What is truth ?

Sunday October 29,2000

Scripture: John 18:28-40

"Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king.

In fact, for this reason I was born,

and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth.

Everyone on the side of truth listens to me'.

'What is truth ?' Pilate asked."

John 18:37, 38

The question of Pilate ,"What is truth?" has been asked countless times .If he were to put it to people today , he could get the following answers.

"What is God ? I don't know. I can't say which religion is right."

"Truth is ... I don't know what truth is, to tell the truth."

"I make my own destiny, you know. I don't have to worry about whether there's a God or not."

" What you think is right and what you think is wrong is going to differ from person to person."

" Religion is something men made up to make them feel better about themselves."

" I don't believe that there's one truth. There are so many different people, and there are so many different ways you can look at things. I don't see how there could be just one truth."

-Adapted from the Focus on the Family Magazine

This fuzziness about truth is sometimes called relativism. What is accepted as truth is relative to the present situation or one's point of view. When this cavalier attitude is applied to our actions, what we consider right or wrong, it's called situational ethics. For example, it may be okay to tell a lie, if we can achieve a desirable end.

We are not sure why Pilate asked this question. It appears that he did not really expect an answer. He was no doubt confused concerning the various teachings of Judaism, and even cynical about the truth. In any case, his question helps us to focus upon what Jesus taught about truth, and more than that - how he is ,in fact, the truth, the way and the life.

Look , for a moment, at the conversation that leads up to Pilate's question.

Here is the dialogue:

Pilate: "Are you the king of the Jews? "

Jesus: "Is that your own idea, or did others talk to you about me? "

Pilate: "Am I a Jew ? It was your own people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done ?"

Jesus: "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.

Pilate: "You are a king , then !."

Jesus: "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, 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."

Pilate: "What is truth?".

And John relates that "with this he went out again to the Jews and said. "I find no basis for a charge against him."

We know, of course, that the account doesn't end there , and that Jesus is supposedly found guilty of sedition, that is from the Roman point of view, but actually considered to be guilty of blasphemy by the Jews.

But listen again to what Jesus says and how Pilate responds. Jesus had just said that " everyone on the side of truth listens to me." In spite of Pilate's rather cynical question: "What is truth?", it does appear that he was listening."I find no basis for a charge against him", this is Pilate's verdict. It should, therefore , be case dismissed. The problem is that Pilate, knowing the truth, lacks the courage to act upon it. He tries to evade his responsibility by offering to release Jesus, "the king of the Jews.'" But they shouted back, " No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" And John adds this note: Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.

And so the perfectly innocent and righteous one is put to death, while the obviously guilty one goes free. But this is in God's plan for our salvation; the Lamb of God is slain for your sins and mine. Pilate's question remains. "What is truth?" Jesus' thrilling statement stands : "I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." And in another place he declares,"I am the way and the truth and the life . No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

Those who attended the Alpha supper last Tuesday viewed a video in which the speaker recounted his own quest for reality and how he had come to faith in Jesus. He made the observation that if the gospel is true for me it's true for you as well. Truth, then, is not something that varies from person to person. It's what we call objective not subjective, that is only in our ideas or thoughts. Ideas, theories or points of view will obviously vary from person to person, but the truth is constant. Another observation made by the speaker in the video was the reality of Jesus in the world today. He pointed out that we cannot know Shakespeare or have a conversation with him, but we can talk to Jesus because he is alive. That's surely what prayer is all about. We can have a conversation with Jesus just as Pilate did. But our conversation is even more real because we know him through faith.

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life . No one comes to the Father except through me."(John 14:6) Pilate asked, no doubt sarcastically, "What is truth? And the truth, yes the way and the life was standing there before him. He not only spoke the truth, he is the truth, the absolute truth. We cannot make up our own version of the truth. We either accept or reject the one who is the truth. We may well ask ,"How does Jesus impart the truth and that's where ....

The ministry of The Holy Spirit comes in . Jesus spoke of this in John 16. Beginning at verse 12, he says to the disciples, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when the Spirit of truth comes , he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."( John 16:13)

The claim that Jesus makes here is that we will be guided into all truth. That means that we are not partially enlightened or given a glimpse of truth, but that the one who is the truth comes to live in our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit. This wondrous reality is spoken of many times in Scripture, e.g. Paul urges the Philippians that their "attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus." (2:5) The King James Version follows the Greek more closely translating the verse, "let this mind be in you". And to the Romans Paul wrote " do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will." (Romans 12:2)

But, we may ask, does the fact that we have imparted to us the whole truth in Christ - does that make us better than others ? Should we become proud because we have the truth and others don't ? No, the very opposite ! For when Paul urges the Philippians to have the mind of Christ, he goes on from there to put before them the example of Jesus , who emptied himself, and became obedient even by his death on a cross.

That means that the way in which we hold the truth is very important. There is a puzzling verse in Romans 1:18. In the King James Version it speaks of those who are evil "who hold the truth in unrighteousness" It is more accurate to say "they hold down the truth or as in the New International Version puts it they "suppress" the truth. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (John 8:32) That means that the truth has liberating, freeing power. But if we become proud that we have the truth, we are not free. We are captivated by our own pride. And this pride sometimes comes out in being proud of what we know. I think of the Jesus Seminar. It's a project of theologians and historians whose scholarship is impressive, but whose aim is to discover the historical Jesus.

What they come up with , however, is not Jesus as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Now, let me say again that I cannot match their scholarship and I cannot doubt their sincerity, but there cannot be more than one truth about Jesus. Either he is who he claims to be, that is the sinless Son of God who gave himself for us and our salvation, or he is a deceiver and a charlatan. Each of us, in his or her heart, must decide either to accept him as Lord of life or reject him. There are no other alternatives.

But once we have decided to follow Christ and to live for him, we are also committed to sharing the truth with others. But we must do it in love. Paul, after telling the Ephesians about the gifts of people God has given to the church "to prepare God's people for works of service... and to build up the body of Christ, then goes on to say that "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4:14-16)

We can be theologically correct, but if we are unloving in our presentation of the truth, then we are missing the point of what truth is. Another word we use is integrity, which means wholeness. That means our whole being must be committed to the truth, not just part of us. David in Psalm 51 is no doubt thinking of his own lack of integrity in the incident involving his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah . He writes, "Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place." (Psalm 51:6) In the same psalm he confesses to God, Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight."(verse 4) "Had he not sinned against others?"we ask. Of course, he had but the one he had offended above all others was God himself. It took the courage of the prophet Nathan, to confront with this evil that was infecting his entire being.

What about us ? If we have heard the truth about God's steadfast love and we have in faith responded to that love, do we live by the truth? We may conceal our sin from all others, but we cannot escape the scrutiny of a Holy God.

As I close ,let us make yet another prayer of David our very own. It's Psalm 139:23, 24. Let us pray:

"Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting."

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