“If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free—Jesus (John 8:31-32).
“I am the way, the truth and the life.”—Jesus (John 14:6)
“What is truth?”—Pilate (John 18:38)
For as long as humanity has been able to think in the abstract, we have sought the truth. “What is true?” is the philosopher’s quest from Thales to modern times. Truth is the quest of the judicial system, often putting two opposing views against each other. Truth is what the scientist seeks in the various hypotheses, experiments and theories.
Once someone comes to a truth, then that person finds peace of heart and soul, finding an anchor which secures one against the storms of life, a sure foundation upon which to build. Without truth, there can be no security, no certainty. We need consistent truth to guide us in life and in our relationships.
Jesus’ proclamations of being the truth, and of His disciples being able to know the truth, is one of the major tenets of our faith that does indeed set us free.
WHAT IS TRUE?
Pilate asked the question of Jesus toward the end of Jesus’s trial before Pilate. There are a series of questions and answers between Pilate and Jesus in John 18:33 through 19:12. Pilate’s question of “what is true?” comes after Jesus asserts that He is a king. Jesus tells Pilate “. . . for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me” (John 18:37b). Pilate then asks his question, goes out to the courtyard and tells the religious leaders that he can find no reason to convict Jesus.
So, what is truth?
Truth covers many areas, many of them seemingly relative. For instance, I’m writing this during a presidential primary season. It seems to be the case that, for many of us, only one candidate tells the truth; all the others are liars. The only one telling the truth is the one I’m supporting. And we have a tendency in today’s world to dismiss those who may question our candidate’s veracity as being liars themselves. We blame the messengers, not the message.
But that doesn’t make truth relative. It just means our perception of truth is relative. If someone tells me, “The sky is blue,” and I am predetermined to question everything about that person, I will more than likely dismiss his or her statement as untrue for the particular time (“The sky’s overcast; therefore, it’s gray, and that person is lying once again,”), or I will acknowledge their truthfulness but grudgingly (“Well, what do you know? She finally got something right”). Again, it’s my perception that is relative, not the truth.
There are those who say that truth is relative to each person or each event. What’s true for me may not be true for you, or what’s true for today may not be true for tomorrow. But again, that’s perception, not truth.
But isn’t all truth perception? No. Mathematics deals with truth. 2 + 2 = 4 is always going to be a true statement, regardless of my personal beliefs or the time I see that equation. Scientists rely on mathematics for most of their work precisely because of the certainty of math. Granted, there is abstract math, but even the abstract math decipherable only to the truly great math minds still hold to certain truths.
If math can be permanently true, then why can’t something else be? Jesus says He is the truth. The use of “the” to describe Himself means that He is uniquely and solely true. “The” is a word that denotes a unique quality. If I go to a car lot and have a vague idea about purchasing one, I will ask the salesman to show me “a” car. “A” means one of many. There are many cars on the lot. I want one that is blue, gets good mileage and is easy to drive. That narrows the field. But if I’ve driven by the lot and noticed a particular car on the lot, I will tell the salesperson, “I want to see the blue Subaru Forester.” There is only one on the lot. It is unique, singular.
Is it, then, possible that Jesus is the truth, and that those who follow His teachings will know the truth, and the truth will set us free? I believe the answer is yes. Either Jesus is what He says He is, or He isn’t. If He isn’t, and He knows He isn’t, then Jesus lies, and the truth cannot be in Him.
Do you remember the True-False tests we took at school? The teacher would remind us that any statement with even one little error makes the statement untrue. “The Civil War began in April, 1861 and ended April, 1865” is a true statement. “The Civil War lasted from April, 1861 through April, 1865” is a false statement, since the war ended during April, 1865, not at the end. Either Jesus is who He says He is—the Truth—or He is not.
WHAT DOES JESUS AS THE TRUTH MEAN?
The fact that Jesus the truth, that He is the way to truth and that His truth sets us free enables us to grow in His grace and mercy. Once we know we are anchored in the truth of the Gospel, then we are free to explore what that Gospel means, free to explore what the Jesus teaches and what it really means to be His disciple.
