Post by Les on Jul 11, 2022 10:56:09 GMT -5
Is all truth God’s truth?
In order for something to be declared true, it must be discoverable, transcultural, unchanging, unaffected by attitude, absolute, and knowable. For example, 2+2=4 is a truth that can be discovered (not created by one person), transcends all cultures, never changes, cannot be affected by feelings, is absolute in its factualness, and is knowable by all of humanity.
These same qualities and attributes can be ascribed to the God of the Bible. God is truth. He made Himself discoverable throughout history and through the Bible (Exodus 8:10); He transcends all cultures in His very attributes (Job 38); His existence cannot be affected by our feelings or attitudes (Psalm 25); He is absolute as the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:18); and He is knowable through Scripture and personal revelation by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
The ultimate revelation of God and therefore of truth is Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus said (John 14:9). In the same conversation, Jesus equated Himself with truth: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6; cf. John 1:17).
Since truth itself is part of and proceeds from the nature of God, and all truth is bound up in Jesus Christ, then, yes, all truth is God’s truth. If something is discovered to be true, like 2+2=4 or that love is the ultimate virtue (1 John 4:8), then that truth can only come from the God of truth, as revealed in the Bible.
Pontius Pilate famously asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). In His conversation with Pilate, Jesus said, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). And that’s when Pilate, who found himself between a rock and hard place politically, asked his famous question.
The truth was standing right in front of Pilate. Jesus, the only Son of God, was speaking truth to him at that very moment. The truth wasn’t a theory or an equation or proof; truth was God in the flesh dwelling among us. Anyone who wants truth that is unalterable (as it should be by nature) must find it in the person of Jesus Christ.
Philosophers, intellectuals, and even artists have tried to name truth apart from Jesus Christ, and it’s popular to speak of “my truth” or “your truth” as opposed to a universal truth. Whole generations have rejected absolute truth in the postmodern mindset. But truth is what conforms to reality, and if something is true, it is true for all people for all time in all places.
Creation speaks to the absolute truth of God through Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
All truth is God’s truth. When a mathematician works with Euler’s equation or when a biologist discovers a new species of animal, he is dealing with fundamental truths of how God designed the world. Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer who is called “the father of celestial mechanics,” is credited with describing his study of the universe as “thinking God’s thoughts after him.” Kepler understood that all truth is God’s truth.
In a world full of relativism, lies, and half-truths, it’s good to know that truth exists. To embrace God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, is to embrace truth.
In order for something to be declared true, it must be discoverable, transcultural, unchanging, unaffected by attitude, absolute, and knowable. For example, 2+2=4 is a truth that can be discovered (not created by one person), transcends all cultures, never changes, cannot be affected by feelings, is absolute in its factualness, and is knowable by all of humanity.
These same qualities and attributes can be ascribed to the God of the Bible. God is truth. He made Himself discoverable throughout history and through the Bible (Exodus 8:10); He transcends all cultures in His very attributes (Job 38); His existence cannot be affected by our feelings or attitudes (Psalm 25); He is absolute as the Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:18); and He is knowable through Scripture and personal revelation by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
The ultimate revelation of God and therefore of truth is Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus said (John 14:9). In the same conversation, Jesus equated Himself with truth: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6; cf. John 1:17).
Since truth itself is part of and proceeds from the nature of God, and all truth is bound up in Jesus Christ, then, yes, all truth is God’s truth. If something is discovered to be true, like 2+2=4 or that love is the ultimate virtue (1 John 4:8), then that truth can only come from the God of truth, as revealed in the Bible.
Pontius Pilate famously asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). In His conversation with Pilate, Jesus said, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37). And that’s when Pilate, who found himself between a rock and hard place politically, asked his famous question.
The truth was standing right in front of Pilate. Jesus, the only Son of God, was speaking truth to him at that very moment. The truth wasn’t a theory or an equation or proof; truth was God in the flesh dwelling among us. Anyone who wants truth that is unalterable (as it should be by nature) must find it in the person of Jesus Christ.
Philosophers, intellectuals, and even artists have tried to name truth apart from Jesus Christ, and it’s popular to speak of “my truth” or “your truth” as opposed to a universal truth. Whole generations have rejected absolute truth in the postmodern mindset. But truth is what conforms to reality, and if something is true, it is true for all people for all time in all places.
Creation speaks to the absolute truth of God through Jesus Christ: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
All truth is God’s truth. When a mathematician works with Euler’s equation or when a biologist discovers a new species of animal, he is dealing with fundamental truths of how God designed the world. Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer who is called “the father of celestial mechanics,” is credited with describing his study of the universe as “thinking God’s thoughts after him.” Kepler understood that all truth is God’s truth.
In a world full of relativism, lies, and half-truths, it’s good to know that truth exists. To embrace God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, is to embrace truth.