“THE WAY” IS THE WAY TO UNITY

It is a simple little word whether in Greek or in English, and its meaning is uncomplicated, even when used metaphorically. Way or the way makes its way into the Bible hundreds of times, and it is used the way we use it. Just as I used it twice in that sentence, both literally and metaphorically! The Bible uses it in such instances as the wise men escaping Herod by returning to their own country “by another way” and Paul urging upon the Corinthians “a more excellent way,” which again illustrates both its literal and metaphorical use.

It often means a trodden way or a road, as in Lk. 8:5: “some seed fell beside the road,” which is its literal meaning; but it is often used as in Rom. 3:17: “the way of peace they have not known.” Sometimes the picture is literal but the meaning symbolic, as in Mt. 7: ]4: “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” So it means “a course of conduct or a way of thinking” when used as a metaphor, as in 1 Cor. 4:1 7: “Timothy will remind you of my ways which are in Christ.”

We would call it an everyday word. We know what one means when he says “This way, please,” but we also know what “Don’t act that way” means, or even “Is that the way it is?” It is a neat little word with a rich variety of uses.

It is significant that the early Christians used this little word hodos. (way) in referring to themselves, except they always used the definite article he (the) with it, the way, and it is properly rendered “the Way” in most translations.

In chronicling Paul’s mission in Ephesus, Luke explains why the apostle turned to a school: “When some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:9). He goes on to say in verse 23: “About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way.” And in Acts 22:4 Luke reports Paul saying: “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons.” But Paul uses this term only as reported by Luke, not in his letters.

The Way! It comes as near being a name for the new community of believers as we have in the New Testament, and yet it hardly fits as a name for the church. I don’t know that it has ever been selected as a denominational name by any modern church. It does not lend itself to that sort of treatment. The Way is too simple, too disarming, too humble to support sectarian pride. One might come up with “The Church of The Way,” but simply “The Way” seems to lack the proper ingredient. Nor can “the Church” comfortably be substituted for the term Luke uses in these several references. While Paul does speak of persecuting the church (Gal. 1:13), when Luke has him saying “I persecuted the Way” there is a different ring.

There is nothing hierarchical, organizational, or institutional about the Way. You could hardly speak of bishops of the Way or elders of the Way, and perhaps not even “the minister of the Way.” And “the Work, Worship and Organization of the Way” just won’t wash. It is too personal, too intimate, too poetic for such a use. You might say “The church withdrew from her,” but who would say “the Way withdrew from her”? In fact, the Way denotes a reality that is un-church like.

And this may be the force of Paul’s use of the term in Acts 24: 14, where he says: “This I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers.” If church were used here would it not have to be substituted for “sect” rather than “the Way”? While you could hardly have Paul say “according to the church which they call a sect,” you could have him say “according to the Way which they call a church.” Or something akin to that. If Paul lived in our day it is unlikely that he would equate what we call “the church” with what he called “the Way.” Just as sect (or heresy) did not have the connotation in his time that it has to us. Paul was not suggesting that heresy was particularly derogatory. He was rather saying something like “I serve God according to the new Way, which is but another school of thought to the Jews.”

But the Way to Paul was something distinctly different from another Jewish theological persuasion, like Pharisaism. It was something profoundly personal. Like Frost’s “the road less travelled,” the Way to Paul was the way of truth, the way of being made right with God, the way of Christ, the way of the Cross. It was the way that the world could not understand. It was not another Jewish philosophy.

When Luke tells of the governor’s understanding of these things, he again employs the term: “Felix, having a more exact knowledge about the Way. . .” (Acts 24:22). One wonders if the Way was such a common term that it came to be used by an outsider like Felix. The governor made it his business to understand the diversities of Judaism, and while he must have associated the Christians with the Jews at this point in time, he realized that “the Way” that they walked was “a road taken” that brought persecution from other Jews.

The Way was Jesus Christ, pure and simple, and that is why I say the Way is the way of unity. We are already united with all those who take the less-travelled road, the way that sets them apart from the vain pursuits of this world. The bond that unites us is Jesus — love and loyalty to him. The only reason we walk “the Way” is because we walk it with him, and we are one with all those who walk that same way. The way may be narrow but it is not crowded, and we are not compelled to walk in single file, with each one moving at the same pace. Since we are all following Jesus (and not each other) we may now and again pass each other in our common pilgrimage. There are many who are far ahead of me in “the walk” in terms of knowledge and good works, but we are nonetheless in the Way together.

All of us are followers of Jesus because we believe what he said in Jn. 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” He extends the greatest invitation ever tendered the human race: Come, follow me. All who accept that invitation are his disciples and are walking in the Way, however faulty and stumbling they may be. Some may even crawl, but they are in the Way and we are together. Praise God for that!

There is activity along the Way. We work together, better with some than with others. We worship together, even if at different points along the Way. We study together, with the differences overshadowed by love. We live the life of joy together, realizing that God is the Father of us all in spite of our differences. But we don’t stake off the Way as our own domain and pontificate who can and who cannot take that road. We are not like the ancient highwaymen who battered and bludgeoned their way and cast by the wayside whom they would. We are not even sentinels (and no watchdogs are needed) on patrol. The Lord takes care of all that. If someone “strange” is following him in the Way who is “not of us,” we need not worry about it, for since He is the Way they would not be there unless He put them there.

The Way is the way of unity! Let’s make it a new slogan and act upon it. It means that we can make but one thing a condition to unity and fellowship: following Jesus Christ. We can and must walk with all those who walk with Him, whether or not they have “our” perfect knowledge and perfect obedience.

If a pagan like Governor Felix understood that it was those who followed the humble Nazarene, often at the risk of their lives, that were the Way, we should be able to understand it. It is the Way — not the System — that is the way of unity. —the Editor