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This was my response (in a discussion forum) to a statement claiming Christianity’s exclusive access to truth and the negation of all other alternative religious paths as indicated by Jesus’ apparently “clear and unequivocal” statement that he is the only way to God: “No one approaches the Father but through me.” (John 14:6)

For Muslims, the Qur’an acts as quality control over what has come down to us of previous books, adjusting and compensating for what time and doctrinal interpretation may have obscured. We look through the lens of the Qur’an just as Christians and Jews look at other religions and each other through the lens of their own scriptures. This is a given. But this does not mean that we cannot respect and highlight the similarities, discuss the differences, and dialogue in good faith with one another - “…and discuss with them in the most beautiful manner….” (Qur’an 16:125) We can then perhaps explore the possibility of deeper more inclusive interpretations, rather than only accepting surface-level sectarian readings. And we can see this principle was followed by some of the brightest lights of Christianity in the past, many of whom did not adopt an exclusivist stance:

“As St. Thomas Aquinas said, quoting St. Ambrose, ‘all profound truth, no matter where it is found, has the Holy Spirit for its author.’ “

Again, St Justin stated: “God is the Word of whom the whole human race are partakers….” and (Meister) Eckhart spoke of an ancient sage in the following terms: “Our most ancient philosophers found the truth long, long before…ever there was a Christian faith at all as it is now.”

Thomas of Villenova taught…. “Our religion is from the beginning of the world….if you saw Abraham, and Moses, and David alongside Peter and Andrew and Augustine and Jerome, you would observe, in all essential things, a perfect identity.”

There’s a profound principle in these words of great Christians, one that can allow a level of proximity (instead of exclusivity) between different faiths even if they hold doctrinal differences. When Jesus says “No one approaches the Father but through me”, he refers to those whose hearts are on his path, whose beings have a resonant identity with his, whose spirits are congruent with his - they are the ones who approach God through Jesus, even if they have never seen or heard Jesus. They cultivate an essential identity which connects and accords with the spirit and truth of his teachings though they may know little or nothing about Jesus himself. It is a person’s inner reality (and the actions which spring from it) that is the deciding factor. Those whose tongues speak doctrinal words but whose inner reality is far from his are a different case:

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven…. And every one that heareth these sayings, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” (Matthew 7:22-27)

Jesus “took two handfuls of earth and said, ‘Which of these is the best? People are created from earth, so the most honorable among them is the most virtuous and God-conscious.’ ” (Mqjmu’ah al-Akhbar fi Nafa’is al-Athar 106)

For further elaboration see “What is truth?“, “I and the Father are One“, “Abba/Father“, “Jesus, son of Mary“, “Jesus: An Islamic Perspective“, “Jesus’ temptation“, “Raising children - discussion on Biblical teachings“, “Mocking the Prophets“