Our age has made up its mind that there is no such thing as truth, or that truth is whatever a person decides it is for himself. What is true for you, men say, may not be true for me. It sounds humble and kind, but it is neither, and it is not what the Bible teaches. Scripture says truth is real, that it can be known, and that what we do with it is a matter of life and death. Let us see what it says.
God Is the God of Truth
Truth is not an idea floating free. It is rooted in the character of God, who is true in all He is and says. Moses called Him "a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he" (Deuteronomy 32:4). He is the God "that cannot lie" (Titus 1:2), for "it was impossible for God to lie" (Hebrews 6:18). Because God is true, there is such a thing as truth, fixed and sure, whether men believe it or not. Truth is not ours to vote on. It is His, and it stands.
God's Word Is Truth
God has put His truth within our reach, in His word. Jesus prayed to the Father, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17). The psalmist said, "Thy word is true from the beginning" (Psalm 119:160), and "all thy commandments are truth" (Psalm 119:151). When we want to know what is true, we are not left to our own guessing or to the shifting opinions of the age. We have it written down, sure and unchanging, in the Book.
Christ Is the Truth
Truth is finally a person. Jesus did not say He would show us the truth or teach us the truth only. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He told Pilate, "for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth" (John 18:37), and grace and truth came into the world in Him (John 1:17). To know the truth, in the end, is to know Christ.
Truth Can Be Known
Against everyone who says truth is beyond us, Jesus promised, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). The truth can be known, because God revealed it. There is a sad picture of the alternative in Pilate, who stood face to face with the Truth Himself and sneered, "What is truth?" (John 18:38), then turned away without waiting for the answer. Many do the same today, treating the question as unanswerable so they need not obey it. But the man who honestly seeks will find. God did not hide the truth. He published it.
We Must Love and Obey the Truth
It is not enough to know the truth, or even to agree with it. We must love it and obey it. Paul wrote of those who perish "because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:10). Solomon charged, "Buy the truth, and sell it not" (Proverbs 23:23), for the truth is worth any price and must not be traded away for comfort, profit, or peace with the crowd. And Peter spoke of those who had "purified your souls in obeying the truth" (1 Peter 1:22). Truth known but not obeyed saves no one.
Speak the Truth, and Stand for It
Those who love the truth will tell it, even when it costs them. Paul said we are to be "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15), putting away lying so that we "speak every man truth with his neighbour" (Ephesians 4:25). Telling the truth does not always make friends. Paul once asked a church he loved, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16). In an age of comfortable lies, the people of God must be people of truth, in their speech, in their dealings, and in their stand for what God has said.
So do not believe the lie that there is no truth. There is, and it is found in the God who cannot lie, in His word, and in His Son. Seek it honestly and you will find it. Then love it, obey it, buy it and never sell it, and speak it in love whatever it costs. The truth will not always make you popular. But Jesus promised it would make you free.