The statement prompting Thomas’ question is part of the answer to Peter: You know the way to the place where I am going (v. 4). The words where I am going still echo 13:33 and 36. Jesus’ answer to Thomas’ question, How can we know the way? (v. 5), introduces the new thought that Jesus himself is the way (v. 6). Jesus’ answer centers on himself; it is neither necessary to know where he is going, in the sense of Jewish apocalyptic speculations about the structure of the heavens, nor the way, in the sense of a formula for escaping this world and attaining salvation (as in Gnosticism and the Hellenistic mystery religions). What is necessary is simply to know Jesus in personal faith and to trust him as the only one who can lead the searching disciple to the Father. Thomas’ question changes the …