Who was Jesus of Nazareth? What does he mean when he claimed to be “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”?

The answer is found in the words that immediately follow “… No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6, ESV)

You are encouraged to read the entire chapter of John 14 in order to see these important words in context.

John’s Gospel is most revealing in terms of who the human Jesus really was. It contains so much dialogue between Jesus and his disciples that are not recorded by the other Gospel writers. It is also generally accepted that John’s Gospel was the last to be written – quite probably after the fall of Jerusalem to the Roman army in 70 A.D. It is my personal theory that John was writing his account of events with a view to countering wrong ideas about the identity of Jesus that may have started to creep into the Christian congregation. His letters, which are generally ordered in the Bible canon just before his Revelation contain many warnings about antichrists (or false Christs) along with the false teachings that these would promote. I encourage you to read all of 1 John – his first letter – but especially note 1 John 4:1-6.

[Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
(Matthew 16:15,16)

…  unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
(John 8:24)