What is Truth?
John 18:28-38 . . . Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. (John 18:28-38)
What Is Truth? (From gotquestions.org)
Almost two thousand years ago, Truth was put on trial and judged. In fact, Truth faced six trials in less than one full day, three of which were religious, and three that were legal. In the end, few people involved in those events could answer the question, “What is truth?”
After being arrested, the Truth was first led to a man named Annas, a corrupt former high priest of the Jews. Annas broke numerous Jewish laws during the trial, including holding the trial in his house, trying to induce self-accusations against the defendant, and striking the defendant, who had been convicted of nothing at the time. After Annas, the Truth was led to the reigning high priest, Caiaphas, who happened to be Annas’ son-in-law. Before Caiaphas and the Jewish Sanhedrin, many false witnesses came forward to speak against the Truth, yet nothing could be proved and no evidence of wrongdoing could be found. Caiaphas broke no fewer than seven laws while trying to convict the Truth: (1) the trial was held in secret; (2) it was carried out at night; (3) it involved bribery; (4) the defendant had no one present to make a defense for Him; (5) the requirement of 2-3 witnesses could not be met; (6) they used self-incriminating testimony against the defendant; (7) they carried out the death penalty against the defendant the same day. All these actions were prohibited by Jewish law. Nevertheless, Caiaphas declared the Truth guilty because the Truth claimed to be God in the flesh, something Caiaphas called blasphemy.
When morning came, the third trial of the Truth took place, with the result that the Jewish Sanhedrin pronounced the Truth should die. However, the Jewish council had no legal right to carry out the death penalty, so they were forced to bring the Truth to the Roman governor at the time, a man named Pontius Pilate. Pilate was appointed by Tiberius as the fifth prefect of Judea and served in that capacity A.D. 26 to 36. The procurator had power of life and death and could reverse capital sentences passed by the Sanhedrin. As the Truth stood before Pilate, more lies were brought against Him. His enemies said, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2). This was a lie, as the Truth had told everyone to pay their taxes (Matthew 22:21) and never spoke of Himself as a challenge to Caesar.
After this, a very interesting conversation between the Truth and Pilate took place. “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?’ Pilate answered, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not from here.’ Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king. 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.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’”.
Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” has reverberated down through history. Was it a melancholy desire to know what no one else could tell him, a cynical insult, or perhaps an irritated, indifferent reply to Jesus’ words? In a postmodern world that denies that truth can be known, the question is more important than ever to answer. What is truth?
What Truth Is
The meaning of truth is precisely this; “it is what corresponds to reality, telling it like it is, as opposed to what is not”. Geisler and Turek, in their book, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist”, list six characteristics of truth:
1. Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independently of anyone’s knowledge of it. (e.g. gravity existed prior to Newton’s discovery of it)
2. Truth is transcultural; if something is true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times (e.g. 2+2=4)
3. Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change (When we began to believe the earth was round instead of flat, the truth about the earth didn’t change, only our belief about the earth changed.)
4. Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. (Someone can sincerely believe the world is flat, but that only makes the person sincerely mistaken.)
5. Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one professing it. (An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true.)
6. All truths are absolute truths. Even truths that appear to be relative are absolute. (For example, “I Frank Turek, feel warm on November 20th, 2003” may appear relative truth, but it is actually absolutely true for everyone, everywhere that Frank Turek had the sensation of warmth on that day.)
What Truth is Not
1. Truth is not simply whatever works. This is the philosophy of pragmatism – an ends-vs.-means-type approach. In reality, lies can appear to “work,” but they are still lies and not the truth.
2. Truth is not simply what is coherent or understandable. A group of people can get together and form a conspiracy based on a set of falsehoods where they all agree to tell the same false story, but it does not make their presentation true.
3. Truth is not what makes people feel good. Unfortunately, bad news can be true.
4. Truth is not what the majority says is true. Fifty-one percent of a group can reach a wrong conclusion.
5. Truth is not what is comprehensive. A lengthy, detailed presentation can still result in a false conclusion.
6. Truth is not defined by what is intended. Good intentions can still be wrong.
7. Truth is not how we know; truth is what we know.
8. Truth is not simply what is believed. A lie believed is still a lie.
9. Truth is not what is publicly proved. A truth can be privately known (for example, the location of buried treasure).
The Issue is Not Faith
Everyone has a faith—atheist, agnostic, or Christian. And everyone places something at their personal pinnacle of importance. The real issue is what is a worthy object of our faith and our affection, and what parameters or limits one places on their examinations of truth. Blind faith is faith without evidence, which would be superstition. The Bible does not call us to blind faith. The Bible calls us to faith in evidence. We submit that various truth claims, including Christianity, should be evaluated based on the evidence. We do not ask the inquirer to accept the claims of Christianity to be proven to an absolute certainty, such as is only possible in purely formal analytics such as mathematics. We ask you to consider Christianity based on the standards of a court of law: the preponderance of the evidence, or the even higher standard of beyond a reasonable doubt. Yes, there will always be a step of faith for the Christian, but that step doesn't require a person to abandon their mind.
What Others Have Concluded About Jesus from the Evidence
John Stott from Basic Christianity . . . “He believes ardently in what he teaches, but he is not a fanatic. His doctrine is unpopular with many, but he is not eccentric. There is as much evidence for his humanity as for his divinity. He gets tired. He needs to sleep and eat and drink like other men. He experiences the human emotions of love and anger, joy and sorrow. He is fully human. Yet he is more than man. Above all he is unselfish. Nothing is more striking than this. Although believing himself to be divine, he did not put on airs or stand on his dignity. He was never pompous. There was no touch of self-importance about Jesus. He was humble.
It is this paradox which is so baffling, this combination of self-centeredness of his teaching and the unself-centeredness of his behavior. In thought he put himself first; in deed last. He exhibited both the greatest self-esteem and the greatest self-sacrifice. He knew himself to be Lord of all, but he became their servant. Never has anyone given up so much. He was misunderstood and misrepresented, and became the victim of men’s prejudices and vested interests. He was despised and rejected by his own people, and deserted by his own friends. This utter disregard of self in the service of God and man is what the Bible calls love and the essence of love is self-sacrifice.”
C.S. Lewis from The Case for Christianity . . . “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: “I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” This is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. And now what is the purpose of it all? What did he come to do? The central Christian belief is that Christ’s death has somehow put us right with God and given us a fresh start.”