Truth

2024-05-17

Truth is that which corresponds to reality. As some have said, it is the “really real.” As Pontius Pilate asked, “What is truth?” Let us look at some claims.

The Word of God is the truth. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Of the Gospel, He says, “truth of the gospel.” Because this truth has caused us to be born again, there is a “way of truth,” and we should “walk in truth” while thinking on truth. The LORD desires “truth in the inward parts.” That means that we do not only speak the truth and not lie, but our thoughts and hopes and desires and actions should all reflect truth.

The truth is in us. The Spirit of God is called the “Spirit of truth.” The truth of God “shall make you free.”

Jesus Christ Himself is the truth. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He is “full of grace and truth.” We “must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

The truth is also an action. “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John 3:21).

Truth is a beautiful thing! But it is not without hardship. “Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16). “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith” (2 Timothy 3:8).

The scariest thing is this: “That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:12). The enemies of God “changed the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25).

Since “the whole world lieth in wickedness,” where can we go to find truth? We have the word of truth, but we also have “the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).

What are the enemies of truth? “Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth” (Titus 1:14). Manmade tradition and lore oppose the Gospel. So does pretense: “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice” (Philippians 1:18). Having an appearance or action that is deceptive is an enemy of truth. The inward man and one’s actions should be in agreement.

Because God’s character is truth, and the Lord Jesus is truth, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, we must speak, practice, embody, and think truth.