What is "truth," and where does it come from?

"What is truth?" That's the question. Believe it or not, this is an easy question for any Christian believer to answer. For those interested in more than is written below, however, I highly recommend looking into Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project." That series, hosted by Dr. Del Tackett, has been a true inspiration to me, and, more importantly, a real eye-opener.

I have said that the truth is God's and that he has revealed it to man in the Bible. If one believes that God is the Creator of all things, as I believe, then what greater authority can there be on the issue of truth? Who knows more about the truth than the Lord who created all things, including the very concept of truth.

John 18:32-38, cited below in the English Standard Version ("ESV") and copy/pasted from biblegateway.com, contains a starting revelation for many believers:

"33(AN) So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him,(AO) 'Are you the King of the Jews?' 34Jesus answered, 'Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?' 35Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?' 36Jesus answered, (AP) 'My kingdom(AQ) is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,(AR) my servants would have been fighting, that(AS) I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.' 37Then Pilate said to him, 'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, (AT) 'You say that I am a king.(AU) For this purpose I was born and for this purpose(AV) I have come into the world—(AW) to bear witness to the truth.(AX) Everyone who is(AY) of the truth(AZ) listens to my voice.' 38Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?' After he had said this,(BA) he went back outside to the Jews and told them,(BB) 'I find no guilt in him' [emphasis supplied].

It is important for all believers to know that the saving grace they enjoy and are so eager to share is but a part of Christ's purpose, which was to testify to the truth. The most important thing we can realize about Christ is that he had an absolute grasp of the truth, and he came to this Earth as God-made-flesh to share it with us. This is so important because, for those of us who follow Christ and accept his testimony (to the truth), Christ said (to those present at the Mount of Olives) that the truth will set them free (John 8:31).

Of course, many Jews questioned this at first. They reminded Christ that they, themselves, had never been slaves to anyone. They also reminded Christ that they were Jews, the heirs of Abraham. Christ replied to them in the excerpt from John 8 below:

"34Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you,(BF) everyone who commits sin is a slave[b] to sin. 35(BG) The slave does not remain in the house forever;(BH) the son remains forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet(BI) you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38(BJ) I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard(BK) from your father,'" [emphasis supplied].

We are all in bondage, whether we realize it or not. Christ said that those who commit sin are slaves to it. He told them that the truth he testifies to shall set them free. When Christ told Pilate this, Pilate may have said "What is truth," but when he addressed the crowd after confronting Christ about the Jews' accusations, Pilate told them that he could find no fault in Jesus and offered to free him.

Those Jews at the Mount of Olives, having heard this same message about the truth, continued to question their bondage to sin. Like many Jews today, they believed that their inheritance from Abraham made them true, free sons of God. They argued this point with Jesus - that they were born of God, not of sexual immorality or sin. Again, Christ replied to their contentions in John 8:

"42Jesus said to them, (BR) 'If God were your Father, you would love me, for(BS) I came from God and(BT) I am here.(BU) I came not of my own accord, but(BV) he sent me. 43(BW) Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot(BX) bear to hear my word. 44(BY) You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.(BZ) He was a murderer from the beginning, and(CA) has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.(CB) When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47(CC) Whoever is of God hears the words of God.(CD) The reason why you do not hear them is that(CE) you are not of God.'"

We are not born into this world of God with an automatic instinct to do His will and works. Rather, Christ revealed to those at the Mount of Olives that they were born into this world with an instinct to sin. Reading carefully, Jesus made the point that Satan is the "father of lies" who "has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him." Why is that so important?

Because Satan keeps us in bondage to sin with lies. That is Satan's greatest tool against mankind: Satan uses lies that distort God's truth. Satan's deceptions have twisted God's truth to where our post-modern culture abhors it, and it causes even believers to sin.

Look at the issue of marriage: the Bible says that a wife should submit to her husband as to the Lord (Eph 5:22), but Satan has sold the world and some believers the lie that submission is a negative action, resulting in injustice and prejudice.

Go back to John 8 and see for yourself in verse 42 (cited above). Did Christ choose to come to Earth of his own desire? No - he did so because that was the will of God the Father who sent him! Just as Christ submitted his entire life to God, the apostle Paul told wives, "Submit to your own husbands as to the Lord" (Eph 5:22). He also wrote, "Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands" (Eph 5:24).

Is submission to God's plan a negative thing? Christ didn't think so, yet so many believers gloss over Paul's words or, worse still, attempt to explain them away. Rather than reconciling the world to Word, so many believers attempt to reconcile the Word to the world. The process of interpreting the Bible to make sense in light of our supposedly enlightened culture plays right into Satan's plans. To make the submission of a wife to her husband a negative, unjust concept, requires the believer to buy into Satan's lies. Remember what Christ said to the Jews at the Mount of Olives? He told them that they were of their father the devil and that was why they could not hear his words to them.

This is why the truth is so important. While we are listening to Satan's lies, we will sin, and while we sin, we will be a slave to it. Wives will attempt to rule over their husbands, which husbands will cease to abide by their command to love their wives as Christ loved the Church (Eph 5:25), and with that discontent between parents, soon their children will cease to respect and obey as commanded (Eph 6:1). After all, children tend to follow the example of their parents, and what example does a wife rebelling against her husband set for their children? What does a child learn from a father who has lost all love and respect for their mother?

If just one of Satan's lies can undo an entire family, then how many are we willing to believe before we see that Christ was right - it is the truth that sets us free from sin! Faith and obedience to Christ is not forced upon mankind. Choosing to submit our lives to Christ is a voluntary and very positive act. Christ does not ensnare men with lies and traps - Satan does. Those accepting Christ's testimony of truth realize that the only true freedom is in voluntarily submitting their lives to Jesus Christ. That is truth.

No one can serve 2 masters, for s/he will love one and despise the other (Matt 6:24). So choose this day whom you will serve (Josh 24:15), but remember that there is but one true God (Deut 4:35). Ignoring God's truth, or trying to explain it away, can result only in bondage to sin and Satan, the father of all sin. When that happens, you have already bought the lies.

So, I choose the truth, and I believe Christ is God, made flesh, who died for our sins. Like Joshua, I say to all of you that, as for me and my house, we choose to serve the Lord, for there is no other like him to be found.