Jesus is the Answer to the Question – Is there Absolute Truth?
A Question: Is there Absolute Truth?
Are the Gospels true? Can we trust the Gospels? Since we base all the following on Scripture, particularly the Gospels, this is the first question that needs to be answered. If we can’t trust that the Gospels are true and God’s Word, then all the following answers to the nature of truth will not have a leg to stand on. So, the answer here is, Yes, we can safely claim that the Gospels in the Bible are true and are reliable as a foundation of our belief in in the truth of Jesus. For many reasons, it does not require blind faith to accept the Gospels are true:
- Historical Evidence: The existence of Jesus as described in the Gospels has been verified by non-Christian historians, like the Jewish historian Josephus and the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius. The life of Christ has been so well-documented by Jewish manuscripts and many ancient historians that there is more evidence for His existence than for historical figures from Plato to Caesar;
- Manuscripts: The Gospels have more ancient copies from the original texts than any other ancient text in history. There are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the Gospels, as early as the 2nd Those manuscripts were written so close in time to the originals that the biblical Gospels have been declared authentic, even by textual critics;
- Accuracy: The thousands of manuscripts based on the original texts have been proven to be virtually identical to the originals. That’s the way Jewish and early Christian scholars worked. They were trained to repeat what they see accurately, meticulously, and essentially verbatim. The reader of the Gospels can be assured that the Gospels being read today are faithfully reporting what was originally written by the gospel authors;
- Archeology: Time and again the geographical and historical details have been corroborated by extensive archeological digs, and the accuracy of Scripture in general and the Gospels in particular has been proven far above other literary and historical sources;
- Eye Witnesses: The Gospels were written in firsthand accounts by eye witnesses and composed within their lifetimes through their personal experiences with Jesus. These writers went to their death proclaiming the truth of their gospel accounts. Would they have sacrificed their very lives for something they knew to be a lie or a sham? No, they wouldn’t;
- Common Sense: Do any of the Gospel reports ring false, or written in a fictional form? Does the character and life of Jesus seem concocted or invented in some way? Have His moral teachings been bettered or seen as unwise through history? Jesus is presented in the Gospels as someone that could not be invented out of thin air. The reader logically cannot see Him as merely a great moral teacher, since He claimed to be on an even level with God. Did Jesus seem like a liar, a fraud, insane? No, He didn’t. So the only option left is that what the Gospels say about Jesus is true. Since we have more evidence that the Jesus of the Gospels is true, more trustworthy than Plato or Caesar or any other historical figure, we can accept the truth of the Gospels using logic and common sense.
- Personal Change: The Gospels have been proven true by the personal experiences of countless readers by containing a life-changing spiritual power. It’s clear that God has invested His divine energy into the words of the Gospels. Many, many skeptics have done thorough research to investigate the authenticity of the Gospels, and they consistently come to the realization that they are simply believable and completely true.
So what? Once we have accepted that the Gospels of the Bible are true, reliable, and authentic, then we can move on to what they have to reveal about the truth of Jesus. And that begs questions like these… So What? Why should I bother? What difference does this make in my life? Does the truth of the Gospels even matter? At all? If one is honestly and intentionally seeking the truth about life, and then basing one’s life on that truth, then this matters a great deal. One glaring example of this is that the resurrection of Jesus is the most well-verified event in human history. Isn’t that a fact that calls for our response? When we ignore what is established truth, then this becomes the most important factor in one’s life, doesn’t it? Because of the truth of the Gospels, which includes the resurrection, then it follows that only in Jesus can we find the irrefutable, absolute truths in the universe. “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6).
Larry Norman – Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus ~ [Lyrics]
The Mission Statement of Christ. “This I why I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the Truth. Everyone who is a friend of the Truth, who belongs to the Truth, listens to my voice.’ And Pilate said to Jesus, ‘What is truth?” (John 18:37-38).
