John 18. 38: Pilate said to Him, 'What is Truth?' 14.6b: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (NKJV)
Pilate, as so many others like Pilate, asked: What is truth?
As a rudder and compass are essential in navigation, so the answer to this question is essential for all thought. Pilate, however, asked this question only to dismiss it. As James Boice noted:
Pilate's response was not in the nature of a further pursuit of the matter or even a recognition of the importance of what Jesus said. Rather, it was a cynical response based on what was, to Pilate, the seeming impossibility of ever knowing what truth was. 'What is truth?' he said, and then walked away. (Boice, p.1*)
In other words, Pilate's response expressed the Roman worldview governed by cynicism. He was a precursor of our modern age, a man steeped in relativism. As the Greeks failed to discover the ground of truth and knowledge and drifted into epistemological skepticism, the Romans turned to worship an unknown god. Pilate was preeminently a man of his age. He was a pragmatist who believed that truth is whatever achieves the desires of the moment.
The present age is no better, indeed, in some respects worse. The current slogan claims, "There are no absolute truths," failing to note the contradiction.
The present age is no better, indeed, in some respects worse. The current slogan claims, "There are no absolute truths," failing to note the contradiction.
Truth is Eternal, even as Jesus Christ is Eternal.
Consider this Argument: |
1. Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life. |
2. Truth is Eternal. |
Therefore, Jesus is Eternal. |
A fact is true if and only if it has a variability error of zero.
More commonly, all who lie or are liars will identify lies as the opposite of Truth. In this manner, all who know the meaning of a lie as a false assertion know truth as the opposite of what is false or a lie. It is significant that no one needs lessons or training on how to lie; and doubly significant is that a liar knows that when he or she lies, it is against truth and therefore morally reprehensible. No one learns how to lie in kindergarten nor are parents required to teach their children how to lie. Rather, instruction on not to voice lies but utter truth is the obligation of parents, and one would hope, would be emphasized and encouraged in the education of children. The main point here is to make clear what is well known. Human beings recognize what is truth innately. He who knows how to lie, speaks a lie, admits a lie, justifies a lie, or recants a lie knows truth; otherwise, neither lies nor truths have meaning.
Moreover, to tell the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth is the oath of a faithful, honest witness. No need for a witness who thus swears to first take a seminar on truth-telling, is there? Indeed, the witness knows the meaning of perjury and the consequences of violation of the oath to witness to truth and only truth.
Let us propose a preliminary definition of Truth to make clear why truth is immutable, eternal, and unavoidable for all thought, communication, worship, and life.
Truth is the self-disclosure of the mind of God, the Sovereign Creator and Ruler over all creation and creatures.
In other words, to know Truth is to know something of the mind of God. It is the recognition that man is created in the Image and Likeness of God, the God of Truth who commands: "Thou shalt not lie." No one need ask another "What do you mean by 'Thou shalt not lie'?" All know, even the baby as the baby’s mind matures and communication begins. Babies lie too.
Thus, the knowledge of Truth is innate equipment, an essential property of the self-conscious creature created in the Image of God. When we lie, we sin against God, the God of Truth. Recall, it is impossible for God to lie. Why impossible? Because Holy God is the God of Truth, the source of all Truth, truths set down in the only Supernatural Volume in creation: the Bible.
Now if Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life,' and God is the God of Truth, then it follows that Jesus is God and Man. As God is Eternal and Immutable as well as Omniscient, so also all that God thinks, speaks, and declares.
- Truth then is Eternal.
- Jesus is Eternal.
John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
All who believe are saved to Eternal Life with Jesus, like Jesus forever. Nevertheless, Clark's admonition about the necessity of definition for intelligible discourse come to mind. His discussion about the nature of truth argues that truth exists, is immutable, is eternal, is mental, is superior to the human mind, and Truth is God. (Nash, pp. 161-164)
Clark would affirm that truth is propositional. A proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. If a proposition is true, then it exists. If it exists, it never changes. If it never changes, it never dies. Human minds can know it. It is impossible for truth to change. This means that all true propositions are eternal, immutable. Thus, pragmatism's notion of truth is wrong because its "truth" is mutable. Whatever is true today may turn out to be false tomorrow; whatever works today may not work the next day. In other words, immutability of truth implies its eternal state. To deny that truth is eternal is once again a failure to recognize a contradiction. Truth cannot perish for if it does, then truth remains for it remains true that it perished. Denial of the eternity of truth turns out to be an affirmation of its eternity.
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*James M. Boice. What is Truth? Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, 1716 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
Ronald H. Nash. Faith and Reasoning, ©1988 Ronald Nash, Academie Books, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI 49530, pp. 161-164.
Gordon H. Clark. A Christian View of Men and Things, ©1980, E. C. George & L. Zeller, 2nd Ed., 1991, The Trinity Foundation, P.O. Box 68, Unicoi, TN 37692. Pp. 319-320.
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