“What Is Truth?”
By: Madeleine Wessel
In John 18, we enter into the trial of Jesus Christ before He is put to death. At this point in the night, He has been moved around quite a bit to different people who will be determining His fate. Here we meet a man named Pilate, who is an interesting character to Biblical scholars because we are not given a lot of context to his attitude about Jesus. For example, In John 18:33, he asks Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” (ESV), but it is debated about whether he is sarcastically mocking the Lord or genuinely asking, impressed by Jesus’ humility in such an intense moment. Either way, in John 18:38 Pilate reveals that he thinks Jesus is guiltless and harmless when he declares Jesus’ innocence in front of the crowd.
These statements by Pilate surround our question for today. In John 18:37, the Bible reads: “Then Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.’ Pilate said to him, ‘What is truth?’ After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ‘I find no guilt in him.’”
Verse 38 contains the question that has echoed throughout human history: what is truth? It seems feeble to try and answer such a profound question in a small article, but thankfully the narrative of John already answered it before we come to this point. Jesus already answers the question in John 14:6 – “Jesus said to [his disciples] ‘I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” It is simple and yet profound. He is the Truth.
Our answer to this question will determine every single thing about our lives as disciples of Christ living in the world. Every day, we are tempted with the idea that we can do things on our own, that our way is best, and that we are more deserving of grace than other people. Our minds are under constant fire as we try to justify ourselves and center each moment around what would be best for us, what would get us ahead, and what would make us happy. We strive after things that are already promised to us in Christ because we do not believe Him enough to accept them.
The battle for truth is not just waged in between our ears. How many times have we seen on social media people posting about “their truth”? Truth determined by something or someone that is flawed is not truth, but it is the reality that they have constructed.
What a blessing it is that we have Truth handed to us freely. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is John 8:31-32, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
We have a God who graciously gives us the most important truths that we can know! We do not have to go searching for our identity or our purpose because it is through Him and in Him that we find both of these things. There is such a deep freedom in not having to depend on yourself to determine who you are - we can simply look up, and then live out what we receive from Him. So many of us love to know what will happen next, what will come out of a certain situation, or what the “better” choice is when we are trying to decide what to do. All of these questions, I believe, come from us trying to live a redeemed life. We care deeply about pleasing God and living well, but let us not forget that one of the most (if not the most) important things about living as God’s ambassador and child is trusting Him with our steps. Our job is not to know everything and have everything figured out. It is taking His hand each step of the way and using what we have and where we are to glorify Him. Doesn’t that sound freeing?
A verse that my father and I frequently discuss is Deuteronomy 29:29. It says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Now, Moses was talking to the children of Israel when God was renewing His covenant with them at Moab, but this verse is just as true for us as New Testament Christians today. God has given us what we need to know, and “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). We have what we need to live as God’s children, and part of our job is trusting Him with the secret things!
Let us not be like Pilate, who either out of frustration or mockery cried, “What is truth?” in the very face of Truth Himself. Let us not waste time and energy striving after something that has been freely given to us. Instead, we should rest in the fact that the secret things belong to God, but the things that are revealed belong to us, and we encourage one another to be good stewards of them! This is our Way and our Life.