Tuesday, September 15, 2009

God is Truth

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.
  No one comes to the Father except through me.’” – John 14:6

Truth is one of the great questions of our day.  What is truth?  Can truth be known?  How do we define truth?  Is it absolute or relative?  How can we know?  First, let’s answer the question, “What is truth?”  Truth means, “Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been or shall be.”1   This definition assumes a couple of things: reality exists and it can be known.  Most reasonable people would agree with these assumptions. 

“For anyone to take seriously the statement that there is no truth that corresponds to reality defeats the statement itself by implying that it is not reflective of reality.  If a statement is not reflective of reality, why take it seriously?  Truth as a category must exist even while one is denying its existence and must also afford the possibility of being known.”2

If truth cannot be known then reality cannot be defined and all is meaningless chaos.  So to say “Absolute truth does not exist,” (and all truth is absolute or it is not truth), is to assume the statement that “there is no absolute truth” is a truth.  You cannot even deny that truth exists without assuming that it does exist.  So our question becomes “How do we define truth?”  Stuart McAllister points us in the right direction with the following statements about truth.

Truth by nature is:
Non-contradictory – It does not violate the laws of logic (it cannot be sometimes the truth).
Absolute – It does not depend on any time, place or conditions (it cannot be relative).
Discovered – It exists independently of our minds (it cannot exist only for one person).
Descriptive – It is the agreement of the mind with reality (coherence).
Inescapable – To deny its existence is to affirm it (we are bound by it).
Unchanging – It is the firm standard by which truth claims are measured. 3

To sum up, truth cannot contradict itself.  It exists completely independent of what we think of it.  We can know the truth.  The truth agrees with reality.  Truth cannot be moved away from or escaped from.  It is constant and cannot change.  It does not depend on anything: time, place or any other condition. 

C. S. Lewis also points out that truth cannot have multiple sources.4  This makes sense in light of the point McAllister makes that truth cannot be contradictory.  If truth has more than one source, how can it not at some point be contradictory?  Duplicitous sources for truth break down as, at some point, these sources of truth conflict with each other.  Truth can ultimately only have one source. 

If you had to pick a source of truth, wouldn’t you want it to know everything, have all power, and be everywhere?  Wouldn’t you want it to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, good, kind, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled?  Wouldn’t you want this source to be unchangeable?  Wouldn’t you want this source to never be wrong?  Wouldn’t you want this truth to be self-existent, self-sufficient, and sovereign?  Wouldn’t you want it to be humble?  Wouldn’t you want it to be gracious and merciful?  Wouldn’t you want it to have always existed and be eternal?  In short, wouldn’t you want it to look exactly like the Scripture describes Jesus?

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’” – John 14:6 (emphasis mine)

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14 (emphasis mine)

“‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.  Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’” – John 18:37 (emphasis mine)

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” John 16:13-15 (emphasis mine)

Jesus claims to be the truth.  The Spirit is truth and the Spirit makes known the things of the Father so the Father is truth. The triune Godhead is the truth.  What one personality of the Godhead is all must be.  “God is the fountain-head of all truth.”5  He cannot lie (John 1:3, Heb 6:18; Titus 1:2 and 2 Tim 2:13).   God is at the center of all that is (Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:3).  His Word is truth (John  17:7; Col 1:5, John 1:14).  How can we know this definition of truth is the true one?

Truth can be tested in the following ways:
Logical Consistency – Does it not violate the laws of logic?  Does it contradict itself?
Empirical Adequacy – Does our experience line up with what is presented as truth?  Does it fit the facts?
Experiential Relevance – Does it apply meaningfully to my life?  Can I live it?
Undeniability – Can this fact be denied in anyway?  (I.E. I cannot deny my existence without affirming it at the same time.) 6

Does God make sense?  Is what the Bible reveals of God consistent?  Do the attributes of God make for a good source of truth?  I believe they do.  They make a source equal to no other.  Does your experience line up with what is presented in the Bible?  Does the Bible fit the facts?  It arrives on the scene of history as a unique document: historically accurate, scientifically stable, and logically consistent.  Can I apply the truths of God, the commands of the Bible, meaningfully to my life?  I can, and not only that, they seem to be the only meaningful explanation for all of life.  They create a sustainable society with complete freedom once I obey the 10 commandments and rest of Scripture.  They answer questions of Origin, Meaning, Morality, Destiny, Ethics (Good vs Evil), Significance, Hope, Security, Love, Wonder, Unity and Diversity.

If one believes in God and His Word then he has an answer for the Origin question (Gen 1-2, Col 1:15-17, Heb 1:3).  God gives us meaning through His love and letting us know we are significant (Rom 8:15-16, 26-28, 31-39; Eph 3:16-21), giving us the truth (John 16:13-15; 2 Tim 3:16-17) , giving us something to wonder over (Job 38-41; Isa 40-42), and by giving us security and hope both now and for the ever after (Matt 6:25-34; Phil 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7, Ps 23; Rom 10:9; John 17:3).   He gives us an answer for unity and diversity in the Godhead itself.  The hard questions of life are answered here, within the confines of Christianity.  For the believer, all things are measured to be true in relationship to the nature of God, who IS the truth.  How wonderful that we can have a living vibrant relationship with the truth.  We can get to know it by knowing Him.  No doubt some will argue that this is exclusive.  However, truth by definition is exclusive7, it cannot contain what is false or it would not be the truth.

Truth is at the root of all that is.  A proper understanding of truth as laid out in the Scriptures gives us a rock solid foundation, indeed the only solid foundation, upon which to build our lives, live our lives, and live eternally with Him.

Oh, Mighty Truthful One, you are the Truth.  You alone are perfect and know all things as the truth must.  You alone are the source of all things as the truth must be.  We are grateful truth is embodied in You, that You are full of grace and truth.  Teach us to rely upon Your truth.  When all else fails, You remain, You stand alone on the side of truth – You are the truth. Let us be found in You.  Oh Lord be the tea bag in the middle of our lives, flavoring all we do with Your nature and guiding us into all truth.  We have all our answers in You!  In Christ’s perfect name, Amen!

Footnotes
1 Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 ed.
2 Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994), 125.
3 Stuart McAllister, Foundations of Apologetics (Norcross, GA: RZIM), 1 DVD
4 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952)
5 R. C. Sproul, The Truth Project  (Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family) Lesson 1: Veritology: What is Truth?, 1 DVD.
6 Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994),  123-125.
7 Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994),  126.

References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.