05/22/2026
"What about those who have never heard about Jesus?"
John 14:6 and Scandal
Since it was included in a Sunday Gospel passage recently, my social media feed has been abuzz with reaction to John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Those on the Christian left want to minimize the exclusivity of Jesus’ claim by saying things like “Jesus is a way, not the way.” Embedded within this response is the assumption that all religions or faith traditions are equal – the old ‘different paths to the same destination’ idea. Besides being a denial of the Gospel and error, this response is also logically lazy and silly. Different religions are the same only on the most trivial or inconsequential levels. It is more truthful to acknowledge they are different paths to
different destinations.
Those on the conservative side, while upholding the truth of the Gospel; that Jesus is the way and no one comes to Father except through him, tend to do so without humility and grace. Jesus initially spoke these words to bring hope and comfort to his disciples. The truth of Christ is worth little once it becomes separated from the love of Christ. It turns truth into judgementalism, hope into a weapon that is used to bash or belittle
others. This is a denial of the Gospel of a different sort.
Is there a middle way between these extremes? For centuries, finding a middle way is what Anglicans have been about. In this case, the middle way takes us down a path known in theological circles as “The Scandal of Particularity.”
What is that? If you and I were charged with saving the world, our inclination would be to start big, to include as many people as possible from the beginning. Not so with God. God choses to save the many through the one or the few. This is a pattern we find
repeatedly throughout Scripture. It is the way God has chosen to operate.
We see it in the call of Abram in Genesis 12. God promises to bless Abram, but the blessing is given for a reason – so that “all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.” We see it in God calling Israel to be his chosen people and a “kingdom of priests”
(Exodus 19:6). We find it in the prophets, who envision Israel and the Temple as being a light for the nations, a covenant for all people, and God’s salvation extending to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 2:2-3, 42:6, 49:6, 60:3).
We see the Scandal of Particularity most supremely in Jesus, who is the fulfillment of all. It is declared in the verse we love most, and in the one following. “God so loved the world that he sent…” not to condemn, but to “save the world through him” (John 3:16-
17). It is clear God means to save the world, and to do it through the one he has sent. Salvation begins with God, and not us.
This is what is so scandalous to our way of thinking, but not to God’s. God’s providence and plan is that all be saved through one – the one and only begotten Son who died for us and rose to bring all back to God.
It is helpful for us to look at John 14:6, and other verses like it, through this lens. When we do so, we will find that there is nothing new here, and nothing alarming. What Jesus is expressing here is simply the way God has chosen to work throughout Scripture, from
beginning to end.
Salvation is offered to all people, but it is mediated in and through the one, who is Christ. Some will reject him, and I want to make that clear. As John points out in 3:18, they stand condemned already. Where does that leave those who have never heard, and those who hold to a different faith? It leaves them in the hands of God, who is
mercy and love and who desires the world to be saved. That is not a bad place to be.
We know Jesus is Lord and Savior of all. This is the Gospel we believe and are called to proclaim. It is good and pleasing for us to firmly grasp the truth of who Christ is and to never let go; but for us to do so humbly, for we do not know the totality of God’s plans.
Something tells me God has this one figured out, which means that we don’t have to!
