As Christians, we should take care that we have a Biblical understanding of the meaning of TRUTH. It is not merely accurate facts or information. It is not primarily spoken. It is not complete knowledge. What I see, hear, know, understand can never be TRUTH, since, as Paul said in 1 Cor. 13:9 – in this life, we can only know in part.
John 8:44 says ”…there is no truth in (Satan) … he is the father of lies / untruth.” He is the opposite of truth. He is the ruler of this world, and he controls people with lies and deception. All information systems in the world are false sources of TRUTH.
We find two strict warnings in the early chapters of Isaiah against falling into the trap of a worldly perspective so that we think and speak like those who do not have truth: Isaiah 5:20, 21 – ”Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
Isaiah 8:11-13 – ”The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: ”Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear.”
We as children of God have access to the source of TRUTH.
In John 1:14 we read that ”…Jesus) is full of grace and truth.” Jesus said of himself – ”I am … the truth…” (John 6:14).
The shades of meaning of the Hebrew word for truth (EMET) are: factual accuracy, faithfulness, integrity and spiritual authenticity, constancy, enduring from beginning to end.
These concepts reflect the very character of God, revealed to us by Emmanuel, God with us.
HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE?
In Psalm 89:14 we read – ”Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; mercy and truth go before your face.”
Just like justice is one of the faces of inner righteousness, so truth is one of the faces of love, translated here as mercy. Again, and again love and truth are coupled together in Scripture. I believe there is no truth without love, and there is no love without truth, in its full biblical meaning.
In the introduction to his book WHAT IS SO AMAZING ABOUT GRACE? Philip Yancey asks the question (in my own words): Why is it that we as Christians always try to out-truth one another? Why don’t we try to out-grace one another? Then he explains that love in the form of grace is expressed in humility and service, while a false sense of knowing TRUTH builds pride, a sense of superiority. When we confuse TRUTH with knowledge and understanding, it stands in direct opposition to TRUTH as the face of AGAPE love. In 1 Corinthians 8:1 Paul writes – ”Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”
Psalm 51:6 says- ”Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.” TRUTH is the character God’s Spirit of Truth creates within me as I walk with him.
In the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 11:2-4 we read – ”The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him – the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord – and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge…”
When we were born again, God gave us this same Spirit, so that we are empowered to live by this same TRUTH, not by what we see with our eyes and hear with our ears.
Let us pray in the words of the Psalms – ”Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. (Psalm 25:4,5)
”Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me.” (Psalm 40:11)
”Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.” (Psalm 43:3) Amen
Elzeth Malherbe