In an oft-quoted verse Jesus said “And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). We remember that Pilate rhetorically asked Jesus “What is truth” (John 18:38). Pilate was not the last to ask such a question.
An identifying mark of the present intellectual environment is the idea that truth is relative and subjective. This is not a new idea; it has been around for as long as men have thought. But it has weaved its way into American culture and jurisprudence just lately to an unprecedented degree. This movement is an aspect of something called “postmodernism” which serves chiefly to keep English professors occupied and is beneficial for little else. This relativism is contrary to common sense and more significantly, contrary to the Word of God.
You may ask why it is important that we understand the nature of truth. Here is my answer: When folks don’t understand that truth is real and absolute they do more stupid things than they would otherwise do. Example: If there is no real absolute right or wrong, then a man may leave his wife and mother of his children and feel no regret about it. After all, if there are no real rules in life why not do as we please? So we see the importance of the matter.
For people like me, who base their principles of life on the Bible, it is important to know that I am standing on solid ground when I take a position about such important matters. If I am wrong about the nature of truth, then I am living a lie. I do not want to live a lie.
The question is really about the meaning of “truth”, isn’t it? Is truth real, absolute and objective or is it variable and subjective? Such a thing is determined by the way the word is used. Meaning derives from context.
Allow me to use a simple example that illustrates the way the word “truth” was used in a Biblical, but not necessarily doctrinal, context. Mark tells of a woman who had an “issue of blood twelve years” (Mark 5:25-34). She had gone to the doctors and they had not helped. She heard of Jesus and got close enough to Him to touch His garment. She was healed immediately. Jesus knew that it had happened and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” Then verse 33 has this: “But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth (Mark 5:33 NKJV).
Now, what did this woman do when she told him the “whole truth?” What did she say to Jesus? She told Him what had actually happened, did she not? Thus it is clear that the nature of truth is that it is equivalent to reality. Something really happened to this woman and she told the truth about it. I know that this is what she did because Jesus then said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34 NKJV).
Too simple? Yes it is! That the word “truth” is always used of something equivalent to reality is too simple for many folks today. Indeed, if truth is real and absolute then we as human beings may not behave just any way we want. If truth is real then we must recognize it and live according to it. And since many folks in this old world manifestly do not want to behave themselves the fiction has been created that truth is relative and not absolute. As long as people want to do as they please they will reject the idea of “whole truth.” Reject it they may, but since truth is equivalent to reality, it cannot be avoided and will not go away.