The Truth. Jesus claimed that truth isn’t some abstract idea or principle. Truth is a Person. Truth represents reality, and Jesus embodies the true essential reality of God. Truth is the revelation of established fact, and Jesus represents the indisputable fact of God’s existence in the world. Truth is not tainted by error or falsehood. Jesus was pure truth, there was no falsehood in Him. Truth is an inextricable part of Jesus’ DNA. Truth and Jesus are indivisible, it is intertwined with His essence and character. So when He taught, He told others the divine truth. When He healed, He communicated the truth of God’s zeal for wholeness. Jesus contains truth the way water contains oxygen. A few hours after His Farewell Discourse with His disciples, Jesus would be standing face-to-face with Pontius Pilate. And Jesus told Pilate, “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth.” And Pilate, ever the skeptic, then asked Jesus his famous question, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). Pilate didn’t realize it at the time, but he was staring at Truth full in the face. He was talking with Truth in the flesh, Truth with skin on. Jesus testified to the truth by revealing Himself, the Author of truth. Jesus came into the world to show us what truth really is, what truth looks like in real life.
TRUTH: (Hebrew, “emet;” Greek, “aletheia”) Truth is the only absolute in the world. If everything else in the world falls apart, only Truth will remain; the building blocks of all creation; the framework upon which we build our faith; the true Reality that has established the world’s reality; that which can never be truly altered or changed; that which is universally trustworthy as facts of life; the foundation of what is truly real in our experience; the plumblines from which to measure our lives; that which is common knowledge in God’s mind; that which lines up with God’s perspectives; established facts from God as opposed to a person’s changeable opinions or preferences; that which is solid and certain as opposed to a lie, deceit, an illusion or superstition; the tangible fundamentals issued forth from the intangible mind of God. Truth is always true even when discounted or disbelieved. Since the Almighty God is the ultimate source of all truth, then it follows that the Father God is Truth, the Lord Jesus is Truth, and the Holy Spirit is Truth.
Emet = a Hebrew word meaning primarily either truth or faithfulness. Emet has also been translated secondarily as stability, certainty, trustworthiness, constancy. In Hebrew, “faithfulness” and “truth” are interchangeable, and the literal meaning is: True to His word; steadfast loyalty; trustworthy; truthful about promises; reliable; constant and dependable; act in good faith; certain in commitment; His word is His bond. Many Biblical scholars believe that John 1:14, where John states that Jesus is “full of grace and truth,” is an intentional repetition of the phrase in Yahweh’s important self-revelation (Exodus 34:6), “abounding in love and faithfulness.” John 1 no doubt hearkens back to Yahweh’s nature in Exodus 34, flatly stating that Jesus is of the very same eternal nature as Yahweh, the glorious God of the Hebrew Bible. The fact that the Hebrews saw truth and faithfulness as interchangeable points to God’s character, that He is true to His word, true to His nature, that God keeps truth certainly and with stability and trustworthiness. God is literally, truly faithful.
God is Truth – the One who created Reality and established it on the earth; the universal Fact that founded the world; the divine Reference Point for all that is true; the one fundamental essence of trueness.
God is Faithfulness – the One who is perfectly loyal to His righteous nature; the Being who is purely committed to His trustworthiness; He who is permanently, unfailingly true to His promises.
Who, Not What. We don’t know if Pilate was asking his famous question, “What is truth,” as a cynic, a skeptic, a manipulator, or an earnest seeker of the answer. But we do know he asked the wrong question of Jesus, didn’t he? Instead of What, he should have asked Who. Tragically, he didn’t realize that he was staring directly into the Answer to his question, standing right there in front of him. Little did he realize that truth is a Person, not an abstract concept. It’s hard to blame Pilate though, because we don’t normally think of an intangible concept as being a tangible, flesh and blood person. When an abstraction turns out to be an actual Person, so much so that the concept is the Person’s identity, that’s difficult to digest. Is it even possible for a human being to be so saturated with something, so in union with and in synch with it, that the person can be identified as that concept? No, that is humanly impossible. It’s difficult enough to try to understand a divine being who contains all the truth in the universe, but to literally be that truth incarnate? Faith needs to be activated, to say the least. When an established fact like a mathematical concept is understood, that’s one thing. But when that concept becomes somehow a tangible reality and takes on flesh? But to believe in God is to accept that this type of impossibility is possible. Pilate, we have to tell you something… It turned out, that Truth had a pulse, God’s pulse, and you didn’t have eyes to see it. The certain fact is that Jesus was so deeply joined in union with truth, truth is so invested in Him, that God is actually Truth itself.
