What is Truth?
In John chapter 18 Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested. He is sent to the former high priest Annas, then to the current high priest Caiaphas. Eventually Jesus is sent to the Roman governor Pilate. Pilate at first tells the Jews to take Jesus away and judge him by their law, but the Jews are determined that Jesus be put to death and only Pilate has the authority to do that. John 18:33-38a relates the first conversation between Jesus and Pilate.
So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38a ESV)
The conversation ends with Jesus saying, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate responds with the question, “What is truth?” In other words Pilate, the one who is charged with determining the truth in this situation, is saying truth is subjective. It is as if Pilate is saying, “You say you are right, and the Jews say they are right. Everyone has an opinion.” Note that in the end Pilate went with the “truth” that caused him the least trouble. Jesus was not demanding to be released, but the Jews were demanding Jesus be crucified and threatened Pilate by saying if he released Jesus he was no friend of Caesar.
This is life apart from objective truth. What is true is what pleases us. However, objective truth is true no matter the situation. Frances Schaffer called this kind of truth “true truth.” My goal is always to explore, explain, and proclaim “true truth.” This means I desire to lift up Jesus since he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and he is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). Proclaim the Word of God since Jesus prayed that we would be sanctified by the truth and the Father’s word is truth (John 17:17). Present truth because we cannot properly worship apart from the truth (John 4:23-24). Pray the Spirit of truth will guide us into all God’s truth (John 16:13) for only God’s truth revealed in his incarnate Word, Jesus, and his written Word, the Bible, will set us free from sin and death (John 8:32).
Photo by Markus Winkler: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-paper-in-a-typewriter-5192922/