In the first century C.E. a high government official (the Roman governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate) asked a Galilean peasant (Jesus Christ) a question that has reverberated throughout the ages, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). It is difficult to determine from the context of Pilate’s question in his interrogation of Jesus, whether he was sneering at the notion of truth, or frustrated to know the truth of the situation in which he was pressured, against his intention, to condemn Jesus. Sneering and frustration surround the truth today.
Jesus had just presented Pilate a unique claim of truth, “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:37b) In other words, Jesus claimed Himself to be the truth with a capital “T.” This is what I call eternal truth. Eternal truth spans the ages of time. To hear eternal truth is to hear the voice and person of Jesus in testimony about God. But there is another type of truth in this courtroom scene–whether or not the accusations against Jesus were true. This is temporal truth, which in this case is judicial. Another type of temporal truth is that proclaimed by human science, and we shall discuss that later.
Though Pilate found Jesus innocent he was constrained by political correctness (his personal fear of being found subversive of Caesar) into accepting the false witness of Christ’s Jewish accusers (John 19:15). These accusers knew from their own scriptures that, “He who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit.” (Proverbs 12:17).
They knew what we know, that false is the opposite of true. Most of us are familiar with true/false test questions. We know that an answer of “false” in response to a true statement is the “wrong” answer. To answer “wrongly” in some tests (employment or citizenship, for example) can cost you a job or worse. Truth is right, but false (deceit or lie) is wrong. I don’t know many people who fancy being called a liar, yet many seek to deceive by bearing false witness.
Thus we may begin answering Pilate’s question by stating what truth is not. Truth is not false; truth is not deceit; and truth is not a lie. Furthermore, truth is not cheap. Bearing witness to His personal testimony about ultimate truth (. . . “I am the way, the truth and the life. . .” John 14:6) cost Jesus His earthly life through extreme pain and suffering.
Jesus died because he was true. But all other people die for not being true, for missing the moral standard of God (Exodus 20:3-17; Matthew 22:35-40), which is sin. God decrees that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Jesus died for the truth that He is the Son of God, Who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus rose from the dead to eternal life, because He never sinned. Trusting Jesus, God’s free gift (Romans 6:23), we receive His eternal life and never die for our wrong doing.
Truth is much more than right or wrong; truth is about life and death. To believe the eternal truth of Jesus is to receive eternal life. Because Jesus is “the Truth,” He is “the way” to “eternal life.” “What is truth?” is the most important question in the world! To believe the eternal truth is to live forever in the Paradise of God (Revelation 2:7); to reject it is to be spiritually dead and excluded from Paradise forever in weeping and frustration (Matthew 22:13).
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