I. Introduction
What is Truth [1]? asks the title to this study. Pontius Pilate, the Roman Prefect of the province of Judea (AD 26-36), once asked our Lord that question (Jhn 18:38). Pilate certainly asked the right One that most profound question. By the divine Will we have early fragmentary evidence of the question per se—the fragments contain Jhn 18:31-33, 37-38 (“New Testament Canon”, esp. “III. Transmission of the New Testament Text” near the end of the section). And thus read in the Word of God by countless multitudes across the centuries the question stands, immemorial; perhaps because our God Jehovah wishes for each reader to pursue the answer to this question, calling upon His guidance and teaching. This study is thus simply one individual’s pursuit of that answer by following the humanly manageable leads that Omniscience has mapped out toward that end. We find these leads in the Word of God; in Scripture.
II. Truth is Absolute and Eternal
Jehovah God is holy (Lev 11:45, Zec 8:3, et al.), which means that He—His thoughts and His ways, His essence—is sanctified; is perfectly surpassing with respect to the created order (Isa 55:8-9). In all reverence, we understand God’s thoughts and His ways as His Reality, holy, surpassing (not all of God’s thoughts are necessarily a part of His ways; all of His ways though are a part of His thoughts). By definition God’s Reality encompasses everything in the created order, but it must go beyond even that (Isa 57:15, 2Cr 12:3-4, et al.). God’s Reality encompasses the Whole [2], which Whole the human mind cannot fully know, but can reasonably contend to exist. Truth is the Whole. Truth is the Whole because the salient property of Truth is that it is comprehensively faithful and exhaustively correspondent, as is the Whole to God’s Reality (thoughts and ways). The correspondence is stated in this manner because the former is a function of the latter [3]. Given the character of the Whole that is known, it must be possible that aspects of Truth are verifiably true, and other aspects of Truth are verifiably false, because “true,” and “false” are known to coexist in the Whole. That this coexistence does not alter Truth holds because the coexistence of “true” and “false” in the Whole does not alter the Whole, which is Truth. The same could be said of Truth with respect to “good,” and evil,” and so on [3 again with respect to esp. evil here].
Section II Conclusions: (1) God’s thoughts and ways, His Reality, holy, surpassing, is the Whole. (2) Truth is the Whole. (3) Truth is absolute because Truth is the Whole, which is absolute. (4) Truth is eternal because Truth is the Whole, which is God’s Reality, which is eternal; holy, surpassing.
Section II Summary: The section II conclusions show (2) to be the key connective. Please notice that Jesus Christ is that key connective (Col 1:17-the Whole, thus Truth; Col 1:19-God’s Reality, thus thoughts and ways; primitive, causal, holy, surpassing). The general argument posits that because there exists a God Jehovah, there exists Truth, which Truth must be absolute and eternal therefore. It is thought that the issue is not whether or not Truth is absolute and eternal, or whether aspects of it are verifiably true or false, the issue is whether or not there exists a Supreme Being, Jehovah God, whose Reality, holy, surpassing, encompasses the Whole, which is Truth, absolute and eternal. Thus the historical Jesus, resurrected; witnessed to be alive postmortem by primary-source testimony (1Cr 15:3-9), testifies to the holiness of God whom (God) He claims to be, and is shown to be with Power, and thus affirms. It follows that there exists Truth, absolute and eternal, because there exists a God, self-revealed, whom we call Jehovah God—Father, revealer Son, Holy Spirit. A God holy, surpassing; Truth. Unless the existence of Jehovah God can be rigorously refuted, it holds that there exists Truth, absolute and eternal, which finds its quintessence in the Reality of Jehovah God, holy, surpassing.
III. The Word of God (Jesus) is Truth, Absolute and Eternal
At another time in His revelatory Salvation ministry Jesus said that He is the truth ( literally, “…EGW EIMI…hH ALHQEIA…”—we suppose the communicative weight rests on the subject EGW EIMI (I, even I, Jesus), and not the objects ALHQEIA (truth), etc., Jhn 14:6). Here by way of another door we have the answer to our study’s main question: Jesus not only embodies Truth, He literally is Truth, in agreement with the conclusions above, for the revelation of God, thus His thoughts and ways, His Reality, holy, surpassing; the Whole, Truth; communicable only by God, is communicated by Jesus Christ (Jhn 10:30, 14:9, 16:28, 17:5-8, 26, 2Cr 4:6, et al.). It is therefore necessarily as Jesus says of Himself: He is the truth, Truth, which of course He cannot help but speak with every utterance He makes. So is His voice then Truth; His voice in one’s ears is Truth, irrespective of whether or not that voice is heard (for that cannot alter Truth).
Is it not profound that Pilate (acting as a sort of pseudo-judge arbitrating Truth no less), asked Jesus (= Truth): “…what is truth?…”
Please note carefully verse thirty-seven of John chapter eighteen—the YLT text: “…Pilate, therefore, said to him, ‘Art thou then a king?’ [identification is necessarily posited up front…]. Jesus answered, ‘Thou dost say it [implied yea…]; because a king I am [outright yea redundant, strong affirmation…], I [EGW EIMI—I, even I—strong affirmation of the follow on just next…] for this have been born [for what King Jesus? Let us not miss it Lord…], and for this I have come to the world [for what King Jesus? Let us not miss it Lord…], that I may testify to the truth; every one who is of the truth, doth hear my voice.’…” (red font added, Jhn 18:37).This verse is loaded with theological import (thank God we have an early fragment of it).