Truth, Amen, and Yes! There is a much-used Hebrew word in the Hebrew Bible that points to its root word “truth.” The Greek in the New Testament also picked it up and used it for “truth” as well. That common Hebrew word is “Amen.” Biblical scholars say that Yes! is God’s favorite word, the most repeated word in Scripture. Most of the time, Yes! is spoken through the Hebrew word “Amen.” Many say that when the Hebrews intended to say Yes, they said Amen. Jesus gave Himself that title in Revelation 3:14 because He is truth in the flesh, He is literally the Truth. Christ is Yes, That’s right! Christ is Yes, This is true!
Amen. This biblical word basically means: This is truth! I agree that this is true! Yes! We heartily accept and approve of what was said! We are assured that this is certainly true! So be it! We believe this is trustworthy and we take it to heart! The word Amen is also a formal way to conclude and affirm a Jewish blessing. Jewish law requires individuals to answer Amen whenever they hear a blessing recited.
Amen! Amen! When this was exclaimed after a reading or a prayer, just take what is meant by Amen and double it in intensity. The double Amen means: We absolutely agree that this is the certain truth! These are, without a doubt, trustworthy words and can have authority in our lives! O Yes, most certainly Yes! May this be the absolute truth! We believe these words with all our heart, mind and soul! These words are without question God’s truth! These words we can most assuredly trust in! So be it, so be it! We see this double Amen fully on display in Nehemiah 8, when the people of Israel heard the Torah read and explained, and they were so struck to the heart that they cried out in unison, Amen! Amen! (Nehemiah 8:6).
Amen! Amen! is often translated as “Truly, Truly” or “Verily, Verily” in the New Testament. This double Amen is only recorded in the gospel of John, and is said by Jesus before He offers a statement, not after. He is the only Person to say this, because He is the only Person who has the authority to say this before He says it. This double Amen, as opposed to a single Amen, must be an important distinction for Jesus, because He felt compelled to use this preface twenty-five times in John. When Jesus begins a statement with that double “Truly,” He is intending to be doubly intense when He says it, and so He wants the listener to be doubly attentive. He wants to emphasize the importance of His words. He is saying, In all truth I tell you. He wants the listener to focus, and He is serious about preparing the listener to be receptive. When Jesus says Truly, Truly, He is saying: Most assuredly, what I am about to tell you is absolutely true and trustworthy. So listen up, because an eternal truth is coming to you now. In all sincerity, says Jesus, this is the solemn truth. Take these words in, says Jesus, and have them go into your mind and then straight to your heart. For these words of mine are double truth, they are doubly true. Jesus might as well have been saying… And you readers out there centuries from now, get ready to apply your hot pink highlighter, get ready to do some double underlining! Truly, Truly, what you are about to hear is the honest to goodness truth. This is True! Really True!
CHRIST IS THE AMEN. Amen is a descriptive divine title Christ gave to Himself in Revelation 3:14: “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness…” His self-given title of Amen is fulfillment of the prophetic title given to the Lord in Isaiah 65:16, “The God of Amen.” (often translated as “The God of truth”). By giving Himself that title, Jesus is declaring that, not only is He full of truth (John 1:14), and that He came into the world to testify to the truth (John 18:37), but also that He is The Truth, Truth incarnate, Truth-in-the-flesh; He is the final accomplishment of the promise of God; He is the most certain fact in the universe, the world’s sure thing; He is the fulfillment of God’s purpose and will; He is the ultimate Yes! to questions about truth; He is the concluding Word of God; He is the Blessed Assurance; He is the Last Word; He is the Great Amen to all the godly prayers ever spoken; He Himself is the word of approval that completes the Father’s plan.
CityAlight – The Way, the Truth and the Life (Live)