Amen, Amen, dico vobis: egomet sum via, et veritas, et ipsa vita.
“I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”
This sentence is often analyzed as being a Platonic statement. At least, that is not said in so many words. But it is obvious from the interpretations that the general idea is that Christ is some kind of Form of the True, as well as a Form of the Good, Form of Loving, etc. In later theology, particularly in Augustine, we hear that God especially, since he is spirit, is the highest rung of everything ‘good’. He is the Form of all that is good in any way. However, while the claim Christ makes is far-reaching, it is wrong to interpret it as Platonic. In what sense Christ really is the “ipsa veritas” is a difficult question; but he is not a Platonic Form of the Truth.
