What is truth?

Jesus brought before Pilate - A. Bida

TODAY'S SPECIAL: John 18:28-38a

TO CHEW ON: "Pilate therefore said to Him  'Are you a king then?'
Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'
Pilate said to Him, 'What is truth?' " John 18:37-38.

Jesus gave an odd answer to Pilate's question "'Are you a king then?'" We would expect Him to say that He was born to establish a power base and to conquer and rule over a land. Instead He says He was born and came "'...to bear witness to the truth.'" He appears to be saying, I came to be the king, not of earthly power, but of truth.

Of course this description of His kingdom agrees with what He said to Pilate just a little earlier: "'My kingdom is not of this world … My kingdom is not from here'" - John 18: 36.

His next sentence reveals more of His thinking along this line: "'Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'" It's like He's claiming to be some sort of Pied Piper of the Kingdom of truth. He explains, describes, talks, and lives truth. Some ("'...everyone who is of the truth...'") observe His life, hear and recognize His truth words. By that very act of hearing (and if their hearing is real, it will also involve actions like faith, acknowledging His claims, repentance etc.) they show themselves to be His subjects, the citizens of His kingdom.

I think we can safely say that, at this point at least, Pilate is not one of them. His question: "'What is truth?'" still hangs in the air today.

People who analyze world views have separated ways of seeing and interpreting truth into three eras. An article on the Summit.org site describes it well:

"Pre-modern era was one in which religion was the source of truth and reality. God’s existence and revelation were givens in the culture.

In the modern era, science became the source for truth and reality. During this period, religion and morality were arbitrarily demoted to the subjective realm.

In the present, postmodern era, there is no single defining source for truth and reality beyond the individual. Postmodernism simply radicalized relativism and individualism and then applied them to all spheres of knowledge — even science" - Steve Cornell, "What Does Postmodern Mean?",  emphasis added.

However, across the years, even as the definition of truth has shifted from religion to science to self, Jesus' Kingdom of Truth claims continue to exert their magnetic pull. If we have heard His voice and become His disciples, we're part of that kingdom, no matter how our society currently defines truth. However, the acknowledgement of Jesus as truth puts us out of step with our culture—something that I'm sure is not news to you and me.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, Your claims of being truth challenge me to dig deeper into their meaning and discover more fully how they should work themselves out in my life.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Is there such a thing as truth?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 111:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "All the works of His hands are verity and justice;

All His precepts are sure;

They stand fast forever and ever,

And are done in truth and uprightness." Psalm 111:7-8

Airplane pilot Captain Dale Black in his book Flight To Heaven recounts the remarkable experience he had at age 19. He was the only survivor of a horrendous airplane accident. In the days following the accident he was in a coma. He came out of his time of unconsciousness feeling radically changed spiritually but without any recall of what happened to him while he was away.

Due to a head injury his memory was impaired for several years. But gradually his memory of the accident and where he was during the coma came back to him, including memories of heaven:

"While in heaven, I somehow realized that knowledge is flawed and did not seem to be of great significance. Truth is what prevails and has supremacy in heaven....


Just one of the things I somehow seemed to "understand" was that heavenly order was everywhere and in everything. I understood in my heart that God's will was perfection and His Word was the source of all creation. As I considered all that I had seen, I understood that the Word of God was and is the foundation for everything. God was the heart of heaven. His love, His will, His order." Dale Black, Flight to Heaven p. 104.

That heavenly order, that perfection in creation, that solidity and security of God's Word as the foundation of all that is sure and lasting is what the psalmist describes here. (Though God's Word isn't mentioned directly in the psalm, it is through the Bible that we have the record of all the things the writer praises: God's graciousness and compassion [vs. 4]; the record of the covenant He made with people [vs.5]; the power of His works [vs.6] etc.)


Postmodernism, the reigning cultural philosophy of our time, contradicts the possibility of such overarching truth. It (postmodernism) developed out of Modernism, another way of interpreting all that exists.

As a person whose thinking was formed when modernism was the predominant philosophy, I find myself understanding and agreeing with modernistic thought and methods of reaching conclusions more than with postmodernism. But its apparent truths also break down. For example, one of the tenets of modernism is its deification of science: "The knowledge produced by science is 'truth' and is eternal" (#4 of the second list in this article). Of course, in order to discuss that statement, we'd have to first define the word "science." If, for example, science includes the theory of evolution, I would find myself disagreeing.

God's truth, on the other hand can, I believe, stand under scrutiny and is consistent across the disciplines. As the psalm writer says:

"The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them... The works of His hands are verity and justice; All His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness." Psalm 111: 2, 7-8.

I choose to believe that the way things are, are as described in the Bible. It is my foundational truth. I have staked my life on it. Upon what "truth" have you anchored your life?

PRAYER: Dear God, I am in awe of Your truth and wisdom as it is displayed in nature and in Your dealings with humanity. Amen.

MORE: Postmodernism in the church

Postmodern thought is creeping into the church. The postmodern church often self-identifies as "emergent" or "emerging." I found the book Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be (Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Moody Press, 2008) an excellent resource to help me identify aspects of postmodern thought that are infiltrating the church and the dangers they pose to evangelical Christianity.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.