What is truth?

February 23rd, 2010 7 Comments

Truth is not just a concept to study. Truth is a Person. Jesus did not say, “I will teach you the truth.” He said, “I am…the truth.” (John 14:6) [from Experiencing God by Henry & Richard Blackaby]

So, in order to know truth..I must know and have a relationship with Jesus..hmmmmm..

  • Does this seem like a no-brainer to some of you?
  • Can truth exist apart from Christ?
  • Can I understand truth without knowing Jesus?
  • If I cannot recognize truth apart from Christ, how will I recognize Him as truth prior to knowing Him?
  • Is it possibly all about Him drawing me, not me going to Him?

Just some questions I’m pondering this morning in reflection..what say you?

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  • http://www.bittersweetjess.wordpress.com Jessica

    Wow. I feel like I just read a dissertation of Ravi Zacharias’s or something! I’m sure there’s all kinds of good truth in these thoughts, but I think I’m gonna have to get me head stopped from spinning to take it all in! Wow!!!

  • Evan Posey

    WOW! In order to answer these five question one must have a firm understanding of truth. And just so there is no equivocation with this term, we must define truth itself.

    Philosophically speaking, truth has to do with correspondence. In other words, truth is that which corresponds to reality or corresponds to its referent. Truth is simply, “telling it like it is”. If I say that my Starbucks coffee is hot, there is an easy way to tell if that statement is true or false. If my coffee is actually hot, then my statement corresponds to reality and is therefore a true statement. If it is not hot, it does not correspond to reality and therefore is false. For brevity’s sake let me touch on some of the broader characteristics of truth…

    • Truth is discovered, not invented. (i.e. Gravity existed prior to Newton)
    • Truth is transcultural, if something is true, it is true for all people, all places, at all times (2+2=4 for everyone, everywhere, at every time)
    • 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)
    • All truths are absolute truths.

    Again, this is a broad stroke to paint but it is necessary in order to answer the question in this blog “truthfully”.

    • Does this seem like a no brainer? Some might think so, but our culture’s disillusionment with the nature of truth seems to suggest otherwise.
    • Can truth exist apart from Christ? This is a question of ontology versus epistemology. We can know truth prior to knowing Christ, that is truth exists epistemologically prior to Christ. However, we can not know truth if Christ does not exist. Ontologically Christ (The Godhead) precedes truth or logic.
    • If I cannot recognize truth apart from Christ, how will I recognize Him as truth prior to knowing Him? The response above helps answer this question. You can absolutely recognize truth apart from knowing Christ. For example, I know that if I jump of the roof of my house, it will hurt. This is a truth that I can recognize apart from knowing Christ. I have a feeling the intention of this question is regarding soteriology (the study of salvation). This is the topic that Jesus is addressing in John 14 when He proclaims to be the truth. He clearly advances the exclusivity of the gospel. In essence He states that you can not know salvation apart from Him. In fact Jesus says suceently defines salvation for us…”And this is eternal life, that you know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

    Sorry for the long diatribe, but this as you may notice is a passion of mine. The topic of truth builds a great foundation for a solid apologetic. Your thoughts are welcomed.

    Blessings,

    Evan Posey

    • http://www.treybailey.net trey bailey

      Evan,
      Thank you for these insightful thoughts. I will need more time to digest all of this..thanks again.

      • Evan Posey

        You welcome! I believe that this is a foundational issue. It also happens to be one of the leading factors in the church’s 75% attrition rate with highschool graduates. If any groups, adults and students alike, in your church ever need training in apologetics please feel free to give me a call. (770) 596-7384.

        Thanks bro,

        Evan

  • http://www.bittersweetjess.wordpress.com jessica

    We just covered some matters of truth this week in our study on the Tabernacle.

    Beth led us to multiple scripture references on truth. We were coming at it from the perspective of worship (as in “in spirit and in truth”), so that may be taking me in a different direction than your Blackaby reference.
    But, John 16:13 “the spirit of truth will guide you into all truth” to me sounds like he left us with the Holy Spirit to discern real truth, which in turn points to Christ.

    The Greek for truth is: aletheia, meaning “unveiled reality”.

    Ooo! And I just gotta share this above and beyond ’cause it’s just good…
    In the context of worship, Beth puts it this way:

    “God the Father INVITES us to worship.

    “The Son of God IGNITES us to worship.

    “The Holy Spirit INCITES us to worship.”

    SO good!!!

    I know Beth can be a bit girlie, but man, if y’all have never looked into this study, you definitely should! So amazing!

    (May have gotten a little off-course. Sorry!)

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