature as the Father.

18. Next, with the words and from now on you will know him, our Lord shows the knowledge the disciples had of the Father. Our Lord had already told the disciples that they knew the Father when He said, where I am going you know. Yet Thomas denied this: we do not know where you are going. Thus our Lord shows here that in a certain way they did know the Father, so that His statement was true; and in another sense they did not know the Father, so that what Thomas said was true. To do this, He mentions a twofold knowledge of the Father: one which will be in the future, and the other which was in the past.

    He says, from now on you will know him. He says from now on because knowledge of the Father is of two kinds. One is perfect and is by an immediate vision of Him; this will be in our heavenly homeland: when he appears we shall be like him (1 John 3:2). The other is imperfect, by reflections, and is obscure; we have this by faith: for now we see in a mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12). Thus, this phrase can be understood of each kind of knowledge. From now on you will know him, with perfect knowledge in your homeland: I will show you plainly of the Father (John 16:25). This is like saying: It is true that you do not know Him with perfect knowledge, but from now on you will know him, after the mystery of my passion has been accomplished. Or, in the other way, from now on, after my resurrection and ascension and after I have sent the Holy Spirit, you will know him with the perfect knowledge of faith, for when the Spirit, the Paraclete, comes, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatever I have said to you (John 14:26). Afterward he was seen upon earth and conversed with men . For they saw Christ, according to His assumed flesh, in whom there was the Word, and in the Word, the Father; and so in Him they saw the Father, because I am from him and he has sent me (John 7:29).

19. Note that the Father was not in the flesh in such a way that it was joined to Him to constitute one person, but He was in the Incarnate Word because they had one and the same nature, and the Father was seen in the incarnate Christ: we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:14).