“Pilate therefore said to Him, ‘Are You a king then?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, ‘I find no fault in Him at all’” (John 18:37-38).
Pilate’s question, “what is truth?” was asked in an insincere and contemptuous way. But when asked with a pure motive, it’s a good question. What is truth, and how important is it?
Jesus prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17). All of God’s word is truth!
How important is truth?
First, one needs a love of the truth in order to be saved. “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10).
Second, one cannot be saved without knowledge of the truth. “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3-4).
Third, one must believe the truth in order to be saved. “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
Fourth, one must obey the truth in order to be saved. “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:22-23).
Fifth, everyone ought to be impressed with the fact that God’s judgment in the last day will be according to truth. After telling of the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Paul then declares, “But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things” (Romans 2:2).
Skeptics may continually question the truth, agnostics may say we cannot know truth, and postmodernists may say truth is relative. But Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Truth can be known! He also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus is the truth!
While it may be difficult to know with certainty the truth about secular affairs in this country and in the world, spiritual truth can still be known with certainty through the Bible, the very word of God. Let us continue to love it, know it, believe it, and obey it. “Buy the truth, and do not sell it” (Proverbs 23:23).
-Larry Jones