All things that are true are part of the truth and stand in proper relationship to God, who is Himself the truth.” Truth is consistent with itself. There is no phase of truth that is not related to every other phase of truth. James Montgomery Boice asserts, “Truth holds together. It presents one origin for the universe, one problem of the human race, one way of salvation, one way of holiness, one standard for the family, one plan for human history, one consummation of the age. Schaeffer notes, “Christianity is not a series of truths in the plural, but rather truth spelled with a capital ‘T.’ ” In other words, truth presents a singular worldview. It is the final arbitrator on any subject. Truth has the final word in all matters, telling us how to worship and how to walk. It is always in harmony with everything else it says, since each aspect of truth is congruent with the sum of its parts. Truth always speaks with one voice and is always in perfect agreement with itself. Instead, all truth is found in the one true God.īecause truth is one body of truth, it is always internally consistent. It can never be found in a study of comparative religions or competing philosophies. Truth is not a collection of ideologies gleaned from detached sources. Truth can never be merely a truth, as if it exists in fragments from various sources. The Bible most often uses the definite article when speaking of the truth. It does not exist in bits and pieces of unrelated ideas or disconnected data. That is to say, truth is a single entity. Truth is absolute because it is derived from the one God. Francis Schaeffer maintains, “Biblical Christianity is Truth concerning total reality.” That is, it exists without any exceptions. There is no place where truth is not true. In such a worldview of self-deception, truth is no longer objective.Īll truth is universally true. Something cannot be both true and not true. They claim that what you believe is “true for you” and what I believe is “true for me,” even when the two are worlds apart. Many people say truth is whatever they want it to be. The issue in our day is whether there is absolute truth that is true for everyone, no matter who they are, where they live, or what they do. If all truth is God’s truth, then all untruths are the Devil’s lies. Truth is incompatible with and intolerant of all error. Truth is discriminating as it excludes what is not true. Everything contrary to the truth is a lie. This means that only what is of truth is true. But to the contrary, all truth is absolute because God is absolute truth. Without absolutes, truth gives way to mere personal or cultural preferences. Without absolutes, truth becomes subjective, relative, and pragmatic. Without absolutes, there can be no objective, universal truths. Without God, there cannot be any absolutes. “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Rom. One word of what God says is worth more than ten thousand libraries of what man says. It matters not what man says but simply what God says. Heaven and hell are what God says they are. God is the one Source and sole Author of truth. Truth can be known only by divine revelation. It is not grandfathered in by human tradition. It is not determined by opinion polls, nor is it discovered by public surveys. It is not what the crowd speculates something to be. This being so, what are the characteristics of truth? What are its distinguishing properties? 1. Nor can anyone be sanctified or strengthened without it. John Calvin says, “Nothing is deemed more precious by God than truth.” No one can be saved without the truth. How valuable is the truth? Its worth is more “than gold, yes, than much fine gold” (Ps. Jesus prayed, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Paul calls Scripture “the word of truth” (2 Tim. The Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:17 John 15:26 John 16:13). Jesus Christ is “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). God the Father is “the God of truth” (Ps. All truth must be defined in terms of God, whose very nature is truth. It is what it is because God declares it so and made it so. Truth is the self-disclosure of God Himself. Theologically, truth is that which is consistent with the mind, will, character, glory, and being of God. It is genuineness, veracity, or actuality. What is truth? It is defined as that which conforms with fact or reality. Pilate was like so many today, a postmodernist, but one living in premodern times. Though he looked straight into the face of the incarnate Truth, he could not discern it. I imagine he sneered in mockery, angry that Christ dared to speak with truth. I think Pilate’s voice was dismissive and filled with disdain. He lived in a world in which absolute truth did not exist. What is truth? This question raised by Pilate, when Jesus Christ stood trial before him, exposed his own worldview.
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