Since our faith is grounded in truth, then we should not be afraid to have our faith challenged. By holding to Jesus’ teachings, we are grounded in what He teaches. When someone or something comes to challenge that teaching, we are free to explore the challenge. Either the challenge will confirm our faith or it will expand our faith. The challenge can point us in a direction we had not considered previously, or it can reaffirm what we already believed.
Years ago, I was asked by someone to read a New Age book. She respected me as a preacher, as a person, and she respected by opinion. I read the book. I found it had some elements of truth to it, but I also saw that it was filled with false assumptions. One of the assumptions it held was that Aramaic was the original language that was spoken prior to the Tower of Babel. The truth is, Aramaic grew out of the Hebrew language and the Babylonian language. It was derived from the Jewish exile to Babylon. Aramaic was the language spoken by Daniel and by Jesus. But Abraham, Isaac, David and Solomon never spoke the language. Knowing this, I was able to tell the woman who asked me to read the book that, while it found it interesting, it was not a book I would use to guide my life. It was inconsistent with the Biblical truths found in Christ.
Did it hurt me to read the book? No. Why? I was grounded in the words of Christ, and the truth set me free to explore this teaching.
There have been other times where my beliefs have been challenged and I have had to adjust my way of thinking because the challenge was consistent with my understanding of the Bible.
Life for the Christian is the constant searching for greater truth, growing in that truth and living our lives consistently with that truth. As the Bible reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully.” Paul means that in this life, we will never fully know all the ways and things of Christ; only when He returns will we gain full knowledge. Knowing the truth enables us to grow, to question, to explore, to expose ourselves to new things. We can be do this without fear; we are free in the Truth.
WITH FREEDOM COMES RESPONSIBILITY
Freedom in truth comes with a duty to be truthful ourselves. The ninth of the Ten Commandments is a prohibition to lie. The Bible warns us against rumormongering and gossiping. Paul warns Timothy against chatter (1 Timothy 6:20; 2 Timothy 2:16). He gives the same warning to Titus (Titus 3:9). Since Christians are the children of truth, it demands that we be speakers of truth as well. And not just in matters of religion.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that we should let our yes mean yes, and our no mean no (Matthew 5:37). This applies to matters of commerce, matters of personal integrity and in all areas of our lives.
In the political realm, we have a duty to discern truth from fiction and lies. It is inevitable in a political campaign that rumors, half-truths and outright lies will be spoken of any and all candidates running for office. There are candidates we naturally support; others we naturally oppose. It is our Christian duty to make sure that whatever we may say about a candidate is the truth; we have a responsibility to verify the things we hear as true or false.
For instance, shortly after George W. Bush was elected president, an email was making the rounds rapidly about how then candidate Bush was scheduled to speak at a gathering when he met a trouble young man. The email said that Bush spent quite a long time speaking to him, sharing the Gospel with the young man and even leading him to the Lord. It’s a story that appeals to Christians of all stripes, and shows George W. Bush in a very pleasing light. The only trouble with the story is that it never happened.
As Christians, we need to take a critical view of the things the world tells us. We need to ask ourselves why someone is saying something about a person or event—is there an agenda, what is the agenda, does the allegation stand up to scrutiny, does it really make sense? What’s the context? With photo-shopping so prevalent in our world, a picture is no longer worth a thousand words; usually, they’re worth nothing at all.
And we need to also be careful of what we hear in the pulpit. I was at a church years ago listening to the sermon, when the preacher claimed that the prayers prayed in church aren’t really valid prayers. The prayers said at the beginning of worship, those said at the taking of the offering—none of these prayers are valid. He said the only valid prayers need to last five minutes or longer. We were in worship, and it’s not customary to stop the service by raising a hand and questioning the validity of a sermon point, but I sure wanted to raise the issue at that point. The words of the criminal crucified with Christ—“Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom”—was a prayer that was immediately answered.
Acts 17:11 tells us the Bereans examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. We need to follow their example. We need to be discerners of truth. We need to think on the things that are true and reject the things are not true.
The truth that is granted us in Jesus sets us free and enables us, but it also requires us to be conveyers of truth in our words and in our actions.