What Is Truth?
Pilate therefore said unto him,” Art thou a king then?” Jesus answered,” Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” Pilate saith unto him,” What is truth?” John 18:37-38 (KJV)
What a great question Pilate asked Jesus! What is truth? Man’s search for truth is as old as original sin itself. What’s the big deal about truth anyway? I’ve even had people say to me,” Well, I think we all have a little truth.” (I am speaking in the context of Christianity, and denominational differences.) To me a statement like that is referring to a weak god. And our God is anything but weak! To have a little truth here, and a little truth there, here-a-truth, there-a-truth, everywhere-a-truth-truth, is not the way our God operates. He is about order and structure and purpose. And this is exactly what truth gives us.
God’s revealed truth gives us: 1) structure, 2) direction, 3) purpose, and 4) information. These dynamics all work together to bring us truth in it’s fullness.
For instance, in the King James version of the Bible, did you know that the word truth is found 234 times. The Old Testament has it 97 times. Of those 97 times, the Book of Psalms has it 40 times. Most of the Psalms were written by King David, ” a man after God’s own heart.”
The New Testament has the word truth in it 137 times. Out of the 137, 27 are found in John’s Gospel. Another 20 are found in his three epistles. John is referred to as ” the disciple who Jesus loved.” The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke only use the word truth 11 times…..combined!
What does all this mean? Well, I find it interesting that God chose these two particular men to write about truth,” a man after God’s own heart” and ” the disciple who Jesus loved.” We know that the truth in God’s word is not limited to just these two writers, He just chose them, to write the most about it. What this reveals is, the closer you are to God, the clearer truth becomes. The more open we are to receive it. The more open we are to share it.
So, where does the Bible say we can find truth? Well, that’s what we are going to investigate.
Blessings through Christ the Lord!
