A River Runs Through

Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.  John 14:6 NASB

Truth – The apostolic writings have been handed down to us in Greek.  Of course, the writers were Jews so their Greek was really Jewish-Greek, what we call koine Greek.  That means we must read these Greek texts with an eye toward the LXX rather than toward Plato or Aristotle.  That also means translators must be particularly careful not to import classical Greek philosophy and metaphysics into English renditions of these Jewish texts.  But that doesn’t mean the original audiences weren’t affected by the differences between koine and classical Greek.  After all, most of Paul’s letters were addressed to Greek-speaking Gentiles who had converted.  Their thought patterns were formed by Greek, not Hebrew.  Just like us, they had to unlearn prior thinking.  Nevertheless, sometimes a Hebrew phrase translated into Greek contains deeper implications that we need to explore.  Yeshua’s statement, given in Hebrew but recorded in Greek, is one of these phrases.  Let’s see why.

When Yeshua said, “I am the truth,” he most likely used the Hebrew term ʾĕmet, a word that means firmness, reliability, and certainty of support.  Unlike the Greek, ʾĕmet is not principally cognitive.  It is about faithfulness in action; something akin to personal dependability.  But the translator who produced the Greek text used a term with another interesting nuance.  The Greek word is alḗtheia.  Its origin comes from Greek mythology.  The word is the negation (with the prefix a) of the concept lḗthē, and lḗthē has a remarkable story behind it.

In Greek mythology, Lethe (/ˈliːθiː/; Ancient Greek: Λήθη Lḗthē; Ancient Greek: [lɛ̌ːtʰɛː], Modern Greek: [ˈliθi]), also referred to as Lesmosyne, was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades. Also known as the Amelēs potamos (river of unmindfulness), the Lethe flowed around the cave of Hypnos and through the Underworld where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness. Lethe was also the name of the Greek spirit of forgetfulness and oblivion, with whom the river was often identified.

In Classical Greek, the word lethe (λήθη) literally means “oblivion”, “forgetfulness”, or “concealment”.^[1] It is related to the Greek word for “truth”, aletheia (ἀλήθεια), which through the privative alpha literally means “un-forgetfulness” or “un-concealment”.[1]

The translator of Yeshua’s statement might have used a koine term but the overtones remain.  Gentile audiences wouldn’t have missed the implications.  In Greek, Yeshua is implying that he is the one who does not forget.  What doesn’t he forget?  Moses.  In fact, if we draw this connection to Hebrew, we discover a link to the Hebrew term for “male,” i.e., zākār, a consonant form that can also mean “remember.”  It is the role of the male to remember God’s instructions, and perhaps that’s what Yeshua is saying.  “I am the one who remembers.  Follow me.”  The truth is found in remembering what God said.

Topical Index: alḗtheia, truth, ʾĕmet, Lḗthē, forget, remember, John 14:6

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethe