TRUTH
In trying to justify himself, Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38) Although Pilate did not want to know the answer, he asked a good question.
If we were to ask it today, we might receive many different answers. Some people would say truth is relative, others that it is absolute. Some, like those of Matthew 21:25-27, would say we cannot tell. There are those that say every man is entitled to his own opinion, especially where the scriptures are concerned. In the church we hear that truth must be considered within the context of Romans 14, or people insist that we believe the same doctrine but just apply that doctrine differently.
Is there a problem in answering the question “What is truth?” Is truth that elusive, or is it easier to evade the answer, like Pilate did, so we don't have to take a stand? What is it about truth that makes so many want to avoid it? The scriptures give a few answers to that question:
· Truth makes enemies. Paul inquired of the Galatians, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth (Gal 4:16)? Truth also caused Jesus’ crucifixion. He was King, just not the kind the people anticipated (John 18:36-37), and rather than hear the truth spoken by His voice, Christ’s enemies had Him killed.
· Truth causes ridicule. “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you” (I Pet. 4:3,4). To have those who were once close associates, friends or neighbors make light of us because we no longer join them in certain activities is not joyous. Peer pressure often makes us rationalize truth.
· Truth divides families: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household"(Mt. 10:32-36). Because we are of the same blood does not mean we will be of the same mind. Our thinking is affected by many social conditions. Therefore, not all members of any one family place the same emphasis on God's word as truth (John 17:17), and bitter divisions occur. Acceptance of the scriptures as the only sure truth brings unity, but it comes with a price.
God wants all men to come to a knowledge of the truth (I Tim. 2:4), but some are destitute of the truth (I Tim. 6:5). The truth can be rightly divided (II Tim. 2:15), and through repentance it can be acknowledged (II Tim. 2:25,26). But those who love unrighteousness over truth will be damned (II Thess. 2:12).
What is truth? God’s word is truth (John17:17) and is to be "received not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe"(I Thess. 2:13).
Jack