What truth, unheard by the low-plane-thinker (worldly) Pilate—for otherwise Pilate would have said to Jesus: ‘…speak King Jesus, Voice of Truth, thy servant is listening…’—did Jesus testify to, per Jhn 18:37? Jesus bore testimony to the holiness of God to humankind (Jhn 17:17-20, 1Jo 5:20, “Be Holy”, Fig 1). He bore witness to (revealed) God’s “set way up high and apart” thoughts and ways (Isa 55:8-9); He bore witness to God’s Reality, holy, surpassing; the Whole, Truth. And we have a record of that revelation—it is contained in the Christian Bible, for Jesus is the centerpiece of Scripture; Scripture throughout points to God through Him. It necessarily follows that Scripture, the Word of God revealed, is Truth, absolute and eternal (“John Chapter One Commentary”, “The Alpha and the Omega”). And because Truth thus uttered is absolute, “jumping off of the pages of Scripture and into one’s ears,” it needs be that only those of the Truth actually hear it—all those not of the Truth hear a cacophony of competing “truths” (2Cr 4:3-4). Because Truth is absolute, only those of the Truth actually hear it (maybe that is why Pilate’s wife heard the Truth, while Pilate did not-Mat 27:19? Few are of the Truth [Christ-tethered] and hear; most are not of the Truth and do not hear…). Truth then is but Confusion to those not of the Truth (1Cr 1:18, 2:14). If you will allow us an oversimplification: It is somewhat like the beautiful romance between a fundamental wave and its harmonics—the harmonics are of the Fundamental, and resonate (“lockstep dance”) with it—all other frequencies that are not harmonics are not of the Fundamental, and cannot resonate with it (“A Letter of Invitation”).
This study was interested in prayerfully seeking the answer to the question “What is Truth?” Central to the study was the a priori conviction that there exists a Supreme Being—specifically, Jehovah God—whose Reality, whose thoughts and ways, holy, surpassing, encompass everything; encompass what was put forth as the “Whole.” This conviction of the existence of a Supreme Being, Jehovah God, follows from the primary-source testimony to the life, death, and resurrection of the historical Jesus Christ, who claims to be, and is shown to be, the Son of God; the eternal Word of God, as explicated and related primarily by the New Testament (a number of our commentaries and biblical studies have endeavored by God’s grace to address this at length), and to a lesser degree by extra-biblical texts.
The study was approached with the premise that Truth is comprehensively faithful and exhaustively correspondent, as is the Whole thus faithful and correspondent to God’s Reality. We think that this premise precludes the possibility for “subjective Truth” (an oxymoron) not least, a fortiori, because the Whole is absolute. That the Whole is absolute is in fact axiomatic and cannot be called into question (but the a fortiori stronger reason is that the Whole is faithful and correspondent to God’s Reality, which is primitive and causal—absolute). It was said that in this Whole may coexist that which is verifiably “true,” and that which is verifiably “false,” that which is “good,” and that which is “evil,” without altering Truth, absolute, in that said coexistence does not alter the Whole, which is Truth [3 again with respect to esp. evil here].
Conclusions were drawn: It was thought that God’s thoughts and ways, His Reality, holy, surpassing, is the Whole; that Truth is the Whole in keeping with the given premise (Truth is comprehensively faithful and exhaustively correspondent); that Truth is absolute because Truth is the Whole, which is absolute; that Truth is eternal because Truth is the Whole, which is God’s Reality, which is eternal, holy, and surpassing.
It was argued that Truth, absolute and eternal, need not be proven, rather, it need only be proven that there exists a Supreme Being (God) whose Reality, holy, surpassing, necessarily encompasses the Whole, thus establishing the latter. It is understood that such proof follows only from self-revelation by the Supreme Being, a Being otherwise unsearchable by any means. And as such, that is, given a Supreme Being whose Reality holy and surpassing necessarily encompasses the Whole, thus establishing the same, it needs be that: Truth is real; Truth is the Whole, comprehensively faithful and exhaustively correspondent to God’s Reality, holy, surpassing; Truth is absolute, because the Whole is absolute; and Truth is eternal, because Truth is the Whole, which is God’s Reality, holy, surpassing, eternal. It was put forth that such a Supreme Being does exist, namely, Jehovah God, self-revealed, thus anchoring the argument that Truth is real, absolute, and eternal. And so it is thought that one must disprove the existence of God, self-revealed, to disprove the existence of Truth, real, absolute, and eternal.
It was said that the Word of God is manifestly Truth, absolute and eternal, in that the revelation of God (a self-revelation), thus His thoughts and ways, His Reality, holy, surpassing, comes by way of Jesus Christ, Himself the centerpiece of of Scripture; indeed, Himself the very Word of God. It was said that because Truth is absolute, only those of the Truth actually hear it. Those not of the Truth hear a cacophony of competing “truths,” which is not Truth, because Truth is the Whole, absolute; comprehensively faithful and exhaustively correspondent to God’s Reality, primitive and causal; holy, surpassing.
Praised be thy Name great Jehovah God, even thine, Holy, Truth…