“What is Truth?” – The famous question of Pilate to Jesus.
“Pilate therefore said unto him, ‘Art thou a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice’. ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him’.—John 18:37-38.
Truth is that which conforms to reality. If I say “God Exists” if that statement conforms to reality it is truth, if it does not it is false, a fiction, a lie.
The supreme irony of Pilot’s question is that although the answer is not given here in John 18, the entire Gospel of John is obsessed with the question of truth and John’s Gospel has been answering this question from verse one of Chapter one.
John says “In the beginning was ‘”the Logos” (in the original Greek). Thus In the very first chapter, John claims that Jesus is the “Logos”. This is an intentional reference to Genesis 1. The first words of Genesis are “In the beginning God”, now John has the audacity to say “In the beginning the Logos”! What is going on here?
John explains “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:2-3)
To the Jews – the “Logos” meant “the Word of God”. This had two meanings to Jews. First, the Word was God’s agent of creation. In Genesis we see that the entire universe was created by God’s Word. Second, it was God’s “Special Revelation” of truth to them, given through the prophets. The collection of these prophetic writings constituted “The Torah” – “the Word of God”.
The Torah, the Bible, was truth that could NOT be known UNLESS someone outside of, or transcendent to, nature and the universe, revealed it to them. It was called “Special Revelation” because it involved truths which could not be known by studying nature or the the universe itself.
Truth which could or should have been known or even obvious by studying the universe is called “General Revelation”.
“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20)
Nature cannot answer the basic questions like “Who are we? Why are we here? Who created us? What is good and evil?” These are questions answered by the WORD of God but not by nature or creation. Both in Genesis and in John’s Gospel the Bible says that the world was created by the Word, and John now claims that the Word is not just merely propositional truth, but is a person, and that person is God Himself, Jesus Christ. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
To the Greeks – “the Logos” was the most important thing in philosophy, the very goal or quest of philosophy. The Logos to Greeks meant the unifying universal principle of truth which gave meaning to every individual proposition of truth; the universal which made sense of the particulars; the BIG truth that made sense of all the little truths, or to use more current philosophical language: the metanarrative which makes sense of all the meganarratives.
Now Jesus Himself claims to be “THE truth” in John 14:6. – It is important that we follow normal rules of interpretation which take into account the context of Biblical times. Later in John 18:37-38 Pilate asks the question “What is truth?” At this particular time in history when Pilate asked the question, Jews certainly did not believe in any form of what we nowadays call “relative truth” in our post-modern generation. Even the Romans did not have a view of relativism similar to post-modern relativism. (See: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/presidential-politics-and-the-abolition-of-truth).
So what is Jesus’ answer to Pilate’s Question? Jesus gave the answer before Pilate even asked the question.
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?” —John 18:37-38.
Jesus says in effect, yes I am the King, what I speak (bear witness) is Truth. He already said that He was THE truth, John already told us he created the world and was Himself God, So Jesus is saying “I am the truth and I am God. Only people of God will receive me and my words”. In another place He says His kingdom is not of this world.
In summary: “For the Christian, the ultimate expression of truth is found in the Bible, in Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6). Of course, most philosophers and skeptics will dismiss His claim, but for the Christian, He is the mainstay of hope, security, and guidance. Jesus, who walked on water, claimed to be divine, rose from the dead, and said that He was the truth and the originator of truth. If Jesus is wrong, then we should ignore Him. But, if He is right, then it is true that we should listen to Him. The eyewitnesses wrote what they saw. They were with Him. They watched Him perform many miracles, heal the sick, calm a storm with a command, and even rise from the dead. Either you believe or dismiss these claims. If you dismiss them, that is your prerogative. But, if you accept them, then you are faced with decisions to make about Jesus. What will you believe about Him? What will you decide about Him? Is He true? Is what He said true? Truth conforms to reality. Jesus performed many miracles and rose from the dead.” – Matt Slick , President and Founder of the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.
(For More See: https://carm.org/what-is-truth).
